Down the Coast with Dana Parsons: Stock market fatigue

Is there no escape? No place to hide?

For the sake of argument, let’s say some of us don’t want to be reminded every single hour of the day that the stock market is collapsing, taking our retirement income down like so much hair in the bathtub drain. Or that the economy not only does not rock, but is actually on the rocks. Or that a bank might turn out to be nothing more than a pretty building with no money in it.

What if we’d like to be blissfully unaware — at least for a few days — that instead of taking ocean cruises in retirement we’ll be living with relatives?

Good luck.

I’m trying to be one of those people. I don’t want to know how bad things are. At least, not know every hour or so. It’d be like your doctor calling you up several times a day saying, “You remember you have colitis, right?”

Turn on the TV, there it is. Talk radio, there it is. Pick up the newspaper, there it is. Talk to friends on the phone, there it is. The main headline in Wednesday’s Times: "Economic concerns deepen."

Even when you’re watching non-economic news on TV, those little trailers keep running across the bottom of the screen with the bad news, like dancing elves of torture. Or you’ll be watching a happy story on CNN or Fox and, before you can change channels, there’s the red arrow showing the Dow dropping again. How about a green arrow once in a while?

A couple of weeks ago, I told my financial adviser I didn’t want to look at my quarterly mutual fund statement. “Good idea,” he said. A few days later, though, when I said I needed to review my 401K at work but couldn’t do so without seeing how much I’d lost in recent months, he said, “We can’t hide our heads in the sand.”

To the contrary, sounds like an excellent idea.

 

Comments

[Nancy]

While my head was out of the sand , my feet were in and I didn't hear ONE single report of bad news. Great idea Parsons. Take a day off..Go to the beach and pretend for one day this is not happening...