Well, I did it. (Looked at my retirement account balances)

Each year, about this time after all my account statements have arrived in the mail, I pick a day to enter my various retirement account balances into a spreadsheet. I say various accounts because I have rollover accounts with 4 difference fund companies.

In this very hard economic time, I've talked with lots of folks who have told me that when their retirement fund papers come in the mail, they don't even open the envelope. They'd rather not know how bad it is. I can certainly understand where they are coming from although I do not agree with what they are doing.

After graphing my retirement account balances, I'm down 36% from a year ago. Ouch! But no need to panic. There was a need for me to "rebalance" how I'm allocating my current retirement withholding's. The only way I knew to do this was by looking at my statements.

I take comfort in this as I look at my declining retirement fund balances.

1. God is in control and I'm not.
2. I've got time on my side even at 42 years of age.
3. As I put money into the market now, I'm getting more shares for the same dollars.
4. The Bible tells us to save for the future and saving is a retirement fund is the best way I know how to do that.