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Monday, December 1, 2008 12:00 AM

I bought stocks; my husband bought CDs. Now I can't bear to look

I can't get up the nerve to tell my husband just how much money we've lost.

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  • Sunday, November 30, 2008 10:55 PM

    401Fear

    You'd be surprised how many people don't even want to look at their 401Ks. I'm seeing it mentioned all over the place. I'm guessing your husband doesn't want to know, either. If he did, he would have asked you by now.

    One way to look at the "should I stay or should I go" question is that stock investment can come down to a matter of faith -- do you have have faith that the stock market will endure, correcting itself and averaging out just fine over the next 25 years you still have till retirement? If you do, stick it out. (Keep in mind that you don't actually lose money until you sell your stocks.) But as far as particular stock you own, you should definitely look into getting perspectives from several smart financial types, and/or your plan may offer no-brainer recommended diversified investments correlated to varying retirement horizons.

    Don't beat yourself up about the current bath we're all taking lately. It's very likely that those who jumped ship over the last few months may come to regret it, perhaps sooner than later. There's just no way the average 401Ker could have had the know-how required to see this (temporary?)implosion coming.

    And actually, taking the larger perspective of your and your husband's combined approaches, the two of you might be pretty brilliant. He's in CDs, stodgy and safe and making guaranteed interest, and you're out there trying to earn greater gains. Very yin/yang, I'd say.

    Good luck to you, and to all of us as this craziness shakes out.

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