Gone: four years of gains

Before joining the Army, I worked at two places that offered 401k plans. In both cases, when I quit I rolled over my savings to a traditional IRA.

As you can see in the chart, in October 2007 the value peaked at about 140% of the original value. (Not coincidentally, this was also the time when the Korean won was at its strongest.) Since then, though, things haven't been so great. From that peak last year I've lost over half of my investment. Thumbs down.

Yet this cloud comes with a silver lining. First, the Korean won has made a similar nosedive, so I've been able to send money back to Korea at a rate that's roughly 50% better than when I was sending it here. So I was earning won back when it was stronger; now I'm earning dollars while it's comparatively stronger. Good deal.

Secondly, with the dollar value of my IRA so low, it's the perfect time to convert to a Roth. Yeah, I'll have to pay taxes on it, but it would be only half as much as it would have been a year ago. Plus, half of my income this year was foreign -- it'll be excluded from my taxable base.

So I guess the moral of the story is: even when times are bad financially, there are still opportunities for those who pay attention. I'll look to doing my taxes this year....