Financial Signs of the Times - Part 2

...and yet another email from E*TRADE all in the same day.

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Given all the recent news in the financial industry, we understand you might have some questions about how the cash in your E*TRADE Securities account is protected.Rest assured that the uninvested cash in your Extended Insurance Sweep Deposit Account (ESDA) is automatically FDIC-insured up to $500,000—featuring up to 5X the coverage of FDIC basic insurance.This extraordinary level of protection is a free feature of your brokerage account. There is no cost and nothing you need to do. It's just one of the many ways your assets are protected at E*TRADE Securities:
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FDIC insurance coverage up to $500,000 for the cash held in your Extended Insurance Sweep Deposit Account.¹
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E*TRADE Securities is a member of SIPC, which protects securities customers of its members up to $500,000 (including $100,000 for claims for cash). Explanatory brochure available upon request or at www.sipc.org.
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Additional brokerage protection up to $150 million per brokerage account is underwritten by London insurers (aggregate $600 million).²
At E*TRADE, the safety and security of your assets is of paramount importance. Today, over 3.1 million customers worldwide rely on E*TRADE for their trading, investing, and banking needs. We look forward to serving you for many years to come. Sincerely,Michael CurcioChief Executive OfficerE*TRADE Securities LLC P.S. For additional information on your Extended Insurance Sweep Deposit Account, please visit the following links, or see our frequently asked questions.

Facebook - Friends for Sale

A few months ago I kept getting messages informing me that different friends had purchased me on Facebook. It sounded too weird to me and so I never checked into it because any widget you "check into" on Facebook seems to automatically force you to display the widget on your page. Since I'm a big fan of simple and effective online design, I don't like to participate in a lot of the little widgets, decorations, gifts, etc. that seem to detract from the main ambiance of the message.

However, I finally gave in and had to check it out since my value (about $8,000) at the time seemed so low to the million or so dollars that a few of my friends were worth.

I'm glad I did.

First, you earn money for yourself if you log in every four hours. It seems to consistently be $10,000. Don't ask how I learned this fact.

Second, you earn money if you invite a certain number of friends to the application. That seems to be around $40,000. This is allowed once a day as far as I have been able to gage.

Third, you can invite the same people day after day and so you can keep re-earning $40,000 even if you select the same people.

Fourth, the more people you invite and gain as "pets," the more likely that the percentage of participants will go up which will put more money into the "pet marketplace" and the more likely your own value will go up because there are more people participating in the buying and selling process. More money in the game literally.

Fifth, you earn money when you buy or when you are bought...putting more money in your spending pocket.

Wow! This game has nothing to do with buying or selling people as pets. It's all about cost-push and demand-pull economics, stock market, finance, money management, etc. Very, very interesting.

It really is a safe environment for learning some things about the market. Now my task is to figure out how to capture this into an interesting game for kids, as well as adults, to teach those market skills. Hmm.

Stock Market and Housing Crisis

Today the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae's of the world are having big time trouble. I had purchased some Fannie Mae stock months ago went it got down to $28 a share because that was such a bargain. These government backed organizations are thought to be the last to fall in any mortgage downturn. But, this week we see that they've fallen from graces too. However, the government will most likely help them with at least a little bail out.

Today Fannie Mae opened around $7.50 a share. Horrible drop in price! Luckily, I hadn't purchased so much, but I know more than a few people that invested around $40,000 in that stock. Yikes! And thus we see the benefit of diversifying our portfolios.

As a result of this news...I made an extra trip to Costco to buy more food staples for my emergency supply. I happen to have a very stable job, but the food prices may jump even more drastically than they have in the past two months. Wheat and corn products value has gone way up and we will all enjoy this as a cost passed on to us.

Apparently, there continue to be more foreclosures this month as well. Entire neighborhoods falling culprit to intruders and robbers of house items - like toilets, sinks, etc? See, I knew all this a few months ago and finally just turned the tv off so I could have a break from all the turmoil around me. Now it sounds like I'd better be a little more aware.

I guess our spending is coming back to haunt us. Now is the time to get creative - and I'm not just talking about carpooling - but going after that Big Idea that Donnie Deutsch is always talking about on MSNBC. There's always something that benefits in recessions and depressions and I'm thinking that some of us should band together and figure out what "that" thing is.

Any ideas?