YTD Return (as of 9/30/08): -24.21%! Whoo hoo!

 

I just upped my 401k contribution from 5% on my part to 10%. Should I bring it back down? push it upwards a little more? or am I sitting as well as I can be for now?

Company will contribute upto 4% for my contribution...

 

this is the time to buy.

 

At 23 you should sock away all you can afford.
What I suggest however is that you put in the 401k up to the amount the company matches and then put the rest in a Roth IRA.

 

Also consider dollar cost averaging rather than lump sump investing if you're not paying fees with each transaction.

 

dollar cost averaging? explain.

and I just read company will start matching my contribution after 1 full calendar year

 

That simply means invest over time. Not all at once. If you have $10k to put into the market do it over 10 months (or longer), not all in one shot.

 

Well technically, if you were up 45% - let's say from 100 to 145, and you're now down 45%, you've lost your earlier gains and more (from 145 to 79.55). Sorry.. I know I'm not exactly helping amidst the current scary market environment.

I was also heavily weighted in emgerging markets, which is dragging the rest of my portfolio down. Without the emerging markets, I'd probably be down ONLY 30-35% or so, but I'm now in your terrirory - down 40-48%.

I looked into the risks (high standard deviation, liquidity concerns, etc) when I dipped into EM - so I knew what I was getting into. Luckily I have time on my side.

 

For example, you want to invest 12K each (36K total) into 3 mutual funds A, B and C over this upcoming year. On a specific date each month (say the 1st for A, the 10th for B, the 20th for C), you invest 1K into funds A, B, and C respectively (3K per month/36K over 12 months). If you believe the fund strategy is fundamentally sound, this strategy provides stability over market fluctuations. You buy more fund when the share price is down, but overtime as the fund appreciates you come out ahead. If the fund performance should deteriorate, you have the opportunity to adjust your dollar cost averaging strategy not having invested in bulk or all at once.

 

I think mine is somewhere around -7.3%

 

For the past 12 months? If so then you should buy your advisor a round!

 

I just increased my contributions. I'm doing 5% Roth and 5% non-Roth.

 

Me too, fronted 30K 2 wks ago and doing dollar cost averaging into index500, mid-cap, and tax-managed funds into my personal portfolio. 401K safe harbor already maxed out.

 

there is nowhere to hide in my 401k.

 

It's Jan 4, and Money says my YTD return is +1.8%

2009 is looking up already! 361 days to go!

 

2008 rate of return was -10.46%

 

sorry to threadjack,

but my wife's company (KMart/Sears) just sent us a letter saying that they are eliminating their 401K match AND capping "highly compensated" employee contributions to 5% of pay

...is that legal?...i thought the gov't imposed annual contribution limit was $15K?

 

2008 return was -35% [red][/red]

Even though it sucks, they can definitely eliminate the match and they can cap all employees, including "highly compensated" employees, to whatever percentage they want. I just don't understand the logic behind capping anyone to lower than the IRS limits.

 

that's what i figured.

...i've heard of employers cutting the match, but not capping the contribution limit, especially not to just a select group of employees...seemed strange to me.

 

Lots of comanies cap highly compensated employees - there is a legal/tax definition for that (something like top 10% of salaries). They may be required to Cap those employees at some level (not sure about that). We have a cap on those employees as well.


Lost 32.9% in 2008.

But I bought all the way down; dollar cost average is improved for when the recovery comes -

 

2008 Individual Vanguard Accounts were -39.2%

I believe my 401K/Safe Harbour Fidelity Accounts performed even worse

Hopefully 09 will be a better year.

 

maxed out last year and will do the same this year (16.5). For 2008 i basically broke even with money that would have been lost to tax.

ive dumped old money in gauranteed 3.0% and new in gauranteed 3.5% (MassMutual). I know this is sluggish, but ill take + x.x% anything over -30 to -40%.

 

-34% in roth ira

 

I just droppd my %from 10 to 5%. I'll consider upping it again a bit more once I get matched. I need the cash now and I'm still investing so I dont feel so bad.

 

Madoff???

 

Oh and I'm out 51% this year.

 

retirement funds or play money?

 

Add me to the -50%+ club. I'm trying to remember back to the .com bust when I would contribute all year and my balance wouldn't change. This time feels significantly different. Maybe because I'm watching it closer, maybe because the balance is bigger, maybe because the losses are greater.

 

-30%

:squintfaw

 

ytd: -21%

 

I'm down 50% since the slide started.

This was a lot more exciting when I started seriously investing in 1997. I literally have nothing to show for it, having lost $1xx,xxx over the past 18 months.

I remember thinking about pulling a bunch of my 401k to a money market fund in Feb08. I dwelled on it for about an hour, then said, nah. I should have dwelled longer...

 

My balance is down about 40% from the peak. But considering I'm still contributing nearly the max, it's probably -50% +/-.

Still, in 3-5 years, I'll probably be thankful I was able to buy more shares at such low prices.

 

i just opened my 401k, i didnt put anything in it but the company threw in $150....
im still a newb at this, but the company would match upto 10% of my salary if i invested in it.
so far its been a few days and im up $10

 

Dude, you should retire now!

 

Had a meeting with my financial advisor yesterday. My 401K/safe harbor is down 44% for the past year, mostly dragged down by small cap fidelity funds. My personal portfolio with vanguard funds is down 40%, mostly dragged down by emerging market and small cap funds. I still keep doing dollar cost investing every month though, buy low and sell high is the way i look at it. At least I'm still young and prolly 30 years from retiring so am looking more at the #of stocks i am holding rather than the absolute share price. Some of my patients who were planning on retiring soon are screwed though, gotta keep working and hope for the market to correct.

I am thinking of diversifying into a privately held REIT with global commercial holdings. 25K minimum to buy in, 6.5% yield per annum, 4 year minimum to hold. It's run by C.B. Ellis which lends credibility and stability IMO.

OTW, my investment plan for 2009 is to travel as much as possible and buy firearms and precious metals lol.

 

I'd still wait a little longer on the REIT...

 

It's a private holding and the closing date is soon. FWIW, it's global commercial property holding. But, you're right, real estate may not recover for 1 year or so. Still, the 6.5% is derived from tenant rent and not actual appreciation of the property per se.

 

The 401(k) contribution is before tax so you are already ahead by your effective tax rate. So while you keep seeing the value of your account decline, if you take into account the tax savings of the contribution as well as your employer match you are better off than if you didn't contribute, you paid tax on the income and your employer didn't match.

 

But the money is only tax deferred, not tax exempt. You'll still be paying taxes on that money later.

 

Correct. But, if you consider the inevitable increase in income tax with the current administration vs. the lower tax bracket you will be in at retirement, it makes fiscal sense to shelter as much pre-tax income as possible right now, especially if you have decades of gainful employment ahead of you.

If you're in a lower tax bracket then a roth IRA makes more sense, but the maximum investment is $16500 whereas the maximum for safe harbor/pension is $42500 (traditional pre-tax investment).