investment advice on 401k?

[ezbtr]

So I just got stmt, 4.96% return on quarterly - pretty good these days? Any advice on more diversification? Roth? a broker? Thanks!

 

[Tyme2fish]

Re: investment advice on 401k?

Don't get greedy. Your rate of return is fine in this economic climate.

 

[bassman284]

Re: investment advice on 401k?

Yeah, pretty good. My recommended strategy would be to hope it's that good next quarter.

 

[eavega]

Re: investment advice on 401k?

You should definitely diversify your investments; ammunition AND canned goods!

 

[marcoalza]

Re: investment advice on 401k?

I don't know much about Gold but I keep hearing from different experts that gold is gonna be at $5000 /oz by 2015.

Currently at 1587

 

[greenbush future]

Re: investment advice on 401k?

With so much missing info, like age, goals, and how aggressive you want to be it would be really hard for anyone to give you specifics. But that said, gold has historically been a great long term investment. I will continue to purchase it, however, when I buy, I actually purchase physical gold. No gold certs, stocks or anything other than the physical metal. Call me weird, but I don?t trust anything other than the real deal.
5% isn?t bad, you are ahead of inflation, but not buy much. I think my IRA-Roth and 401K are doing a bit better, but not much. I?m 51 and starting to add more conservative stuff, I like stocks that pay dividends.

If you don?t have a Roth IRA, I think they are the best deal in town, worth checking out. Tax free when you are old is a good thing IMO.
I also am picking up some rental homes, as a source of future income outside of my standard retirement accounts. Michigan land values are so low, I cant resist the deals that are out there.

 

[lncoop]

Re: investment advice on 401k?

A Roth is always a good option provided you meet the requirements, but nothing else should even be considered until the 401K contributions are maxed out. That's still the best deal by far.

 

[oddjob]

Re: investment advice on 401k?

Silver has doubled in price since the last presidential election from 18-40 dollars an ounce.

 

[ezbtr]

Re: investment advice on 401k?

Oh, I'm 47, so thinking for retirement, also house hunting(here, it's gonna keep droppin for awhile), like the idea of rental condos/houses as well for extra income.

 

[RZR2007]

Re: investment advice on 401k?

Gold has been a great investment for me through the years, however I went about it differently than most investers...
On paper, jr.miners have done very well also, you just have to keep an eye on it regularly

 

[bruceb58]

Re: investment advice on 401k?

Thats pretty good if it was for the qtr from April to June. Too be honest, I don't look at the quarterly performance as much as I do the previous one year performance. Too much fluctuation.

As far as diversification is concerned, we have no idea what funds you have your 401K in to help you out. The problem with a lot of funds though is that they all tend to have the same 5 stocks as their top holdings so even if you hold different funds, they have the same stocks so you aren't diversified.

I have a mixture of large cap, small cap, and foreign funds. I also have a gold fund which has done well lately although its the Fidelity one which isn't that highly rated.

When I pick my funds, I use the advice of a friend of mine who is a large broker for mutual funds to institutions. She knows all the funds that I have a choice of to help distribute my risk and aggressiveness. Suggest you try to find someone like that.

As far as if a Roth is good for you, it depends on what tax bracket you are in now vs what tax bracket you may think you are in later. There are calculators on line that can help you decide. To me its almost always worth doing a ROTH if eligible. Always max out your 401K especially if there is a company match. I have been putting in the max amount into my 401K I am allowed to do since I started working in my 20s. Now that I am over 50, I am contributing the max which is $22K/year. Once you reach 50 you can contribute an extra $5.5K.