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I have been counting down the days until March 1st, 09 when I can finally retire, but the old 401 is taking a such a beating that I am not sure I will be able to. What is it doing to either your retirement plans or your current income if you are already retired.
John
The company I work for takes our 401K money and plays the stock market with it. SOOOOOO my retirement is based solely on the stock market, pretty lame way to save my money huh, I am screwed !
Don't worry, it will be back :3dSMILE:
Ken
I pulled mine out of the stock market and put it in bonds about a month ago and it is still losing money like crazy...I'm starting to think I should pull it out and just piss it away, at least I could have some fun doing that..
I agree with Ken, that's what the market does. It goes up, it goes down. The sky isn't falling, despite what the media leads us to believe.
As for my retirement, I'm 27, so that's a long way off. I'm saving what I can, but I'll probably be dead long before that gets here, or I'll just work till the end.:)
Hit me pretty hard, but it'll come back, then I'm outta it. Been playin for about 15 years now and I'll do o.K.
the Mrs lost 10k over night when they made the announcement for Lehman Brothers and Merril Lynch.
If this keeps up, we will both have to work until 3 years after we are dead! :whacked:
I'm retiring Dec 23. and had a pretty good nest egg put away in stocks. Now it's gone down the tube but it will eventually come back as it always does. Just have to hold out longer on buying a plot of land and home in Wyoming. In the meanwhile my social security and pension plan will pay me about what I'm earning about now.
Just moved my folks back from Wyoming in March.
Where are you thinking of buying?
Chris
Been to Cody and around that area alot and think of buying some land with home on either the sOUTHFORK OR nORTHFORK ROADS. Almost had a deal but it fell through. 28 acres of land with a 2 bedroom ranch with barn for horses $275,000
I think there is more to this crisis than we really know about.We have so many foreign investors in our market it is frightening.A group of investors can ban together and totally drive the market place.
I think there are investigations on-going that will reveal what really is happening.We are becoming so dependent on foreign sources that it is spooking everyone.
We seem to be on a runaway train with no one really having a solution.Greed and Power are ruining this world.JMO
I may have to go back to work if I lose much more,anyone hiring "Old Geezers"?
Hey Don, wal-mart always needs more greeters!
....I just heard on the news that they are going to suspend short selling for the time being. This will help a lot of the big down moves somewhat. At least in the individual financial stocks. Short selling is where you sell a stock that you don't own. Then in the future you buy it to 'cover' your possition. A buy high/sell low thing where you don't really ever have the stock in your possession. High volume short selling in a stock will drive the price down consiterably & fast. Also a gov't plan to help the distresed banks by buying up troubled loans is in the 'works'....... The stock market will come back..... Except for AIG, Lehman & Bear Stears. It's sad cuz shareholder equidy is history. I don't know what the Merrill/B of A deal was but B of A now owns Merrill. B of A will do well in the future...... Bill
If you are 5+ years from needing your money. Wait it out! Any money you take out now, you will take a BIG hit on compared to if you would have taken it out any time last year. Unless you NEED money now, let it ride! Even if you need some, take out ONLY what you need, but leave the rest in! Let that money come back and make you some money over the next 2-5 years. ;)
When it bounces back and you are 2-5 years from needing it, move some of that money into a less risky investment like Municipal Bonds or CD's so it's not so much at risk for you and won't fluctuate so much. Good luck out there!
I dont' know it all, but I have had my Mutual Funds and Stock Licenses (Series 6 and 7) for a number of years. Took about half of my Certified Financial Planning exams. Then went into sales opposed to counseling. Try to keep it simple.
You think it took a beating now? Just wait till Obama gets his sweaty palms on it.
No affect so far. Started out poor, still poor.:CRY:
It's killing us; we live off of ours, and the value is way down. I just hope it comes back pretty quick; I have started looking at the job market, but don't have any idea what I could do. There isn't much call for an old broken down late sixties aged lineman/construction electrician/millwright; just my age is a handicap now, even without the busted up parts. Guess I could go to "Wally World" and hand out carts. :eek: :eek: :eek: :CRY:
I finally took time to look at details of the 401k yesterday. Ours is self directed within a group of funds and most of the stock funds were down between 10% and 30% for the year, but about neutral over three years. I had lost 5% in the past 3 months and we are within a few years (<5, maybe <3) of using it, so I switched the balance to the "fixed rate fund" that invests in interest bearing accounts, insurance companies, bonds, etc - the lowest risk option available to me. It has been steady at a 5%to6% return, even in this market, so I may miss out on the big upswing right after the election ;) ....
I have to agree with Ken on this, it will come back up eventually. The problem most people have with stocks is they forget the one rule....buy LOW sell HIGH. The media hypes everything up like it's the end of the world and then a few months later they complain about high prices. I would bet my car that oil prices are gonna go up again, realestate in most major cities is gonna go up as the population grows, and companies involved in the developement of "green" technology will increase. Too many people settle on what has worked in the past and don't look forward to what our needs in the future will be.
I guess I'm young enough to take some bigger risks which puts me in a different boat than some. The Airline I work for matches what we buy so I've poured a lot into it in the last 6 years and watched the stock go from $33 to $9 and back up again every May and November as the mid and year end results come out. I watched so many people panic and sell at $9 when we were still making a profit, another story if we were losing money, but it was all media hype and then the short sellers take advantage of it by buying it all up to cover themselves.
I guess I'm saying be patient,
Sean
Diversification helps. I heard on the news a financial analyst saying people retiring this year, were rolling their 401 money into realestate. In some cases realestate funds, in others actually buying properties and renting them, using the rent money as their monthly cash, and the the property as a long term investment. Like Ken says it will come back, and short term views of the market will make you crazy. This works with most of us in the preretirement sector, but not for those who are retiring now. We are currently seeing a private financial consultant who works for fee only. She recogmended for us to convert all our single stock type investments to mutual funds, to avoid any hits. There is no simple solution.:CRY:
I've been told that September is traditionaly a bad month but the way I see, it is as an oppertunity to buy good stocks at a low price so I've been buying. Heck after 2 divorces I'm lucky to still have a retirement account.