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In honor of this being my 101st post, I thought I’d do a little ditty on Econ 101…

I know, I can’t get away from the economic crap. Let’s face it, none of us can. But this recent Wall Street Journal piece couldn’t have come soon enough. It advises the following:  Ignore the Stock Market Until February

Sound advice! And I think I’m gonna do that. I’ve been watching this market since September and there’s only one place left for it to all go from here. South. So, other than my 401(k), I have nothing in terms of investments that is greatly affected by the markets and I’ve decided to stop looking at that and the 401(k) too. After ten years of seeing my 401(k) grow very nicely, it’s been essentially hacked and trampled on for the past year. I believe my last statement said I’ve lost almost 14% since January of 2008.

I’ll probably be working until I’m 90 anyway at this rate.

What I’m not exactly sure of tho’ is if the money I’ve lost has been from the return I got for the past ten years, or if, by chance, any of those lost dollars are some of the principle amount I initially invested? In other words, all those pre-tax dollars from my pay check that went into my 401(k), have I lost any of that? It would take me hours to figure the math and go over my statements for the past ten years, but I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody out there has done that.

I guess that’s what would upset me the most. If what I’ve lost is only that which I earned for a return over the past ten years, then, okay, I can deal with that. But if I’m losing the very dollars that I earned that came from my paycheck, that’s like throwing money out the window.

And I just can’t bear to know if that’s the case or not. And the fact that I’m thinking that way is what’s got me thinking that I need to turn off the television (or at least change the channel).

Don’t misunderstand me here. I have no regrets about doing a 401(k) and am glad that I started it as soon as I qualified for it when I started working my job ten years ago. I had no clue what I was doing at the time with it, and it was tempting to just say the hell with it and take the cash in hand instead. But I knew and understood that if I wanted to have something by the time I retired, I better do this 401(k) thing.

Ok, I’m rambling, but you’re apparently still reading. I really want to ignore the stock market. I really do. But I got this weird interest in money and investing. I like the idea of my money working for me, ya know? I’m not looking to make a huge killing anywhere, I just want to know where I can park some dough and watch it grow. (I’m a poet and I didn’t know it). Starting last year, I started educating myself on some financial stuff beyond the 401(k) and high rate CDs. I started learning about Treasury Notes and Bills and even went so far as to purchase a couple this past year. They’re an easy, short-term investment and although there’s not a huge return on T-bills right now, I like the fact that I’ve learned about another place to park my money.

I was gonna try to educate myself this year on mutual funds but then the market started blowing up so I didn’t. I even thought about buying gold. I’ve briefly contemplated buying stocks but don’t know if I should try that now or in, say, February.

I guess I’m no different than anybody else right now. At least, anybody else that worries about their financial future. These really are uncertain times we live in. How do I know if what I’m doing is the right thing to do? How do I know if what I’ve done is the right thing to do? How do I know if what I’m going to do will be the right thing to do?

The answer: I don’t. The only thing I do know is that there are forces at work here that are out of my control. The best I can do is be as diligent as I can and educate myself as much as can to continue to find ways to make my money work for me. And remind myself that this is long term. The market will turn around eventually and new opportunities will come. Until then, the best I can do is continue to save my money, educate myself and learn from these times.

And otherwise ignore the stock ticker for a few months. Turn off the news, change the channel or pop in a DVD.