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Staying Sane While Wall Street
Crashes
by David Leonhardt a.k.a. The Happy Guy
Everybody is riding the Wall Street Roller coaster.
Even if you are not invested, the headlines scream
out one word: PANIC!
It's hard not to join in the panicking. The Panic
Crowd seems to be having all the fun these days.
But they don't have all the happiness. You see,
it's true what your mother told you: money doesn't
buy happiness, at least not for most people. But
the lack of money does buy pure misery.
Did you ever wonder why so many office towers have
fusion-sealed, micron-proof windows to keep office
workers safe from any semblance of fresh air? It
has to do with the stock market. During The Great
Depression, just too many brokers were jumping out
of windows. This enraged a nation of vengeful investors,
who demanded to kill their brokers personally. So
henceforth all windows were sealed.
(The good news is that by the time the windows were
sealed, The Great Depression had ended, so there
have been very few reported cases of enraged investors
killing their brokers. However, there have been
several incidents of "office air suffocation
syndrome" -- but that's another issue for another
column.)
Oh no! Not another Top Ten list!
Here are The Happy Guy's Top Ten Tips for Staying
Sane While Wall Street Crashes Around You:
1. Don't panic. Enough people are doing that already;
you're needed elsewhere.
2. Don't join the Panic Crowd. They are NOT having
more fun, they just act that way to attract new
members fold. Misery loves company.
3. Take inventory. Do you have the basic necessities?
If so, you are OK. When they come to take away your
television remote control, then panic.
4. Smile at your neighbor. A smile lifts everybody's
spirits, but most of all your own.
5. Remember the Great Depression. It sucked, but
people survived. It's amazing how many non-essentials
we take for granted. Rent a movie about the 1930s,
sit back, and laugh about how much better our depression
is going to be.
6. Learn a new skill. In hard times, it pays to
be very, very employable. And you may even be lucky
enough to have two jobs. Oh, wait. That's our problem
now.
7. Start saving now. Then when the bottom falls
out, at least you'll have something to live on for
three-and-a-half weeks.
8. Start spending now. It's folks like you, saving
all your money instead of spending it, that are
killing the economy.
9. Stop listening to people telling you to save
or to spend. In fact, stop listening to news about
the markets. It's just too depressing.
10. Ignore top ten lists. They are way too gimmicky
and seldom give any truly useful information (except
for this one, of course!)
There you have it. The Happy Guy's Top Ten Tips
for Staying Sane While Wall Street Crashes Around
You. All the advice your mother didn't tell you
about financial markets, and more importantly, about
keeping happy while others suffer. The bottom line
is don't panic, don't invest all your emotions where
your money is invested, and focus on what really
matters.
About The Author
David Leonhardt is The Happy Guy. He is an energetic
motivational speaker and author of Climb Your Stairway
to Heaven: the 9 habits of maximum happiness. Visit
him at
http://www.TheHappyGuy.com
David@TheHappyGuy.com |
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