Anyone made changes to their retirement accounts?

[Turn the Page]

A topic like this gives me a bit of anxiety because so many people make emotional instead of logical decisions. The market starts to go down and they call their financial advisor to pull money out of the market. That move is almost guaranteed to end up in worse results than if someone left the investments alone.

We are following the investment strategy that we created years ago. The only changes to be made in reaction to market moves according to that is basic rebalancing.

We made an appointment with our financial guy recently to discuss what changes we need to make to be able to retire early and ended up giving him MORE money every month. I think he was scared we were coming in to yell at him and pull all our accounts lol.

 

[QueenIsabella]

No changes here. We've stayed the course through 1999, 2008, and we'll stay the course through this. It probably helps that we don't need the investments much these days (except the 529 for DD19). I don't know if we're up for the year or not--I know it's been rocky, but it's better for my mental health if I don't track too closely.

 

[dvcgirl67]

Better yet, turn off the TV altogether (especially financial news) and pick up a book.

That too....I was going for complete mindless entertainment, but love a good book too .

 

[goofy4prez]

I am 58 years old and looking at retirement in the next 10 years and I am staying the course in spite of this being the worst start of a year (market) since 1939. I held the course the last time the market took a big hit in 2008 and it rebounded and then some. Granted, I was not as close to retirement. Trying to time a market can cost one more money than staying put. The positive to all of this is you certainly are buying low and when it rebounds your shares will be worth so much more. Pulling out and then jumping back in can cost someone so much more. I get the caution if you are older like me, but if you are younger it's the last you should do. I should add that I owned an insurance agency for well over 20 years and was also series 6, series 7, and series 63 licensed.

 

[JaxDad]

Although not necessarily a reaction to these difficult times, I recently moved most of my retirement accounts to a local manager. It was previously managed by a team via phone and web tools. I’ve been an officer in a local non-profit for many years, and my new guy has been managing that 7-figure endowment. His performance has been great, so I finally just made the jump. I like the more personal relationship and actually spending time together in our offices or homes. Due to his long-time, local experience, he’s been great at advising on non-financial aspects of my upcoming retirement too.

 

[LuvOrlando]

When 401K is matching then no matter what we were all in up to that limit because it's free money so losses would need to be crazy to touch that, I'd still do it if we had that option. However, recently not having anyone with a job in Fortune 50 type businesses means no more 401K matching so we're not doing any of that these days, instead attention has turned towards more about stability in the present because bailouts happen for businesses but not people like us.

I feel that holding any debt is very dangerous in my opinion and robbing my family of wealth, so this is where we have been pouring ALL our effort. Removing every trace of debt and getting rid of scenarios where we are paying interest is our current quest, it's coming along nicely and what I am teaching our kids to do so they can build wealth early in stable ways.

I'm not interested in whether cash on hand has a loss, I am interested in maintaining FDIC protections and being liquid for our own wellbeing so for now we have things scattered among different accounts and actually different banks because, truthfully, the way money is now allowed to lag 3 days as it moves around makes me very uneasy. What makes me even more anxious is the way my local bank would just move money around and not care when I would complain, that's a cockiness that makes me twitch. Banks have been in the news for a lot of sketch stuff in recent decades and since things have been quiet for a few years I'm just sort of waiting for a shoe to drop from somewhere about some sort of antics. I recently made sure every bank I use is FDIC insured and spread things around, diversifying with reputation and reliability so to speak.

When we sell our home we will probably hold it in a wide variation of CD's with different denominations and lengths at different institutions to offer liquidity plus safety and maybe at least a bit of earnings because last I checked they are FDIC insured if they bank they are in is FDIC insured.

When people get old the ONLY thing we are allowed to keep is our homes so I want a moderate one in a stable place as a good investment and as a safe place to keep our money so we'll pick something and ready it to age in place.

Again, earning is far less important to me now than avoiding paying interest and avoiding loss & I seriously deeply do not care what anyone anywhere says to the contrary.
Slow and steady wins the race is my new mantra.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

...if that kind of news gets you down.....watch more Bravo .

It's time for real housewives of blank. Only by Bravo.
OMG!! MAKE IT STOP!! TURN IT OFF!!! My 401k going down by 10 times more than it has I can take But this? Any more of that might have put me over the edge.

