401(k) Getting Whacked By The Market?
I'm sitting in a suite at the Renaissance Esmerelda in Indian Wells, California, not far from Palm Springs. It's great to get away from reality for a few days, especially when family is covering the bill. I'll be heading back to the Orange County area tomorrow, and back home to New Jersey on Saturday.
I had a few minutes before heading to Joshua Tree so I wanted to welcome new readers and point people to a letter emailed to CNN Money: Madeline from Michigan is concerned because her 401(k) has lost $1,000 in value since the beginning of March.
Walter Updegrave, answering the letter, advises Madeline not to worry so much about her day-to-day balance. Making changes after the fact is reactionary and any changes after noticing the downturn won't make sense without special insight into the market.
Here are his tips for her: Think about the long term. Small changes in the market are nothing to worry about when retirement is many years away. Leave your mix alone, except for periodic rebalancing. If your mix of funds or other investments is in tune with your goals, making major changes in asset mix is unnecessary. Relax. Don't check your balance every day.
Speaking of relaxation, I'm going to go enjoy the weather out here in the California desert, and ignore the fact that my investments have also sunk a bit the past month or so.
Hewitt Associates, the same company that processes my company's accounts payable, has performed a survey regarding 401(k)s. They discovered that almost half of workers leaving their jobs convert their 401(k)s to cash. Read
Here's an interesting contrarian point of view, and one with which financial planners will surely disagree: You may be saving too much for retirement. Read
The deadline for funding IRAs for 2004 is coming up at the end of the week. If you haven't maxed out your 2004 Roth IRA at $3,000 ($3,500 for anyone over 50 years old) then you have less than 72 hours to do so. Read
Following up on the topic of 401(k) loans, which was discussed here, there is a new article on CNN Money by Walter Updegrave. Read
