Current Events > Everyone's 401ks are down right?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Mine have been in the pooper

A lot of people I know have started cashing them out, expecting another financial crisis.
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Not too bad
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I haven't been keeping my eyes on mine daily or weekly but it looks up to me tbh
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One of my friends told me his lost pretty much everything he put into it this year. Seems shitty.

Bear pennant forming, the economy is fucked.

And it's funny because everybody is boasting about how great the economy has been, like '08 never happened, like we're not due for another recession

yeah whole market is down
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Ex-Kefiroth posted...

I'm in cash waiting for the crash

you wait too long you'll miss it

my 401k is down ytd but i bought the indexes hard during the feb lows and that position is flat

money managers are fleeing the market right now so IMO there is a good buying opportunity right now. might see further losses, but probably will bounce from somewhere near here and end flat for the year

and my 401k is still up relative to like...dec 1 2017 so i cant be too mad
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mine has been unfortunately
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clearaflagrantj posted...

Bear pennant forming, the economy is fucked.

And it's funny because everybody is boasting about how great the economy has been, like '08 never happened, like we're not due for another recession

all about those interest rate hikes
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Considering I spend like 4 months of the year almost exclusively auditing 401(k) or 403(b) plans, I really should pay more attention to my own.

But yes, it's down a bit.
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Bad idea to react to market changes and make emotional decisions. No one here is retiring any time soon. Stay in the market and dont make changes to your allocations too often.
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Mine made record gains.
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Yes
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EndOfDiscOne posted...

Bad idea to react to market changes and make emotional decisions. No one here is retiring any time soon. Stay in the market and dont make changes to your allocations too often.

^ Yep.

Panic selling is almost always a mistake. I only sell when I conclude an investment is overbought and is too large a fraction of my portfolio, or when a speculative investment I've made triggers a tight stop.
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Mine was up just 2% over the past 12 months when I checked at the beginning of the month. Oh well, I'm getting shares at a discount now.
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I put into energy at 2.25/gallon of gas. I haven't consulted with my FO in 2 years. I might want to consider discussing that.
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I took 20k from my savings to buy during this dip too. Feels bad man
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EndOfDiscOne posted...

Bad idea to react to market changes and make emotional decisions. No one here is retiring any time soon. Stay in the market and dont make changes to your allocations too often.

I will never retire.
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Squall28 posted...

I took 20k from my savings to buy during this dip too. Feels bad man

if it makes you feel better i put a similar sum in

just understand that so long as you have emergency funds covered, you're not really going to wind up any worse off
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We were even lower earlier this year, though the yearly low seems to be in jeaorpody right now if the trend continues. I shaved off 20% from my portfolio by the end of October, with this further downturn Im thinking of taking more off the table, gonna wait for the weekly close and see how things pan out.
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Darkman124 posted...

Squall28 posted...

I took 20k from my savings to buy during this dip too. Feels bad man

if it makes you feel better i put a similar sum in

just understand that so long as you have emergency funds covered, you're not really going to wind up any worse off

Yeah emergency funds are covered. Just no splurging this holiday season
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I aint no much about this money stuff. Is it bad to just leave it in like a 2050 or 2055 and not touch it?

CruelBuffalo posted...

I aint no much about this money stuff. Is it bad to just leave it in like a 2050 or 2055 and not touch it?

if you don't know much, and it's a vanguard 2050 fund, that's an excellent plan.
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Darkman124 posted...

CruelBuffalo posted...

I aint no much about this money stuff. Is it bad to just leave it in like a 2050 or 2055 and not touch it?

if you don't know much, and it's a vanguard 2050 fund, that's an excellent plan.

Yeah thats my previous company i left it there. I have a fidelity 403b now, but its cool to just leave my vanguard alone right? I have a good amount sitting there

yeah vanguard's cost ratio is the lowest in the industry

i try to use them for everything i can, aside from the "its ok to lose everything and i probably will" portion of my portfolio that i use for direct stock holdings

you may have to roll it into a personal trad ira over there though
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pres_madagascar posted...

