You Must Remember This

Over breakfast this morning, my wife handed me the business section, without even taking a glance.

"I can't stand looking at the bad news anymore," she said.

I understood completely. I, too, am tired of seeing the value of our retirement accounts fall day after day.

But here is what I told her.

Things are cyclical. We have seen the kind of stock market before. It is awful. And wearing. But eventually it ends.

Until it does, if you are happy with the way your funds are allocated, my wife's approach is a good one. Don't read the bad news. Just keep doing what you are doing: Saving for retirement; making sure you have little or no consumer debt, and making sure you have money squirreled away in an emergency fund, invested in something ultra-safe.