Ah, how I love Saturday mornings. A skim mocha, a blueberry muffin, a seat overlooking a park and the Australian Financial Review Weekend Edition newspaper which is choc-full of thought provoking articles (and not just ones about the world of money).

The table top's invocation to the gods of relaxation hardly seems needed.

That is, until you notice the banner which reads "6.18%. That's how much the ASX/S&P 200 Index fell in January".

Even for those of us who are long term investors, who have seen such things in the past and shall do so again in the future, "relaxed" is not the term that comes to mind.

"White knuckled with a fixed grin bordering on a grimace" would be perhaps a little closer to the truth, even though the silver lining in this storm cloud is "buying opportunities".

But hey, in the meantime there's always the muffin and the view!

(The mocha, less so.)