Better yet, turn off the TV altogether (especially financial news) and pick up a book.

Ah this looks like a good book.

As Dan looked across at his client, he tuned him out. Just the blah blah blah of another disgruntled loser in the market today. Of course when his client pulled a gun out because his 401k went down by 20,000 dollars, Dan snapped to attention too late. But fortunately for Dan it was a super soaker.

What in zee heck???? No wonder this thing was on the clearance rack. Oh yeah. Read a book she said......

 

[DCLMP]

No I’ve always been heavily into commodities and they’ve done fine. I should have bought more oil companies a couple of months ago.
I think this downturn is going to be worse than anything any of us alive today have experienced. I know there are some on here that disagree with me, but they haven’t shown me anything to change my mind.

 

[TippyThomas]

I'm sensing a theme.

 

[mefordis]

When 401K is matching then no matter what we were all in up to that limit because it's free money so losses would need to be crazy to touch that, I'd still do it if we had that option. However, recently not having anyone with a job in Fortune 50 type businesses means no more 401K matching so we're not doing any of that these days, instead attention has turned towards more about stability in the present because bailouts happen for businesses but not people like us.

I feel that holding any debt is very dangerous in my opinion and robbing my family of wealth, so this is where we have been pouring ALL our effort. Removing every trace of debt and getting rid of scenarios where we are paying interest is our current quest, it's coming along nicely and what I am teaching our kids to do so they can build wealth early in stable ways.

I'm not interested in whether cash on hand has a loss, I am interested in maintaining FDIC protections and being liquid for our own wellbeing so for now we have things scattered among different accounts and actually different banks because, truthfully, the way money is now allowed to lag 3 days as it moves around makes me very uneasy. What makes me even more anxious is the way my local bank would just move money around and not care when I would complain, that's a cockiness that makes me twitch. Banks have been in the news for a lot of sketch stuff in recent decades and since things have been quiet for a few years I'm just sort of waiting for a shoe to drop from somewhere about some sort of antics. I recently made sure every bank I use is FDIC insured and spread things around, diversifying with reputation and reliability so to speak.

When we sell our home we will probably hold it in a wide variation of CD's with different denominations and lengths at different institutions to offer liquidity plus safety and maybe at least a bit of earnings because last I checked they are FDIC insured if they bank they are in is FDIC insured.

When people get old the ONLY thing we are allowed to keep is our homes so I want a moderate one in a stable place as a good investment and as a safe place to keep our money so we'll pick something and ready it to age in place.

Again, earning is far less important to me now than avoiding paying interest and avoiding loss & I seriously deeply do not care what anyone anywhere says to the contrary.
Slow and steady wins the race is my new mantra.

I agree with this. We have our college savings making a paltry amount of interest because I refuse to lose one penny of it in the market. Plus we need it now and another chunk of it in 5 years for my other daughter.

However, our retirement savings is in the market because we don't retire for 15 years.

 

[peabody58]

Retired 7 yrs ago at 57 yo. Put all Retirement funds in Vanguard 60/40 fund and just watch is grow. Been on this roller coaster many times since 1976, some with bigger 'losses', but have always prevailed with time. Our non-retirement savings fund (more aggressive) is still growing are will also recover in time. Won;t need to touch our IRA's until minimum withdrawals are required. We set up a good solid cash flow (pensions, early SS, Div/Cap Gains) when we retired, so all is good. Time is your friend. Stay the course.

 

[DCLMP]

It's time for real housewives of blank. Only by Bravo.
OMG!! MAKE IT STOP!! TURN IT OFF!!! My 401k going down by 10 times more than it has I can take But this? Any more of that might have put me over the edge.


Ah this looks like a good book.

As Dan looked across at his client, he tuned him out. Just the blah blah blah of another disgruntled loser in the market today. Of course when his client pulled a gun out because his 401k went down by 20,000 dollars, Dan snapped to attention too late. But fortunately for Dan it was a super soaker.

What in zee heck???? No wonder this thing was on the clearance rack. Oh yeah. Read a book she said......

The markets not even down 20%. You better brace yourself. I do think you have some time. I pay more attention to the debt market and the yields that should be a good indicator.

