BAD NEWS TRIGGERS MARKET SELL OFF

No kidding! Headlines like this is what you will see in the next few days and maybe even weeks and months.

Right now there is no end in sight to the subprime mortgage mess. Nobody knows when home prices are going to stabilize. We have $100. a barrel for oil. Record deficits. Companys cutting dividends. Consumer spending stalling. And lets not forget the problems facing social security and medicare. We could go on and on. Doesn't sound like a healthy economy, does it?

A lot of this was masked over by consumer spending. I drew some snickers when I warned that when real estate appreciation stopped or borrowing rates bottomed out and the American public had no more funds to access, what would happen. Probably the ripple effect we are seeing right now.

Just like I was told when the stock market was going crazy, tha "this time it's different!"

Anyway, we can't control any of these things and neither can anyone else. BUT you can control yourself and have a plan to prepare for times like these.

For instance, in line with examining the purpose for your various holdings just imagine 3 different buckets. Now label the 3 buckets NOW, LATER and NEVER. Now earmark your accounts to one of those buckets. What you will discover is that NONE of your accounts in the NOW bucket should be invested where the principal is at risk. The LATER bucket usually can take on some risk depending on when you anticipate the LATER. If it's within 3-5 years you should also be protecting the principal.

The NEVER bucket is where you could tap into from time to time but don't plan to for at least 10 years. With this kind of time you should be able to weather the stock market storms we are seeing right now. Time is one of the great allies to market success.

Of course all of this has to revolve around the partculars of your personal financial situation. A good coach or consultant could make this a very simple BUT MOST IMPORTANT EXERCISE!

DON'T DELAY, YOU PEACE OF MIND IS AT HAND!!