It has taken a few weeks into the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression for me to look into my own position on the market. That is, to look into the financial position of the two funds from which I am now receiving the bulk of my retirement payments: the British USS (Universities Superannuation Scheme), and the American TIAA-CREF (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association and College Retirement Equities Fund). Judging from what I have found on the World Wide Web this morning, I am not in too great a trouble. Conservative to boot, both funds are managing relatively well in spite of notable loses. But I am struck once again by my tendency not to think of my personal interests whenever something odd is going on around me. Time and again, it takes me a long while to think about the effect of major changes on my own affairs, as well as to adjust to them. If I am indeed given to an excessive preoccupation with myself, as many of my friends would happily contend, it must be an egomania with a fault. And the fault seems to be so tremendous that it puts my friends’ very verdict into serious doubt.