401K's a sinking ship? Options Anyone?

[NuBota]

Heck,i aint pulling out .Stocks are selling cheap right now .Even thoughthe ones i already got arent worth much,they will recover...might take a year or two.The people on wallstreet are too greedy for them not to go back up.And ill be sitting on all these i bought dirt cheap.Thinking of having MORE deducted from my pay
ALAN

I'm with you Alan - stock fire sale going on!

I'm no expert, but I'm in about the same shape I was in when the tech bubble burst. While in the red for , what was it, like two years - kept everthing thing the same. When the rebound hit - I had a 30-35 % average ROI until now.

Of course now its back in the tank. I take heart in looking at the graphs of the indexes - some go back several decades. If you zoom out on the graph - it is always on an upward track - zoom in a little and you'll see some big drops, but it has always come back

So, for Ultra, unless you're retired already or about to be - cashing out could be a big mistake. If your mostly in high risk high return funds, then you could have issues. I only keep 5 or 6 funds that span the spectrum.

Just don't panic!

-Eric

 

[Travelover]

<snip>

So, for Ultra, unless you're retired already or about to be - cashing out could be a big mistake. <snip>

-Eric

Even if you are retired, you still need to be in the game, but hopefully not as much in stocks. If you retire at 65, you may well still be in the market for another 25 years.

And if you are retired and cash out at a low point, you have no income to recover - you really need to wait it out in any case.

 

[IH3444]

Agreed on the stock buying. There are many and many talking heads on the endless cable channels....one thing mostly all agree on is you will look back in 10 years and say, WOW were stocks ever cheap then.

 

[SamWalton]

I have always put and kept all my money in the G fund of my TSP. I have never seen any gains other than the 100% match on the first 5% and the tax reduction. I can live with that. This doesn't mean I don't see any losses. I can feel the value of the dollar being reduced daily. The G Funds balance, now at $103 billion, is more than half of the TSPs $202 billion balance. The G Fund, which never declines in value, is a good safe haven for concerned participants.

 

[ultrarunner]

I have always put and kept all my money in the G fund of my TSP.

Sam... what is a G fund and TSP?

 

[Travelover]

Sam... what is a G fund and TSP?

Thrift Savings Plan for Federal Government Employees. The G fund is invested in Federal Government bonds. If you are not a Federal employee, you can also invest in government bonds in a mutual fund through a financial provider like Vanguard, Fidelity, TRowe Price, etc.

The down side is that long term, a 100% bond portfolio will generally lose pace to inflation. Thus the rule of thumb, your age in bonds.

http://www.tsp.gov/rates/fundsheet-gfund.pdf

 

[ultrarunner]

Thanks... I thought it was government related...

Since day 1, I am invested 50% Global and 50% Bond.

When the company switched to Hartford in 2005... Hartford put me into a Fidelity Bond fund as the closest equivalent to what I had with Oppenheimer.

My Hartford Fidelity "Bond Fund" is down almost 50% for the year... it makes no sense to me. Aren't Bond Funds touted as being low risk in return for modest returns?

 

[Travelover]

Thanks... I thought it was government related...

Since day 1, I am invested 50% Global and 50% Bond.

When the company switched to Hartford in 2005... Hartford put me into a Fidelity Bond fund as the closest equivalent to what I had with Oppenheimer.

My Hartford Fidelity "Bond Fund" is down almost 50% for the year... it makes no sense to me. Aren't Bond Funds touted as being low risk in return for modest returns?

Something is not right here, bonds in general are only down a little. What is the symbol of the bond fund? Should be something like "FGOVX"

 

[ultrarunner]

Something is not right here, bonds in general are only down a little. What is the symbol of the bond fund? Should be something like "FGOVX"

There was no matching fund during the change over from Oppenheimer to Hartford... I ended up FEIRX 1/1/05

Hartford doesn't give symbols... so I think this is what I have? I think statements be required to list actual Fund Symbols and Money Market option...

At change over and each year at the company meetings... actually more like hand holding... the employees were advised NOT to micro manage their 401K

The advice was to make consistent payrolls deductions, up to the limit and let Hartford do the rest... that's what they are paid for.

I have to admit... I've always looked at the the stock market as a place for people much smarter than myself... but I figured I'd go with the program to get the Employer match...

Haven't had a match for several years and the CEO said it isn't likly to happen in the future.

 

[IH3444]

For what it is worth....listening to several talking heads money people today, the buzz is start getting out of treasuries, this is the third bubble. When the economy picks up, and it bursts, the institutes (huge money people) investors are going to pour into equalities....corn, real estate, oil, pork bellies, tractors, R4s, etc. I heard this now from several sources. Staying in treasuries is safe, but as you age and begin to use your retirement savings, then you risk running out of money, and especially not keeping up with inflation, which is surely going to rear it very ulgy head in the future with all the money we have been printing. Not to mention these 1 Trillion dollar plus deficts we will be running. And then the icing on the cake will be when no one has any money to lend us....we drop down to BBB bond rating to borrow more money. We are in the soup very bad. Greenspan should have let the tech bubble burst and die a peaceful death, we lick our wounds, pick up the pieces and move on....but OOOOOOH No!