A lot of people I know have started cashing them out, expecting another financial crisis.

Sorry you work with DDIQ people.
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I've had money deducted from my paycheck for 401k, but my account says I haven't contributed any money yet.

Mine is down 12%. I need to check my old account too.
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what happens when you change jobs, but the new job doesn't do 401k or uses a different company for retirement funds?

Anisoptera posted...

what happens when you change jobs, but the new job doesn't do 401k or uses a different company for retirement funds?

you roll it into your traditional IRA, or pay taxes on it and roll into a ROTH IRA (advisable)
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Technically up due to my contributions but market gains are not good
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Anisoptera posted...

what happens when you change jobs, but the new job doesn't do 401k or uses a different company for retirement funds?

Can just leave it in there and manage through their provider still. If they use a different company you can roll it over to there so you only have to manage one 401K sum.
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Darkman124 posted...

Anisoptera posted...

what happens when you change jobs, but the new job doesn't do 401k or uses a different company for retirement funds?

you roll it into your traditional IRA, or pay taxes on it and roll into a ROTH IRA (advisable)

Why would you suggest a Roth account?
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P4wn4g3 posted...

Darkman124 posted...

Anisoptera posted...

what happens when you change jobs, but the new job doesn't do 401k or uses a different company for retirement funds?

you roll it into your traditional IRA, or pay taxes on it and roll into a ROTH IRA (advisable)

Why would you suggest a Roth account?

because taxes are historically low and most users here are early career-ish, so the difference between their top marginal tax rate now and the lowest one when they retire is probably less than the 15% capital gains tax rate avoided by a ROTH IRA.

also you can technically draw down from a ROTH earlier, by taking "loans" from it up to the initial principal. so if you retire at 60, and put $500k into a ROTH IRA that is then worth $2 mil, you can take up to 500k out of it tax free to live off of until you hit 65 and can then draw from the rest

trad IRA/401k early withdrawal penalties are a much bigger pain to deal with

+ it's fairly necessary to have a ROTH if you plan on drawing more than 30k/year as a married couple; the benefit of a 401k is pretty minimal if you exceed the 15% tax threshold when withdrawing since then you're only deferring taxes, not avoiding them

e: under the new tax law the 30k income married couple tax rate is 12% not 15%.
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P4wn4g3 posted...

Why would you suggest a Roth account?

Because as America becomes browner your taxes are going increase as more demorats are elected.

Darkman124 posted...

P4wn4g3 posted...

Darkman124 posted...

Anisoptera posted...

what happens when you change jobs, but the new job doesn't do 401k or uses a different company for retirement funds?

you roll it into your traditional IRA, or pay taxes on it and roll into a ROTH IRA (advisable)

Why would you suggest a Roth account?

because taxes are historically low and most users here are early career-ish, so the difference between their top marginal tax rate now and the lowest one when they retire is probably less than the 15% capital gains tax rate avoided by a ROTH IRA.

also you can technically draw down from a ROTH earlier, by taking "loans" from it up to the initial principal. so if you retire at 60, and put $500k into a ROTH IRA that is then worth $2 mil, you can take up to 500k out of it tax free to live off of until you hit 65 and can then draw from the rest

trad IRA/401k early withdrawal penalties are a much bigger pain to deal with

+ it's fairly necessary to have a ROTH if you plan on drawing more than 30k/year as a married couple; the benefit of a 401k is pretty minimal if you exceed the 15% tax threshold when withdrawing since then you're only deferring taxes, not avoiding them

e: under the new tax law the 30k income married couple tax rate is 12% not 15%.

So do you invest a Roth account the same way? Also, there would still be a tax penalty for transferring 401k into a ROTH account why?
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P4wn4g3 posted...

Also, there would still be a tax penalty for transferring 401k into a ROTH account why?

