401K's?

[Big Daddy]

If you have a house that you paid 500k for and it starts dropping in value and you feel that it is going to keep dropping so you sell it for 480k. Then you take that 480k and invest it in an area where houses are appreciating in value and sale that house for 490k when your old house starts coming back up and buy your old house for 250k which is now going back up, have you lost any money? Or do you have an extra 220k? in your pocket and the same house you used to live in.

I know at this point in time the analog kind of missed the boat. But if you had switched your 401k assets to a safer fund early last year, you would be sitting much better right now. When stocks start coming back up later this year or sooner you could switch in to a more profitable fund and have 2x as many shares as you currently have, for the same amount of money you had before the mutual funds started tanking last year. sell high, buy low.

 

[PamsPride]

I can guarentee that I will never live long enough for the house I live in to be worth $500K!!!

 

[FarmerChick]

We are lucky.

Tony's 401K has lost hardly anything. Before all the nasty we pulled it into cash and safe bonds etc. Leaving only a little in Commscope stock. It crashed from 30s into about $4 per share.....well we since bought about $25K of $4 stock and it is at almost $8 right now.....so we are doing well with his funds. I only would let him play with 25K and no more cause I am scared of stock playing right now also..LOL.

Timing is everything.....you can surely say that one again!

Sometimes it pays to gamble but you must feel very secure in doing so.....everyone has their limits on how to gamble their hard saved money. Wish I had more of it..HA HA

 

[Big Daddy]

It's just an analogy. In many parts of California a 3 bedroom 1400 sq ft house is 600-800k. I should say were 600-800k. From what I hear they have dropped about 30% to a more realistic level. They probably won't see those highs for another 20-30 years because they were false highs just like the economy and the Dow for the last 10 years r so.

Anybody that didn't switch their 401k to the safe funds that are offered on most plans has already lost their money. all you can do is hold on to what you got and hope it comes back. If your close to retirement you might talk to your kids about remodeling that extra bedroom. Sad but true. Good thing they didn't switch social security over to the stock market as was talked about a few years ago.

 

[Big Daddy]

It took 2 of those big negative statements from my 401k for me to switch. I'm only making 2.5% right now, but all the mutual funds offered lost 28-38% last year.

 

[FarmerChick]

It took 2 of those big negative statements from my 401k for me to switch. I'm only making 2.5% right now, but all the mutual funds offered lost 28-38% last year.

It is making and not losing...that is the key....LOL---even if only a little interest it beats having that negative on your statement when you receive it!!

Key now is hold onto all you have and don't lose more if you did....good advice for all of us!!!!!

My stupid bank stock in Fifth Third bank....WOOF...went from $35,000 down to like $5,000. I am not a happy camper but I know it will go up. I haven't lost as long as I don't cash it in....still ticks me off but so many people have lost so much!

Rough times just stink...LOL

 

[Mackay]

Watch Out for Investments in T Bills

The End of the Dollar As the World Reserve Currency

Lindsey predicts for the year of 2009

For those of you who have been tracking on Williams and are aware of
his remarkable predictive abilities for the economy you will find this update
interesting. Now just a couple of weeks ago China says out with the dollar
for reserve currency. Seems the T Bill crash is on its way.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2219026291450576553

 

[EweSheep]

I had to cash out my 401K when I lost my job because we would not be having Public Aid or food stamps or cash assistance because they consider as "assets". So I used it to pay for a nice used van, down payment on a new house and renovate the kitchen.

Yes the taxes are almost HALF of my 401K when my ex employer paid his part (they didnt like it one bit and tried to talk to me out of it but I needed health insurance, when I found out I was pregnant with DD and no way I could afford COBRA).

Was it worth it? Yes at that time. We will not have any retirement benefits, we are still the same but made a little more money but not that much. At least I filed bankruptcy after I lost my job, so I dont have any credit cards or outstanding medical bills while I was pregnant with DD to deal with. It was a mess!

I have the feeling, we will be only having SS and my pension from my ex employer when I turn 65 or better. DH had his 401K started up wihtout his knowledge, his employer did it and we told them NO 401K or we will lose our health benefits. They didn't care and they still put in money. I hope the state dont make us pay everything back even we did request not to enroll the 401K and the employer's insurance (too high for family cost).

Everyone is different but you must go what is best in your favor.

 

[Nifty]

Ok, I sorta understand pulling out the money if you really really really need it, but pulling out your money from a 401k ESPECIALLY if it is in stocks / mutual funds right now... isn't that like buying high and selling low?

So, I'm looking at the S&P 500 over the past year. It really had taken a dive just before this thread was started back in March. Things aren't fully recovered, but they have recovered a bit since this thread started.

In March, S&P was at about 676 and today it is around 1105... and if my math is correct, that is a 63% increase! (DJIA has seen about 60% increase)

I'm wondering if anybody that pulled out of their 401k back in March is kicking themselves, or still glad they did it because they were able to use the money where it was really needed.

 

[me&thegals]

I personally don't like to think I've lost money when the market goes down... you only "loose" the money when you actually sell. Kinda like a house, if you stay in it for 20 years it doesn't matter what the market value does in between because what only matters is when you buy and when you sell.

If people feel they are in stocks / funds / whatever that are dead and are never going to go back up it makes sense to pull it out of those funds and put it into something else, but in my opinion, taking it out right now, paying penalties, and not putting it back into something else that is undervalued right now (other stocks/funds/real estate) is, again in my opinion, like buying high and selling low.

Exactly. When things dive bomb, that's when I try to contribute more than ever. You can buy so many more shares for the same $!