BS4 - investments...

[Greebo]

I am in a quandry about this. We do not pay social security in my present job. It is replaced by a retirement account, and we have a choice of several companies to go with. I have mine with TIAA-Cref. I put in a mandated % of salary (8%, I think), the facility puts in what it would pay in social security. Beyond that I can contribute additional money, but it is not matched. I am not looking at retirement instantly, but at 60, it's not far down the road.

Last year I ended up with almost an identical amount in the account as I had at the beginning of the year, and in the meanwhile, I had poured a lot of money, at least for me, into the Incredible Vanishing Money Pot. If I were younger, I would agree with Greebo 100%. But the recovery time is a worrisome thing for me at this point.

I have no idea what the best thing to do is, but for the present I am not putting any additional money into the retirement account, beyond what is mandated to replace social security. I'm throwing it all into savings, trying to build the long term emergency fund up to at least nine months, and ultimately to at least a year. I am my only source of income, and with my age and health should I lose this job it would be very difficult to find another even in better economic times. A bit later I may start putting at least some in, partly because I really, really hate losing that tax break. But right now, savings is the priority over investment.

Ah, for a crystal ball to know how long for the market to recover and how long it will be before I need it.

In your case, I'd agree - because you are at or near retirement age, retirement investing is no longer a long term concept for you.

Investing is a 5+ year plan. At your stage, if you're less than 5 years from retirement, then I'd be leaving the nest egg alone and be putting as much as I can into shorter term savings plans. Mainly my thinking for you is, "ride out the storm on savings until the investments recover".

[frugalbabe]

Yes, Greebo is right, you aren't losing shares just the value of each of those shares. My worry is that while investing we always go by conventional wisdom and say "Well, the market has always done this or that." I'm just hoping that eventually the government will back out a bit so we can go back to seeing the market behave the way it normally does right now with all of this false money being pumped here and there it's hard to know if there's going to be a silver lining eventually.

[mateosbaby]

I know from personal experience as the son of a Lutheran Minister: Thrivent is a strong, reputable company. How you find out what you have is simple - read the statements, and read the prospectuses that, by law, they are required to send you at least annually.


You're thinking in panic mode. Go back, read my earlier posts *again*. You don't have $1000 in Thrivent, you have shares in Thrivent. Those shares, right now, are worth $1000. Earlier they were worth $1500. The only way - the only way for the value of those shares to drop to $0 is for Thrivent to mismanage your money, and Thrivent is a solid company, and trustworthy. Do. Not. Panic.

And most importantly - you've already said you don't even know what the money is in. If you make a rash decision now, you will be making an emotional decision in ignorance. That is the worst possible time to make a decision.

Get Educated. Get Informed. THEN think about making changes.

Until you understand your whole financial picture, flailing wildly in an unfounded panic over your $1000 dropping to $0 is just going to make things worse.


If you pull your money out now and put it in savings you will take two losses - one in taxes paid, and the other in the fact that you'll be throwing away the shares you have.

You don't buy high and sell low. If you pull the money out now, you will be selling low.

Stop thinking about your investment accounts as money. Start thinking about them as shares. Read your statements, find out what the money is in, then find out about those investments.

Find a recent statement, list the distribution of your assets, and I will help you get started figuring it out.

Sorry about the panic mode stuff. Evidently this is a pregnancy thing. My husband said I've been really panicky about a lot of stuff lately. So bear with me... (And feel free to tell me when I go into panic mode. )

OK, I see on the statement from my husband's current 401(k) where it lists out how many shares we own in each company. That makes a lot more sense now. Thrivent doesn't list exactly which shares you own; it only shows you the percentages of allocation. So here is what that says:

Large Cap Stocks 39%
Mid Cap Stocks 8%
Small Cap Stocks 12%
International Stocks 15%
Real Estate 4%
Short/Intermediate-Term Bonds 3%
Intermediate/Long-Term Bonds 11%
High Yield Bonds 6%
Cash Equivalents 2%

And now I see it does show total shares owned are 130.518. (BTW, this is as of 9/30/08. My year-end only shows the January and December $ values with no mention of shares.) So beginning value 7/1/08 was $1455.28 with a share price of $11.15, and ending value 9/30/08 was $1302.57 with a share price of $9.98. Since this was from my husband's old job, we aren't adding any money to this account.

I am seeing what you mean, though, about thinking in terms of shares owned, not the actual $ value of it. I wish they'd put the shares in the bold print and not the $ value. Maybe people would start to see exactly what they have instead of the $$ vanishing into thin air. Like me... But I'm learning!

[Greebo]

Sorry about the panic mode stuff. Evidently this is a pregnancy thing. My husband said I've been really panicky about a lot of stuff lately. So bear with me... (And feel free to tell me when I go into panic mode. )

I think you can see I have no problem doing just that. Don't worry - fear is a natural response in times like these. Just don't let it rule you.

List of allocations...

Do you need any help understanding what those mean?

Since this was from my husband's old job, we aren't adding any money to this account.

No harm keeping it separate. Spreading out investments gives you diversity. Leave that Thrivent acct alone and it'll just grow over time. (It WILL grow again eventually!)

I am seeing what you mean, though, about thinking in terms of shares owned, not the actual $ value of it. I wish they'd put the shares in the bold print and not the $ value.

What? And eliminate all that drama???