Like most of my boomer friends, I've watched my hard-earned money invested in the stock market melt away before my eyes.
Down 30 - 40 - now 50%!!! If I were 25 I wouldn't be so concerned.
There's lots of time for the market to get bullish again when you are only 25.
But as a midlifer, time is not so long-term and it's likely the market will never give back what it has taken away in the time I have left before my retirement.
In fact, at this point retirement itself is a big question mark.
So what is a boomer - a person in mid-life to do? In what should I invest to make my money grow faster, stronger? Here are five tips for the midlife investor: #1.
Go Green! - Despite the economic downturn, the U.
S.
of A.
is a country filled with creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation.
The government finally recognizes the need to fight global warming and supporting the use of alternative fuels is the way to go.
Money is finally being focused on the development of new ways of creating the energy our economy needs to grow.
Green investments are going to blossom and gain market share.
The future is bright and your money will certainly grow as the green industry flourishes.
And now, when the market is low, is the time to buy.
Tip # 2: Invest in Yourself! One of the best investments you can make these days is in your own education!!! While the market goes on its roller coaster straight down into the caverns...
you can choose to invest in learning something new.
It's a great time to take that extra course to fine tune skills you already have, or to develop a new skill that can integrate well with what you already know.
Don't have much time? Community Colleges often have short-term evening classes that are geared to help you learn quickly.
Take six weeks, one evening a week and learn something you've always wanted to know.
Get away from the T.
V.
for a night and invest in your mind.
Don't have much discretionary cash right now? There are thousands of on-line tutorials you can access for FREE.
Need to learn a new software program, or learn a new task with the programs you already use? TIP # 3: Invest in Your Health One of the smartest investments you can make is in taking TIME to EAT RIGHT.
It's all in the choices you make.
I know, you are way too busy with work, home, kids, grand-kids, clubs, volunteering, whatever- we all have excuses for grabbing the Big Mac or the fast food prepared dinner from the grocery freezer.
But if you don't eat healthy now, it's almost guaranteed that your body will rebel somehow, someway, sometime soon!!! In a recent book: Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat: Secrets of My Mother's Tokyo Kitchen by Naomi Moriyama, the author focuses on the remarkable health of the women of this Asian country.
Diet makes a big difference.
Taking the time to eat properly is something you deserve! As a college student in New York, eating fast food, nibbling on salt and sugar laden morsels, Naomi who had always been petite, blossomed into an overweight blob.
She was heading for serious health problems, when four years later, she finally returned to her native Japan and the healthy eating habits of her childhood.
The change to her health was remarkable.
She shares her experience in this simple straightforward account and offers delicious recipes that will help you invest in your own health.
TIP # 4: Invest in a Good Time Most of us take life way too seriously.
Sure we have problems, every one does.
But don't dwell on them.
In this time of economic turmoil, it's a good idea to stay away from TV News, newspapers and radio shows that focus only on what's wrong with the world.
It's time to focus on what is going right.
If listening to the evening news-especially just before your head hits the pillow-gets you up at night, or never lets you sleep...
then STOP listening to the evening news.
Don't worry, the world is not going anywhere.
If you need to, check in once a week...
Meet the Press on Sunday morning with a cinnamon roll and a cup of coffee...
that's not a bad way to see what's going on in the outside world.
I'm not suggesting you hide your head in the sand, though some people may just need that right about now.
Take yourself to a museum.
Read a good book.
Take yourself to a play, or a movie.
Spend the $10 and even indulge in some popcorn! Sign up for a dance class, get involved in a community volunteer group.
Meet new people.
One of them might be the new romance you've been waiting for.
Do something really fun for yourself.
TIP # 5: Dream Out of the Box! Last night I received a phone call from RCI.
(A time-share exchange company.
) The young man was trying to persuade me to buy into a cruise vacation plus 2 week vacation package deal.
Cost: only $2,490 for two.
Wowsa! Such a deal! A half hour before he called I was busily working on my tax return for 2008 so money or the lack of it was on my mind.
Bad timing for the salesman.
But it got me thinking about tip #5 for midlife investors: Invest in your dreams! True, I was not prepared to use my credit card to pre-purchase a cruise/vacation right then and there.
But the price quoted was not outrageous.
And with a little preparation and planning, it might be just the thing to enjoy sometime in the future.
(RCI might have gotten a better response if they had sent me a series of postcards letting me know the phone call was coming...
whet my appetite, get me thinking, make me think I had won a prize when they called out of the blue! - but that's a marketing issue for another time.
) Saving for a dream is the fifth tip for midlife investors.
Take those initial ideas, expand them, go to the edge of your thoughts and then push a little further.
Dream the future into being.
You can do it.
Invest in your dreams.