301k - don't look at yours

I keep telling myself that I've still got 20 years to retire, but whewww... Here's the yearly return as of today... Hopefully you guys are doing better. Like they say, you have to be in it for the long haul. I think it's still worth more than I've put in it though.

Personal Rate of Return from 01/01/2008 to 09/29/2008 is -28.1%

WHAT IS THE DIFFERANCE BETWEEN WALL STREET AND LAS VEGAS? It is what Real Estate agent talk about; Location, Location, Location. You would have had more fun losing you money in Las Vagas. All of this 401K money,IMHO, is what has drive Wall Street higher and higher. You fell for the con of everyone needs to be in the market. YOU ONLY PUT MONEY IN THE MARKET THAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE. Go cry to you broker who made 10% from you.

Kent

Win or loose, the broker gets his commission!
If you had to pay, to get into a casino, and
Win or loose, had to play to get out to go
home, would you still go to play?

Even the account number has lost 100 points. LOL 401K not 301K.

Kent, I don't have a broker, I have an Employer sponsored 401k, who has put in almost $50000 of thier money for me. I'm still far ahead of where I would have been hiding it in a mattress.

I didn't pay 30% tax on the money that went in there, and until this year it has returned 10-20% per year for the past 10 years. just scary to see it melt away so fast...Went down $20k yesterday. Just a little unnerving for a guy who puts a ton of money in there with the hopes of retiring without worries...

Mine is down27% since Jan 1st. It had peaked the last quarter of last year. Like you alot of it is employer contributions, and I always put in 10% of my earning. I am uneasy about what is going on, not so much about the 401k money, that will over time balance out. What I am fearful of is a collapsing economy to an extent that very few of us can imagine. We all live so lavishly that we cant even comprehend how we may have to change to survive like they did in the dustbowl/great depression days.At least back then there were more families that farmed and that kept alot of people working and prospering when things started rolling again. Today a very small percentage of people are farmers, most are unskilled labor that wont be able to get a job when the few manufacturing jobs we have start going belly up.

Jay Leno said he wrote a check the other day and the check cleared but the bank bounced.

Look at the bargains that are out there. Maybe time to up your contribution to the plan.

Weren't stock origianlly developed as a way for companies to raise money? The idea was to invest in the company. When the company does well, it pays a dividend to the stock holder.

Now it seems that people invest in the stock, not the company, and the only return is when the stock is sold. Buy low, sell high... its all fake money anyway...

While it's true, in at least a narrow sense, that the market rises in the long term (actual "rise" depends on purchasing power) there're also ups and downs in the process...
How you come out depends on whether you retire and/or need to draw on stocks/retirement fund when the market is up or when it's down...
If you've made lucky guesses you're called far-seeing, astute, sharp, clever, etc; if your guesses turn out to be unlucky you're called less complimentary things...
I call them "guesses", subject to "luck", because there are so many variables that individuals have little or no control over.

If you're planning on retiring on money you have in the US Stock market you better be planning on a very short retirement or a very cheap carboard box under a bridge to set up house keeping.

Keep investing for the long term and you'll do okay. The market will bounce back, and while it's down you're buying stocks at a bargain price.

Remember that a good investor thinks:.....When prices are low it is a very good time to buy.
If your favorite beer was on sale at 28% less at your local grocery store would you stock up on more or sell what you have in your fridge at a 28% loss on what you paid for it.
I also have 20 years before retirement and all my funds are down about 25% also, 1 fund is only down about 6% for the year. There are some stocks that are real cheap, like GM common stock never been down to $9 in 50 years or something.

Remember that a good investor thinks:.....When prices are low it is a very good time to buy.
If your favorite beer was on sale at 28% less at your local grocery store would you stock up on more or sell what you have in your fridge at a 28% loss on what you paid for it.
I also have 20 years before retirement and all my funds are down about 25% also, 1 fund is only down about 6% for the year. There are some stocks that are real cheap, like GM common stock never been down to $9 in 50 years or something.

You don't need a broker to have a 401.

dont lose any thing until the stocks go to Zero or you sell other than that is all just on paper and is just there

That's why they're called 301ks now. When they get down to 001ks I think I'll through in the towel.

Being skilled labor IS NOT any advantage. I am a trained electronic technician. I have been unemployed for the last 16 years as the smart? people who run this country think you do not need an electronics industry. The TRA and other retaining programs are a BAD JOKE.
This country has and is living a GIANT PYRIMID SCAM. The people who work in the factory are who supported this country for years, but they have been shrinking as the good job have been exported, OUR ONLY EXPORT? Now you can not afford a new car or or a home on the LOW wages being paid. The BIG DOGS realised this years ago. This is why they started pushing these stupid way to finance new home sales. Well the point of the pyramid,the worker who are needed to support a comsumer economy, has finally collapsed and the whole false economy is going to come down around our ears. I also knew that the day the ARM's and the home equity loans started there would come a day like this. You DO NOT use your HOME as A CHECK BOOK. These is something that had been learned in the 30's and we will have to learn it again, no matter what the smart people claim that you need to use the value of you home as an asset to build wealth. This was another part of the con. I am no great economist but I am also NOT STUPID like so many people have been. I wonder if they are remembering the High Dollar Vacation they took now that the y are homeless because their house has been forclosed? If I had been employed these last 16 year I WOULD NOT have precipitated in any 401K plan because it was a con. Do you not wish your SOCIAL SECURITY was in the stock market like W tried to get done in his first term?

Kent

Funny how that doesn't work when they're making money! Gov't wants that tax payment every year...

GM could just as easily go bankrupt by this time next week too. I wouldn't put a dime in them now.

Some people like me wish they would let people have the option of whether to pay into Social Security. One of my uncles worked in a foundry for almost 20 years, then went over the road as a trucker for another 6 or 7. Paid into it every week. Passed away at the age of 45 and didn't see a PENNY of what he put in. Thats just bad luck all around I think but its also exactly why it doesn't work. The next person might pay in for 45 years but get pay back until they pass away at 80 or 90. At any rate, I doubt anyone gets back what they put into it.

My financiual guy said the other day the market does not gain or lose money, it fluctuates, and right now we are getting fluct.