MInTheGap

We live in interesting times.  I can’t think of a time during my life time where the prices of staple goods were rising like they are today with markets unsure of how to gauge everything.  Granted, I believe that nothing comes as a surprise to God, and that I have nothing to fear, but with this time of unease also comes an opportunity.

As I read this morning in U.S. News and World Report, times of market unease—or even a correction—is a great time to be investing in stocks because you can get them at bargain prices.  This includes retirement plans—401Ks, IRA’s (both traditional and Roth IRAs) and so if you have some time left before you retire, you’ll want to take advantage of the low market prices now, since it will probably go up when the dust settles.

It’s at this point, however, that I get a little hazy.  You see, I tried to be a good investor back in 1998 and 1999 when I first got out of college.  There, with money that I didn’t know what to do with (after paying off my college debt and buying my first car), I decided that it would be a good idea to get some money into the market.

I was investing 7% of my income into a 401K, I put $2,000 into a Roth IRA, and I started putting money into an E-Trade account.  Can anyone say WorldCom?

The problem was that I was flying blind when it came to stock picks.  I had no idea what the numbers meant, what it meant to sell short, why I should put in automatic transactions if my numbers went too low, etc. 

So, the bubble burst, and when I went to take out the money to buy my first house after I got married, it was a small fraction of what I put in.  What I needed was a financial advisor. But not just any advisor, I needed someone who understood the markets, could explain it to me and was unbiased.

People like this are hard to find.  Thankfully there are services out there that provide tools and data to different brokers and dealers that can help us to make sense of it all and help us to make wise investments.  If it weren’t for these tools, it would be difficult to know what would be a safe investment, and what would be a good investment for the different risk tolerances we all have.

So, take advantage of this market.  If you have some money that you can throw at that 401K plan, now’s the time.  Get into managed plans, or get a good financial advisor.  For those in their 20s and 30s, now’s the best time to be saving for your future.

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