On the Money

Gordon Gekko championed the virtues of greed in the 1980s, saying it "captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit" and "has marked the upward surge of mankind." But reality tells a different story, with Wall Street experiencing a downward spiral amid ongoing global economic uncertainty.
On February 27, the stock market suffered its worst loss since the 2001 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center. The Dow fell 416 points, while Nasdaq slid 97 points. Some experts blamed the plunge on Alan Greenspan's comments about the United States economy possibly facing a recession by the end of the year.
It's bad enough that billions of dollars vanished from the economy in a matter of hours ... but when companies have been laying off thousands of workers and the housing market has been declining for months, as Bloomberg reporter Kathleen Howley noted in her February 21 article, this "bubble burst" was inevitable. The real cause of concern, though, is that things are going to get worse before they get better -- which is why financial literacy is an essential tool in today's society.
You don't have to be rich to build wealth, and it's never too late to start saving money. (I'm not a millionaire, but I take great pride in being debt-free.) Consumer groups like America Saves espouse this philosophy, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas has educational resources for teens and adults to help them on the road to economic security.
Like Rocky Balboa, the stock market will bounce back after being knocked down. But financial literacy will help one withstand the sucker punches thrown by Wall Street.