After one year of begging my hubby to get our 401k....

[CoffeeCat]

..funds completely out of the stock market, my husband finally agreed.

Today, we finally switched all of our 401k funds out of the stock market and into a Vanguard money market fund.

So...in six months, will my husband be thanking me... :toast: :hug: :yourock:

...or will I be sleeping on the couch? :dunce:

:) :scared:

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

1. He'll be thanking you.

Money market funds tend to be more stable thanks to their relatively diverse nature. You're still probably going to take a hit, but it probably won't be as drastic as it would be if you left it in a 401k. Also, depending on how old you are, there's a chance you'll recover any losses.

[SheilaT]

2. Meanwhile, how much did you lose

in the 401k?

Keep in mind that the market will come back eventually. At this point we simply have no way of knowing how long it will take. Will it be like the Great Depression where the market took nearly four years to hit bottom, and then about fifteen to get back to 1929 stock prices? I suspect it will be much shorter this time, but who know.

Personally, I'm not willing at this point to lock in a 40% loss, or whatever it is. I haven't opened my account statements since August.

[itsrobert]

3. Sleeping on the couch

But let's hoope it works out. It's a gamble either way.

[tridim]

4. Didn't I just read the other day that money markets are moving into negative yields?

I swear I heard/saw/read that somewhere recently.

[Turbineguy]

5. He'll be thanking you.

Whether you are right or wrong, he should be thanking you. The biggest problem in doing what you have done is the courage to do it.

But don't put a time limit on things.

The primary problems in the stock market are: the rules as changed by Bush's SEC and lack of confidence in the markets. There's trillions of dollars sitting on the sidelines. Be prepared to jump back in before all that money flows in. This is a good time to do some research, without being in the fear-greed mode.

After 35 years of investing there is one thing that stands out. There are always opportunities. They are just hard to find right now.

[MercutioATC]

6. Thanking you.

If you're out, stay out...until probably 2010 (at least).