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I Tried Not to Look

R

Rose Pink

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You know how you just can't resist looking at the scene of an accident? Well, I just couldn't resist checking on our 401K this morning. I knew it would be bad given the circumstances of the past weeks but now I feel ill. Will someone please remind me--again--to just hang in there?

I know, I know. I haven't really lost anything unless I sell, and then I've just guaranteed a loss. I know, I know, I am now buying at reduced prices which, hopefully, will lead to bigger gains in the future.

It's just so hard to keep putting money in (automatic every payday) and still have less than we started with at the beginning of the year.

Oh, boohoo, woe is me, and all that other sorrowful stuff. :bawl:
 
Be strong. Fortunately I can't remember the password for my 401K account, and it doesn't seem like a good idea to call customer service today, since all the brokers have probably jumped out the window by now....:eek:
 
Hang in there!!!! It'll come roaring back. You know, eventually.

Until then, quit peeking! It's not worth the stress.
 
I'm assuming a 401K is a retirement account. Up here they're called RRSP - registered retirement savings plan.

Our "guy" called to tell us he's watching things but that there's just not sense to panic as we have quite a while to go before we'll need the money - at least 10 years, probably more like 15.

My parents are thanking their lucky stars that they have most of their funds in low yield but guaranteed investments. So am I!!
 
Consider this a buying opportunity.

Warren Buffet just paid 4.7 Billion for a company.
 
I'm not sure I necessarily agree with the advice of completely "letting it be". If you are in some aggressive growth funds, than your hit is likely to be much greater and the bounce back you are expecting may never happen. (Look at the history of some of those funds from our last dip back in 2001.)

I'm not saying move to cash (although I did do this myself earlier in the year for a large portion of my 401k), but there may be other funds that have more growth potential after this is all over. I would just look over the funds you are in and do a little research. If you change funds, you're still getting in on "the ground floor" (or we hope) of whatever other fund you choose.

P.S. Since you are actively contributing to your 401k, this will help you tremendously when you consider the whole "dollar cost averaging" idea.
 
Everything Rose Pink said......Only.....

Rose Pink said:
You know how you just can't resist looking at the scene of an accident? Well, I just couldn't resist checking on our 401K this morning. I knew it would be bad given the circumstances of the past weeks but now I feel ill. Will someone please remind me--again--to just hang in there?

I know, I know. I haven't really lost anything unless I sell, and then I've just guaranteed a loss. I know, I know, I am now buying at reduced prices which, hopefully, will lead to bigger gains in the future.

It's just so hard to keep putting money in (automatic every payday) and still have less than we started with at the beginning of the year.

Oh, boohoo, woe is me, and all that other sorrowful stuff. :bawl:
Click to expand...

I'm not going to look. The last time that I did look, I felt ill too, and that was before the recent activity. I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing and know that the cost averaging is going to work for me in the end.:shrug:
 
We do have our money spread over various funds. Most of it is in the low risk guaranteed fund that sees very little interest but doesn't go down, either. The other funds see bigger gains and bigger losses. I've been too timid to invest for greater growth as I'm too afraid to gamble much. So, I could have lost more than I did. Still, with projections from the so-called experts that we will need at least 100% of our income for retirement, I get concerned. We have maybe 10 to 15 years to retirement so I want to save lots more money but don't feel we can be aggressive about it. We have saved more than the average American but that doesn't mean much since the average American has saved very little. The only debt we have is our mortgage and if we can stay on schedule will have that paid off in a couple of years. I have no short-term savings to speak of and it is getting closer to the time we will need to buy a replacement car--that will mean getting another loan I'm afraid. I keep telling myself to be calm. Panic does no one any good.
 
I called our financial advisor today to ask him a technical stock question since our little ladies investment club was meeting tonight to make a decision on some stocks to purchase. I'm sure he was SHOCKED when I didn't ask him how our SEP account was doing.

We like many people are going to stay put since we are well diversified. I don't care to look right now and possible start losing sleep!

Janna
 
BevL said:
I'm assuming a 401K is a retirement account. Up here they're called RRSP - registered retirement savings plan.

Our "guy" called to tell us he's watching things but that there's just not sense to panic as we have quite a while to go before we'll need the money - at least 10 years, probably more like 15.

My parents are thanking their lucky stars that they have most of their funds in low yield but guaranteed investments. So am I!!
Click to expand...

I remember reading some time ago after I moved to the US from Canada that the Canadian government invested some of the CPP (Canada Pension Plan) funds in the stock market and they had more money than they knew what to do with due to the uptick in the market (far better than Social Security Admin can say). Have there been any stories about CPP with the latest market troubles?
 
