Gain During Three Years

I've been keeping an eye out for articles with investment advice for the current recession. Here is a slightly old one. Here is another. Today I read this one. I'm still not sure how to alter my investment strategies because of this year's economic events.

I am grateful that my family's investments have not suffered as much as those of many families.

Using the end of 2005 as a baseline for our baking and investment accounts, at the end of 2007 we were up 19% from that baseline and now we are down 19%. Since economists are currently writing that the stock market was overvalued even back in 2005 then I cannot complain much about a loss of one-fifth since that time.

Also, the housing market in Eugene grew sharply after we purchased our home and our neighborhood's home values have not suffered much this year. When I consider our total net worth by including the value of our home then the total is now almost even with where it was in 2005.

(I'm too lazy to compare the lesser effects of the gain through how much we have paid off our mortgage with the loss due to inflation.)

The financial summary is that during the past three years my family has seen little change in "official" net worth. On the other hand, and far more importantly, we have a healthy new baby, we have jobs we enjoy, God has been active in my ministry work, and I have helped hundreds of students learn useful math skills and applications. It is good to realize and appreciate this as the Gregorian year draws to a close.