I'm still in something of a state of limbo. My paperwork finally arrived at the brokerage, but now I have to fund my account.I have the money (a little, anyway), but my credit union doesn't seem to let me wire money to them, so I'll have to mail them a check. That will take days to get there and possibly a couple of weeks to clear. I'll see if I can find a quicker way because that is very disappointing.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to convince my parents of the importance of considering the dire state of our economy and what they may need to do about it. But my dad is very stubborn and extremely reluctant to do anything even remotely different -- let alone something as radical as investing in a foreign market. I'll visit them next weekend, so maybe talking about it face-to-face will help.

Hemorrhage

The news looks more and more grim. I'm really starting to wonder if I'll have a chance to get any money invested before this whole thing hits -- let alone have enough to actually be financially sound. The only good thing (for me, at least, not for the economy) is that the other countries seem to be intent on slowly reducing their dollar assets...which will hopefully buy me some time. But it will likely become more and more difficult to invest in the coming months (even if the economy doesn't collapse), as the weakening dollar will mean foreign stocks will be increasingly more expensive.

Our economy is bleeding out, and I'm a long way from the hospital.

Is it already too late?

I read this article today, and it really has me worried. It isn't so much the smugglers who got caught; it's the other things -- the increasing derision foreign nations have for our economy. Things really do look very bad right now, and I'm afraid it all may tank before I have a chance to do anything about it. I'm working as fast as I can, but will it be enough? Could the whole thing fall apart in the next few days, before I have a chance to even make an initial investment?

Hopefully not. Most people seem to think not. I hope they're right. But that's the problem with awakening to a new reality. Suddenly there's so much you don't know, so much you aren't prepared for. There's a period of fear and uncertainty as you try to reorganize yourself to be ready for what may come. And it's so hard to know how much fear is justified.

Nothing's ever simple

I talked to the broker today. He pointed me to some paperwork I have to submit via snail mail.

I only have a few hundred dollars to invest at the moment, but I'll have more soon enough. He told me that wouldn't be enough to properly diversify and they generally advise waiting until you have a few thousand dollars to invest before beginning. But I want to get started. There will always be an excuse to wait. More importantly, what if it takes me 4 months to save up that much money...and what if the economy collapses in 3 months. What good did waiting do me.

$400-ish dollars may not buy much, and I may lose it all by not being diversified. But I'll (essentially) lose it all anyway if the economy collapses. At that point, my $400 won't make much difference. My thinking is, if it comes to the point that my $400 matters, then $400 won't matter.

Anyway, I'll mail the paperwork tomorrow. They should get it early Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully I might even own some stock by week's end.

We'll see.

Here I go again...

I am a card-carrying Gen-Xer. In other words, I'm lazy. So if there's a way to make some good money with minimal effort, I'm there.

Don't get me wrong, I'm gainfully employed. In fact, I am fortunate enough to make a decent living doing what I love (programming)...and I end up with a good amount of disposable cash at the end of the month. But I'm not good at saving (for many reasons), and I fear investing, so I'll jump at something that seems a sure deal with a positive long-term outlook.

That's why I got into the "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" fad several years ago. I studied real estate investing, bought books, went to seminars...and then found out that Kiyosaki is a fraud and his advice is suspect at best.

Now I've read the book CrashProof by Peter Schiff (after seeing him on The Daily Show), and I've fallen for it. For those who don't know, Schiff claims that the USA is on the verge of an inevitable economic collapse that will resemble the Great Depression if we're lucky. Maybe his predictions are exaggerated, but I believe him because his views are in line with what I was taught about economics in school. He follows sound, traditional principles.

That doesn't make him right, but I need to start saving money. At 35, I desperately need to start in making long-term investments...but I also have a little bit of time for trial and error. If Schiff is right, overseas/international investment is the way to go. So I'm going to give it a shot.

This is my story.