It has been several months since the last time I looked at my 401k plan. In fact, I believe the last time I checked my 401k was when Single Guy over at Single Guy Money asked his readers how much they had lost in their investment accounts. That was back on July 17th. I think my 401k accounts were down about 12-15% then, I know they are down a lot more since then, although I could not tell you exactly what that number is.
Why haven’t I looked at my 401k account since then?
Well, after the bottom fell out in September and October, I really wasn’t that interested in how much money I LOST in my retirement accounts. I was not going to pull it out of stocks and into bonds or a money market account, as my asset allocation is heavy on stocks due to the length of time I have before retirement; that did not seem like a good thing to do. Since I did not want to participate in “panic selling”, I just have not had the urge to see what the damage really was. Is this foolish? I don’t think so, and in fact, if I had more money to invest, I would probably increase my 401k contributions.
Am I afraid to look? Not really. Most of my 401k is in funds that track the major indices, like the S&P 500, or even the total stock market-although they are not actually index funds. So I have a pretty good idea of what my losses probably are.
My plan is to take a look in January, although I may do it before then, when my company match from this year goes in, and re-balance my 401k by placing my new contributions and the company match in the fund or fund type that needs to be increased.
Have you been obsessing over your 401k balance? Have you been checking it regularly over these last few months? Or have you stopped worrying about it? Should I be checking it more closely? What do you think?
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When the market took a downturn, I made a conscious decision not to monitor my TSP (Thrift Savings Plan). I made sure that my funds were well allocated in a Lifecycle Fund that is geared towards when I want to retire. My husband is doing the same thing with his 401(k). We even went so far as to elect not to receive monthly statements. Instead, we plan on checking our balances online after the new year. We’ve got enough time to recover from the damage and its best not to get too wound up about it! Stay your course, its the only way to go at this point!!
@Nicole- Sounds like a good idea! If you have your retirement assets allocated for your planned retirement date, you are probably doing the right thing. No sense in worrying about short term performance when you are in it for the long term, for example.
I’m also not looking at mine – still investing. 17 years out, there should be plenty of time to recover.
I don’t think I’d panic sell, but why tempt myself LOL.
@Karla- It sounds like you have a good plan- I definitely think 17 years is plenty of time for a recovery and then some!
I’m paranoid and somewhat obsessive about finances, so I check mine after every paycheck to make sure my contribution got deposited alright. I also check it twice a month when I do my budget and update my net worth and other statistics. I’ve got a long time horizon and a high risk tolerance though, so I’m not really bothered by the market. To be honest, I was cheering the market Down for the great buying opportunities.
@Slinky- I think you have a very good attitude. I just looked at mine this week- Since I am mostly in broad based funds, the damage was about what I expected, and close to what the market has done in general. My matching deposits go in in January (matching my contributions from the previous year). I am definitely more of an optimist, which it appears you are too!
@RC – I have to admit…a lot of my confidence comes from some fortunate timing. I just started my 401k in June of this year, so right before the big slide. I’m only down about $250 from what I’ve put in. I’ve also got 40 years before I plan on using this money, so it’s kind of hard to be very concerned about it!
I finally talked my fiance into checking on his portfolio though. He’s down rather a lot, more than the market I think. We’re going to sit down and give his portfolio a thorough going over and see exactly where he’s at and adjust his asset allocation. I’ve done a lot more research into asset allocation and investing in general, so I get to be his financial advisor! Sounds like fun, but it makes me nervous too! I’m pretty confident I can do better than his current, rather odd allocation though.
@ Slinky- Nothing wrong with starting out when the market is down- I kind of did the same after the tech bubble burst-and with the time horizon you have, you should be in great shape when you are ready to retire.
If your fiance’s allocation is odd, you should have him in better shape pretty quickly-which he will thank you for down the line!