It’s interesting to think about how your net worth changes over your life time. This chart does a great job illustrating the typical trajectory

“So many people get scared when everyone says the sky is falling. They get out of equities and into bonds when it’s exactly the wrong time to do it. When everything is sky high and everyone is optimistic, they then plow back into equities. Their emotions do the wrong thing. “
— Dr. Burton Malkiel (author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street)

Common pitfalls with managing money:

[from NPR’s economics editor Chris Farrell]

Fed-up fund investors at a ‘JetBlue’ breaking point. Change your investment flight plan, but stay airborne. [The headline is so good that the article almost doesn’t matter!]

Fund investors at ‘JetBlue’ breaking point Chuck Jaffehttp://www.marketwatch.comBOSTON (MarketWatch) — It’s been nearly a week since the man known as the “JetBlue flight attendant” got mad as hell and decided he was not going to take it any more. He cussed out everyone in sight, grabbed two beers, popped open the airplane door and escaped down an emergency slide onto the…

Do you know your net worth? Grappling with this key number is a fantastic way to build a strong foundation for financial planning.