My IRA is in a global stock mutual fund and has lost approximately $8,000 in the past year or so. I'm still contributing an automatic deposit of $100 a month. The positive side is that I'm buying a lot of shares at a very low price. The negative side is that it doesn't feel good to lose that much money at my age.
I've decided to ride it out for a while longer until I can make a decision of some sort.
In the meantime, I'm maintaining all my automatic savings deposits. I have a lot of different savings goals (about 10 or 12--I've lost count) and savings accounts (about 10). It doesn't seem like I'm getting anywhere when I look at each account individually. Many of my automatic deposits are small, but they're steady. And overall, I'm doing better than I thought.
In addition to the automatic savings, I've recently found it EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to add 'random acts of deposits' to each account as I see fit. No real system--I just gather loose change and dollar bills that are found or left over from the previous week's budget and deposit that into the account I feel needs it. The bank teller looks at you funny when you deposit $3.35. But I stand strong, smile, and say, "yes ma'am, that's three dollars and thirty-five cents". My spouse and my child were mortified when I told them I do this every week or so. "That's ridiculous," the kid says. (The kid is the one who spends all of his money.)
These random acts of deposits will not make up for an $8,000 loss in my IRA, but I'm hoping my IRA will heal itself. These deposits help me remember my 'intention' and help me to save 'on purpose'. It makes me feel like I'm doing the best I can in spite of what's going on around me.
Random Acts of Deposits
August 14th, 2008 at 12:24 am
August 14th, 2008 at 03:11 pm 1218723087
August 14th, 2008 at 06:37 pm 1218735457
And it is...inch by inch, life's a cinch!!