401k Tutorial

[columbia]

Any ETFers here?
I don't have the stomach for that.

[bhaw]

My company match goes into company stock. It's a solid match where we get 50 cents on the dollar up to 6%. Not the best but not bad. Now I subscribed to the theory to move that money into normal funds regularly as holding a significant sum in a single stock isn't smart and holding it in company stock is staking your current and future in the same company.

Was super pissed when my company acquired another major media company in a multiple billion dollar acquisition. Stock rose 30% in one day and hasn't dropped back down since. I just moved a huge chunk out of stock a week prior. All the guys I work with who never check it made tons on their 401ks that day bc they were too lazy or didn't know enough to move the money. True testament to the "rather be luck than good" theory. I still picked up a few hundred bucks over night but if I had never moved anything, it would have been several thousand. Doh.

[bhaw]

In general, I know I'm playing the right move for long term, but it's been painful moving the money out of the company stock. It's gone up over 50% since Jan 1 and over 70% over the last year. Gotta think long term and absorb the pain of the short term gains that I'm missing out on, right? Ugh...

(I could make the most of it, but I don't check often enough to avoid effing myself if the stock starts to hurt)

[columbia]

Don't eat where you ****, as tbey say.

[Troy Loney]

You know what sucks about retirement savings...i'm probably just going to get cancer and die by age 70. I feel like i might reduce my contributions.

[slappybrown]

what a bargain

[columbia]

what a bargain

What's up with the spam bot routine?

[bhaw]

I feel like I'm doing well, but what's a normal rate of return for the last year or YTD? Mine seems high, but it might just be because everyone is doing well.

[ulf]

I feel like I'm doing well, but what's a normal rate of return for the last year or YTD? Mine seems high, but it might just be because everyone is doing well.

Right mines doing great but I feel like my first 24 months were somewhat of an aberration. I have nothing to compare it to

[columbia]

I feel like I'm doing well, but what's a normal rate of return for the last year or YTD? Mine seems high, but it might just be because everyone is doing well.

Right mines doing great but I feel like my first 24 months were somewhat of an aberration. I have nothing to compare it to

You can compare it to the S&P 500 (and any other thing for that matter) right here:
https://www.google.com/finance?q=inx

Just enter your mutual fund code where it says "Compare."

[columbia]

I just registered for this forum (though I doubt I would ever post):
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/index.php

That's a reference to Jack Bogle (founder of Vanguard) and thus is skewed towards long term, buy and hold investment strategies.

As with anything on the web, TIFWIW....It seems like a better use of one's time than watching stock brokers scream at each other on CNBC.

I haven't determined if they have a hockey or warz section, but you never know.

[ExPatriatePen]

I'm 100% in stocks.....there's a plenty of time to recover from any crash.
And if there's not, then it probably doesn't matter, because everyone would be 100% hosed.

As Tomas would say: that's not financial advice. :)

That's not what you said you were going to do a few months ago... did you have a change of heart?

BtW, when do you think the 10-15% correction is coming, because it's not a matter of *if* it's a matter of when.

If it's not coming until stocks are 20% higher than they are here, your strategy is sound. If it's coming in August though...

And yes, I know what they say about "timing the market"...

No offense, but you speak of this looming correction as often as Bernanke tell us that the economy taking off and GDP going to 4+% is right around the corner.

I think we're seeing it now.

[columbia]

My spidey sense went off about 8 days ago and I moved some money into a PIMCO fund.

[King Sid the Great 87]

I'm 100% in stocks.....there's a plenty of time to recover from any crash.
And if there's not, then it probably doesn't matter, because everyone would be 100% hosed.

As Tomas would say: that's not financial advice.

That's not what you said you were going to do a few months ago... did you have a change of heart?

BtW, when do you think the 10-15% correction is coming, because it's not a matter of *if* it's a matter of when.

If it's not coming until stocks are 20% higher than they are here, your strategy is sound. If it's coming in August though...

And yes, I know what they say about "timing the market"...

No offense, but you speak of this looming correction as often as Bernanke tell us that the economy taking off and GDP going to 4+% is right around the corner.

I think we're seeing it now.

Like I said, as long as Bernanke keeps the hammer down, the market will not fade.

[bh]

Any ETFers here?
I don't have the stomach for that.

You don't trust the stability of the funds?
I was under the assumption that an indexed EFT was not that unlike an indexed mutual fund? They're just traded differently, I think.
I don't currently invest in any but I have been looking.

[columbia]

Maybe they are less volatile than I realize, but I don't see a reason to add a layer of daily speculation on top of an index fund.

[columbia]

I generally follow his advice.....

ETF Trading: It’s ‘No Way to Invest’ Says Bogle
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout ... 24616.html

[ExPatriatePen]

I'm 100% in stocks.....there's a plenty of time to recover from any crash.
And if there's not, then it probably doesn't matter, because everyone would be 100% hosed.

As Tomas would say: that's not financial advice.

That's not what you said you were going to do a few months ago... did you have a change of heart?

BtW, when do you think the 10-15% correction is coming, because it's not a matter of *if* it's a matter of when.

If it's not coming until stocks are 20% higher than they are here, your strategy is sound. If it's coming in August though...

And yes, I know what they say about "timing the market"...

No offense, but you speak of this looming correction as often as Bernanke tell us that the economy taking off and GDP going to 4+% is right around the corner.

I think we're seeing it now.

Like I said, as long as Bernanke keeps the hammer down, the market will not fade.

Corrections don't last forever. By their very definition they're short term events. We had a correction and now the market is charging higher.

[Digitalgypsy66]

I hate necroing old posts, but I think what I'm asking fits here.

Background: I work for a small college. We've weathered the recession well, but had some enrollment/retention issues last year which caused large mid-year budget cuts and staff reduction.

Since then, the VPs have been looking at cost cutting methods. They switched to a monthly pay cycle, rather than the bi-monthly pay period they'd had since the end of World War II. This was done instead of hiring a payroll clerk, according to the VP that runs HR. Very brazen about the "not hiring" part, too. (Yet they never stop hiring assistant coaches, because sports=students=$$$$).

Next, and this is where this fits in this thread, is that our retirement accounts were restructured to save the college money. We get a 6% match, and evidently the type of plan we get through TIAA-cref was multifaceted. They restructured it, and it supposedly costs the college a lot less in maintenance fees. Then, yesterday at the end of the day, our HR VP announced that this restructuring would come with an $80 service fee, collected from our retirement account directly.

Is this a normal practice? My personal Roth IRA/sweep account has a maintenance fee, but we've never had to pay a maintenance fee for our 401K. It seems like the college is just passing the cost to the employee in order to save money, or at least appear to save money.

[ulf]

There was a fee, built into your plan. New regs just make it transparent for you to see now.

[Mr. Colby]

Mine is 0.45% is that bad?