the value of money right now can go either way, because dollars actually disappeared, because jobs disappear as well, your money might be worth more in a few months then now, cash could be hard to find
on the other hand, with all the buyouts from the government, which translates into printing paper, combined with china reclaiming the debt and spending the assets they've acquired over these 8 years of borrowing by this country, the dollar could be worthlless.
it can actually go either way
the market has can continue to fall, it could go as low as 4 or 5 thousand, though I believe the bottom is closer to 7 or 8 unless there is a real recovery plan that does NOT give the money to the very thieves that stole it in the first place...waxman has a hand in this as he intends on providing the oversite that might actually do some good keeping paulson from giving this money to his pals
they've already squandered millions of dollars on frigging vacations and retirement so let's see how much of this "bailout" actually goes into the middle class
the only real answer is to buy an asset that retains it's (relative) value no matter what the dollar does.
what is that?
food is number one, but where would you store 20,000 dollars worth of food that doesn't expire?...no
so that's out, gold is another but there is so much speculating that I have no idea if it is over or under valued right now, not a bad choice would be a piece of used jewelery bought from someone you know paid much more for it, have it appraised to make sure it's what they say it is....if there are hard times you would have to take scrap value for the gold
so the answer is buy something you know as a fact you will need and use for years on end, this does NOT mean a car by the way, they might be worth paper in a couple of years.
think of something you know you want, you know you've needed, you know you will always need, go and buy that