A 'HelpDesk' is a resource to turn to for help. It is not a 'Do-It-For-Me' resource. I think that if I could get that point across to more people my desire to kill myself daily would diminish dramatically.

I was discussing finances with some people last night and we talked about how different people reacted to the recession. Some people sold everything and hoarded their cash in low-interest investments. My personal feeling was that the stock market was on sale. All of it. I increased my retirement savings by about 50% in 2008. I figured so long as I have a job and I don't have an immediate need for this money I'd better make use of this once in a lifetime opportunity. I looked at my standard IRA returns a few days ago and I saw just how dramatic the swings in the market were in 2008:

Personal rate of return 01/31/2012
1 year : 3.3%
3 years : 19.8%
5 years : 2.5%

That doesn't mean that I made a fortune in 2009, but rather that I lost a fortune in 2008 and things recovered in 2009-2011...and then some. But in addition to that, I maxed out my IRA contributions, started a ROTH IRA, and made some large (for me) investments in individual stocks while things were down. I bought GE, C, BAC, USB, and F all at incredible discounts. GE is now almost 100% above where I bought it at. C continued to tank and is still in negative territory, but I'm confident that it will recover eventually and earn a profit for me. F is doing well. BAC was doing well, then tanked. I don't know when or if that will recover, but if it does I should do pretty well there too.