401K's a sinking ship? Options Anyone?

[ultrarunner]

Didn't really accomplish anything with the Hartford Rep this afternoon...

She came in with charts and graphs showing what the market has done since 1928 and also pointing out my time in the market is the most volatile period in recent history. I reminded her that past performance is not a guarantee of future performance...

I mentioned what Warren Buffet said January 18th: "OMAHA, Neb. Billionaire investor Warren Buffet says the U.S. is engaged in an "economic Pearl Harbor." We also discussed the Bernie Madoff 401k crisis and friends of mine, career Mervyn's employees, having 401k's that vanished.

She didn't have answers to the 20 questions I emailed her last week. I also spent 39 minutes on hold with Hartford yesterday and never got through and my e-mails to Hartford last week were acknowledge, but so far no answers. Hardly inspires confidence.

She was not aware that my company dropped employer match several years ago.

She did not know if my plan allows cash out.

She did not know anything about the plan profit sharing or lack thereof.

She couldn't explain why the 3% money market option IS NOT listed on the menu of available choices!!! I called the Department of Labor and am in the process of filing a formal complaint on this one.

My boss chided me last week for not taking an active roll in my 401k... I think today she is thinking she created a monster...

Basically, the rep was there to do hand holding and convince us to stay the course.

 

[California]

Good going!

Sounds like you have decided to take an active role in your investment management! Don't you hate it when you discover you know more about someone's specialty than they do?

I wonder if you will decide to open a self-managed retirement account using a lower-cost provider.

 

[bigshovel]

Large caps are doing well compared to most, I still don't know why. Equaties are not great right now but bonds seem to be doing better. I am all in. I was able to scrape enough together to max my 401k shelter plan last year and hope to be able to do the same this year. The gains in a down market of share volume are pretty enticing to a young fella like me. Good luck in what you choose but cashing out into govt. securities is an option without penalty and is paying well and grew 11 percent in the past few months. Your advisor may not have mentioned that because she will see no income from that move.

Brad

 

[kenmac]

I have the money market. When I asked my advisor about moving my $ there. All he said was stay the course the market will rebound as it always has & you will be ok. I'am starting to wonder if I should have gotten out anyway while the gettin was good. I think all these advisors go th the same school. cause it appears, they all say the same thing

 

[ultrarunner]

Never knew we had a "Secret" 401k money market fund to move money into until the Hospital CEO told me a few days ago she moved a lot of her money into it last September. The account pays 3%.

My guess and it is only a guess, they keep the fund hidden to avoid a stampede?

All in all, I've been very fortunate...

The ONLY thing I've ever lost money on is Stocks... Put a chunk of money into a local high tech firm that did real well until the CEO went to prison for Investor Fraud... ended up with 9 cents on the dollar and had no one to blame because I willingly went in.

Never lost money on a Vehicle, Equipment or Real Estate... so all in all, I am fortunate and the bright side of my Real Estate Investment is Rents are very steady and I have some tenants for almost 20 years.

It will be interesting to see if anything comes from the inquiry I make to the Department of Labor... I'm not holding me breath.

 

[ultrarunner]

Good going!

Sounds like you have decided to take an active role in your investment management! Don't you hate it when you discover you know more about someone's specialty than they do?

The older I am, the more skeptical I get...

I'm the kind of person that takes out a fixed rate loan because the slightly higher cost is more than offset by the piece of mind it provides... and I have on the rare occasion refinanced to get a lower rate without taking out cash or lengthening the term. Back in 1983 my first home mortgage was 12.5%... my how times have changed.

I was hoping to coast through the 401k... had friends and neighbors that made fortunes working for high tech in the early 80's... my God Sister was just out of High School and went to work for Apple Computer in Cupertino... she was one of the first 200 employees and signed up for the company plan... in a coulple of years she made enough money to pay cash for her home... just by being a good employee and showing up to work!

I wonder if you will decide to open a self-managed retirement account using a lower-cost provider.

Maybe... I do have a Schwab Account since 1980... just sitting around... I've heard that Schwab isn't a bad place to have an IRA.

Today's rental Real Estate Market is just like 1982/83 when I started buying Bay Area property... I was fresh out of college and jobs where just about non-existent... unemployment was double digits... so I decided to buy a dump of a place and fix it up... My goal was to do one a year... and then I got side tracked with the Hospital Job in 1991. Never seen my Dad happier... he was estatic that I had a real job with vacation, pension and health benefits... financially speaking the Real Estate Rental Business would have proved much more lucrative in hind sight.

Lots of Smart, Like Minded people here on Tractor By Net and I appreciate the wisdom and willingness to share that wisdom.

 

[txdon]

I believe this is the time to buy.
Friday I p/u 250000 shares of BAC at a total cost of only $1775600.
Next year I'll be laughing my XXX off about this or picking up cans on the side of the road.
Good Luck My Friends!

What am I figuring wrong?
With the BAC Stock selling at 3.93 today (Feb 19) That would make the 250000 shares worth $982500 (Loss of $793100)?

 

[jdbower]

What am I figuring wrong?

The timeframe. Timing the market is a painful process that leads many to madness, the object is not to buy at the lowest point and sell at the highest, it's to buy lower than you sell. He had mentioned that "come next year" which means he had intended on holding for about a year or so (a good mid-term strategy, day trading requires a lot more risk). Come January if the price is above the purchase price he's doing well, if he's confident this is a great time to bet a little more since there was apparently a little farther to fall.

 

[2manyrocks]

These guys are salespeople and they are selling the company and plan participants on investing in managed funds through them for a fee. I think there is a lot of hope that the market will go back up, but there is a lot of nervousness about it, too.

If they tell you to sell and the market goes up, then you'll be mad. But if they tell you to sell and you tell the other employees, what will they have left to administer and make a fee from if everybody else sells, too? Also, I think they try to avoid giving anything that really is investment advice of "invest in X" or "you should sell X now."

 

[ultrarunner]

These guys are salespeople and they are selling the company and plan participants on investing in managed funds through them for a fee. I think there is a lot of hope that the market will go back up, but there is a lot of nervousness about it, too.

Exactly... always follow the money...