My Journey Through Market Madness and Money Lessons
Sometimes I wonder—am I finally growing up, or am I just going through a financial identity crisis? Maybe it’s both. Over the years, my relationship with money, markets, and investing has been anything but straightforward. From a young age, I’ve been drawn to the darker side of economic trends. Maybe it was my love for horror movies (where disaster always follows a calm moment), or my obsession with history’s big crashes—the Great Depression, 1987, Japan’s lost decades. Add the Federal Reserve’s unpredictable influence on interest rates, and you’ve got a recipe for someone who was always waiting for the next big collapse.
I landed in financial journalism in 2007—right as the housing bubble was bursting. Talk about timing. Home prices dropped nationally for the first time in modern U.S. history, and the Great Financial Crisis began. I had warned of a recession before it happened, but like many pessimists, I also saw a bunch that never came. In my early 20s, I didn’t have money to lose, so I played it safe. But thanks to my dad (and his nonstop talk about 401(k)s), I started contributing in 2009—right near the market bottom. That small decision turned into a pretty solid investment over the years.
Still, I made some classic mistakes. In 2012, during a job switch, I moved everything to cash. Fearing a double-dip recession, I thought I’d buy back in cheaper. But the market climbed, and I had to re-enter at higher prices. I promised myself not to try timing the market again… until last year. After selling some real estate, we put money into bonds, thinking we’d buy stocks later at a discount. But once again, the market didn’t cooperate, and we re-entered at a higher level.
Every time we invest in our kids’ college funds or top off retirement accounts, my husband and I second-guess it: What if we’re buying at the peak? Are we too cautious? That concern hit home when a financial advisor told us millennials are often too conservative with investing. He was right. After nearly two decades in the industry, I’m realizing we should’ve been more aggressive. The long-term cost of sitting on the sidelines is huge.
The hard part is, being optimistic about the future still feels unnatural. I can list a dozen reasons why things could go wrong—demographic slowdowns, inflation, government overreach, central bank missteps, asset bubbles. But these days, I’m less reactive and more focused on staying invested. Whether it’s stocks, real estate, or even Bitcoin, the cost of missing out is just too high.
