I leave for work around 6:45 AM, or earlier if I'm feeling particularly chipper or if I have just returned from a European vacation (jet lag). I start up my car, scrape my windows, and head off into the cold, dark world (is it time to change the clocks or what??). The first thing I do in the car is turn on the defrost/heat. My next step is to change the station to Bloomberg radio.
I listen to Bloomberg radio on Sirius, which might be best invention ever for committed commuters like myself ("committed" because I spend 2+ hours/day in my car, or perhaps because I should be committed for spending 1/12+ of my life that way; it's a toss-up).
While we were in Italy and watching the downward financial spiral begin, I couldn't help but wonder what Tom Keane--perhaps my new fav finance guy since Alan Greenspan, whom I now know is not infallible, but hey, nobody's perfect--was saying about the current financial markets. I needn't have worried because the drama has only intensified since we returned, and I've had ample opportunity to hear his carefully paced but energetic commentary as well as the opinions of his guests.
His guests have wide-ranging specialties, and some are more scintillating than others, but all offer analysis and predictions that help me understand financial markets a little bit more. After the Dow fell below 8500 (a move predicted by a guest, back when falling to 8500 seemed inconceivable), I vowed not to check my 401k accounts because I knew that I would be met only with bad news.
Sticking to that decision would have been good, but I broke down last week and decided to log on and see how I was doing. Big Mistake. If you haven't checked your accounts yet--Don't Do It! Wait for your next quarterly statement, or better yet, wait for another year, and understand that you're not alone in your 30% loss.
After adding up all of the money that, on paper anyway, I had lost, I considered my options. Curling up in a corner and crying, while tempting, wasn't going to get me anywhere. Taking my money out when the market is at its lowest point is about the worst idea ever. Continuing my current contributions was really my only choice.
But then every day on the radio came doom and gloom, and I could start to feel my heartbeat increase every time I pushed Bloomberg's preset station number on my radio. What bad news would come today, I would wonder. How far will the Dow fall tomorrow, I would ponder. It got to be too much.
And then I had an epiphany. I am a bystander in this crisis. I'm not a trader or a portfolio manager or a hedge fund manager, and the money that I have invested in the stock market is peanuts compared to most. I don't actively interact with any markets. In short, I have zero control over this situation--and that's a comforting place to be. If I can't control what's going to happen in the market, then what's the point of worrying about it?
My new attitude has helped me enormously. Earlier this week when the Dow was flirting with falling below 8,000 and the impending, likely rate cut seemed eons away, I reminded myself of my lack of power and immediately relaxed. Listening to Bloomberg is not nearly as stressful as it was becoming.
But when it gets to be too much, Cosmo radio is always there for a lighter form of entertainment. After all, all finance and no fun makes M a dull girl.
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