Ugh

Yah, it’s double unconscious gong facepalm time.

Good news is I’ll go in tomorrow to fill out paperwork for an employer who offers full health and 401(k) benefits.

Bad news is the markets are so stinky at the moment I’m wondering if I’d be better off investing in pumpkin futures. (Homer, you knucklehead! I told you to sell your pumpkin futures before Halloween. Before!)

Of course, you have to think as a long-term investor. You have to, as my father-in-law does, leave the mail from your investment folks generally unperused in a down market so you’re not depressed at the amount of money that you’ve lost. (He checks things out generally, but doesn’t dwell on the negative numbers. Good thing, since his negative numbers are waaaaay bigger than mine.) My only consolation with putting money in the market now is that things are a bit cheaper to buy, in general, than in the past, because not much is worth the paper it’s printed on. Part of me still feels like, however, I’m throwing good money onto a bonfire.

Maybe we need to get serious with certificates of deposit . . . but returns on them are depressingly low. We can’t afford to be that conservative at the moment.