Financial lesson from Dad

Ever since the sh** started to hit the fan on Wall Street (all the way back in March, according to my internal timeline, with the Bear Stearns rescue) I've avoided looking at my 401(k) plan because, well, I'm too scared.

But last night at work, a bunch of my colleagues were talking about it and how much they've lost, etc., so I decided that I should find out what the damage was to my account. 

Basically, I've lost everything that I've contributed so far this year – I'm more than $1,600 in the hole. So my first instinct was to yank everything out of the stock market and transfer it into more stable territory. And when I called my dad and told him about this stroke of genius, he laughed and said that was the worst thing I could do. Apparently, it's stupid to sell off all your stocks when the market is at a low point and virtually guaranteed to go up eventually. 

So, with dad's advice in mind, I'm going back to my original strategy of just not looking at my account – that should help stave off future bouts of panic.

Reading religiously

OK, I've gotten lax about blogging again. But in my defense, I've taken up a new hobby this summer: reading. It's not exactly a new hobby – I used to read all the time when I was growing up, and even up through high school. Not so much during college, though, and barely anything at all the past five years because my job requires so much reading as it is. 

But in June, I decided I wanted to find a book to read on vacation. So I went to Target, perused the book section and picked out "The Memory Keeper's Daughter." And by the end of my vacation, I was finished with it and decided I liked it so much I wanted to read another book. 

So I hit Barnes and Noble and found "Molo'kai" by Alan Brennert, which is a historical novel about the leper colony on the Hawaiian island of (what else?) Molo'kai. Of course, that book was awesome, too, so I went back to Target and Barnes and Noble for still more books. 

Now, fast-forward to September, and I've purchased and read six other books. My favorite so far? "The Double Bind" by Chris Bohjalian. It's almost like a sequel to "The Great Gatsby" and has an awesome ending. I could read it again, but I loaned it to my mom because I told her she HAD to read it. 

On Wednesday, I started reading another book called "Keeping Faith," which is by Jodi Picoult. My mom gave it to me as a trade for "The Double Bind," and it's pretty good reading so far. I've had a hard time putting it down, so that means I'm almost done with it. 

But then I'll be out of books to read, which means either another trip to Target (it has the same books as Barnes for much cheaper) or a library card. Oh, and I'm open to suggestions on new reading material to feed my growing obsession with good books.