What to do About That 401(k)

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I decided to bite the bullet and look at the statement that Fidelity had the nerve/sadistic impulse/customer-friendly approach (pick one that best applies) to make available yesterday.

Ouch. I lost money last quarter and I lost money again in January. I don't feel like saying how much, but let's just say it was a little under 10%.

The problem is that I haven't changed my allocations since the end of Q3, and that's just not smart; a lot has changed since September. Because I'm still (relatively) young, I have a lot in growth stocks, a decent amount in small caps and international funds, a bit in value funds and the rest in treasuries.

I realize that I should reallocate, but the fact is that I just don't feel like it. I don't want to think about it. It depresses me, and I'm not even sure how to go about doing that now. What's a good strategy in the current environment?

The truth is, there aren't a lot of answers out there, simply because no one trusts anything. Tim Middleton has some interesting ideas for investing retirement funds during a recession, including one--save less--that makes sense, even if it is counter-intuitive.

The one thing we shouldn't do, however, is what I've been guilty of doing--which is hiding my head in the sand. The news can't get much worse, and I'll probably feel better by doing something instead of trying -- and failing -- to forget about it.

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