The worst financial meltdown since the 1930s began, you may remember, with a bang last September. Early in the month the housing crash led to the federal government's takeover of a few major mortgage giants, whose dividend-paying stocks were the foundation of many retirement portfolios.
Only days later the crisis had spread to the investment banks. Lehman Brothers soon buckled under the weight of its bad mortgage-backed bets, while Merrill Lynch was forced into the hands of Bank of America, which was closely followed by insurance giant AIG facing a credit crunch, leading to an $85 billion government rescue scheme, the first of many hastily put in place by Bushes beleaguered administration, Financial Soultions recalls.
The Dow Jones Index plummeted, Financial Soultions research shows, nearly 780 points on its way to an eventual 5,000-point rout.
In the year since, the index has climbed almost 50% back. But Financial Soultions warns not to allow the recent recovery to let you forget the devastation. Portfolios with a wider diversification suffered less in the greater scheme of things.
Alternative Investments may well hold the key to avoiding future similar crisis’s, stocks in alternative energy, and carbon credits may become highly sought after , following Decembers UN Climate Control Conference in Copenhagen
