Fat Tuesday Farewell

My daughter is giving up candy for lent, and this was how she said goodbye....

4-OMG-1k

I told myself I wouldn't. I promised even. But I couldn't resist. And I am weak.
 
Now, I'm also disgusted. Which I knew I would be. Sigh...
 
So I recently received my end-of-year statement for my 401k. I knew it would be bad. I knew it. So I decided not to look.
 
But I did it anyway. I did the stupid thing of actually looking at my 401k statement this morning. That was a mistake. Now it has me thinking. And very few good things come of me thinking.
 
The downturn in the graphic represents a 30% drop from its high point last year. I realize this is not atypical of those in my position, but it's no less easy to look at. The graphic is actually slightly misrepresentative. The baseline value is not 0, as I didn't start my 401k in 2004. They're just showing the last few years. I started it ten years ago in my mid-twenties (like a good boy) and have been contributing up to the company matching amount every year since, doing what all the financial analysts said I should. I don't regret it. Mostly. And particularly not if things turn around, allowing me to reap huge dollar-cost-averaging-returns due to my continual dumping of cash into the downward spiral.
 
It hurts to think about it. But in the less than two months of 2009 alone, I have lost another 6% of my nest egg (bringing the total to 36%), and that 6% by itself almost equals my total contributions to the fund for 2007 and 2008 combined. Meaning the last two years of investment have been wiped out. Fun times.
 
Also, that 36% reduction in value nearly represents the sum of all of my contributions over the course of ten years (thank goodness for matching funds, profit sharing, stock splits, and the company requirement [at one time] to purchase corporate stock with 50% of the corporate match). Were it not for the corporate stock in my funds (ironically, considering the Enronian events of 2005), a great stabilizing force in my 401k, I might be nearly wiped-out today. This is not feeling any better to admit, in case you were wondering. But again, I realize this is not isolated to me, and that it is far worse for others. 20/20 hindsight might have had me shift 50-75% of my funds to bonds back in mid-2008 instead of only 10%. I treated my corporate shares as "bond-equivalent" which is why I only chose such a small amount. But I digress...
 
If I were a drinker, I'd wallow a bit in this via the bottle. But I am not, and so I shall blog-out-loud instead. I am, however, tipping my virtual glass in hopes that capitalism makes a comeback in the next decade or two, while I still have time to fathom an actual retirement.

Tornado Damage

I didn't go looking for damage or anything so these aren't exciting or thorough, but on my weekly post-kid-viola-lesson trip to Chick-Fil-A, it was hard not to notice what had occured next door. Thank goodness the tornado missed the Chick-Fil-A, or it could have really screwed up my week.  :)

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