Poll: How many DUers have a 401k or IRA

[MineralMan]

that is invested in the stock market, either through mutual funds or direct participation in stocks. The poll is just to get an idea of whether DUer's retirement funds are affected by the stock market.

37 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	I Have a 401k plan that invests in the stock market or mutual funds.
	12 (32%)
	I Have an IRA that is invested in the stock market or mutual funds.
	1 (3%)
	I have both a 401k and an IRA that is invested in the stock market or mutual funds.
	15 (41%)
	I have some other retirement fund that invests in the stock market or mutual funds.
	3 (8%)
	I have none of the above.
	5 (14%)
	Nunna your beeswax.
	1 (3%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[kentauros]

1. Nothing at the moment.

We're supposed to have someone come talk to our company in June, so I'll find out more then as to whether I join up or not. I've never had anything other than my credit union savings account.

[MineralMan]

2. Sorry. I made an edit that changed the poll. If your vote

was affected, you can undo and choose another item.

[MineralMan]

3. Kick for more input.

[hobbit709]

4. Mines a .401k

[lastlib]

56. Bush turned mine into a 101k.......

[HappyMe]

5. I have nothing.

[MineralMan]

7. Yah, me neither.

I imagine that many DUers do, though. That's why I posted the poll.

[CTyankee]

43. I used to before I retired. But if I had had to rely on just that, I'd be eating out of

garbage cans or being a greeter at WalMart...or both...

[Daniel537]

6. Nada. n/t

[leftynyc]

8. I have two 401k accounts

One from a company I worked for until 11 years ago and I keep it because more than half is in the company stock that has done extremely well for me and the other from my current company. I never would have saved this money on my own and also got matching contributions while I was employed at the first account and get matching from my current company. So, yes, both my accounts are effected by the stock market.

[MineralMan]

10. Thanks for your input.

[geek tragedy]

9. My wife has one of the 'other' type of accounts.

I have student loan debt in my portfolio.

Our home equity is 90% of our net worth.

[MineralMan]

11. Yah. My home is most of my net worth, too.

No student loans, though. I'm an old geezer.

[Eleanors38]

30. A 100k IRA in a fixed annuity, a house in Austin (paid for),

a pitiful SS monthly, Medicare, and most importantly, no debt. Another old school fart who never made much, but saved like a dung beetle.

[MissB]

12. Pension, 401k, 457 plan plus other investments

As a family, anyway. Dh has a 401k and a pension (from when his employer used to offer one before switching to the 401k). I have a defined benefit pension and a defined contribution plus deferred comp. And we have other retirement vehicles.

Pensions are a rare breed anymore. Dh's 401k has been great, despite the ups and downs. But we can afford to put away the max each year, which is one of many reasons that I think they are a poor replacement for pensions.

[arcane1]

13. I didn't vote, since I have a 401k but no idea where the money is invested

Presumably the stock market?

[MineralMan]

15. I don't know, but you should find out, I think.

It's good to know where your money is, I think.

[arcane1]

27. Agreed. I tend to just not think about it too much

Plus, I'm not too savvy when it comes to finances and investments. You have inspired me to take a closer look

[Common Sense Party]

52. Feel free to ask questions in the DU Personal Finance and Investing group.

[A HERETIC I AM]

67. ...

[geckosfeet]

14. Another interesting question; if u have one, how much do you expect have saved before using it?

[MineralMan]

17. That's a good question, but the poll is just a general one

to see how what percentage people on DU are affected by the stock market in some way. Of course, we'll only know about those who respond to the poll, but it's something.

[geckosfeet]

29. Yes. Good poll. But the more you have in funds, the more exposure you have to market fluctuation.

Ie: if you really use your 401k/ira you will get clobbered when the market tanks.

[Common Sense Party]

53. The more you have in stock funds, especially.

And probably in bond funds over the next few years, as well.

There are other things--specifically in an IRA--where one could and should be putting their "short-term" money, the money they need to keep "safe" from market fluctuations. This is money that will be providing income for the next 5-7 years.

I highly recommend listening to Ray Lucia's radio show. He talks a great deal about his "buckets" strategy which might help people avoid getting creamed when the market tanks close to or during retirement.

http://www.raylucia.com/radio-show

[LooseWilly]

68. I was under the impression that IRAs were generally invested in the same things as 401Ks...

I mean, maybe if you have some sort of personal relationship or financial advisor you could conceivably invest it in other things (but, aside from stocks and bonds what else is there to invest in? Real Estate? PABs with agencies that are more fiscally sound than your local municipality?)

With the increasing acceptance of "regulators" and "legislators" for a deregulated (and hence boom-bust cycle) economy ... it seems to me that one's only hope for retirement is that some other aspect of the economy is imploding when you come upon retirement time. If you diversify, then only some proportion of your wealth will be in the process of imploding when retirement comes around... and you can only pray to the Flying Spaghetti Monster that the other spheres of your investments are sufficiently bubbling to "buoy" your nest egg and allow you to buy... well, eggs.

