Headlines everywhere today, are discussing how investors need to hold out and keep a positive outlook on where the markets are going. For seven days straight, the markets have been in negative territory, and yet the general public is being asked to stay positive, instead of dealing with the reality of the situation. How can people possibly hold their heads above water, when governments are tossing money at financial institutions that are failing, not because they are losing money, but because the average investor can't remain confident in an institution that has been absorbing money faster than the investors can put back into it.
Blame Wall Street, and blame the government for not owning up to being responsible with money. It is nearly impossible to look at an investment portfolio these days, and confidently get a solid understanding of what it's doing. For example, today I accessed my 401K plan online, and looked over my portfolio. Talk about scant information! I had one table showing all my funds, bonds, stocks, etc., along with prices of the stock at purchase, and quantity of stock I owned. Fair enough. Then it shows way at the bottom, my total earnings on these investments. No current stock price, no market values, and no break down of gains or losses. The company that runs this online software is CitiSmithBarney, which when I opened the 401K, was just SmithBarney, and also not to mention, that when I log in, I get a disclaimer saying that ING has just completed its acquisition of CitiStreet, which is an affiliate of CitiGroup. My eyes began to cross after the acknowledgment of CitiSmithBarney.
Wait, there's more! Now I see my list of investments, and then decide I'm going to look the stocks up on Google's finance site, and I could only find four out of the ten items in there. For instance, I was looking to do more research on the value of one of the items, Western Asst Mgmt US Gov. What the hell is that? There was no corresponding stock symbol. Why is it abbreviated. It doesn't come up in a search on Google, and Western Asset's web site, does even list it as a product, unless it's been named something else. I couldn't find any contact information on the site, so that I could call someone, and ask my unfulfilled questions. What kind of operation is this?
It is very frustrating to see that a Wall Street company, that is responsible for millions of people's hard earned money, and makes millions in profits a day, can offer up such a lousy excuse for an investment portfolio. It's almost as if they don't want you to understand it, because then it would be a lot easier to manipulate your money to grant them more profit.
The lesson for Wall Street to learn today is to respect your customers, and show a little more consideration for those who keep your hefty paychecks rolling in. If there is no confidence in the market, then it's because people just don't know. We are given half rate information, and expecting our advisers to do their job, and make sure we are headed toward a more secure future. So much for that. Would you invest in something you were unsure of, or something you nothing about, and if you did invest, would you be sure that things were going well, considering you nothing about what was going on?
Even our government is not providing the confidence we need in the markets. Today, George W. Bush gave a speech in the Rose Garden, explaining to us, all the facets of a failing economy. He simply restated everything we already know, and is not providing Americans with a sound and consistent plan. It's been 2 weeks already since the plan has been put into place, and the market is just getting worse. What is the plan? Why isn't it working? Why are we being told to not worry about the economy, yet every morning we wake up to a market that is diving? More rules need to be in place holding the Treasury accountable for all purchases and bail outs. All transactions should be openly available online for the taxpayer to see, so that they know what their return will be if and when the market climbs out f the depths. Also, all Wall Street firms need to be handed regulation making robust information readily available to public investors. Information just as well structured, and easy to understand as that of Google's or Yahoo's financing sites.
Information is a powerful tool. It can be used to take advantage of certain situations by limiting the amount that is granted forthwith. It can also benefit those who want to be informed, in order to make better decisions, because if those who are limiting information are harnessing that power, then the less informed will fail to effectively support the systems to which they contribute.
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