TEN THINGS TO DO WHILE WAITING FOR THE
MARKET TO RISE AGAIN
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I’m a DP – that is, I’m a Depression
Kid. Naturally, I feel responsible for telling less fortunate people how we
survived the GREAT depression.
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I thought I could offer 10 things to
do while waiting for things to get better. I use the number 10 simply because
Moses did it and it worked well for him.
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1. Keep a diary. Someday your
grandchildren may want to know how you survived the Depression of ’08.
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2. Keep up hope. I wasn’t in on
the discussion at the time, but my mother told me that my parents probably
shouldn’t have let the house go into foreclosure. It was just that they
had three little boys and no job and things looked bleak. Folks need to
hang on and keep up hope.
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3. Keep living. My folks were
already acquainted with hard times and hard work. My dad took off his suit
and tie and put on rubber boots to work as a laborer in the oyster beds.
He also planted a garden and raised some chickens, pigs and a cow. They also
married and had all four of us boys in the heart of the Depression.
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4. Keep your health. No doubt
about it: health is wealth. It’s a good time to take inventory of your body
situation. Are your shots up to date? What about mammograms, colonoscopy,
PSA test for prostate, dermatology exam, eyes and teeth? It would be a shame
if the market survived and we didn’t.
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5. Keep track. Lots of folks
are in deep trouble with credit debt and mortgage debt because they lost
track of their actual financial situation. We can’t spend what we don’t have
if we’re going to make it through. Too many have given in to the appealing
ads and translated wants into needs when there was not money for it. We have
the idea that we can borrow our way into a prosperous life. Financial planners
all advise that we start our way out of trouble by simply keeping track
of what comes in, what we have, and what we spend.
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6. Keep fit and get fit.
I was glad to hear presidential candidates emphasize that the best health
care plan possible is personal discipline. If this downturn is to last a
year, why not practice the same kind of discipline required for financial
recovery? Keep track of things like weight and nutrition. I was sitting with
a group of men listening to a nutritionist tell us how to keep from getting
cancer or keeping it from recurring. She is an oncology nurse nutritionist
who has dealt with thousands of women and men for nearly 20 years. She spoke
of unnecessary health costs from people not practicing fitness. We all sucked
in our stomachs when she talked of how deadly belly fat is. Why can’t we
learn good nutrition rather than giving in to a diet based on how much it
tempts us? Start by getting rid of foods with sugar, white flour, fat and
high sodium. Heart disease, breast and prostate cancer, strokes and diabetes
could be reduced by more than 50%. The dietician had lost 30 pounds during
the past year to prove that discipline pays off. It pays off physically,
emotionally and financially. We can help the economy by becoming fit. Think
how fit you could be becoming while waiting for the market to rise?
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7. Keep generous. During
the Great Depression people were generous. They shared. When we had extra
vegetables or fruit we shared it. I remember my mother giving a cup of sugar
to a lady who knocked on our door one day. People found money to support
special needs. There were coins for Sunday School in times we never had money
for ice cream. It’s a healthy thing to do. One is never too poor to be generous.
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8. Keep up your spirit. It may
be true that the world lost more than fiscal and physical discipline over
the last number of years. It also let its spiritual and mental level decline
as well. I’m thinking of movies we watch, books we read or don’t read, TV
programs. What if you regain wealth but lose your soul? It looks like we should
have plenty of time in months ahead to work on our spirit side.
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9. Keep up your relationships.
We want to be sure that when the market rises we are closer to our most precious
treasure than ever before. What investment offers a better return?
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10 Keep adding to this list.
There are lots of investments we can be making during this downturn that
will pay tremendous dividends beginning before economic recovery and extending
long after.
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I notice that each of my 10 “commandments”
begins with the word “Keep.” In a time of perceived losses it is a
good idea to think of all the things we can keep.
─ Art Morgan, October 24, 2008
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