(And, if you just stuff cash under the mattress, there's always the worry of runaway inflation or a general currency crash...)

[Shrek]

16. My 401(k) is invested in stocks and mutual funds

I also have a self-directed Roth IRA.

These days I mostly trade index futures and options, and I sometimes dabble in oil or other commodities.

[MineralMan]

18. Thanks for the info.

[Demonaut]

19. I have about 300 thousand

pennies in a 401k

[Dawgs]

20. Thank you. I think I know where you are coming from with this. n/t

[MineralMan]

25. I'm just curious. Personally, I have nothing that depends on

the stock market. The subject came up, though, in another thread, so I thought I'd poll DUers. So far, a majority seems to have some investment in it. But we don't have a big sample yet.

[spanone]

21. both. mutual funds.

[NightWatcher]

22. Other: I have a small box of baseball cards

I just know my Mark McGuire rookie card is gonna pay off for me

[LooseWilly]

71. To be honest... that might be the best retirement fund I've heard of yet...

I have some Star Wars action figures.

[AngryAmish]

23. I just buy gold whenever Glen Beck tells me to

[MineralMan]

26. Smart move, no doubt...

[Warren DeMontague]

24. I used to get real irie in college

does that count?

[Eleanors38]

34. I'm still invested in Irie, even if the interest is low.

I consider it my Green Cross/Green Shield policy. Fixes my annuity everytime.

[Warren DeMontague]

51. Nothing like opening up one of those quarterly reports.

[Sissyk]

38. Lol!

That's hot. Can I say that?

[CANDO]

28. I and my wife both have 401k's

My wife is converting hers to an IRA. I also have a Teamster pension, split between a lump sum acct. and a defined benefit portion. The ride back from oblivion(2008) has been great, but investing is a roller coaster ride. The 401k's and my lump sum Teamster account total $331K. I'm 48 and wife is 52. Our 401k's are in target date pre-mixed (very diversified) investments. My Teamster account is professionally managed.

[MineralMan]

32. Thanks for the input.

[HERVEPA]

31. 401K, 403B, Regular IRA, Roth IRA, Very small pension

[MineralMan]

33. Thanks!

[MineralMan]

35. Kick.

[donco]

36. I have a

defined benefit (Teamster)retirement plan.

[tularetom]

37. I rolled over two 401k's into an IRA when I retired

I opened them in 1983 and retired in 2000. We did without a lot of things in those years (like vacations or a new car) as we maxed out the 401k's. Now we are in our 70's and we can draw a few bucks each year.

I doubt my kids or grandkids will be able to do the same thing.

[Proud Public Servant]

39. Happy to respond, but for the purposes of your poll...

Would you like me to consider my 403b accounts as 401ks (to which they are nearly identical) or as "other"?

[MineralMan]

40. The reason for the poll is to see what percentage of DUers

have investments for retirement that are tied to the stock market, so you can vote on that basis. I just provided some options.

[Proud Public Servant]

41. Good enough, I'll vote [n/t]

[MineralMan]

44. Thanks!

[loli phabay]

42. 401k, ira, pension plan, other investments and hopefully my kids.

[brooklynite]

45. ...plus a 457.

And I max out each one every year.

[MineralMan]

46. Thanks.

[Atman]

47. I have a "personal pension" which is another name for an IRA...

But the investments are very diverse. Everything from mutual funds to stocks to precious metals to private equity and property. So far, I'm a very happy man!

[Nimajneb Nilknarf]

48. With the miniscule interest being paid on bank deposits, there aren't many places for people to put

their money, among those of us who have managed to save some.

[LeftInTX]

49. Husband has a public employee pension and a very small 403B

He plans to retire in 10 years with about 2/3 pay.
However I think the employee pensions have been invested in mutual funds.
Fortunately, he is in the huge Texas Teachers Retirement program and there are watchdogs involved.

The pension did go through some changes such as raising eligibility age. Although he could retire now, he would have a limited payment. Texas also had a program called Retire/Rehire. That program was canned a few years ago.

[MineralMan]

50. Thanks!

[Stainless]

54. I Rolled Over A Small 401K

into a managed IRA when I was laid off by a defense contractor 3 1/2 years ago. The value has increased over 31% in that time. I'm retired now, living on SS and savings until I'm required to start drawing on the IRA at 70 1/2.

[bvar22]

55. In 2006 - 2007, my Wife & I cashed in everything (IRA),

paid the penalties and taxes,
sold everything else,
and bought Bubble Proof property in the Woods of Arkansas,
surrounded by National Forest,
with an Ozark Mountain spring on the property.
No mortgage, no loans, no credit cards.

We moved there in 2006,
rehabbed the property,
upgraded the abandoned cabin to make it more energy efficient and livable,
planted Blue Berries, Fruit Trees, and a large Veggie Garden.
We also keep chickens and Honey Bees.

I started drawing Social Security in 2011.

We are living well on a low "taxable" income,
and stuff we learned in the 60s.
Wall Street can live or die without our money or concern.

