Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Udie on October 31, 2002, 11:26:51 AM
-
Everything I've put in my 401k since July is fek'n gone! :mad: Not only that but the damn thing is worth $1000 less than it was at my 1st quarterly statemen :mad:
I guess one day all this stock I'm buying will be worth something, I hope...
Somebodly please explain this 401k economic thing to me. I think I was stupid and had them put it all in to one fund and didn't "diversify".
If I put a list up here of our available funds could/would one of you people that are lightyears smarter than I please tell me which fund(s) you would put your stuff into?
I'm tired of spinning my wheels....
-
Udie, you're young. The Stock Market, in my experience has been a time thing. I'm not smart enough to be the "day trader" type that jumps in and out and makes billions.
So, I just buy good companies or funds and wait.
Yep, most of my stuff is down but I still put the same amount every month into it. I like to view it optimistically. The stuff I like is "on sale" right now and I'm getting shares cheap.
I don't retire for 9 more years... so I'm thinking it'll all work out.
If I'm wrong... I guess I'll be eating a lot of venison. :D
-
Oh but Udie! Its the administration in the White house, didn't you know? I mean, during our economic boom, we had a Republican house and Senate, but because Clinton was president, HE was responsible for the economic boom! Now Bush MUST BE responsible for the downturn, no? ;)
-
Well I keep telling myself "the stock is low and you're buying it low so that's good" but I keep watching my savings total go down. Now this thing isn't that old and there's not much in it, but it's still going the wrong way!!
-
My 401k is down for the year too. But I am still up since I started 5 years ago. Give it time, and don't worry about watching it day to day. :)
If anyone has any extra $$$ lying around, put it all in Wendy's stock. I predict a 33% return within 12 months. (It closed at 31.91 yesterday, I will check this thread in a year). :D
-
you haven't lost anything until you sell
if you stock has potential, ie not WorldCom type, leave it alone
you have plenty of time b4 you retire
we're in btwn sets, waiting for the next big wave to ride into shore :)
-
my 401 and 457 are down dramatically.
as long as they don't go bankrupt I'll hang in there.
IMO it's either lost or someday will amount to something.
either way I'm not counting on it.. much like social security.
be cool to have but I'll prolly have to work my whole life.
-
Udie -
don't worry about it. Make sure you have you money diversified into several different funds.
I am 100% in stocks and have lost about $6000 so far, but I'm not worried. In fact, I'm going to INCREASE my contribution starting my next paycheck. Look at it this way, when the stock market is down, you are buy lots of shares at a reduced rate. When the stock market goes back up, you 401K will increase that much faster.
Follows the saying, "buy low, sell high". The worst thing you can do at this point (assuming you have many years to retirement, I have about 30), it to NOT put money into 401K. Now is the time to do it, so you can buy the stock when its cheap.
Course, I'm not a financial advisor and you have to use this information at your own risk :D. Gotta protect myself ya know.
The stock market will come back. It has to. If it doesn't, we ALL will have a lot more to worry about then retirment at that point if you catch my drift.
Good luck
-
takes money to make money?
-
that and a little patience
-
No I think I'll handle this the way Joe Pescie did in "Casino" when his investment banker told him he had lost his money :D
-
lol
(Wlfgng runs to hide)
-
Look at the bright side, Udie. You are young and you can make back whatever you wind up losing. The people who are hosed are those that are near-retirement age and older that have lost a lifetime of savings.
-
If you don't HAVE to sell you haven't lost anything.
When the depression hit the US the rich got really rich because (a) They were not forced to sell their investments to put food on the table
(b) They are generally a wise bunch of investors and had their money in safe strong companies that would survive the downturn
(c) Stocks were dirt cheap..they did as Wlfgng did and bought more.
-
Originally posted by Udie
Well I keep telling myself "the stock is low and you're buying it low so that's good" but I keep watching my savings total go down. Now this thing isn't that old and there's not much in it, but it's still going the wrong way!!
Udie,
It is better for your 401k investments to stay low as long as the companies don't actually fold (the gamble).
You'll be buying far more shares for your investment dollar.
It is at your retirement age that you want to see the market climb and peak out. You'll retire quite comfortably that way :) .
Keep in mind that a fairly large investment population are baby-boomers who are reaching retirement age and will be selling their shares, keeping the market artificially low. Should be in the next 10-15 years, maybe 20. Depending on your companies' economic foresight and growth will determine how strong and profitable they'll be during and after this 'buyout' period.
Think long term and you'll be ok ;)
Real estate is another investment opportunity you might want to look into, not as volatile as the market.
-
Originally posted by Lance
Look at the bright side, Udie. You are young and you can make back whatever you wind up losing. The people who are hosed are those that are near-retirement age and older that have lost a lifetime of savings.
not if they invested it wisely, ...wisely is the key word...transferring funds to bonds, slower growth but lower risk, etc. My dad did this, he's not hurting.
