By Jim Selman | Bio
As we move into the sixth month of the ‘global meltdown’, it seems like it has been going on a lot longer. I can hardly remember what it was like when we were ‘high’ on the prospects of prosperity forever. Like most ‘-olics’, we thought we controlled something we didn’t control that then began controlling us. In our pursuit of the American Dream, we somewhere began to get a little too much of a good thing and became ‘hooked’ on the idea that perpetual growth
By Jim Selman | Bio
Sandra, my financial advisor and friend, and I were talking about the ‘meltdown’ the other day. I was asking how my retirement investments were doing and she shared that I probably don’t want to know. She is a believer that markets go up and down and, over the long-haul, reasonably conservative investing will pay off. Historically this may be true, but somehow knowing that doesn’t help when you are afraid of ‘losing’ your life’s savings or having to live off your friends and children when you are old. Sandra’s advice was to relax and don’t read the newspapers. I think she is right.When I think about it, I
have been a long-term investor for the past twenty years or so. For
most of that time, I didn’t think about my investments or ‘follow’ the
market. My relationship with the financial world was about like my
relationship with the weather—I was vaguely aware when it was raining,
but mostly it didn’t affect my life one way or the other. So what
happened? Now I read the financial section in the newspaper first