October 1, 200817 yr Looking at my mom's portfolio, she's down about 8% in September, but she's up 33% YTD.
October 1, 200817 yr Well I'm fresh out of college and only have $5k total in my 401k. Well done young man. SO MANY people fail to begin saving until they are in their 40's.
October 1, 200817 yr Well done young man. SO MANY people fail to begin saving until they are in their 40's. Thanks. It's helps working for a great company. I'm putting in 8% of my compensation, 7% of which is matched dollar for dollar.
October 1, 200817 yr Author If you only lost $400, you're one of the lucky ones. Many people have lost 10's of thousands. I watched one of those shows on CNN at the beginning of the year. They said everyone should check what companies their 401K plans are investing in. They should show something like the top 10 companies. I did this. What I did I move about half of my money in the the S&P 500 Companies. I saw that the companies in this were: Exxon Mobil Microsoft IBM There was another oil company I can't remember the name. Procter and Gamble That is all of them I can think of off the top of my head. The last two were banks. I'd be willing to say that is where most of my lost is from. There was another plan that had Walmart in it and I moved about 20% into that one.
October 1, 200817 yr Looking at my mom's portfolio, she's down about 8% in September, but she's up 33% YTD. :eek::eek: That's awesome!
October 1, 200817 yr This is the time to be contributing to your retirement plan using perodic payments like payroll deduction. This is when dollar cost averaging really pays off. When you invest the same amount every two weeks (or however often you get paid) your contribution buys more when the market is down and less when the market is up. EXACTLY!! I've been telling that to my coworkers, especially those that want to pull out and put it in stable capital. One woman did at the end of the 777 point loss day, then missed the 475 point rebound the next day. And she is only 45 years old, so it's not like she needed it tomorrow. I don't think there's a need to panic. It's like the strategy says, buy low, sell high. For those of us with 20 or so years to go, and assuming a total collapse doesn't occur, we'll be fine. It's the ones that are or are nearly retired now that I worry about. I hope to start pulling back (at least partially) a few years before I need it to something stable, just in case it happens when I'm close to retirement.
October 5, 200817 yr I've always found that it is good to keep a good portion (10-15%) of your 401k in the cash / money market reserve. It earns 3.5 - 4.5% per year, but it keeps you in an excellent position in times like this to by shares when they are cheaper.
October 5, 200817 yr I watched one of those shows on CNN at the beginning of the year. They said everyone should check what companies their 401K plans are investing in. They should show something like the top 10 companies. I did this. What I did I move about half of my money in the the S&P 500 Companies. I saw that the companies in this were: Exxon Mobil Microsoft IBM There was another oil company I can't remember the name. Procter and Gamble That is all of them I can think of off the top of my head. The last two were banks. I'd be willing to say that is where most of my lost is from. There was another plan that had Walmart in it and I moved about 20% into that one. A lot of companies don't offer stocks like these. The company I work for mostly makes you invest in their own portfolio(Banking). Shares of my compay were around 20$ when I started working then and they got down to 3$ at one point this year. I was licking my chops. It can lose all it wants right buy I am buying so many shares right now while I am young(22). It back up a bit now to around 12$.
October 5, 200817 yr If you only lost $400, you're one of the lucky ones. Many people have lost 10's of thousands. I'm down 20+% on the year after ending last year down over 10%. While you can't panic, it is rather worrisome.
October 5, 200817 yr :thumb: Heed HHSDad, young people. Excellent advice. On this topic, I will agree with you. When it comes to fantasy sports, do the opposite:D
October 6, 200817 yr I'm 27 so I've got plenty of time before I retire but I just logged into my fidelity 401K and saw this Personal Rate of Return from 01/01/2008 to 10/03/2008 is -16.7% :scared: :scared:But I'll be fine
October 6, 200817 yr I've always found that it is good to keep a good portion (10-15%) of your 401k in the cash / money market reserve. It earns 3.5 - 4.5% per year, but it keeps you in an excellent position in times like this to by shares when they are cheaper. It depends on your age. If you're older than yeah, it's not a bad idea to have a smaller percentage (15-20) in a very safe investment like the money markets. If you're young, and have time to play the market, it's not really a wise move. By doing that you're limiting your growth potential.
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