My retirement plan lost 10% across the board this last quarter.

[merwin]

From the "safe" investments to the foreign ones, each part of my 401K lost roughly 10%. I'm seriously considering pulling my money out of it. Two more quarters of this and I've just about hit the 30% early withdrawal penalty anyways.

I've only got about $11,000 in it now, which isn't a whole heck of a lot, but it's enough to make me cringe when it loses over $1,200 in a single quarter.

[Xipe Totec]

1. Just think, if we had privatized social security...

:scared:

[MercutioATC]

2. Do you have a "Govt. Securities or Treasuries" option?

They're making less than the inflation rate, but at least they're making some positive rate.

[YDogg]

3. wow. that % loss hurts.

i experienced something similar a while back and it took a long time to get back to where i had been.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. And it takes more than a 10% gain just to break even again.

[slipslidingaway]

33. Yes!!!!! n/t

[YDogg]

5. just checked mine.

lost 0.37% last quarter. i'm more conservative with allocations than i used to be.

[pitohui]

6. we're all in the same boat as there is no current good investment but consider this...

are you worse off with a tiny retirement savings or with ZERO retirement savings?

not too many of us here on DU are going to end up with that fabled $2 million in retirement savings that the financial advisors tell us that we need, but a little something when we're too old to work is better than a little nothing

the bush dynasty can't last forever and the stock market, the housing market, the dollar etc. may actually one day gain value again

it's almost better to only review your retirement investments once a year, no sooner, so that you are not tempted to worry and stress, keep in mind you have a long time horizon


another advantage of keeping something in your retirement account is that if you are ever sued, they probably can't go after that money, and the more financially desperate people become, the more they run around suing each other over nothing -- i see it all the time in the new orleans area

[KoKo]

26. Good points you make....n/t

[Warpy]

7. Consider insured options since you've got such a small amount

When my nest egg was that small, I put it in insured CDs. You could also consider an IRA, but quite honestly, that tax bite on the CDs will be so small that it's far outweighed by the liquidity and the insurance CDs carry.

I lost about 7% last quarter but my stock is income producing. The paper value might have decreased but my income has stayed the same.

It would be nuts for me to pull out of the market right now and scramble for enough insured options to stash my money in, options that wouldn't produce the same income my present stocks do.

[stellanoir]

8. thank our corporate leadership for that

I do believe, that we have a touch of a coup.

All legislation over the past 7 years has favored corporations over individuals.

Take the money and run.

[RB TexLa]

9. go with the money fund and make 3% or so until you feel you can bear the risk of something

watch the different options and chose when to get back in.

[BigDaddy44]

10. Investing for dummies

Look. It goes up, and it goes down. There are no guarantees short term, but in the long run the stock market has gone up consistently over time. Thats the key. Over time.

Did you know that during 73-74, the stock market went down 50%? 10% is really nothing in historical terms. Besides, if you need the money in the short term, it shouldn't be in the stock market anyway.

If you're young -- leave it there. So many people get suckered because the first time it drops, they take their money out, and miss when the market goes up again. If you can't stomach risk, or need the money soon, put it in a CD or money market fund.

And by the way, if it makes you feel better, I'm down roughly $40K in my 401K over the past 3 months. I've seen it go down before, and I'll see it go down again. But in the long run, things have worked out quite well.

[merwin]

16. It seems like the Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund might be my best option then.

I'm not a big investment buff, but that seems like the safest one in the bunch that I have access to currently.

[BigDaddy44]

19. Could very well be

Other advice in here is very good. Go with your comfort level. If you're not going to get as large a return, but it helps you sleep better at night, then by all means, go for something with lower risk.

The swings don't bother me so much, especially since I wont be able to get at it for decades. I remember my first IRA. I spent $2000 on a mutual fund. One year later it was worth $4000, and I thought I was a genius. The next year, it was back down to about $2200. Guess I wasn't so smart after all :)

[merwin]

23. I just split it out into 50% TIPS and 50% Retirement 2030 fund...

I will at least be able to sleep :)

[Yupster]

29. You know what they always say...

Buy low and sell high.

So why does everyone always buy high and sell low?

[Zynx]

24. If your primary concern is capital preservation, it is your best bet.

I think the market will be substantially higher five years from now than it is today and I am strategically positioning to take advantage of any major downswings, but I am only 21 so I have plenty of time.

[merwin]

25. I'm 27, so I have plenty of time as well.

Most of this is frustration at what this administration has done, and my lack of realization ahead of time.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

11. Just think, if you could start a war and then invite your friends to

it for nobid work contracts, you know, the ones who bought the wh for you... the ones who give you dough for being a "war prezident"... why things would be just fine for all concerned.

[skids]

12. The foreign stocks I heard Bernanke IIRC said...

...it's like there's a bunch of bottles of water and one has poison in it, so nobody wants to buy any of them.

Hopefully eventually people will figure out there's not as much crap in those, and my heavily-offshore-weighted funds will recover. That is if the retirement plan doesn't use them to hide losses in the domestic funds.

For now I just pretend I believe in dollar cost averaging. Pulling out at a low is "selling low", exactly the opposite of what one should do... but then of course we know things are looking like they are still heading down. I suppose it depends on when exactly you are going to need to cash them out. If you can ride it for a decade it might work out in the long run.

