401K help - Brown Cafe

sarge833 · 10-29-2008, 09:14 AM

I have worked in the preload the last several years and now I want to start putting some money into the 401k but I am unsure on which one to put my money into, Does anybody have an advice??

oakcreekteamie · 10-29-2008, 09:19 AM

Don't let me even think about MY 401K. **TEAR**

Fnix · 10-29-2008, 09:36 AM

I wouldnt put any money it at the moment.

IDoLessWorkThanMost · 10-29-2008, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fnix

I wouldnt put any money it at the moment.

yeah, what a silly idea to invest when the market is low. =/

UpstateNYUPSer · 10-29-2008, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fnix

I wouldnt put any money it at the moment.

This is the absolute best time to invest.

Hoaxster · 10-29-2008, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UpstateNYUPSer

This is the absolute best time to invest.

AGREED, hopefully not too GREEDY!
I've been moving funds out of bonds and money market accounts into the stock market - Index stocks , value funds, mainly and a little UPS stock - in the last two weeks.

If you can, this is the time to buy.

khamphaysengsouvang · 10-29-2008, 03:43 PM

i want to cash out some of my 401k to pay for my mortgage. where do i go to or who to talk to i need this money like yesterday can anyone help

drewed · 10-29-2008, 04:36 PM

this is the time to dribble money in most stocks are sitting about 50% of what they were last year and what about i see a them increasing 25% of that high within a yr and then full value in 18 months

UpstateNYUPSer · 10-29-2008, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by khamphaysengsouvang

i want to cash out some of my 401k to pay for my mortgage. where do i go to or who to talk to i need this money like yesterday can anyone help

Hardship withdrawals are limited to specific situations and paying off your mortgage isn't one. Now, if you were in a pending foreclosure situation you would be able to cash it in with no problem.

Loans are also limited and can be taken to help purchase a home but I don't think there is an option available to help you pay your mortgage.

mountaingoat · 10-30-2008, 05:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarge833

I have worked in the preload the last several years and now I want to start putting some money into the 401k but I am unsure on which one to put my money into, Does anybody have an advice??

There will be tons of opinions, but you have to choose the strategy that's right for you. That being said, here are some things to think about.

Deciding what to invest in is based on your time horizon and your risk tolerance. Time horizon is the time that you have until you plan to cash out the money. For instance, if you're 20 and you plan to retire at 65, you have a 45-year time horizon. Your risk tolerance is how much risk you can stand, or does your stomach turn upside-down when your funds lose 5% in a day?

The choices that you have are based on these two factors. If you have a large time horizon (8-10 years or more), you should choose the funds with the greatest risk because they will provide you with the greatest return on investment (ROI). Sure, they are riskier, but that's why you receive a larger ROI. You're being paid for your level of risk. Since you have a long time horizon, you can watch the stocks funds go up (and down) and you can wait until they recover. If you have a low risk tolerance, you should only look at your funds once a month AT BEST so that you don't get concerned with the day-to-day mood swings of your equity (stock) funds.

Once you've decided that you need to be in equities, you need to diversify yourself. Don't put everything into one stock. Mix among Large Cap (i.e. S&P 500 Index Fund), Small Cap (i.e. Russell 2000 Index Fund), and International (i.e. EAFE Index Fund) funds. This way, you're not locked into just emerging markets or small cap, but you will get the rise as it goes up.

So your question is - what if one of my funds goes down while another goes up? Well, you should be rebalancing every 6-12 months. This means resetting your funds to their default percentages. So, suppose you chose four funds, each at 25%. At the end of the year, your best performing fund has grown to 28% and your worst one at 22% of your 401K portfolio. You want to rebalance (and the 401K website has an option to do this automatically) until both of them are back at 25%. This means selling the stock that has risen (selling HIGH) and with those gains, purchasing more of the stock that has gone down (buying LOW). It seems counterintuitive to sell the best-performing fund to buy the worst-performing fund, but it locks in the gains from your best performing fund, and it helps you to buy low.

Hope this investing primer helps.

mountaingoat · 10-30-2008, 05:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarge833

I have worked in the preload the last several years and now I want to start putting some money into the 401k but I am unsure on which one to put my money into, Does anybody have an advice??

You might also want to refer to the 401K thread here: http://www.browncafe.com/forum/ups_d...k_options.html

1989 · 10-30-2008, 06:40 AM

How come there are no gold funds in the 401K options?

scoutjumper · 10-30-2008, 08:45 AM

Max out a ROTH IRA first then fund the 401 k.

Highwayman · 10-30-2008, 12:42 PM

To start out put your money in the bright horizon fund that has a date closest to your expected retirement date. It starts out aggressive and gets less so as you near that date.

barnyard · 10-30-2008, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1989

How come there are no gold funds in the 401K options?

There are, just not through the Teamsters. The Teamster funds are very, very limited.

Go to a place like Edward Jones or Fidelity or one of those types of places and listen to the advice they give and follow it.

TB

pkgdriver · 10-30-2008, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1989

How come there are no gold funds in the 401K options?

In the Self Managed section of my 401k you can buy an ETF that tracks the price of Gold if thats what you are looking for.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=GLD

satellitedriver · 10-30-2008, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1989

How come there are no gold funds in the 401K options?

In the 401K plan is an option to setup an SMA (self managed account).
In that option,you can buy anything that is available on the open market.

browniehound · 10-30-2008, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barnyard

There are, just not through the Teamsters. The Teamster funds are very, very limited.

Go to a place like Edward Jones or Fidelity or one of those types of places and listen to the advice they give and follow it.

TB

TB,
I have to disagree. The teamster 401k investements are not "very,very limited". My girlfriend has about 5 investment choices (with names I never heard of) in her 401k with no self managed account option. I would call this very limited.

The UPS-Teamster 401k plan has at least 10 options I can think of off the bat. They offer index funds (SP500,400 and Russell 2K), cash (stable value), bond-funds, an international fund, and then the Bright Horizon funds that changes its investments as you get closer to retirement, i.e. Bright Horizon 2015, 2025, 2035 funds.

The UPS-Teamster 401k plan also offers the "Self Managed Account" in which you can purchase just about any stock or mutual fund. You may not be able to buy gold directly but I'm sure you could find a fund that invests in gold 100%.

Am I missing something here? How can these options be described as "very, very, limited"?

It looks to me that most of the bases are covered in our 401k plan.

Please clue me in to what is missing here?

wyobill1956 · 10-30-2008, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarge833

I have worked in the preload the last several years and now I want to start putting some money into the 401k but I am unsure on which one to put my money into, Does anybody have an advice??

I take it your a youngster. When I was working I maxed out my 401 and put it all in SP500 and Russel 2000. It all depends on how much time you have. Any investment is a gamble. Its a royal time to put money in the stock market. You have heard it before (Buy low sell high) and remember to Kiss (keep it simple stupid)