Opinions of the Family Man -- a Gardena and LA County Poker Type since 1959 -- so you know I'm not a spring chicken. I have been about 40% in stocks for the last 18 months and the dent in my net worth on an absolute basis is/was about 10%. Probably only ten percent since my portfilio is well deversified. My dot coms & techs "of course" got hurt the most, but since I bought most of them about five years ago -- my losses are declines in profits -- but still they are losses. My Vanguard U.S, Growth Mutual Fund really got clobbered -- I lost about 70% of my profit over the last six years in about the six months starting the year 2001 -- another big loss. On a relative basis, considering lost of interest also, I estimate I down about 18% since Sept of 2000, if things would have continued as they did in 1998 & 1999. Also, I was laddering about 10% of my available liquid assets in mostly 1,2, and maybe 3 year Treasury Bills & Notes at 5.5 to 6.2 percent. I should have laddered them in five year notes to maintain a 6% yield -- a big mistake -- caused by & because of the drastic drop in the prime rate. Luckily I don't have a cash flow problem, and I'm going to hang in their with the rest of us Americans and hope the world leaders can get things straightened out -- let's hope. I'm not buying any low interest bonds or long term bonds -- I guess I'm going to try to get "somehow" a relativly safe 5% on my liquid accounts. I'm OK, but probably many or some guys in their sixties who were relying some on dividends or interest are hurting some.... The low interest rates have caused real estate prices to go up in good location-location. But some other average neighborhoods have not much increased in value. My wife's sister had a house "just an average shack with an ocean view -- 3/4 of a mile away" in Pacifica, CA below SF & Daly City. They recently sold it for $550,500 in one day --$20,000 over what they ask. They paid about $300,000 four years ago. Things do go up in some areas.Twenty years ago, Pacifica neighborhoods were very low priced. But that has changed.


I have friends my age who have dropped 40% to 60% of their net worth since OCT 2000, mainly because they had too much high tech stuff, thought there was going to be a big recovery in the market after March of 2001. These friends of mine no longer like to talk about the markets. Another PHD friend of mine who teaches artifical intelligence and information science at UCLA and was working at a Dot.COM company in Culver City, CA -- anyway two years ago he predicted he was going to be a dot.com millionair in stock options at this Culver City Co. -- not to be. Now he works at an aerospace company and is not a millioniar type. I have also have a few friends who lost much money in trying to outsmart the options game.


Regards Family Man