tikichris

As I alluded to a few days ago in an admittedly schmaltzy ‘Thanksgiving-y’ blog post, the year’s winding down, and I’m taking stock of how it all went. And if you must know, it was an exceptionally splendid year for the most part. As 2011 comes to a close I’m starting to think less of how it will end up and more and more about what 2012 is going to be like and what I want to be doing differently in the upcoming year.

One thing I’m pondering as a new year approaches is if it’s a good idea to start investing in the stock market again. I’m considering a range of options – looking into Exchange Traded Funds, online trading, the bond market … maybe even putting some cash into an up-and-coming local business.

I used to have a small but healthy portfolio of stocks almost a decade ago. I stepped back, mostly for personal reasons and to focus on other things … and luckily just in time to avoid the mega meltdown of the Great Recession which, depending on your sources, has finally yielded to a slow recovery, actually never ended at all and won’t for a long time to come or ended only to return with double dipping vengeance. Whatever the case, I’m sure I don’t have to tell anybody that economic conditions are a hell of a lot different than they were back at the beginning of the 2000s. Still, I reckon the same fundamentals apply to smart investing now as they did back then – probably even more so these days.

I ain’t got much money to play with though, and unlike my politics, I’m rather conservative with money. I’m not looking to gamble or seeking any short term reward – just set something aside for a rainy day and old age.

Before you know it, we’ll be celebrating another New Year’s Eve. And if 2012 plays out anything like this past year has, it will seem like no time at all before I’m sitting down writing end of the year blog posts again. Maybe this time next year I’ll be adding a thankful note to those last of 2012 posts about a bump in my savings for the future?