The Hybrid Car Theory of Investing

I am a late adapter.

For example, I only just started using my cell phone for just about all my calls, so it is probably not surprising that I haven't ever driven a hybrid car until now.

But, I rented one this week--I didn't seek it out; it is all that the people at Hertz had--and I love it. Yes, sure, I like the fact that I am helping to save the environment, but the appeal to an old cheapskate me is the gas mileage. I am getting about 50 miles to the gallon.

What has this to do with investing? A lot.

The great thing about hybrids is that they get BETTER mileage in stop-and-go driving. (My daughter's extremely bright, engineering major boyfriend explained to me the physics behind it, but I promptly dozed off.) Where I am staying in Florida this week, the speed limit is 25 and all you do is stop-and-go driving. So, what use to be a liability--you can't get anywhere quickly around here--works to my advantage. Every time I hit the brake people, my gas mileage increases.

Traffic is suddenly a good thing.

In the same (perverse) way, so is the stock market meltdown of 2008. True, the market fell more than a third, but it means it is cheaper to buy stocks. If you think the market will recover, as I do, the drop is a good thing,

Suddenly, I am willing to check the closing prices in the stock market again.