[SteveG]

57. I have a 403b

like a 401k on steroids.

[BainsBane]

58. It's the nonprofit version

right? For non-profit employers? Or is it just educational institutions?

[Common Sense Party]

60. Non profits. Usually it's educational institutions and hospitals, mostly.

I don't know if I would say it's a 401k "on steroids," though. It's essentially the same thing.

[BainsBane]

62. That's what I thought

I thought it was just the same.

[SteveG]

72. Non-profit

The big difference is that the employer puts in a good size % of your annual income and the employee puts in a set amount but can match up to a certain amount. They are designed (unlike 401k's) to be a real retirement plan, not a supplement to a defined Pension plan which was the intent of the 401k plans, and IRA's.

[tammywammy]

59. I rolled a 401k into an IRA after I was laid off from a previous employer.

I have a 401k with my current employer that has a darn good match.

[FreeJoe]

61. 401K, IRA, Roth, HSA, 529...got all sorts

When my wife and I got married, we had money in 403B's. We have since rolled that money into IRAs and then converted it to Roth IRAs. In addition to our Roth IRAs we have:

1) A rollover IRA from 401K and pension funds other companies I worked at
2) A 401K at my current company
3) Non-deductible traditional IRAs for each of us
4) a Health Savings Account that we use more like a retirement account than a health spending account
5) 529 College Savings plans for the kids
6) A regular taxable brokerage account
7) A pension plan at my current employer

The money in those accounts is invested almost entirely in low cost index funds. The funds are broad based US Stock index funds, International stock index funds, bond funds, TIPS funds, and money market funds. I don't time my entry in and out of the market. I just focus on maintain an asset allocation that I'm comfortable with. The allocation is different for different types of accounts. It is very conservative (mostly money market) for my emergency fund. The 529 plan money is in a program that shifts from 100% stock when the kids were infants, to include more bonds, and now even money market savings as they are getting closer to college. The retirement money is invested more heavily in equities and less in fixed income assets. I don't control how my company invests the money in the pension plan, but I suspect that it is a mixture of stocks and bonds based on the actuarial expectations of money to be paid out.

As for the question of how much I expect to have in my savings, I use different targets for different funds. For the kid's college costs, I look up the expected all-in cost of our state's top public universities and use 5x the annual cost as a savings goal. I update the amount I need to save annually based on changes in the expected cost and my current balances.

For retirement savings, I target based on an estimate of what my expenses will be. To figure that out, I look at my current expenses and use that as a baseline. I then project the after tax income I will have from my various savings account, pension, an social security. I look at the effect of different rates of return, different tax rates, and different retirement ages. It gives me a sense of whether I am saving enough, too much, or too little. At the moment, things look good. If current trends continue, I might retire earlier than I had originally planned. My plan was to retire about 12-13 years from now, but I might shorten that by a couple of years if things continue to go well.

[smirkymonkey]

63. I have a 401K, but my student loan debt is more than

triple than the amount in my retirement plan. Most of my student loan debt is interest, almost double in fact. I am so screwed.

[olddots]

64. I got plenty of nothing

and nothing is plenty for me ( not really )

[scarletwoman]

65. I have a savings account at my local Credit Union, & a tiny cabin with 10 acres I own free & clear.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, I'll work until I'm 70 (6 1/2 more years) and then collect Social Security.

I don't need much. I've never needed much. I'm an old hippie and I'm used to a very basic lifestyle - it's the only way I care to live. I've survived my entire life on limited means - I know how to do it and be happy and satisfied.

I have no debts, I have no credit cards. If I want something, I save until I have enough to pay for it outright. I have always done my best to participate in the capitalist system as little as possible. I would never, in a million years, participate in anything that involves the Stock Market and Wall Street.

sw

[tavernier]

66. Yup

401k, IRA, hubby the same. Yes, we check our stock app frequently. 😱

[Yo_Mama]

69. I don't know if it will help you

but supposedly a bit over 54% of the US has stocks according to this 2011 survey:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/147206/stock-market-investments-lowest-1999.aspx

A lot of them have not very much in stocks, because a lot of those accounts are very small. The distribution of who owns stocks is not even at all, as you would expect:

Eighty-seven percent of upper-income Americans -- those making $75,000 or more annually -- own stocks, as do 83% of postgraduates and 73% of college graduates. Sixty-four percent of Republicans hold stocks, compared with half of Democrats and independents. Men are more likely than women to be stock owners. Those aged 50 to 64 are the most likely of any age group to say they have money invested in the stock market.

But of course younger people are vastly less likely to have these types of investments.

Here's another article about distributions of total savings and investments, which would include stocks:
http://allfinancialmatters.com/2010/03/29/77-of-american-workers-have-less-than-100000-in-savings-investments/

54% of have less than 25K in total savings and investments. Another 23% have between 25K and 100K. Only 22% have over 100K in total savings and investments, which includes savings accounts, IRAs and stocks and bonds.

[Demo_Chris]

70. Damn... I really am a loser. :(