Jean Chatzky - She's Back to Basics In The Midst Of A Financial Meltdown

On Monday I attended the MORE Magazine Reinvention Convention.  They had a who's-who roster of speakers including Carly Fiorina, Cybill Shepherd, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, Isaac Mizzrahi and Jean Chatzsky - to name just a few. In my opinion, the thread that connected all the women who traveled from near and far to attend was confusion.  Changes in their bodies, their relationships and their careers are creating uncertainty - too much hitting all at once.  They want to see light at the end of the tunnel, but aren't sure how to make that happen.

As you would imagine the meltdown of our financial markets is adding an ton of anxiety about the future.  Women usually don't talk about the stock market and their investments, but on Monday they did.  The room was packed when Jean Chatzky took the floor.  All of us were looking for sage advice on what to do in this crisis, but what we got fell way short.  Maybe I am being harsh but what we heard was the same old vanilla rhetoric. Here's a few of Jean's steps for going forward, see what you think.

• Get organized - set up a filing system
• Pay bills as they come in and pay them online to save time
• Protect yourself with estate planning - living will, power of attorney etc.
• Educate yourself - Read the Personal Section of the Wall Street Journal twice a week
• Give Back - Be charitable even when your own assets have shrunk
• Don't be consumed by wanting more - be grateful for what you have
• Money doesn't buy happiness

My advice - don't panic and keep your money safe - cash is king for at least the next three months.  Right now the country is building a "bridge of confidence" and we have to see if that bridge holds the tremendous amount of weight being piled on it.  There will be many opportunities for all of us to make make what we've lost but let's see some signs of stabilization before we dive into the the markets - both stock and real estate.