It's often said 401(k) investors, thanks to the vagaries of behavior psychology, make decisions for long-term goals based on short-term emotions (see, "The Choice 401k Investors Must Make Before They Choose"). If only they could throw away all those dangerous emotion and dispassionately decide to pick investments best suited for their time horizon.
Which got me to thinking, don't ask me how, about the current debate in Washington about this whole Fiscal Cliff thing. With virtually non-stop media coverage since, oh, I don't know, maybe at least this past summer, it's universally accepted the failure to avert the Fiscal Cliff will amount to an economic calamity of Biblical proportions.
Let's set aside this amusing thought for the moment (after all, the fundamental problem of our economy has roots much deeper than the Fiscal Cliff), and, instead, suggest a too obvious compromise that makes so much sense, it's guaranteed Washington won't even consider it.
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Christopher Carosa
Chris Carosa has been writing a weekly article and monthly column for BenefitsPRO online and BenefitsPRO Magazine since 2011 and is a nationally recognized award-winning writer, researcher and speaker. He’s written seven books, including From Cradle to Retire: The Child IRA; Hey! What’s My Number? – How to Increase the Odds You Will Retire in Comfort; A Pizza The Action: Everything I Ever Learned About Business I Learned By Working in a Pizza Stand at the Erie County Fair; and the widely acclaimed 401(k) Fiduciary Solutions. Carosa is also Chief Contributing Editor of the authoritative trade journal FiduciaryNews.com and publisher of the Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, a weekly community newspaper he founded in 1989. Currently serving as President of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and with more than 1,000 articles published in various publications, he appears regularly in the national media. A “parallel” entrepreneur, he actively runs a handful of businesses, including a small boutique investment adviser, providing hands-on experience for his writing. A trained astrophysicist, he also holds an MBA and has been designated a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor. Share your thoughts and story ideas with him through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/christophercarosa/)and Twitter (https://twitter.com/ChrisCarosa).
