Place your bets

What did the Dow Jones Industrial Average Close at on 12/31/1999? Ok everyone, place your bets. Today was a depressing day for many people in the finance world. And whether you are loving it or hating it, consider this. Those, even in the finance industry, that are most affected are living on the edge. There are plenty of finance professionals that weren't making six-figure salaries in 2005. They were loyal to their companies, and their companies are going afloat.

It is unbelievably sad how bad this decade has been. Since my graduation in 2002, I've determined that I would have been in the same position whether I worked hard to pay down debts, own a modest home, and continue my education, as I would have taken a lousy teaching job in Japan and seeing the world. I took the former route, but times like these make me wish I would have taken the latter.

Me and DH are looking to refi, and even with good credit, even with no credit card debt, refinancing is very difficult. Our house minimally appreciated, and the fact that we need a 90% LTV loan is not helping at all. So what do you do? I guess we won't refi. Even with the ARM adjustments, we can still afford our payments, thankfully.

So what are your guesses for 12/31/1999? The answer is the Dow closed at 11,497.12. So based off of today, in a little over eight years, we are now at 10,917.51. In eight years, not only have we not moved forward, but we've proceeded to move backward.

Have you had enough? I know I have