401-KO'd

I cashed mine out two months ago. And even with the tax and penalty hit, I'm probably still ahead after yesterday's bloodbath on Wall Street. The bulk of mine is in a 14-month CD IRA at a return of 3.37 percent. That's a damn sight better than the market would do for me.

 

Yeah, Fredo's gay plan of privatizing Soc Sec and watching all that money flow into stocks, right at a bull market top . . .

These dirtbags are worse than even I thought.

 

Haven't gotten mine yet, but my Paw said yesterday he has withdrawn every penny in his 401(k). He's retiring next year, so probably a smart decision.

 

I lost $2100 last week. Brutal, but I know I'll get it back.

 

Down about 15 percent since the year started.

 

Me and the Mrs. are going to do the same thing here pretty soon with me starting grad school.

 

I've contributed $1,400 since Feb 25.

My balance is down $440 dollars since February's closing balance.

That mean's I'm down $1,840 in eight months.

 

Even for the year. Mostly because I went all in on my company's stock when it hit 20, and now it's hovering around 35. Monday I abandoned that plan and went heavy with treasuries and some of the mutual funds I was previously patronizing.

 

Here's a line of thinking this group is sure to love:

If you had purchased $1,000 of Delta Air Lines stock one year ago, you would have $49 left.

With Fannie Mae, you would have $2.50 left of the original $1,000.

With AIG, you would have less than $15 left.

But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drunk all of the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have $214 cash.

Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

 

I just started a 401k, so I am down very little in terms of actual dollars. Still about 11 percent.

I have moved everything into bonds. For now, it's stable.

 

Just out of curiosity, where can you recycle to get 1/5 of your money back?

 

My dad retired at the end of last year a few months before his 60th birthday, when stocks were at their highest. I send him an email pretty much every day now making sure he's not in a state of shock, as he spends most of his time watching CNBC. He said him and mom have lost over $120,000. He was going to go back to work to get a part-time job just to cure his boredom, but now it'll probably be out of necessity. And my mom's hope of retiring - she's nearly 59 - are put way on the backburner and she'll be stuck at the job she despises for several more years. the good news is their financial advisor told them the other day it's no time to panic...

And Ben, my dad actually had a letter to the editor this week in his local rag with a similar sentiment to yours, a sarcastic line about being disappointed they didn't succeed in privatizing Social Security.