No politics- How’s your 401K doing for you?

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I moved my funds to low risk bonds before the trade war with China expecting a downturn but that was just a small blip.

So no high returns for me for a year.
 
Retired and strictly Vanguard conservative Balanced index. Returns 7.xx. worked with Vanguard Adviser provided free for the amount I have and has worked well for us.
 
Originally Posted by JHZR2
All my funds returned between 18-27% YTD, but my account claims 15% over the last 12 months because last December was so bad. Over the last 12 months, they show 12-16% return. What a difference a month makes


Seriously. Last December was bad.

I'm sitting at 30% YTD across my portfolio, but only 17% for the past 12 months.

I'm young and have a lot of my portfolio in growth funds. They exploded this year.
 
When you guys say 20% or 30% YTD, what does that mean? I have a 401k setup through my work but I've never had the time to really study into it.
 
I grew up with a grandfather who told me to save my money 'cause the Depression was coming back.

I saved everything I could into deferred instruments IRA and a 457 plan. Almost half of my take home pay. I did move my IRA money to a Roth when they became available.

My situation was made worse because I was taxed as married until I retired, then widowed. I've been retired for eight years (as of last year), and my required minimum distribution has pushed my state and local taxes to more than double the state and local taxes I paid in my last year of working in 2010, plus I'm paying a lot more on additional Medicare payments. I have pushed some distributions from my IRA over and above my RMD into my Roth, so I'm paying a bit more now, so I pay less in my RMD later.

My money did grow tax free, and crunching numbers comparing the 457 deferral with just paying the capital gains is beyond me, since it's all water under the bridge, but I have talked to a number of retirees who have also regretted sticking the max into a 401k/403b/457 and getting huge tax increases in retirement. Mine's probably worse because of my change in marital status.

401k's are a lot cheaper than 403b's and 457's as far as expenses, primarily because there's a lot of competition. I transferred my 457 into my IRA as soon as I retired. Lot's of my fellow employees just kept their retirement funds parked where they were when they hit retirement. Big mistake because 457's had tons of hidden fees, I expect that 403b's because they're insurance products are even worse. You can't beat cheap-- i.e. Fidelity, Vanguard or Schwab indexes.
 
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Originally Posted by DallasTexas
Retired and strictly Vanguard conservative Balanced index. Returns 7.xx. worked with Vanguard Adviser provided free for the amount I have and has worked well for us.

Because the Vanguard expense ratio is very low or nill, you probably have a better return overall.
 
Originally Posted by csandste
I grew up with a grandfather who told me to save my money 'cause the Depression was coming back.

I saved everything I could into deferred instruments IRA and a 457 plan. Almost half of my take home pay. I did move my IRA money to a Roth when they became available.

My situation was made worse because I was taxed as married until I retired, then widowed. I've been retired for eight years (as of last year), and my required minimum distribution has pushed my state and local taxes to more than double the state and local taxes I paid in my last year of working in 2010, plus I'm paying a lot more on additional Medicare payments. I have pushed some distributions from my IRA over and above my RMD into my Roth, so I'm paying a bit more now, so I pay less in my RMD later.

My money did grow tax free, and crunching numbers comparing the 457 deferral with just paying the capital gains is beyond me, since it's all water under the bridge, but I have talked to a number of retirees who have also regretted sticking the max into a 401k/403b/457 and getting huge tax increases in retirement. Mine's probably worse because of my change in marital status.

401k's are a lot cheaper than 403b's and 457's as far as expenses, primarily because there's a lot of competition. I transferred my 457 into my IRA as soon as I retired. Lot's of my fellow employees just kept their retirement funds parked where they were when they hit retirement. Big mistake because 457's had tons of hidden fees, I expect that 403b's because they're insurance products are even worse. You can't beat cheap-- i.e. Fidelity, Vanguard or Schwab indexes.


I thought a 403b was just the non-profit version of a 401k ?
Update- found this- " Once also known as tax-sheltered annuities, 403(b) plans used to be restricted to an annuity format. This restriction was removed in 1974."
When I worked for a large non-profit, they could only offer the 403b, but that was in the 1990's so way after the tax laws changed.
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/100314/what-difference-between-401k-plan-and-403b-plan.asp
 
Swimmingly
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Originally Posted by Pew
When you guys say 20% or 30% YTD, what does that mean? I have a 401k setup through my work but I've never had the time to really study into it.


