The current financial crisis - My crisis?

I must now confess to everyone here what the fortune teller has said about me and my money is absolutely right - despite the fact that I am now a baptized Christian for two years. That guy from Wong Tai Sin Temple, whose name is Mr. Tao, once told me "Miss Ng, never thought about buying or speculating on anything. Once you start speculating, the whole world will be in dread." I brushed it off with a laugh. How can this happen? I rolled my eyes and cast a scornful look at him, as if he was just a ruddy big, fat liar pretending to pronounce an oracle from a temple (not a Greek one, a very Chinese and very Taoist one). He caught my despicable face, sighed and said, "Well, if you don't believe me. You can go ahead. But whatever you speculate, they will fall and you will crash and burn."

Well, now look what I have done to myself! I just bought the Zurich vista fund this Feb and I have invested several thousands dollars with a promise of 50% bonus each month to what I put in monthly. Since then, the market has been going the dogs. Now, all I can earn, instead of a 50% promise, it's just a pathetic 8% and could be less as now the stock market keeps plunging even though the US has passed the rescue plan. Investors' confidence has now reached almost an all time low. My heart is sinking and my money is shrinking. I still have 10 months to go for paying off the mandatory period of the plan. I am now considering jumping off the boat, sacrificing that several thousands dollars so that I can regain my peace of mind. Yet, my two financial planners and some of my family members think I can still wait because that money is used for my retirement. God! I am so incredibly stupid. I don't even know when I will die. Why am I even thinking about retirement plan?

I guess probably there are thousands of others who are having the same thoughts as I am. Thinking about retirement is a must-do these days when filial piety is almost dead and when couples are extricating themselves from the burden of childbirth and child-raising. For me, a soon-to-be divorcee who still has the earning power, it is unthinkable not to plan for the future, when it now looks so "volatile", to use the IT term of the market. It seems like having a retirement plan is what an adult should do and as a 38 year-old adult (at least age wise), it will be inappropriate not to think ahead. And trusting fund managers to bet on some bonds or low-risk funds seem to be a wise thing to do. Conventional wisdom has it that planning for the future is a sure-fire rule to save yourself from a penniless, childless fate.

I seriously don't know who to trust now. How can I trust financial planners when those financial gurus and financial giants are suffering the "crash and burn". I guess the recent financial crisis serves a wake-up call to anyone who believes that wall-street miracle and cash is king. As for my money, I guess I will just leave it to the Divine. And I am praying hard to my God that I am not certified "dead" with my money and I still hold faith that the Wong Tai Sin oracle will not stand long if my God intervenes. :)