Yay!!! Bye bye 401K

Yeah, this was actually a post but ended up in the switcher forum.

I was just commenting that my 401k was down by 3.5% after being up by 3.5% not too long ago and is probably even lower today.

I'm actually not planning on retiring on it...I just like to watch the numbers go up...

Hopefully other venues will present themselves that will allow me to retire based on them...

??????????

Are you talking about the Market crash?

I wouldn't worry... unless you have to retire in the next 12 months, this will just be one of those small blips on the way up.

well the good thing is that you have some sort of control over where your money is invested in your 401k. i would find out where it is being invested. it could turn out that you really have not lost that much if any at all.

As of today my 401(k) has an YTD return of 5.9%. I'm not doing too bad considering the market over the last two weeks.

schweb said:

As of today my 401(k) has an YTD return of 5.9%. I'm not doing too bad considering the market over the last two weeks.

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i would look in to why your 401k is only 5.9ytd. that does not sound good. imho

fearlessfreap24 said:

i would look in to why your 401k is only 5.9ytd. that does not sound good. imho

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It was around 9% until the recent downturn. 5.9% is actually doing very well considering the market and my portfolio is 90% stock.

The last few years I've been averaging about 14%-16% return.

schweb said:

It was around 9% until the recent downturn. 5.9% is actually doing very well considering the market and my portfolio is 90% stock.

The last few years I've been averaging about 14%-16% return.

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...and besides, 6% 2 quarters in is still better than the best MM account or even CD, so it's not that terrible considering the markets in the last few months.

My 401(k) is about the same, 6.2% up, and my individual investments (this year) are up about 8%, but only because of Mastercard and (oddly) Apple from the start of the year. ALL the others are down, so if it wasn't for MC and Apple, I'd be losing on these.

schweb said:

It was around 9% until the recent downturn. 5.9% is actually doing very well considering the market and my portfolio is 90% stock.

The last few years I've been averaging about 14%-16% return.

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that does sound good then. i just looked at the yields for my 403b and over the last month they have dropped from 17 to 16 %.

Zoolook said:

...and besides, 6% 2 quarters in is still better than the best MM account or even CD, so it's not that terrible considering the markets in the last few months.

My 401(k) is about the same, 6.2% up, and my individual investments (this year) are up about 8%, but only because of Mastercard and (oddly) Apple from the start of the year. ALL the others are down, so if it wasn't for MC and Apple, I'd be losing on these.

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My 401(k) was at 7.2% July 7th: the market is about in the same place now it was then.

I really should have bought some Apple at the beginning of the year. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20. Just like when I should have bought Google when it went on the market!!

Village Idiot said:

I'm actually not planning on retiring on it...

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Hope you're not planning on social security still being around...



I assume you are fairly young and in the US...

mynameis said:

Hope you're not planning on social security still being around...



I assume you are fairly young and in the US...

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I've got more faith in alien abduction than Social Security taking care of me when it's time to retire.
Last I checked my 401K was at around 7.9% and going up. I don't follow it too terribly close but it seems a good thing to have. I'm putting back 6% of my check and work is matching me 4%. Do you think thats OK? What kinda numbers are you all putting in there?

steven11 said:

I've got more faith in alien abduction than Social Security taking care of me when it's time to retire.
Last I checked my 401K was at around 7.9% and going up. I don't follow it too terribly close but it seems a good thing to have. I'm putting back 6% of my check and work is matching me 4%. Do you think thats OK? What kinda numbers are you all putting in there?

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Whenever you have an employee match, don't pass it up. It's practically free money! My employer matches 100% for up to 3% of my pay invested and another 50% of the next 3%. So I just invest 6% of my pay and get a guaranteed 75% return on investment. I'd like to see you find a better deal on in the market that guaranteed.

If I want to invest more than 6%, I go it alone though for more freedom of choice: in a Roth IRA.

steven11 said:

I've got more faith in alien abduction than Social Security taking care of me when it's time to retire. ...What kinda numbers are you all putting in there?

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I concur... I put in my 401k a little more than my employer will match, then I also have a Roth IRA. I have no clue what "enough" is.

fleurya said:

Whenever you have an employee match, don't pass it up. It's practically free money!

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That is absolutely the best advice. I'm amazed at how many people don't even realize that. Always invest in your 401(k) at least enough to get the employer match.

Right now I'm saving 10% of my pay and my employer matches 5%.

My employer matches the tax free amount up to 10%, which is what I save. It is incredible really, a great benefit of working for a bank. Also, any shares I buy in my own company are matched as well, up to a maximum of $200 worth per month.

mynameis said:

Hope you're not planning on social security still being around...



I assume you are fairly young and in the US...

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I plan on getting this business I'm running to be successful so I can support myself, work for myself, and save money for myself. Of course there will be investments and such, but they probably won't be in the current 401k I have from work. I don't plan on working in the IT department for the rest of my life...I can't stand the monotany...

schweb said:

That is absolutely the best advice. I'm amazed at how many people don't even realize that. Always invest in your 401(k) at least enough to get the employer match.

Right now I'm saving 10% of my pay and my employer matches 5%.

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My work does that too...unfortunately I'm losing over $500 in taxes, SS, medi whatever, and everything else too. The 401k isn't much, but it just sucks losing nearly a 1/3 of your paycheck because of stuff out of your control...