Car accident? What not to do.

A few weeks ago, my husband was hit while he was driving to work. It was clearly the fault of the person behind him, thank God. And my husband was fine (except for a sore neck).

However, it looked like our Honda was a hair away from being totaled and we did NOT want to buy a new car. So before we called any insurance companies, I did a bit of research.

In addition to Googling like crazy, I called the Consumer Action Center at Clark Howard’s radio show. It’s a pretty cool service—2nd time I’ve used it. Trained volunteers answer consumer questions off the air all day about everything from what to do after a car accident to how to use your cell phone overseas.

Here’s what I learned not to do:

I’m not even gonna LOOK at my retirement plan balance…

Reading the horrible financial news on the front page of my newspaper is enough. I’m not going to bury my head in the sand, but I’m not going to drive myself nuts, either. The market rises. The market falls. I’ve got, oh, 20-plus years until I retire. I just can’t stress about what my retirement plan is doing today.

Need some reassurance that we’re not heading for a second Great Depression? One of my favorite financial voices of calm is Clark Howard. He goes into much more detail on his radio show, but you can read the short version here.