Put all your eggs in one basket, and drop that basket, you're gonna have yoke on your face.
-
Originally posted by Ripsnort
not if they invested it wisely, ...wisely is the key word...transferring funds to bonds, slower growth but lower risk, etc. My dad did this, he's not hurting.
My father laughs at the stock market.
He has one client that gave him $5million to invest for him about 25 years ago.
My old-man put it all into AAA rated bonds...mostly zero-coupon. Today the portfolio is worth in excess of $80million.
I have seen some of the figures, including the fact that some of the bonds he is holding now are earning 8-9% interest due to the time at which they were purchsed.
-
just like we said... it takes money to make money.
-
I don't even look at my 401K statements anymore. I'm young, the market will go back up. I just have to wait. Until it does, looking at my statements will only be depressing.
Hang in there Udie.
-
Come on guys! I already told you I want to go Joe Pescie over this!!! You guys better start egging me on or somebody's gonna get stabbed in the neck with a pen!!!
-
Originally posted by Mickey1992
If anyone has any extra $$$ lying around, put it all in Wendy's stock. I predict a 33% return within 12 months. (It closed at 31.91 yesterday, I will check this thread in a year). :D
I was wrong. It only went up 21%. It's trading at 38.60 today. :D
-
Just to stir the pot a bit...
Anybody notice that when the major companies took advantage of a change in government policy that allowed big corporations to do away with the traditional pension plans in favor of cash-balance 401(k) plans, that the sudden growth of investment dollars (since the workers had to put their retirement money somewhere) fueled a lot of the dot-com company growth, and that the resulting bust of the dot-com revolution and the loss of said retirement money caused many workers to save instead of invest, contributing to the econominc downturn we're experience right now?
Just think, if your company had a pension plan, you wouldn't be sweating over your 401(k) quite so bad.
-
Originally posted by Udie
Come on guys! I already told you I want to go Joe Pescie over this!!! You guys better start egging me on or somebody's gonna get stabbed in the neck with a pen!!!
You're pathetic, and now so is your 401K. Because of your 401K administrator, you're going to die homeless and penny-less and you aren't gonna be able to catch anything but baby panfish for the rest of your days because that same administrator is funding companies who are polluting texas waterways and killing off all the lunkers! Kill, Udie, get it out of your system...you know he deserves it! :D
-
Time in the market is the thing, check it out.
http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/earthlink-net/interactive-chart.asp?osymb=DJIA&symb=DJIA&sid=1643&time=20&uf=0&comp=
Just keep at it and stay spread over many good funds, don't try to time the market.
Remember your 401k is before tax so you lower your tax burden and get more savings for the dollor. You should try to max out your 401 percentage if you can, and any matching funds are like free money.
Just keep at it and don't worry about it unless you have less then 5 years to retairment then you should start looking at preservation of your founds and not growth.
-
The trick is knowing which companies will still be around when you get ready to cash in, and whether they'll be paying out dividends.
Studebaker, anyone?
MCI/Worldcomm?
Enron, perhaps?
Even the big ones fall. Too bad we don't have pensions to fall back on. At least a fixed income is guaranteed, even if the cost of living isn't.
-
"Casino" scene at the bar - that was one vicious attack - reminds me of Weasel :) maybe MiniD ;)
-
Originally posted by Udie
Everything I've put in my 401k since July is fek'n gone! :mad: Not only that but the damn thing is worth $1000 less than it was at my 1st quarterly statemen :mad:
I guess one day all this stock I'm buying will be worth something, I hope...
Somebodly please explain this 401k economic thing to me. I think I was stupid and had them put it all in to one fund and didn't "diversify".
If I put a list up here of our available funds could/would one of you people that are lightyears smarter than I please tell me which fund(s) you would put your stuff into?
I'm tired of spinning my wheels....
There are not any set plans that are 100% foolproof --diversification though is the way to do it..... The stock market will go back up --right now I'm buying like crazy--it either goes up or it crashes, period. Technoligies and energy are usually the strongest investments to choose--healthcare sometimes is but the way that industry is going I have very little in it anymore. The best thing to do is learn about it. that will be your strongest option in the future..knowledge is the key and you either have to trust someone to do it for you (sic) or learn yourself..Only you can plan for your economic future though IMO......
-
fire your 401K manager. Or use an indexed fund.
DJI, 6 month chart:
(http://chart.yahoo.com/c/6m/_/_dji.gif)
(about a 15% increase)
S&P500, 6 month chart:
(http://chart.yahoo.com/c/6m/_/_gspc.gif)
(about a 10% increase)
Nasdaq, 6 month chart:
(http://chart.yahoo.com/c/6m/_/_ixic.gif)
(nearly 25% increase in NASDAQ)
BB
-
BB..check the date of the original post.
-
ROFL!
DOH! :)
Well, udie? whattaya say now? Betcha ya made a bunch of it back, if not more. :)
BB