401K contributions are pre-tax, so you have to pay income taxes before contributing to the ROTH which is funded with post-tax money.
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P4wn4g3 posted...

So do you invest a Roth account the same way? Also, there would still be a tax penalty for transferring 401k into a ROTH account why?

because 401k contribs are pretax while ROTH contribs are posttax

so to move to ROTH you pay the deferred taxes on the 401k immediately

depending on your income level this may or may not be worthwhile but it usually is to at least some extent

a 401k should not be used for more than 30k/year of income, since you lose nearly all the value of tax deferral past that mark

some companies have ROTH 401ks. I split my contribs between a ROTH and traditional 401k and also invest in a personal ROTH.
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Darkman124 posted...

P4wn4g3 posted...

So do you invest a Roth account the same way? Also, there would still be a tax penalty for transferring 401k into a ROTH account why?

because 401k contribs are pretax while ROTH contribs are posttax

so to move to ROTH you pay the deferred taxes on the 401k immediately

depending on your income level this may or may not be worthwhile but it usually is to at least some extent

a 401k should not be used for more than 30k/year of income, since you lose nearly all the value of tax deferral past that mark

some companies have ROTH 401ks. I split my contribs between a ROTH and traditional 401k and also invest in a personal ROTH.

I have a TDAmeritrade account I use for savings. If I set up a ROTH IRA with them and roll over my old 401k, can I just use it for stock investing?
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P4wn4g3 posted...

Darkman124 posted...

P4wn4g3 posted...

So do you invest a Roth account the same way? Also, there would still be a tax penalty for transferring 401k into a ROTH account why?

because 401k contribs are pretax while ROTH contribs are posttax

so to move to ROTH you pay the deferred taxes on the 401k immediately

depending on your income level this may or may not be worthwhile but it usually is to at least some extent

a 401k should not be used for more than 30k/year of income, since you lose nearly all the value of tax deferral past that mark

some companies have ROTH 401ks. I split my contribs between a ROTH and traditional 401k and also invest in a personal ROTH.

I have a TDAmeritrade account I use for savings. If I set up a ROTH IRA with them and roll over my old 401k, can I just use it for stock investing?

might be a penalty on that?? maybe not if its an IRA though.
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I would keep the savings account separate and just eat the pre tax penalty.
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P4wn4g3 posted...

I have a TDAmeritrade account I use for savings. If I set up a ROTH IRA with them and roll over my old 401k, can I just use it for stock investing?

Yeah just roll it into the ROTH account and pay the income taxes and you're good to go.
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ill make too much to have a Roth so ive just been whole life insurance policy
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EndOfDiscOne posted...

Bad idea to react to market changes and make emotional decisions. No one here is retiring any time soon. Stay in the market and dont make changes to your allocations too often.

Terrible advice. Markets are in freefall. I sold everything in June and put my 20k profit in the bank. I'm happy collecting my $300/month bond coupons, thanks.

CharlesBronson posted...

EndOfDiscOne posted...

Bad idea to react to market changes and make emotional decisions. No one here is retiring any time soon. Stay in the market and dont make changes to your allocations too often.

Terrible advice. Markets are in freefall. I sold everything in June and put my 20k profit in the bank. I'm happy collecting my $300/month bond coupons, thanks.

uh huh
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so where is my money? What's the point of a 401k when the money can disappear just because? 4% of a paycheck is a lot of money. I would rather keep extra money in savings for now.

Anisoptera posted...

so where is my money? What's the point of a 401k when the money can disappear just because? 4% of a paycheck is a lot of money. I would rather keep extra money in savings for now.

There has never been a 10 year period of stock market decline. If you take it on faith that that trend will continue, over time your 401k will earn way more than a shitty savings account.
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EndOfDiscOne posted...

There has never been a 10 year period of stock market decline.

lol the Nikkei 225 is still down 40% from it's 1989 high i'm staying in a defensive posture thanks