I had the pleasure of looking at my dismal 401k this morning and noticed it was down -$41k or -19.2%, how is your doing this year?
I’ve reduced my % from 14% to now 5% seeing that it’s just burning money into the red, moved that extra cash flow into new ventures
Let’s be real with our numbers and not publish rubbish.
Thanks for sharing
Hi Friends, OP here, thank you for the feedback, I’ve reallocated my withholding back to prior status, it was only a temporary reduction anyway but a lot of this feedback makes sense, especially about buying stock at a deeply discount rate.
Thank you all, I truly value everyone’s opinion here.
P.s. I’m still 30 years away from retirement so this decision to reduce previously was based on uncertainty of the US economy.
Thanks!
Always remember this -------> Your 401k is a marathon, not a sprint.
When the market is down, is the time wealth is created. You have the ability to pick up the biggest name brand items at a steep discount, really steep, once in a generation steep. I bet you like to buy stuff on sale during Black Friday right? That's exactly whats happening here, everything, and I do mean everything is on sale right now.
Max out your 401k, get a 2nd job, a 3rd job, and buy up as much of these stocks / crypto as you can. Right now is the time to make life changing wealth.
FYI - my 401k as of today is minus 25.44% YTD.
I've been vaulting 3 to 5 oz's of gold each year for a few years now. It's a good stable back up not a money maker tho just a money stabilizer.
Keep it at 14%, you'll be buying low.
I am about 20% down too.
My other accounts are down much more (about 35 pct down) as I was agressively investing into tech business. It hurts. It hurts a lot...
Yet, 2021 was very good to me and I was up about 30% so I am still OK.
What I hate is inflation.
We need to be making 10% just to cover for inflation.
Bad.
Real estate holds value good. My house is up 30% over last 2 years. Cannot complain there.
Anyhow, I am not bragging, I am almost 60 and it took me many decades to get here.
We are living through late stage capitalism and are in the beginning to middle stages of collapse. Your contributions won’t mean much one way or the other.
401k is inherently dollar cost averaging. Stay the course. You’re getting more shares for less money, and when the market turns around you’ll be in a good position. Alternatively, maybe the Russia-Ukraine crisis along with the post-COVID shutdown economic repercussions tank the entire economy as bad or worse as the Great Depression and this is the end of US global hegemony. If that’s the case, we are probably f’ed anyway. I’m in the same boat as you. Let’s ride it like the captain of the titanic. 💎 🙌
@1pox+1hlarl7o is correct. Stocks are on SALE!!!!
If you aren't comfortable with stocks, then change your "Investment Direction" to put future contributions into Stable Value.
But do NOT reduce your contributions!!!!
Where else are you going to put it? In Cash and watch Inflation ERODE the value every day?
If you aren't retiring in the next 5 years, it shouldn't matter. If you are, then you should have been de-risking already.
Recommend you educate yourself. There are tons of websites, podcasts and books on this topic to help you.
You... are down, stocks are cheaper... so you REDUCE YOUR CONTRIBUTION AMOUNT????
HOW DO YOU WORK FOR A BANK?
Right now IS THE TIME TO MAX OUT YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS. MAX IT. Unless you are close to retirement, you should be just going ham on contributions. Look at it this way. There are two worst case scenario options.
A. The stock market collapses to zero. America is done. You better hope you have a bunker to hide in.
B. The stock market is not done, and it goes up SIMPLY DUE TO INFLATION over the next 20 years. This is ignoring growth. Just inflation will break you even (actually will double your money in 20 years).
But hey, you do you. I'm doing max. I only wish they would let us choose a dollar amount rather than a percentage so I can just set the maximum.
If you are 5+ years from retirement I would suggest studying up on Dollar Cost Averaging and speak with an advisor before reducing your contribution rate.
I think mine is down ~22% and growing. Definitely feel for anyone looking to retire soon, but for those of us who will be in the workforce for 10+ more years it shouldn't be a huge concern.
Investing is a long term strategy. If your 401k scares you, put money under your mattress.