Where were you in September 2008?

[Koolau]

I’m sure I already answered this a couple of years ago at the 10 year anniversary. Old thread.

It's sort of like Casey Kasem's Time Warp. It keeps coming back!

 

[REWahoo]

I was asking where we were: It's Monday morning, where are we?

 

[Koolau]

I was asking where we were: It's Monday morning, where are we?

How about "Are we there yet?"

 

[Dash man]

We were watching the Phillies on their path to the World Series championship!! Definitely not there this year.

 

[REWahoo]

How about "Are we there yet?"

Don't think that would have applied at the time. As I recall, we had absolutely no idea where the heck we were heading.

 

[Koolau]

Don't think that would have applied at the time. As I recall, we had absolutely no idea where the heck we were heading.

And, as always, now we only know where we've been (YMMV).

 

[Souschef]

Married less than a year to DW. Attended a gathering at Knott's Berry Farm of people from the GROWW website. The site was a chatroom for all those who had been widowed. It was nice to put faces to the screen names.
It was special to me as I had met DW on the site, as we were widowed the same year.

 

[Alectoris]

Three years into a real adult job. Was saving like a madman and ended up buying my first home in December...

Unfortunately it was a bad snow year during move in.... Lots of shoveling in two locations to leave and enter. Really wish that I had a snow thrower that year!

 

[Koolau]

Three years into a real adult job. Was saving like a madman and ended up buying my first home in December...

Unfortunately it was a bad snow year during move in.... Lots of shoveling in two locations to leave and enter. Really wish that I had a snow thrower that year!

It occurs to me that 2008 was actually a pretty good year - compared to 2020 - but YMMV.

 

[W2R]

It occurs to me that 2008 was actually a pretty good year - compared to 2020 - but YMMV.

Not for me. I was still working in 2008! I'd rather be retired during:

a pandemic,
hurricanes,
wildfires,
earthquakes,
wars,
civil unrest,
a contentious election,
and more,

than slogging off to work every morning at 5:50 AM.

 

[Koolau]

Not for me. I was still working in 2008! I'd rather be retired during:

a pandemic,
hurricanes,
wildfires,
earthquakes,
wars,
civil unrest,
a contentious election,
and more,

than slogging off to work every morning at 5:50 AM.

I'd retired by 2008 BUT your point is WELL taken!

 

[BoodaGazelle]

I just had gotten laid off from my last startup, and we owned 3 properties. We decided to sell the main house in NH, and were lucky it sold in 3 days. At that point, we became Florida residents using our condo there, and I was lucky enough (by the end of the summer) to find a new professional position in greater Tampa. I worked there for 7 years, and retired at 61. All in all, given those turbulent times, we made out okay.

 

[Dtail]

Was interesting times on Wall Street. First year with no bonus. Happy to not get laid off.

 

[coveredbridge]

My favorite term that came out of that time is "PVC Farms", referring to all the abandoned housing developments with the electrical stubs sticking up from the ground on each lot.

 

[dixonge]

I was trying to do puts/calls/options in order to make a return even while the market was headed downward. Other than that, based on my emails from near that time, I was employed and paying off debt. Also doing a 'zero-carb' diet.

 

[Markola]

I remember the vivid realization for the first time ever that money is not actually real. The only reason we trade it for goods and services is because we all agree to believe in the illusion that it has inherent value. The dramatic actions of the Fed, Treasury and Congress were as much about maintaining citizens’ confidence in the system as doing anything tangible to the ocean of digits and paper we all rely on. To wit, the day Congress first failed to pass TARP the curtain was pulled back to show that, not only were the “wizards” all confused, fallible humans, behind them...there was nobody there.

 

[TDub]

I was just beginning to gain some financial literacy, and at a breakneck speed since I was single, I had no TV, and I couldn't get enough of these Personal Finance books from the library.
When the market crashed I considered myself "lucky" that I had put my 20K Cadet Loan into a 4.75% CD instead of putting it in the market like some of my peers. Once I realized how smart THEY actually were, it was too late! If only I had poured it into the market...if only.