Year to date means total return since January 1 2019.

You will notice that most people quote returns that aren't really beating the S&P 500. For instance in the Fidelity fund listed below, the expense ratio is .015 which beats Vanguard Index 500 Admiral as their expense ratio is .04. Year to date return is 29.81%

https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/315911750
 
Even if you tried, I don't think you couldn't have done well over the last decade. I'm willing to bet the 2010's have shown more growth in the market than any other decade in history.
 
Originally Posted by Pew
When you guys say 20% or 30% YTD, what does that mean? I have a 401k setup through my work but I've never had the time to really study into it.


YTD = Year to date. So a 20% YTD return would be your investment from January 1 + 20%.
 
Time 30 minutes an read up on your options within your 401K, I'm sure some are dogs and others are good.

Originally Posted by Pew
When you guys say 20% or 30% YTD, what does that mean? I have a 401k setup through my work but I've never had the time to really study into it.



Some people put just the company match (3 - 7%) in a 401K..... then put the rest in a Roth IRA.
I agree with the statement that some people regret putting the max in their 401K because in the future you will have taxes on a substantial amount of money even if you slowly take money out (distribution).

Another reason to just put the company match in a 401K is because you have hundreds of investment options in a Roth IRA while a very good 401K has maybe 20 choices.

I've done very well with growth and leveraged ETFs over the past 8 years. ðŸ‘
 
I have two accounts...one I have with Vanguard (mostly index funds) and it returned 21% or so. The other is a target 2030 fund through another company and it returned 10.5%.

I've since taken the money out of the target retirement fund and moved it to 70% index and 30% bonds. I've been meaning to do this for years and it was a HUGE mistake by me to wait this long. I have lost thousands on top of thousands by investing in target dated funds. And when the market drops? I still lose big in the target funds. So I lose when it bounces back and drops.

My wife made around 20% with her's.

So it was a good year. Makes up for last year when the major indexes came in at -7%.

I would think next year we might squeeze another somewhat good return...they're forecasting a 7% return. Could be higher with a favorable China deal and interest cut. Otherwise I think we could be heading down a bit. But hey, if you invest in a 401k you're dollar cost averaging anyway every month.
 
Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by Pew
When you guys say 20% or 30% YTD, what does that mean? I have a 401k setup through my work but I've never had the time to really study into it.


Year to date means total return since January 1 2019.

You will notice that most people quote returns that aren't really beating the S&P 500. For instance in the Fidelity fund listed below, the expense ratio is .015 which beats Vanguard Index 500 Admiral as their expense ratio is .04. Year to date return is 29.81%

https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/315911750


I didn't realize Fidelity was actually lower than Vanguard. Wow. I've been kind of brainwashed into thinking vanguard is the cheapest around. I knew Fidelity was low too, didn't realize they were that low...might have to look into investing with them (my employer offers many different alternatives and Fidelity is one).
 
Originally Posted by SLO_Town
I've been out of the market for almost 15 years now, sitting on cash. In hindsight, this has probably been the wrong choice. But, we own everything we have, including two homes that we bounce back and forth between. We have zero debt. In that sense, I feel very fortunate.

Scott


Nothing at all wrong with that. You had your gains, you have no debt.
No debt is your investment, your gains/situation is "realized" anyone with money in stocks ect are unrealized gains, meaning they can be gone tomorrow, yours can't.

One danger, as you may know of unrealized gains, some people load up on debt thinking they have money of which they dont, then the day comes that the market fails/falls they panic.

Without question, 401ks and all investments have worked out great for Americans as long as you remember not to live on those unrealized gains until they are realized, pretend they are not there and be in the market for the long term. Chances are one day the market will get sliced almost up to 25 to 40%, like it always has in the history of this country.

I too wish I spent a little less money and built up my (Roth) yet when I was younger, I did work hard and purchased a piece of commercial real estate with a partner that we paid off ahead of time, a long time ago and continues to pay me well no matter what the stock market does, maybe that made me lazy about a substantial IRA, I do regret that a little bit ... then again, I always thought to myself, what if I didnt live to tomorrow?
I can say I lived, now that tomorrow is here, its all good and glad I am still here no matter what*L*
 
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