“Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door… all the negativity that’s in this town sucks… And it stinks.” – Rick Pitino
Any Celtics fan, and many NBA fans, remember this famous rant from Rick Pitino. He took over the Boston Celtics and failed to bring them to the glory of the mid 80’s. The fans of Boston weren’t happy. I turned on CNBC a few times over the last week and every analyst sounds like Rick Pitino. They speak of how the credit markets stink and this economy sucks. They stick and they suck… and Alan Greenspan isn’t walking through that door. (Though much of this mess was on his watch, so maybe we don’t want him to).
With all the negativity out there, I feel I need to provide a little perspective. Let’s focus on some very good things about this economy. Believe it or not, opportunities abound for those who were responsible in the past and know where to look.
- Buy Some Cheap Stocks – While everyone is afraid of the stock market, these are some of the lowest prices we’ve seen in some time. Not to bring you back to school, but history and math has proven time and time again, buy low and sell high.
- Save Money on Cars – It’s a bad time for car manufacturers now. Headline after headline in the news state how bad it’s been for them. If you’ve got good credit (or can pay cash), you should be able to walk into a dealer and get a great deal. The consumer is in the best position I can recall in the last ten years. (For more tips, see save money on cars :-)
- Big Savings on Dining – I covered some of the deals at restaurants earlier this week. I missed some places like Applebee’s Pick ‘n Pair Lunch Combos for $6. (For more tips, see save money at restaurants)
- Buy Cheap Oil – I looked up today and noticed that oil is currently under $70 a barrel. I remember when people were complaining about gas prices when oil was at $140… and we were afraid it would go to $200! I look at this as not only a great time to refuel my car, but I can’t help but believe that PowerShares DB Oil Fund is a greater opportunity here to make money over the next 5-10 years.
- Capitalize on the Expected Poor Holiday Sales – Notice a trend by now? Retail sales want your money. Stores are going to battle hard for your dollars this holiday season. This puts you in perfect position for you to say, “What are you going to do to make me happy?” Just try not to be too obnoxious with it.
- Learn To Manage Your Money Better – This is going to sound counter-productive to the previous advice of spending money, but hear read me out. Necessity is the mother of invention. In this economy, many people will need to manage their money better. I hope some see this as an opportunity to invent new ways to optimize their money management. When times become good again, they will be stronger for it.
Do you have other reasons to love this economy? Let me know in the comments!
Photo Credit: Mike Licht
I completely agree with you on #6. I was just talking to someone about this yesterday. It is like boot-camp, you might get pushed farther than you thought you could go, but as a result you get stronger. You also walk away knowing that when the next crisis happens you can say, “i made it through that, so surely I can get through this.”
I appreciate the optimism. 75% of the market drop is due to lack of confidence, not fundamentals. So, until others regain confidence, take advantage in the ways you describe.
Positivity, yay!
How about home improvement costs? We’ve locked in a guy at a great price – discounted, negotiated and all – to do some work for us next April. He’s a bit panicked about what his market may be like by then.
I’m trying to book an Xmas trip to the caribbean and am finding flights and hotels pretty pricy so far though. Grrr.
and start enjoying the people around you (free), start walking or biking (free if you have a bike), go travel since everyone is hurting so traveling is cheap again.
The White House is not for sale, it is for rent (4 year lease). And the price is hardly reduced – hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent toward ensuring occupancy.
I think we’re lucky in that we’re young, I’d be crapping my pants if I was older and wondering wtf happened to my retirement accounts.
Now this is how one should actually look on the state of the economy. Look at everything as being something positive, instead of taking everything and making it negative. This is the sounds of a true realist and investor.
Good list as Warren Buffett said…be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when other are fearful
I found it interesting that a lady on the Dave Ramsey show last week or so made the comment that whenever clothes and cars go on clearance, everyone runs out to buy them as quickly as possible, yet when the stock market goes on “sale” everyone runs away. Thought it was a good point. Don’t normally play with stocks but when Apple was $80 a share it was hard to resist buying a few for fun :)
You didn’t mention buying a house (if you can get the credit). A lot of foreclosure deals out there as well as just generally homes on sale, with low interest rates to boot. If you can hack a chunk out of the credit freeze it seems like a great time to move out of the apartment and start a garden in the backyard.
Another reason to love this economy is that it is a Reality Check.
Once a successful and productive economy is humming along, many get caught due to a lack of attention. Don’t get me wrong, my asset allocation became a bit skewed and I suffered for it. But I learned my (costly lesson) and hopefully I won’t let it happen again.
Regardless, there is a silver lining so let’s all take advantage of it!
Friends of mine are jewelry artists, with their works ranging in price from around $30 to $250. Their orders aren’t up, but they aren’t down, either. A woman came into a store where their jewelry is sold and dropped $400 on Christmas gifts. Said she wanted to buy American and loved the fact that it was hand made from recycled metals. I think this is going to foster conscious consumption for everyone, not just greenies.