Jennifer Fisher
A lobbyist in Washington, Fisher, 27, is single and rents a condo in Silver Spring, Md.
CURRENT SITUATION:
• n After accounting for bills, Fisher socks away most of the money she
earns. Every month, she puts $1,000 into a savings account and, until
the downturn, was investing $400, much of it in foreign stocks.
• A
part-time law student, Fisher
plans to use her savings to launch an
online women's clothing boutique. The timing is now "up in the air," she
says, because of the tanking market. "I know it'll be hard to get a
credit line."
• Fisher is considering buying a condo in what she thinks
is a buyer's market.
WHAT SHE SHOULD DO:
Fisher should start shopping for a home to buy now, says financial
expert Jean Chatzky, author of Make Money, Not Excuses. "Just as it's
impossible to time the bottom or top of the stock market, it's
impossible to time the bottom of the housing market," she says.