When It's Time for Some Downtime

The days of the market closing at 4 p.m. are long over. Over the past decade, technology and globalization have transformed finance into an all-encompassing, 24-hour faucet of breaking headlines, price action and trade. From Sunday night to Friday afternoon, money never sleeps.

I’ve written before about the bizarrely calming effect of Food Network and its restorative qualities are even more pronounced during tough economic times. I’ve never once heard Bobby Flay or Paula Deen mention the yield curve or spend even a moment discussing the creeping inflation being created by the government’s stimulus efforts.

For that reason I find Food Network a wonderful way to escape. After a long day wrestling with the stress and uncertainty of the economy, there’s something about watching Guy Fieri eat a hamburger or Giada De Laurentiis chop fennel that calms me like nothing else.

I often joke that while my money might travel around the world, my butt tends to remain firmly planted in a chair. No matter at what level you operate, investment is a rather sedentary business. The most exercise I ever got in investing was as a floor-running clerk at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Even then, I rarely broke a sweat.

Investors are constantly forced to make decisions, a process that is benefited greatly even by a short 20-minute walk each day. Exercise promotes a clear mind and gives you an opportunity to collect your thoughts away from the stress of flashing tickers and fast-moving markets.

Alan Greenspan is famous for his morning ritual of reading in the bathtub. And like the former Fed chairman, I also find the tub to be an excellent escape from the tension of the investment world.

So much of investing involves dealing with factors totally out of our control. The tub, however, is an environment we control completely, and being pampered — even just slightly — unquestionably will improve your mood when the market isn’t behaving as you’d like. So turn the ringer off, light some incense and retreat to a long, quiet soak. For mental health, it’s a low-cost indulgence with a high return on investment.