[NNN0LHI]

13. I cashed out of the market last week and paid the money on my house mortgage

I know exactly what the return will be there.

Don

[Oleladylib]

14. Any investment advisor worth their salt/fee tells their client

You have to be able to sleep at night! If you can't ...change investment styles...Nothing wrong with conservative, slow growth investments...you don't win big..but you don't have to lose a dime.

[notesdev]

15. Hope you're not retiring soon

Just wait until boomer retirement hits in full force.

Here's a rough idea of what you can expect:

- housing prices, especially in colder areas, will plummet (in addition to the bubble-related plummet), from boomers changing over to retirement living styles

- wages for skilled labor are going to go up by a lot, since there are far fewer people available to replace them in the generation that follows.

- all traditional investments will fall across the board, as the boomer generation money gets pulled out to finance retirements.


I've got a few speculations as to other things that will happen, but I'm fairly confident of the above.

[pitohui]

18. wages for skilled labor are going to go up by a lot?

a glance at the world's growing population should be enough to put that one to sleep, wages are falling for a long time now because there are 6 billion-plus people in the world and growing...

american baby boomers aren't a pimple on the butt of a planet with a population of over 7 billion people, many of them young and willing to re-locate worldwide

[notesdev]

20. Culture and nationality

will play big factors. The US is on its way to becoming very immigrant-unfriendly, very fast.

And as we saw with the various outsourcing schemes, being an American and understanding US culture intuitively is an important factor in doing business here.

While global wage arbitrage will be a factor, it won't bring skilled labor costs down as much as the mass exodus of boomers will push it up. Companies are already scrambling to hold onto whoever they can for however long they are willing to work.

[Wcross]

17. My return was 3.9% for the quarter in my retirement fund- fidelity select gold fund.

I wish I had converted it directly into gold itself but it seemed like a hassle to do it. I know Gold isn't a long term hold but it will preserve my wealth until the value of the dollar stops free falling.

[alfredo]

21. My friend was to retire next month, now he can't. He was depending on

his 401k and his second home to giving him some financial security. His health has been failing.

[merwin]

31. On a separate note, I just joined folding @ home

And the DU group on there :) Thanks for your sig line! My first results are posted

[alfredo]

36. Thank you very much.

[BigDaddy44]

35. Then he was poorly invested

Quite frankly, if he was going to retire "next month", then his retirement portfolio should not be in anything so volatile as the stock market. This is just poor planning on his part (sad to say).

[alfredo]

38. To make matters worse, he drives for a living.

[avenger64]

22. And yet they keep printing money to bail out wall street ...

.. bernanke and his crew are maniacs, and they don't have our interests at heart, only saving their own asses.

[lonestarnot]

27. I'm sorry merwin. Good luck getting it out.

Just sayin' from experience. :shrug: They hang on pretty tightly. Be prepared to spend some time on it. :P

[slipslidingaway]

28. You may want to spend some time reading about technical

analysis especially in the context of general market trends. We have all heard about the crash of 1929, but many people do not realize that the market basically went sideways during the 1960's to early 1980's.

There were signs in 2000 and 2007 that the market was becoming weak, protecting some of your gains and moving to a more defensive position during those times might not be a bad idea. As one moves closer to retirement and has more money to lose it becomes an even better idea. Most importantly do your own homework.

Historical Chart Gallery
http://stockcharts.com/charts/historical/


Technical Analysis vs. The News
http://www.decisionpoint.com/TAcourse/TAvsNews.html


Just to give you an idea of the basics, this is from November 2007, but also there are nightly updates to help you learn.

S&P 500 Longer Term View
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBfpYqrrzgQ

Tonight's update
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsMQy2W2p3M

[B Calm]

30. I remember them telling us how much better the 401K is over a pension.

cheap labor cons suck!

[slipslidingaway]

32. At least pension plans had people who knew about the markets

managing their money, now each individual is their own financial adviser and they have a limited number of options in the 401K plans.

[BigDaddy44]

37. Sorry, but you're wrong

The idea that pension plans have financial geniuses managing them is just wrong. Did you know that index funds (which just track the market) beat 70%-80% of actively managed funds? That means that 70%-80% of the "professionals" get beat by a fund that does nothing. The vast majority of 401K plans have index options. Stick with those, and you'll beat most of the pros over the long haul (and the fees are lower too).

[slipslidingaway]

40. Do you think the big pension funds stayed fully invested from

2000 to 2002?

People now have control of their pension money, unfortunately many people do not have the skills or tools that are available to the big money managers. I'm certainly not advocating that people put money into an actively managed fund, just that we need to educate ourselves more about the markets.

There may be times to protect gains that have been made.

[Muttocracy]

34. mine hasn't been quite that bad, but it is nervewracking

Fortunately I was invested more conservatively than was recommended for my age.

[Blue_In_AK]

39. My husband's IRA lost more money than we care to think about.

We pulled it out of stocks and put it into some money fund, so now it's making just a little, but we've stopped hemorrhaging anyway. It's a bit unnerving when you're in your 60s as we are.

[taught_me_patience]

41. At least 25% should be in bonds no matter what your age

Whatever you do, don't pull out! It will be a stupid move that you'll regret. Just keep adding in and things will turn around in the future. If you are feeling bearish, then up your bond allocation to 50-75%.