Mar 28 2009
Show Me The Money!
Some days, even though the financial outlook may seem dismal, you discover hidden money you forgot you even had. Case in point: I was investing in a few measly stocks last year, before everything totally went down the toilet. I’m beyond a small timer. I don’t have loads of cash to sink into the market, nor did I back then either. But, as they say “buy low, sell high”, so I put some cash in just to see what would happen.
Well, today, while playing around in Quicken, I thought I’d go to the ShareBuilder site and double check to make sure my updates are working correctly. Imagine my surprise to see my ShareBuilder account sporting a number some $200 higher than my Quicken account. WHAT? What is this? Money? I have some?
When the market started tanking, I stopped my automatic investments, and decided to just sit back and ride it out. However, for at least 8 weeks before that, I hadn’t entered the stock purchases in Quicken, only the cash transfers to the account. DOH. Didn’t even look at ShareBuilder til today.
So, at least, for the moment….I’ve got more money (on paper) than I thought I had. I am not touching it, and frankly, probably won’t buy anything for the foreseeable future. I have hope though, in the new administration. I have hope that our economy, as a whole, will turn around in the next year or so. Until then, however, at least NOW I know exactly how much I have to gain or to lose!
