Well this is the first months since I started tracking my retirement accounts that I actually had a net loss for the month. Overall my accounts decreased in value over $800 for over a 2% loss. It would have been much worse if I had not have had $1154 in new contributions added via my 401k this month. So in essense the value of my stocks went down over $2000 in a single month. This goes to show you that the stock market is too risky of a place for your money and I am going to sell all of my stocks and stick my money in something safe like a money market account……just kidding. Despite the fact that if I SOLD all my holdings today they would be worth $2000 less than if i SOLD them just a month ago this is what you should expect if you invest as heavily in stocks as I do. Does it suck to see your account value shrink by so much in such a short time for no good reason…..Yup, does it mean I did something drastically wrong and should pull the plug on the whole operation and try something else….I’d say no.

You didn’t hear me complaining when my stocks where going up over 5% in a single month as they did in March and hopefully you won’t ever here me berating the companiesthat I have money invested in or stock market as a whole when they go down. Nor hopefully will you see me make a rash stupid decision or make a major change in my investment strategy just because things went down. I’m in this for the long hall and am not under any delusion that the stock market will always go up all the time. I expect the value of my accounts to at some point go down by as much as 30 or 40% over a short period of time (1-2 years), I also expect them to go up by that amount and more. Up and down but in the end I expect there to be more ups than downs and thats how you make money in the stock market….well I guess you have to have some rational as to where you stick your money, but you get my point.

Anwyway I lost a bundle this month and the world is coming to an end, check back next month for more carnage 😉

My Roth IRA – $10,877.32 (-8.03%)
Wife Roth IRA – $11,862.89 (-2.71)%
Traditional 401K – $10,509.56 (-4.78%)
Roth 401K – $3,206.58 (+45.21%)
Total Retirement Nest Egg $36,456.35 (-2.17%)