Go Read This

Salon.com has an excellent article up about the financial crisis as part of their new "Talk to Me Like I'm 5" series. If you're feeling a bit lost as to what, exactly, you should be doing as your stomach drops every time you check on your 401k, it's required reading.

What to do with your money now.

Here's an excerpt I particularly liked:

I'm hearing more about people keeping their money under their mattress. What do you think about that?

It's a terrible idea! If your house goes up in flames, that money is gone. Also, money isn't that easy to sleep on -- it pokes out from the mattress, and it's uncomfortable. Honestly, if you are so terrified that your $250,000 won't be protected by FDIC, which it will be, and if you don't have enough trust that we will get through this crisis, which we will, then put your money in a safe deposit box in a bank. But I'm telling you, if the bank goes up in flames, your money is gone, which it will not be if you keep it in FDIC-insured savings.

It's incredibly important for people to be in control of their money. The idea that you're sleeping on it is a tangible way to feel that you have control, but it makes absolutely zero sense.

We've lost all of our trust in the financial markets, and we have to find it again. It takes some time. But it will happen.