OK So It's Not Just Me!

"Harvard University's endowment suffered investment losses of at least 22% in the first four months of the school's fiscal year, the latest evidence of the financial woes facing higher education.
The Harvard endowment, the biggest of any university, stood at $36.9 billion as of June 30, meaning the loss amounts to about $8 billion. That's more than the entire endowments of all but six colleges, according to the latest official tally.
Harvard said the actual loss could be even higher, once it factors in declines in hard-to-value assets such as real estate and private equity -- investments that have become increasingly popular among colleges. The university is planning for a 30% decline for the fiscal year ending in June 2009."

Two thoughts on this:
1. If this is what they have actually lost so far in 2008 then they still have beat almost every index and asset class by almost 15%.
2. In a bear market investors lose money. But good investors lose less and are prepared to profit with a plan when markets turn up as they usually do.

Here is a link to the story. Harvard Hit by Loss as Crisis Spreads to Colleges By. JOHN HECHINGER and CRAIG KARMIN
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122832139322576023.html