Today the New York Stock Exchange had a record setting day… in a very bad way. Without warning and in a period spanning just one minute, the market lost a combined $60 Billion in just the top 30 blue chip companies. That’s with a “B” folks.

The Associated Press said the following:

Stocks Have Worst Day Since 9/11 Attacks: Dow Down 416, Nasdaq Drop 97 on Global Market Plunge

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks had their worst day of trading since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks Tuesday, hurtling the Dow Jones industrials down more than 400 points on a worldwide tide of concern that the U.S. and Chinese economies are stumbling and that share prices have become overinflated.
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Nitroglycerin is volatile. So are markets, all markets. Always have been, always will be. In 2000 the stock market took a nose dive, just as it has, on average, every 7 years since they opened the doors of the NYSE.

Spinach farmers can tell you a thing or two about volatility with the recent food poisoning scare that came out of California. And a lot of people have a lifetimes worth of experience with making and losing money on real estate.
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Ok. I’m not ready to start thinking about Social Security just yet, but my parents are. So I attended an education seminar put on by my financial advisers which included a presentation by Tom Clark from the Social Security Administration.

The following are the Cliff Notes from Tom’s very informative lecture.
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