Anyone making any money?

My 401(k) has been TANKING. i know that I'm not supposed to be looking at it, but I got my quarterly earnings report and it's not good. I lost money for the first time. My other investments aren't much better.

How are you guys doing? Anyone making any money?

401k and IRAs doing ok, everything else is "Tango Uniform"

(t1ts up)

Second quarter was crap from the middle part of May on. You should have picked up a couple percent yesterday, depending on what you own. Overall, though, July's still down a percent or so.

But I'll tell you, if you can't stand the losses you saw in Q2, you'll never get through the next REAL bear market we have. Small-cap and international were down maybe 12% or so, peak to bottom; you gonna hang tight (like you should) when things are down 20%?

My wife works for a grocer owned by Kroger. Part of her 401 involves Kroger stock which has been in the tank for a few years now.

It's up 20% this year, there's been a rotation into defensive stocks like KR. Hope she doesn't have too high a percent in there, though - that's where people get killed. Double-whammy if the company runs into trouble, her job's in jeopardy and her stock takes a beating. Really, she's better off having no more than 15% - 20%, absolute tops, in company stock, the rest in a diversified mix of stuff. Ideal would be no more than 10%.

I'm a retirement plan analyst by profession. The only way that relates to this conversation is that I get excellent investment advice and almost unlimited investment choices thanks to our partner firms. My sister is also one of the nation's most highly acclaimed CFP's.

Mine are up about 10% on the year. You either have to be extremely active (and informed) with your trading or just don't follow it day to day if you want to make money in the long run. The middle ground will most likely result in not achieving your objectives. Most fund companies will temporarily freeze your holdings if you start using your 401(k) as a day trading device, FYI.

I keep my company stock out of my 401k for those exact reasons. I have enough of it on the side. While you aren't acquiring it tax deferred, you don't have all the eggs in the basket, so to speak. If my company tanked and I lost my job, I would want to know that my retirement funds were not affected.

My plan on my 401(k) is "slow and stable", meaning that I'm not going to stock-hop every time I have a down quarter.

Now, as for my ESPP stock, that's another story. My company stock was doing bang-up for years. When I started, I was buying at $33. In December of 2004, it was up to $65 per share. Then it dropped a little.

At the end of Q1 this year, our stock was at $58.00. We released our earnings report and had to report a lower-than-expected Q1 earnings. our stock dropped $8.00 that day and now trades in the $48-$51 range.

our stock is stagnent. I stopped purchasing through ESPP and directed that money elsewhere. I still have a number of options that will come through for me, but until the stock starts performing, it is not worth it.

W/regards to the 401Ks, I take a long term view. I only modify my contributions based on advice from financial advisor who understands my risk tolerances and goals. This is normally 1-2 reallocations/year. Since I started taking his advice, I have made back all of my losses from the Bubble Burst, and am getting some decent growth. My company offers a lot of funds that his parent company supports, so he knows them well and is able to give some good advice.

I'm taking an investments class soon and I'm considering taking a class in derivative securities to help me better understand how to invest. My 401(k) plan doesn't offer a lot of medium risk stocks. I'm not completely risk adverse, but I'm not crazy.

With this stuff, you can never know too much. I went to school for economics/accounting, and have been to numerous work sponsored financial planning seminars, and I am still looking to know more about this or that. It's my money, and nobody will care about it but me, so I had better learn about what it is doing.

Derivatives are fun. I work for a tiny broker/dealer, the boss is bugging the crap out of me to take the Options Principal test so we can start offering options to our clients. I'll be responsible for overseeing all the reps' business in this arena.

Oh for the love of God, please change your avatar back. That's horrid.

You bastard.....

He's just doing his best to chase the kids away........

or maybe it's a balance thing, along with the dry month...

Either way, gotta feel sorry for the guy having that original image on his computer...

Skol!

I just don't think it's nice that he exploits his mom's image like that.

I probably lost over 50K in the past year...

I open Cheesefood's postings with a bit of caution. I kind of feel I need to keep a shrink on retainer to help me deal with what I might see.

the_bird said:

I just don't think it's nice that he exploits his mom's image like that.

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Dude.

That's my wife. She's proud of herself for losing the pregnancy weight and trying to show off.

Why do you all need to be mean to her? That kind of crap is uncalled for.

Cheesefood said:

Dude.

That's my wife. She's proud of herself for losing the pregnancy weight and trying to show off.

Why do you all need to be mean to her? That kind of crap is uncalled for.

Click to expand...

If that's your wife, then I can understand your heavy drinking and browsing for porn online.

-walker

Does she just tuck little Cheese Jr. into a fold before she leaves the house? No need for a baby stroller, just position him near a nip and attach a snorkel.

My IRA is slammed (lots of long-term tech), but all the rest are ok. Sliding a little, but minor. Having weathered 1987 and the dot.bust, is not a problem.