In October I doubled my biweekly 401(k) contribution and put 100 percent of new contributions into foreign and U.S. stocks. I can't count the number of intelligent people who have told me that, because stocks have crashed, this is crazy and scary. My friend Walter Updegrave of Money mag tells why it's not:

Question: I've lost a lot of money during this financial mess and I'm wondering when I should go back to putting 15% of my salary into my 401(K)? --Michelle Bonds, Rocky Mount, N.C.

Answer: Uh, how about like, right now.

I'm serious. I know that some people have reacted to this financial crisis by eliminating or scaling back their 401(k) contributions. A recent survey of plan participants by Spectrem Group found that 20% have cut the percentage of pay they contribute, while another 5% say they plan to do so over the next 12 months.

Think of it this way. When stocks were booming in the late 90s or, for that matter, when they were at their highs in October of 2007, I got no emails from people saying they were thinking of stopping their 401(k) contributions. No, people are quite comfortable plowing money into their 401(k)s when stock prices are marching to new highs.

Fact is, though, the long-term return you'll likely earn on the money you invest after stocks have been on a long run or are at or near a peak is much lower than the return you'll likely get when you buy after stocks have been seriously hammered, as they've been over the past year.

Which brings us to one of the great ironies of investing in stocks. People are least comfortable investing in them when their future long-term return prospects are strongest and most comfortable buying when the outlook for future returns isn't as strong.