Jennifer and I were in Renfrew yesterday, buying GICs from our respective banks for our RRSPs. Now, I’ve had an RRSP since 1996, but I’ve never bought a GIC before; I’ve been all about equity and asset-allocation mutual funds so far. But my mutual funds lost a third of their value over the past year. (Ouch!) Suddenly, my bank’s special 3¼-percent rate on a 30-month GIC doesn’t look so bad.

It’s not that I’m afraid of putting money into the market right now; it’s that I’d much rather make small monthly investments and take advantage of dollar cost averaging rather than make a lump-sum investment that might decline in value precipitously. I’m not entirely sure the market is done falling yet.