A hard day’s night for my adviser

My trusted adviser did his due diligence. Just a few days after the disaster in Japan, he made it a point to check in and see how I was feeling about my investments. He wanted to reassure me and find out if I had any concerns.

In a span of two days, he left a voice message, sent a text message and even dropped me an e-mail. We have not been working together for very long, so I knew he was still trying to gauge my expectations about communication and my preferred way of communicating.

Since I was too busy to respond to him immediately, I put him on my “to do” list and promised myself I would get back to him, which I finally did with an e-mail on a Tuesday at 2 a.m.

It was a quick e-mail, one of many that I responded to at that way-too-late/way-too-early hour because there just never seems to be enough time during normal hours to get everything done.

Later that day, he called me. He asked why I sent an e-mail in the middle of the night and jokingly wanted to know if I ever get back to people when they are awake.

I assured him that I do. My life is pretty hectic, and since we are all time-poor, I explained that I sleep only a few hours a night because I need that extra time to get stuff done.

A few days later, I received a very interesting e-mail from my attentive adviser.

He passed along the findings of the 2011 Sleep in America poll, released by the National Sleep Foundation.

The study concluded that a majority of Americans say they’re not getting enough sleep. Late-night computer use, texting and TV viewing are significant culprits.

“Unfortunately, cell phones and computers, which make our lives more productive and enjoyable, may also be abused to the point that they contribute to getting less sleep at night, leaving millions of Americans functioning poorly the next day,” Russell Rosenberg, vice chairman of the National Sleep Foundation, wrote in the study.

For the record, sleep experts say that adults require about seven and a half to nine hours of sleep a night.

Nine hours of sleep on a weeknight? I don’t know about you, but that’s a weekend’s worth of sleep for me.

The scientists may be right about getting enough sleep, but I personally have always thought that this sleep thing is highly overrated. Maybe, just maybe, not everyone requires a ton of sleep.

But on one of the nights I was catching some peaceful, albeit short, Zs, my adviser was apparently tossing and turning, worrying about me. His concern led him to find out about sleep and send the foundation story my way.

I called my adviser — during the day — and thanked him for being so interested in my health. I assured him that I am pleased with my portfolio performance and my personal rate of return.

I also told him not to let my sleep issues keep him awake at night. After all, I need him to be sharp and alert.

Jim Pavia is the editor of InvestmentNews.

Related Topics: Just Thinking