Saturday, September 27, 2008

The Nest Egg

I was really distraught when I finally got up enough courage to log on to my financial providers website the other day. I quit a job after 11 years and rolled my 401k into a Roth IRA. For me it was a substantial amount of money. At my new job I just started over with a new 401k.

So I log in and start poking around and boom! My IRA has lost 14% of it's value since May. I got a terrible sinking feeling. I became a little nauseous. I started to panic. I immediately called the 800 number. I was starting to sweat.

I nice young man came on and I said hey man I'm a little in crisis mode here, I just need to know if I'm doing the right thing with my money. I mean I put in x amount of dollars at the beginning of the year and now I'm down to y amount. And I know this isn't like a savings account I mean once it's gone it's gone! And could I potentially loose all of it? Should I do something else? If Congress doesn't pass some kind of bail out is your company going to disappear with the rest of my money?

The rep was really good and he talked me down off the precipice. I was ready to start putting everything under the mattress. He explained everything I thought I already knew about market volatility and how I'm only 37 and should take the long view since I won't be wanting any of this money for some 25 years or so. He explained that while the value of my plan has went down, the number of shares I possess is still the same. And those shares will rebound in value over time. He told me to relax. So, I allowed myself to believe him. Confidence is part of the market. And I choose to believe that the markets will go up and continue to go up.
Just like I believe that Congress will fix this mess we are in. And Santa will be here before you know it. And the Easter Bunny will bring another new nest egg in the Spring when the markets soar. Hallelujah!

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