I’m just back from a national meeting, my first in 6 years.
Spending time away from the office and the inbox, while attending educational sessions, was invigorating. Returning to a week’s worth of messages and to-do’s is not.
Right now, looking at my work load, retirement sounds mighty attractive. However, while I was away, the stock market decided to jump off a cliff.
I have finally checked my brokerage account, ignoring lesson #2 from dealing with market crashes. My net worth is still respectable, but definitely not where it was in February, when I had that talk with my boss.
After losing so much money, with no guarantee my portfolio total might not drop lower, I’m glad I will still be employed in a few months. What a way to dodge that sequence of returns risk.
I am torn between hunkering down and looking at cutting expenses like it’s 2009 vs going ahead and spending as I had been planning, mostly on the house and maybe travel. I suppose I can do both if I like: cut back on the stuff I don’t care about but still make my life a little nicer if the money is there.
How are you dealing with the stock market drop? (No politics, please, tempting though it is to discuss why the market tanked.)
I’m trying not to look. Honestly, we’re okay for this year’s spending and have enough in cash investments to get us through the end of next year. I won’t panic yet. 😂
No panicking!
After several days of financial news (including stuff Mr. PiN was telling me), I just had to look. Normally I would advise not looking at all.
It did make me feel better about my decision to keep working, since I was tired and grumpy after a long trip home, and didn’t feel like going in to the office today.
Clearly, I am not yet comfortable with my cash investment total yet; I guess that will be part of my focus as I slide towards a retirement. (Of course, as long as everything doesn’t go up in smoke, this may be a good time to keep investing in the market…)
(This leaves aside a lot of unhappiness that is coming down the economic turnpike)