I did the same thing on Thursday of last week, to see my 401k down 20% since about May 1st. OUCH!
 
It's Not All Bad

With our 401k down about 45% just this year, we were not to pleased. Today though I would look to see how bad it was over the long term. Looking at all the $$ we have put in since 2001 (when we started our 401k) until now, our accounts actually have 49% more in them than we have put in. So while this year looks bleak it is likely better than it looks. Think long term.
 
dioxide45 said:
With our 401k down about 45% just this year, we were not to pleased. Today though I would look to see how bad it was over the long term. Looking at all the $$ we have put in since 2001 (when we started our 401k) until now, our accounts actually have 49% more in them than we have put in. So while this year looks bleak it is likely better than it looks. Think long term.
Click to expand...
Ah, I wish that was true for me and my husband! Much of our funds were invested in the late 1990s, at the height of the tech bubble. We haven't been able to put in as much since then. Although I have wanted to keep investing, our finances have gotten worse since then and we haven't had as much available to contribute. Plus, since about 2000, neither my husband nor I have had jobs providing any sort of 401k or other retirement plan, so our tax-advantaged contributions are limited to what we are allowed to put in via IRAs.

As a result of investing when the market was high, I don't think we have ANY more money than what we've put in over the past 10 years. Of course, since there has been inflation since that time, it means we have less 'real" (after inflation) money than what we originally put in. :(

We still have 15 years or so until retirement. I just hope that's enough time for our IRAs to grow.
 
All Will Be Well In The Long Run.

My stepmother's sister passed way a few years ago at age 90-something. Her vision wasn't good & she was hard of hearing. She spent hours nearly every day viewing a financial channel on cable TV, perched close to the screen with the sound cranked way up, following the numbers as they scrolled horizontally along the bottom of the screen showing the ups & downs of stock prices.

Out of her great anxiety about shoring up the value of her portfolio, she called her broker spelling out her concerns over falling share prices.

He told her not to worry. "Everything will be OK in the long run," he said.

"The long run? Don't talk to me about the long run," she said. "I'm 92 years old."

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
AwayWeGo said:
My stepmother's sister passed way a few years ago at age 90-something. Her vision wasn't good & she was hard of hearing. She spent hours nearly every day viewing a financial channel on cable TV, perched close to the screen with the sound cranked way up, following the numbers as they scrolled horizontally along the bottom of the screen showing the ups & downs of stock prices.

Out of her great anxiety about shoring up the value of her portfolio, she called her broker spelling out her concerns over falling share prices.

He told her not to worry. "Everything will be OK in the long run," he said.

"The long run? Don't talk to me about the long run," she said. "I'm 92 years old."

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
Click to expand...

The stock market really isn't a place for someone who is 92 years old. Unless they have money to throw away.
 
I refuse to look. I won't sell. I'm a teacher, so I'm hoping and praying the pensions for teachers are okay in 15 years.
 
Zac495 said:
I refuse to look. I won't sell. I'm a teacher, so I'm hoping and praying the pensions for teachers are okay in 15 years.
Click to expand...
I wish I were the type of teacher who got a pension. :( (I've taught college classes for 15 years, but there are really no full-time teaching positions in my field anymore, so I've never had one. So, I don't get any benefits at all.)

Still, I am basically "bullish on America." I expect the economy to be much better in two years than it is now.
 
JudyS said:
I wish I were the type of teacher who got a pension. :( (I've taught college classes for 15 years, but there are really no full-time teaching positions in my field anymore, so I've never had one. So, I don't get any benefits at all.)

Still, I am basically "bullish on America." I expect the economy to be much better in two years than it is now.
Click to expand...

I want to teach college one day - my folks were profs (mom still works part-time) at U of Penn and got great pensions. What is your field?

I, too, think we'll be better. [Political statement deleted-DeniseM Moderator]
 
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dioxide45 said:
The stock market really isn't a place for someone who is 92 years old. Unless they have money to throw away.
Click to expand...

Or they are going to live to be 122. I likely will never completely pull out of stocks because I come from long-lived stock. I have a great-grand that made it to 118, a few others over 100, and MANY into their late 90s. inflation won't stop just because I hit a magic number. outliving my money is something I will actively manage against.
 
200.5K account

The feds have just announced that all 401K accounts will be known as 200.5K's starting Jan/2009

(jest kidding! :wall: )
 
I just looked at mine for the first time since the quarterly statements came out at the end of September. OUCH!!!
 
Sorry...I couldn't help it...

Vocabulary Word For The Day

LIQUIDITY:

When you look at your investments and wet your pants.
 
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