Don't look at that 401-K today

I'm not big on New Year's resolutions.

But I'm going to make an exception today. I resolve not to look at my 401-k today.

Yes, the markets are in the toilet. As in freefall. As in, don't even think about retiring.

My brother, a solid union man, always argued that the downfall of the middle class in this country started when big companies were allowed to worm their way out of providing traditional defined benefit pension plans and make workers start sharing in their retirement costs by opening up 401-k accounts, which are usually heavily invested in the market.

My sister is one of the lucky ones. She retired a couple of months ago from Bank of America. But she traced her time with the company back to the days of MBNA, and she has a defined benefit pension.

Most Americans, me included, are not that lucky these days.

So yes, by all means, try not to sneak a peek at what is happening to that nest egg today.

I always love these financial gurus who insist you should not hover over your 401-k, that the market will correct itself. They always say the best action to take is none at all. They always stress the "big picture" and investing for the long haul.

Easier said than done.

So far today trading has been halted once again on the China Exchange because of the economic meltdown in that country. The situation in North Korea, where they claim to have set off a hydrogen bomb, is creating tremors in the world and U.S. markets. The U.S. Market will not open for a couple of hours.

Futures (whatever the hell they are; no, I'm not exactly a financial guru) are sinking. Right now they're saying it looks like a 2 percent decline.

Swell.

Then again, no one hit last night's big Powerball jackpot. Saturday night's drawing will be worth a record $650 million and likely will be even more by the time the numbers are drawn.

I don't usually but lottery tickets either. I'm thinking of changing my mind about that as well.