Ignorance is Bliss
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One especially nice thing about index investing is, I don’t pay a lick of real attention to the day-to-day goings on of the stock market. That said, of course I like seeing the market go up, and am not a huge fan of watching it go down (unless it comes just before my next round of contributions, making them more of a bargain).
The work going on around our new home has ensured that I’ve stayed out of the financial news loop, which, being a numbers geek and all, I normally pay at least mild attention. We also returned last Wednesday from an all-too-short family vacation where I hadn’t opened a newspaper, checked my email (or touched a computer for that matter), or even flipped on TV for almost a week. So I’ve been even more removed emotionally from our investments than normal. Catching up, I’m reading a lot of borderline panic in investors.
Me, I’m with Jim at Blueprint for Personal Finance: Don’t worry about it. Unless you needed that money soon - in which case, the stock market was probably not your best vehicle to put it in the first place - the ups and downs of the market are nothing but normal. What’s abnormal are constant, uninterrupted gains. I find it laughable that some investors and financials pundits (who should know better, but then, all segments of the press corp have been atrocious for several years now) talk like the end is nigh.
Relax… 
Tagged:
» investing, stock market, financial, investments, panic
Financial Freedumb said,
Wrote on June 20, 2006 @ 1:58 pm
Sean said,
Wrote on June 20, 2006 @ 3:58 pm
Yeah, I’ve stumbled across a post or two of yours and thought, ‘Sheesh, come on, you’re 28, time is on your side… Relax!‘
I can understand not enjoying watching those balances going down even while you shovel cash in, but it’s going to happen (likely many times) before we retire. Just the nature of the beast, I’m afraid.
Plus, isn’t a straight line boring?
Paying More in Bank Fees Than Interest? said,
Wrote on July 20, 2006 @ 9:54 am
[...] I’m fairly oblivious to the financial news of the day, but I happened to stumble across Bank of America revealing their earning $18.23 billion in revenue in the second quarter yesterday. [...]