Thinking back to my childhood, one of my not-so-fond memories was the one that many kids have. It was my first bike. The training wheels were nice but it became time to man-up, as my father said, and go to two wheels. My father and I made plans. “This coming Saturday, we’re taking them off”, he said with his stern fatherly voice. I knew I had no choice.

Saturday morning, out came the wrench. Turn after agonizing turn, I watched the bolts that secured the training wheels loosen. Soon enough, my dad told me to get on the bike and give it a try. I gingerly pedaled a few times and found it not to be as impossible as I thought. Before I knew it, I was riding my bike with only two wheels.

My confidence overtook my skill. A car was coming so I pedaled towards the side of the road where I hit a storm drain and fell. Six stitches and a skinned up arm and leg later, I never wanted to see that bike again. According to my parents, it was more than a month before they could convince me to try again.

Confidence in the Economy

You might be in the same state of mind. The economy is your two wheeler. You were investing part of your pay check each month and felt like your retirement was on track. Maybe you had some money in the stock market for your child’s college education. Then, like me, your confidence was gone in an instant. The economy went down faster than I did when I met the storm drain and before you knew it, much of your investment is gone and now you don’t know what to do.

You Haven’t Actually Lost Money Yet

Let’s fix the biggest investing myth running through the uninformed right now. Unless you closed your accounts and cashed out, you haven’t lost any money. It may be valued lower than what it was but you haven’t lost a dime of your money.

Hold on to your chair because I’m about to make you very happy. You only have to do one thing to get your money back: Wait. The economy is on its way back and all you have to do is nothing at all in most cases. You’re going to get all of your money back if you wait. It might be 5 to 10 years, but you were investing for the long term anyway, right?

Invest More In a Down Economy

Next, don’t stop investing every month. Compared to the not-so-distant past, all investments are on sale. You can buy more stock for less money. This is when you invest more, not less. Just like at the mall, when something is on sale, buy as much as you can. Don’t worry, if you’re investing for the long term, you won’t lose your money.

Finally, making your own investing decisions with money other than company sponsored retirement plans is possible if you have the time and desire to do a lot of weekly reading and research. If not, you may want to get help from a financial adviser, or even better, find an investing club in your area.

I eventually got on my bike again. Things worked out much better the second time because I didn’t give up. Don’t give up on your money. Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing at all.

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