One day’s ‘losses’

The television commentator frowned as she dissected Monday’s carnage on Wall Street.

People with 401(k) retirement accounts, she opined, must be plain sick about all the money they just lost.

What money did she mean?

Certainly not the currency most of us spend every day.

For proof, take your latest 401(k) statement and see how much it’ll buy you at the grocery store or the gas station.

Our point here is that people needn’t panic because the value of 30 companies’ stock dropped by 504 points (about 4.4 percent) on Monday.

It may be that your portfolio doesn’t include stock from any of those companies.

But even if “Black Monday” did gouge your retirement account, unless you planned to cash it in soon your “loss” was more theoretical than actual.

Consider the opposite situation. If the Dow Jones gains 500 points in one day, can you suddenly afford a new Corvette?

Probably not.

We don’t mean to imply that anyone ought to celebrate when the Dow drops.

Black Monday could precipitate a real economic crisis, one that directly affects millions of Americans.

Yet a single day — even a “Black Monday” — is not likely to cost you your job, or your house.

Investing money is a long-term endeavor, one which requires both patience and faith that the future will, on the balance, include more good days than bad.

Or, to put it another way, tomorrow’s gains will eventually prevail over today’s “losses.”