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'Get Your Fiscal House In Order'

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By STACIE SCHAIBLE

sschaible@wfla.com

Published: February 7, 2009

Chris Markowski, a nationally syndicated radio host, calls himself the "Watchdog on Wall Street."

In a recent interview, he touted his no-nonsense approach to money management and provided these tips:

•"There's no way around it, no software program, there's nothing out there. You have to spend less than you make and you have to get your fiscal house in order."

•"If you're at a point where you need to know what that market is doing on any given day, there's a clue you should probably not be in stocks at all."

•"If you're 25 years old and you're seeing the market go up 200, down 300 points, over here 400 points, who knows what's next, the sky is falling, it's great. It doesn't matter because you have time on your side."

But Markowski says that if you are near retirement, then you need a different strategy.

"They have to start looking to preserve those assets and go to more cash equivalents because they don't have time on their side."

Markowski, who lives in Sarasota, is also aware of how home values have plummeted.

"Don't be dipping into your retirement accounts to pay for a condo you bought that is $200,000 under water."

"It's often better to walk away from some of these properties than to try to keep them afloat," he said. "In my opinion, it's going to take another year, year and a half, before we really see the bottom of the real estate market. It's going to take some time, there's just too much inventory out there."

Markowski sees some positives from this economic downturn.

"For the longest time our savings rate was down the tubes, people weren't saving any money. They're starting to now. They're starting to get their household balance sheets in order and I think that is going to strengthen our economy over the long run."

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