DIY Investor is Back

By Lori Steenhoek aka oldest daughter

Hurricanes, earthquakes, hey...respect mother nature!  Roads here are blocked, power lines are down all over the place, and it's not clear what is open and what is closed.  Rooms have stopped shaking, and the winds and rain have departed.  The sun is out and the cleanup is underway.

I spent most of the morning looking for gasoline to fill up a generator lent to us by our new best friend Mike.  Thanks Mike!  It saved the food in our freezer.

Being without electricity for several days hasn't been fun.  But we're up and going (and hopefully stay that way!) now.  Don't take for granted the important things in your life that you use everyday!

I do have to say that I've had mixed emotions being Internetless.  Partly I felt like an addict in withdrawal.  Admittedly my fingers twitched as I glanced at the inert keyboard over the past few days. On the other hand, it felt good taking a few days off.  Head clearing, actually.  It is truly amazing how much of our days (for many of us) is consumed online.  Being away for a few days gives me many interesting blogs to catch up on, which I'm looking forward to.

I missed a lot of the big runup in the market yesterday, although I got snippets of the news off my BlackBerry - nothing like watching the 3-ring circus on CNBC, though, which I'm sure was highly entertaining in the same vein as is professional wrestling to many.

Thankfully my clients have portfolios structured in line with pre-determined asset allocation models, so there wasn't the stress of "is this for real or not and should I jump in or out" kind of mentality of the market timers.  Like mother nature, the forces of the market are to be respected.  Trying to outguess them can be hazardous to an investor's health, as many whose retirement plans have fallen to the wayside can testify.

It's good to be back thinking about investments and bashing CNBC.