So do your part and get to clicking!br /br /As people maybe have thought about the things they are thankful for in the last couple of days I had a thought about people also being very worried about their financial situations. How many people have mortgages that are too big, are over extended on credit cards and whatever else you can think of?br /br /As you can maybe tell by my thoughts about portfolio management I am very conservative (I think) with personal finance issues. We paid off our small mortgage in Prescott very quickly, have not had a credit card balance since 1992 or 3 and the mortgage on our Hilo house is not even 20% of our income. This sort of approach prevents most problems from ever happening. Similar to span style=”font-style: italic;”my portfolio is down 40% now what do I do/span, waking up one morning and realizing there is not enough money for the bills is a bad place to be.br /br /That is the crux for living below your means. Some people do thrive on that sort of stress, I want no part of it.br /br /Different subject. I first made mention of the dollar’s a href=”http://randomroger.blogspot.com/2004/10/switzerland-investment-ideas.html”status as world reserve currency/a changing in some way in 2004. Now four years later the path to this is easier to see (it may not happen of course but things in the US have deteriorated mightily). Here is a a href=”http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2008/11/27/18782/asian-turmoil-terror-and-the-yen/”snippet from the FT/a on Thursday about the yen possibly filling that role.br /br /I’m not sure what I think about the likelihood of yen becoming a world reserve currency just yet as I believe the vast majority of the yen rally has come from unwinding/deleveraging/forced selling. If some country does share this role with the US (I think that more likely) or supplants the US (less likely IMO) it will make sense to own some of that currency. Something that has helped the US through all of this crisis is the need for dollars around the world. This contributes to the willingness to buy our debt for close to no yield. Were the US not the center of the universe I imagine things would be much worse than they are. I think a country ascending to that status would be a very attractive hold.br /br /Lastly here is a href=”http://www.rgemonitor.com/roubini-monitor/254308/sovereign_wealth_funds_tallying_the_losses_again”a link from RGE/a about SWF performance (free registration required but worth it). I am a huge fan of looking at what SWFs and endowments do with their portfolios but not a fan of trying mimic them. It is very difficult, if not impossible, for them to take a defensive position. I wrote about this a href=”http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AhPlFqC5ZhUBnzXIf56M_tFG2vAI;_ylu=X3oDMTFnaWhqMGtxBGlpZAM1MzIzODM1OTA5MzIzNjgyOTg5BG5vaAM1BHBvcwM1BHJpZAMxNTM1ODI3OQ–/SIG=122nldehe/**http%3A//www.thestreet.com/newsanalysis/investing/10446536.html”a few weeks ago for TSCM/a. Take from these what you need but realize they too have flaws.

Last 5 posts by Roger Nusbaum

• The Big Picture for the Week of November 15, 2009 - November 14th, 2009
• Process Drilldown - October 23rd, 2009
• Sunday Morning Coffee 10-18-09 - October 18th, 2009
• A Little Followup From This Morning - October 8th, 2009
• Wednesday Roundup - October 7th, 2009