hearts and roses
Mind Reader
For anyone who understands all the mumbo jumbo about the markets, mutual funds, etc., and 401k's, can I get your educated opinion please?
I have a balance of about $12,550 in my 401k account. Our company matches whatever we put in at the end of the year. I am not putting a whole lot of money in there, roughly $200/month. But in my statements, it appears that for the past year, my investments are really tanking. They aren't all doing badly (they are spread between MF and stocks/bonds), but they are not really doing well. In fact, in some cases there are even negative numbers. I spoke with our benefits advisory company and they said to just leave the money in there and continue making my contributions.
My feeling is that right now, my money would be safer if it were in a shoe box under my bed. In fact, I was thinking that instead of contributing for 6 months, I could just squirrel the money away and then in the Spring, see where we stand and if the climate is right, set myself up again. Open enrollment is in January/July. Of course, I would not/could not withdraw the money already there - I'm just talking about dicontinuting the contributions for a while.
I am not panicking, I'm angry. Our advisors keep saying, "Don't panic, don't panic" but I'm not panicking. I'm annoyed that I'm making contributions and the bottom line numbers are not moving and, in fact, have gone down in some cases. Aggravating. For instance, last month my contribution was $160.00 but my balance only went up $27.58. What is up with that? Am I reading it wrong?
So, what do you think? Thanks~
I have a balance of about $12,550 in my 401k account. Our company matches whatever we put in at the end of the year. I am not putting a whole lot of money in there, roughly $200/month. But in my statements, it appears that for the past year, my investments are really tanking. They aren't all doing badly (they are spread between MF and stocks/bonds), but they are not really doing well. In fact, in some cases there are even negative numbers. I spoke with our benefits advisory company and they said to just leave the money in there and continue making my contributions.
My feeling is that right now, my money would be safer if it were in a shoe box under my bed. In fact, I was thinking that instead of contributing for 6 months, I could just squirrel the money away and then in the Spring, see where we stand and if the climate is right, set myself up again. Open enrollment is in January/July. Of course, I would not/could not withdraw the money already there - I'm just talking about dicontinuting the contributions for a while.
I am not panicking, I'm angry. Our advisors keep saying, "Don't panic, don't panic" but I'm not panicking. I'm annoyed that I'm making contributions and the bottom line numbers are not moving and, in fact, have gone down in some cases. Aggravating. For instance, last month my contribution was $160.00 but my balance only went up $27.58. What is up with that? Am I reading it wrong?
So, what do you think? Thanks~