Slider or Roller Coaster

The stock market tumbles three digits in one day: we are tarnished by bearish gloom. Perhaps, we should "insure" our investment portfolio with puts. And it turns the next day. What goes down, must go up. So the roller coaster rides on, vehemently, viciously, flagrantly.

Yesterday's puts are today worth nothing. The share price is still below book value. So, stops in place, we wonder whether this is a good place to be. Those who watched their stocks hawkishly on a regular basis, have given up. They have decided that a quarterly evaluationand financial analysis of their stocks, is a cure for insomnia, ulcers, anxiety, cardio-vascular disease: whatever that drags them to the family doctor can be redeemed by putting blinkers on their eyes and forgetting where the DOW is at.

Jeez! You might say. I don't know where my investments are at, for I don't worry about them. I have GIC's which may (or not) stay ahead of inflation. I have bonds whose yields vary in tardy fashion. I don't do options, never did, never will. Or maybe, you may say: my piggy bank is where it's all at. Commodity prices and futures are a matter of passing interest, I'd rather buy shoes online.

Therefore, forget the roller coaster. Switching to another activity, you may not get a home run, but you may slide in with singles and on. Remember though, that your retirement portfolio growth should not only beat inflation, but the end result should suffice to meet your retirement expenses.