Dec 13th, 2008
Show Me the Money
Looking at my pay stubs as my final paychecks of the year approaches, it’s hard for me to believe that I’ve made this much money this year. Despite the economic downturn, I’ll earn more money this year than ever before.
The unfortunate part is that when I look at my various accounts this year, it’s hard to believe that’s true. My investment accounts are all down considerably; my emergency fund was its fine and dandy usual self until I needed to pay for the truck repair.
Looking at the accounts makes me a bit uneasy; were things really okay for me financially when I have tens of thousands of dollars less in my net worth column than I did at this time last year?
The logic says yes, but the emotion doesn’t always agree.
One of the tricks of investing is to check your results less often rather than more often; that way day to day fluctuations don’t make you overly excited–or overly afraid. Unfortunately, this year, once a year was still once too many (that said, I’m still not making any changes!).
