I am going through some old papers, and I came across my final 401k statement from when I quit my job. As of 6/30/07, my balance with Merrill Lynch was $11,124.40. Having no more recent statements, I called the recorded line to find out how much I have now. After establishing a new PIN, I learned that my balance is now $7,228.49.

So yeah, I lost about $4,000 in the economic crap that’s been going on. That’s not a lot, really, and I know many people lost a LOT more, including several family members. But when I think about how tight money is when I’m in school, I really wish I had that $4k back.

I hope I get more financial aid this year so I don’t have to dig too deep into what I earn over the summer. I try to keep as much as I can for my school account, which has about $7k right now, at the start of summer. That’s what I’d need for my 2009-2010 tuition if I got the same aid as I did for the past two years. I’m looking for scholarships (for my senior year, mostly) but some additional aid would be nice. I submitted my FAFSA this week, we’ll see what I get.

But I wish Merrill Lynch wasn’t so sucky with my money. Man, I want the 4k back. LOSERS!