401-KO'd

A lot of it depends on how far you are from retirement. If you're five years out, then you shouldn't be in equities for the most part, anyway. If you've got at least 10 years to go, you probably should stay the course.

I usually make changes in my asset allocation once a year, just after Jan. 1.

 

I feel a hell of a lot better. Went to my broker today and took a machete to the accounts.

Loser? Gone.
Big loser? Really gone.

I've got the property taxes to pay at the end of the month, then it's back in the market, buying now to hold for a couple of years.

 

Generally agree with your outlook here, Lyman. But the "experts" have begun preaching very heavily in recent years that even retirees should hold a good amount of stocks or stock funds, because folks 65 have a very good chance of living to 85 or beyond.

That sort of advice sounded legit, but it seems very wrong-headed now. Done to keep the fees coming, perhaps, rather than having those folks switch to more conservative, fixed-income investments? Maybe the brokers couldn't stand the thought of losing control over all that money belonging to all those soon-to- and recent retirees.

Fortunately, I'm 15 years away from retiring, so I'm hanging in with my seriously shrunken account and hoping for a rebound. Telling myself I lost only "the house's" money -- gains on what my long-term contributions had been -- doesn't make this go down any better, though.

 

i've always gone by the theory that with the 401k i shouldn't do too much tinkering. that over the long haul, it'll be fine.

but these times are crazy, so i was anxious to see my latest statement. mine was down about 25 grand. mrs. shockey and i freaked. financial wizards we ain't. so she immediately moved our 401k from stocks to a low-interest money market.

figured it's better to stop the hemmoraging for a while until the market bounces back. had to stop the bleeding, no? conveniently enough, we haven't been making contributions for a couple of years while paying off a loan from our 401k. when/if we move back to the stock, i'll start contributing again.

i can understand why suicide was an option for many during the not-so-great depression, though. seeing your life savings shrink before your very eyes can be terrifying.

 

Thanks, Lyman and Poindexter. I'm 52, I'm hoping I'm at least 10 years out from retirement. Truth is, I have no idea what kind of bond fund it is ... it's with Vanguard, and it's the only bond option among the four choices in my plan. I know it has been doing much less worse than the stock fund I had much of my coin in.

 

Every indication is that this economic climate is going to be with us for another 9-12 months, or that's what the alleged "experts" all say. You wait until we see retail earnings from this year's holiday season; they'll be terrible. Who out there feels comfortable spending as much or more this year than last?

Yes, it would appear that going more conservative, more bonds and cash and less in stocks, is the way to go at this point in time. The key is to reallocate your funds at the right time, to take full advantage when the upswing begins, so keep an eye on things more often than every couple of months.

 

Careful.

Over the past 10 years, the S&P500 is DOWN. DOWN.

 

Finally got the stomach to look at mine yesterday . . . was pleasantly surprised.

"Only" down 11.8% for the year . . . because I had forgotten that I had directed last year's Tribune's ESOP buyback into my money market fund instead of spreading it out among the rest of my portfolio.

Embarrassing that I had forgotten this . . . but one heck of a relief.

I'm only down $24,000 for the year. Yippee!

 

My Roth IRA, which was originally my 401k from my old job, is "only" down about 16 percent.

Of course much of that drop happened in the last month. I got rid of that POS Sirius stock that was in there. I only lost 80% on it, so I got that going for me.

The thing about this, as I was talking to my dad about yesterday, is the carnage is so indiscriminate. Nearly EVERY stock is being bludgeoned, the good as well as the crap like Sirius.

I told my dad that Ford was trading below $3 a share. He couldn't believe it, but he agreed with my statement that I don't have the stones to jump in that one now.

Other battered stocks? If I had more cash in my IRA, I'd pull the trigger. There are some really good stocks that are getting thrown out with the bath water.

 

If Ford were such a screaming bargain, you'd think that the insiders would at least be buying?

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=F

We wrote about this POS stock months ago. Take a good look at their pension liabilities.

DO NOT WANT

 

. . . not to mention that crack, forward-looking product management they keep running out there . . .

 

Yes, poin. I was there. see my comment about lacking stones.

My dad just couldn't believe it was that low. Then again, he's 94 and checks the market through me.