 

[mrodgers]

No expert here but as someone not ready to retire for a long time yet this is how I see it.

I was buying a can of Pepsi every week for $1.00. Now all the cans of Pepsi I've accumulated are only worth $0.25, but I'm still buying $1.00 worth of Pepsi every week, so now I'm buying 4 cans a week. In a month period I've acquired a many cans of Pepsi at $0.25 as I did previously in 4 months.

If it should turn around (ie, it's not the end of the world as we know it right now) then when it recovers, I have a lot of cans of Pepsi worth what the price recovered to.

If it doesn't turn around and I've lost all that original value, then money doesn't have any value any more anyways because it is the end of the world as we know it.

 

[mrodgers]

That said, my paycheck this past Friday and from now on has increased by 36%. It's time for short term savings, for a house purchase.

That is what I don't know what to do with.

My retirement is massively down in value. I can't invest my house savings and have it continuously lose more value than I fund into it like my 401k and in short term have a down payment for a house. I have no idea what to do with irregularly saving money for a particular short term use..

Almost everything I find on the internet is about long term retirement investing.

 

[mefordis]

That said, my paycheck this past Friday and from now on has increased by 36%. It's time for short term savings, for a house purchase.

That is what I don't know what to do with.

My retirement is massively down in value. I can't invest my house savings and have it continuously lose more value than I fund into it like my 401k and in short term have a down payment for a house. I have no idea what to do with irregularly saving money for a particular short term use..

Almost everything I find on the internet is about long term retirement investing.

If have x amount of money saved and need it within 5 years you have no option but to put it in a safe account that is guaranteed not to lose any value.

 

[disneychrista]

The thing that hurts me the most is the value of my 457b is LESS than the amount I put into it. I have “lost” 15% or so of what I put into it. For now I am only putting money into a bond that pays a guaranteed 3%. I haven’t touched or moved the money in the various other funds I’ve put the money in. I let those ride and see what happens.

Thankfully I am one of the lucky ones who also has a pension. I’ll get the same % of final salary regardless of the market.

 

[DCLMP]

If have x amount of money saved and need it within 5 years you have no option but to put it in a safe account that is guaranteed not to lose any value.

What is safe? The purchasing power of the dollar will continue to decline. Cash is not safe. The Fed will raise rates, but it’s not going to help with inflation. It’s going to increase of the cost of production.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Yes. Thank you for the information. My belief, per a former boss of mine, was that even though my 401k had lost 15-20% value this year, that I still owned the same number of shares. He told me he ups his contribution in a down market to buy those cheap shares and if you move your money in a down market, you’re locking in your losses. From what you’ve explained, that’s not really the case.

You own one apple.

If apples are normally $1.00 and they've fallen to $0.80, and you sell your apple, it might seem like you've locked in a loss of 20 cents. But if you immediately buy a different apple, you're getting that apple "on sale," also for 80 cents. So you still own the same one apple that you owned before.

 

[mefordis]

What is safe? The purchasing power of the dollar will continue to decline. Cash is not safe. The Fed will raise rates, but it’s not going to help with inflation. It’s going to increase of the cost of production.

This is short term money management. You don't invest anything you aren't willing to lose, in my opinion. Here's an example:

College will cost 50k a year 2 years from now.
I have 50k to pay for one year.
I invest the 50k in an index fund right now.
Market continues to go down, and in 2 years when I need the money I have lost, let's say, 25%
- Now it's time to pay for college. I no longer have 50k. I now have a short fall of $12,500. I now have to take out a student loan, where 2 years ago I had the full 50k to pay for college for one year.


August 28, 2008, the S&P 500 fell 48 percent in a little over six months to its low on March 9, 2009. It took seven years to recover.

**Long term investing is necessary to keep up with inflation, but if needed within 5 years I do not risk my cash. **

 

[mefordis]

What is safe? The purchasing power of the dollar will continue to decline. Cash is not safe. The Fed will raise rates, but it’s not going to help with inflation. It’s going to increase of the cost of production.

Also, doesn't an emergency fund need to be liquid, as well? If you live in a high col area, that emergency fund for 1 year's living expenses can be quite a lot.