But as to your other point about the unlikelihood of having stocks, bonds and housing all go down together for a sustained period of time -- I assume that Osama and his boys are staying up late trying to figure out what combination of plutonium and rocket dispersion techniques could bring about precisely this result. They may never get it, but I assume they are working on it, which makes the risks somewhat higher.
Osama is probably trying hard to stay alive on dirty portable dialysis, and I think his boys are busier trying to further disrupt U.S. aims in Afghanistan and Iraq. Surely they still want to hurt the U.S. on its own turf, but they wanted to and tried for many years before September 11, and now everyone's paying real close attention. If we are any less safe today than we were on September 10 then it is from new enemies and our own government more than from Osama, because we're all over his operations now. (Incidentally, September 11 wasn't the first attempt at flying a jumbo jet into a building, it was the fourth since 1974; two of the other three were U.S. people--Samuel Byck and Auburn Calloway--and U.S. targets--the Whitehouse and a FedEx sort facility; the remaining was the Armed Islamic Group trying to demolish the Eiffel Tower. Not to mention numerous other domestic mass murder events/attempts and natural disaster deaths; mass casualty is not a new problem and I doubt it's more dangerous today than it has been.)
At any rate I don't think the risk is enough higher to let it affect ER planning. If you're really paranoid then don't buy near big cities, government installations and symbols of American money and power. But then you should also probably avoid areas with hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, dangerous heat, dangerous cold, floods, flu, crime and congested traffic, just to be sure.
If dirty bombs worry you more, then please let me know when you find a way to manage a portfolio to mitigate the risk.
Wow, something set me off. I guess I'm tired of all the things to be afraid of: terror, bad economy and everything else on the news. I relate to your fears; now that I am debt free I worry more about my money than when I was $27k in consumer debt. That shouldn't make sense, but I feel like I have more to lose now, and I keep having to kick myself to stop worrying. I sense you're going through the same thing right now.
