Let's talk 401K's.....

[zak88lx]

Did you guys not read his post??????????????

Let me help you all.

His post is about starting a NEW 401k...as in, he doesnt probably currently have one.

Time is money.

If you have TIME (i.e. you're younger) you can take LESS rick, have more stable investments and come time to retire, you have your retirement.

If you are OLDER...you dont have time on your side, thus you need to INCREASE RISK to increase potential return. higher risk, higher return.

You dont need high risk/high return if you are younger because time will compensate for that.




didnt know this was gonna be so difficult for you all

You are....not very bright. :idea:

 

[JD03Cobra]

401k is a great way to see a magic trick happen for me. For example, I contribute every paycheck and when I get my quarterly statements, the balance is almost always the same or less than the previous balance. It's as if my money has just disappeared!

You should be looking at the performance of your funds on a monthly basis at a minimum...if your losing money then you should be able to log into your account and make changes on the fly. No reason to be losing money in a 401k at the moment. If your investing into stocks through your 401k plan then again look to see the performance of each stock.

I check mine every two weeks and make changes if necessary.

 

[wurd2]

65fastback2+2, sometimes it is worth admitting that you are wrong and understanding why. I know this from a lot of firsthand experience.

.

 

[Coiled03]

^^^
Maybe some people cannot afford to put a large percentage of their income into a retirement fund? :shrug:

Most company matches aren't a significant chunk of your income. For instance, my company matches the first 6% you contribute. If you can't afford to put 6% in your 401K, you might as well not even be in it.

 

[Franchi]

This is why we have Social Security.

Ok I admit, that made me laugh pretty good. Sad it's true too...

 

[65fastback2+2]

if you're under 30, you can go with one of the lower risk options, 30-40 go with a medium risk, and over 40 go higher risk

Umm...are you retarded? From your citation: "What's really dangerous is for people, say, in their 60s to start investing for the first time in aggressive things, because they don't have the time to recover if something goes wrong in the meantime."

I even quoted myself so you can see I never stated anything about anyone in their 60's

by the time you're in your 60's you've screwed the pooch and it doesnt matter anyhow

 

[Cobra03Mach1]

I say if you are young invest aggressively and invest as much as possible. I'm 25 and 10% of my check goes to my 401k with my company matching 100% up too 4% and 50% anything after 4%. Whats nice about it, you can pull out a loan and the interest you pay on the loan goes back to your account.

 

[mysterio]

I say if you are young invest aggressively and invest as much as possible. I'm 25 and 10% of my check goes to my 401k with my company matching 100% up too 4% and 50% anything after 4%. Whats nice about it, you can pull out a loan and the interest you pay on the loan goes back to your account.

Something to consider is to invest in your company's 401k, right up to the match. Any discretionary income after that should go to maxxing out a Roth IRA, if a person qualifies for that (check with your tax/accounting person for restrictions).

The Roth IRA is one of the very few things out there that will produce tax free income in retirement, since you contribute to it with after-tax dollars. All other retirement accounts, like 401k's, traditional IRA's, SEP's, SIMPLE's, annuities, etc. are merely tax deferred. Sooner or later, the Evil Empire (IRS) gets their nickel.

Plus, a little known fact about the Roth IRA is that you can pull out your contribution (but not growth) any time, tax and penalty free. That's a better option than taking a loan against your 401k, especially since not all employers provide that.

 

[JDStud6]

Did you guys not read his post??????????????

Let me help you all.

His post is about starting a NEW 401k...as in, he doesnt probably currently have one.

Time is money.

If you have TIME (i.e. you're younger) you can take LESS rick, have more stable investments and come time to retire, you have your retirement.

If you are OLDER...you dont have time on your side, thus you need to INCREASE RISK to increase potential return. higher risk, higher return.

You dont need high risk/high return if you are younger because time will compensate for that.


didnt know this was gonna be so difficult for you all

lol @ this kid oke::bash::nono:

JD

 

[JDStud6]

My employer offers various options, not really sure what to pick out. I will put no more than 5k$ a year into it and would like to know which is the best option out there.

On the plan of offers, I see mostly different Fidelity investment options, few Morgan Stanley and two Invesco....


What do you have?

A lot of brokers now offer a pretty balanced fund that is geared towards your retirement date. You'll see them listed by dates in 5 year increments. You want to pick the one closest to your expected retirement date. You should probably pick one when you'll be 65 or 70.

Example...you may see 2040, 2045, 2050, etc

Always put in at least enough to get the full match from your employer. Once you do that much you may want to put $5,000 into a roth IRA each year. Then if you want to invest more, put more into your 401k.

JD