EEEK! I looked at our 401K's

**nodmicks** · 01-22-2008, 01:27 PM

I hadn't looked at the balances in about 8 weeks. Now I wish I hadn't peeked!

**Dixie** · 01-22-2008, 01:31 PM

Ouch! I've been wondering, but I'm afaid to look.

**frugalfarmwife** · 01-22-2008, 01:33 PM

You are a braver woman than I! I'm just keeping on keeping on here and hoping things turn around. Peeking would probably give me heart failure right about now, ACK!

kj

**nodmicks** · 01-22-2008, 01:35 PM

I wish I hadn't!

**dcompton** · 01-22-2008, 01:40 PM

I haven't, but will have to at the end of the month to do the monthly balance sheet I keep. I'm bewildered right now as to what to do, especially since I had just increased my contribution to it. Drop out the extra and just put in what is required? Or keep putting in substantially more for the tax break? Will the tax break offset the losses? The other option, to is put that extra in the emergency saving account, but as we know interest there is dropping too. I guess for the present I'll leave it as is. But I only have about 7 years before potential retirement so, well, better not to look.

Ackkkkkk!

**FreesiaE** · 01-22-2008, 01:57 PM

Make sure to look at not only current performance but performance for the 1 year, 3 year annualized, 5 year annualzied, etc. and since inception annualized. This will give you a clearer picture of how your long term investment is performing than a daily snapshot.

**C@rol** · 01-22-2008, 03:06 PM

I peeked too and OUCH!!!
DH says stay the course.

**BlackstoneMama** · 01-22-2008, 03:16 PM

Hi Ladies...I've been watching mine over the last 2-3 weeks and it dropped almost 10% in value. OUCH! I'm a single mom so 10% makes me worry a bit.

My solution, I transferred some money from my biggest highly aggressive fund to a more conservative fund (Pimco High yield) just to preserve some capital.

Keep contributing ladies. It will all come back around. The upside when the market is low is that you can get more for your money in the long run (if its reputable companies and funds.)Dollar cost averaging...

Good luck!

**Daisysmom** · 01-22-2008, 03:33 PM

Blackstone,

Be careful, Pimco High Yield invests in junk/below grade bonds, if you said Pimco Total Return, it would have made more sense but you just invested in a fund that tends to invest in low grade bonds = more risk.

I haven't looked I don't want to depress myself but I have such a long way until retirement that this blip doesn't matter. I wish I had more money to invest right now.

I just refinanced and was planning on going to 6%. My mortgage guy called, I am now at 5.75! Yippy! At least there is one financial bright spot on this oh so dismal day of investing.

**forHISglory** · 01-22-2008, 06:34 PM

As someone who had a 403b and a 401k and is newly retired, I can strongly say: HOLD ON! Don't dump. When the market goes down, that's when you can buy cheap. The market will rise again and then you will have all these stocks that you purchased cheaply. But I know that it takes research to find out how to do all this. As one person mentioned, don't buy junk. When all indicators looked like a rough time, I put a lot of my holdings into a fund called "general". That meant my money would earn 3-4%, so I wouldn't lose anything. I kept the rest out there trying to get those bargain stocks.

Also, the tax advantages are tremendous for holding on to your account. Don't get hung up on the short term vision if you can at all help it. Your account may look dinky now, but it will start growing like blazes as you get nearer to retirement. Mine almost doubled in the last 3 years I had it! Of course, we didn't go thru a recession then, but try to hold on. And as another person mentioned, the employer match is free money, so take advantage of it.

**frugalfarmwife** · 01-22-2008, 07:06 PM

EVERYONE STEP AWAY FROM THE 401K

It's hard to watch but the advice is right, it is just a blip. We're lucky in that hubby is YEARS from retirement.

kj

**Jskell911** · 01-22-2008, 07:28 PM

I won't be tempted to look for quite a while. Especially since my employer just informed us they won't be providing any match anymore. At 12 years employment I was matched 100% up to 10% of my income..... HUGE loss!

**nodmicks** · 01-22-2008, 07:57 PM

Originally Posted by Jskell911

I won't be tempted to look for quite a while. Especially since my employer just informed us they won't be providing any match anymore. At 12 years employment I was matched 100% up to 10% of my income..... HUGE loss!

Dh's employer just made it a year end payment if they "can afford it".
Grrr

I'm not changing a thing in the 401K's and I'm not looking again!