Investing 102

[GregWeld]

Given your age -- Growth, Growth and Income, and Aggressive growth are good choices.


Now you begin to see why I'm not a fan of "mutual funds" or company IRA's.... Wouldn't you sleep better if you actually KNEW what you were invested in?? Rhetorical question so don't respond. Not to mention there are all manor of fees and expenses that support just about everyone on the planet except you! UGH! I truly hate them -- but they're still far better than doing nothing... and there are tax advantages etc. so just roll with it.

Originally Posted by captainofiron

What do you guys look for in 401k mutual funds?

My new employer has a pretty good number of funds we can select. My old job only had target date funds at decade intervals.

I looked at their charts, expense ratio, trailing returns and the percentages as far as stock/bonds/cash

Anything else I missed?

I selected 6 at 15% and 1 at 10%

they have different categories, like growth, income, bonds, growth/income, aggressive growth

I picked 3 out of the growth, and 4 out of aggressive growth

quite a few of the funds dont have a ticker, so I really didnt know how to research them

[dhutton]

Originally Posted by captainofiron

What do you guys look for in 401k mutual funds?

My new employer has a pretty good number of funds we can select. My old job only had target date funds at decade intervals.

I looked at their charts, expense ratio, trailing returns and the percentages as far as stock/bonds/cash

Anything else I missed?

I selected 6 at 15% and 1 at 10%

they have different categories, like growth, income, bonds, growth/income, aggressive growth

I picked 3 out of the growth, and 4 out of aggressive growth

quite a few of the funds dont have a ticker, so I really didnt know how to research them

Given that index funds have been shown to outperform actively managed funds I would have been tempted to stick with simple index funds. After that I would have gone with Vanguard funds if they are available. Their fees and expenses tend to be the lowest in my experience. I would not put any money into anything I can't research or track.

Don

[GregWeld]

Given this information - which we all know is true.... all I have to say to those folks is --- SUCKS TO BE YOU!!

Retirement SHOULD BE a happy place... when you get to play golf at all the places you wanted to but were busy working... or you finally get to build that car you really wanted but never had the time. Working part time at McDonalds or WalMart to make ends meet would not be a future that would be very satisfying IMHO.



http://natmonitor.com/2014/10/24/typ...-survey-finds/

[CornHusker4Life]

Everyone should pull their money out of the market TODAY! Why? Because I just opened and fully funded my wife and Is Roth IRAs. This means the market will inevitably plummet today. Blame this thread and all the contributors to it(esp Greg Weld)

[B]Honestly, Thanks for everyone who has posted on this thread(esp Greg) and made investing easier to understand![/B

Jarrod

[captainofiron]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Given your age -- Growth, Growth and Income, and Aggressive growth are good choices.


Now you begin to see why I'm not a fan of "mutual funds" or company IRA's.... Wouldn't you sleep better if you actually KNEW what you were invested in?? Rhetorical question so don't respond. Not to mention there are all manor of fees and expenses that support just about everyone on the planet except you! UGH! I truly hate them -- but they're still far better than doing nothing... and there are tax advantages etc. so just roll with it.

Thanks for the info, yea the funds that we can chose from have pretty high expense ratios compared to my old company (0.8-1% vs 1.3-1.8%), not sure why the difference.

I was able to see the top holdings in each fund, but I guess they didnt want to show the bottom, hahaha

I was just calculating, and at my old job I had a 48% return on my 401k contributions, which are now helping me in my personal IRA,

Originally Posted by dhutton

Given that index funds have been shown to outperform actively managed funds I would have been tempted to stick with simple index funds. After that I would have gone with Vanguard funds if they are available. Their fees and expenses tend to be the lowest in my experience. I would not put any money into anything I can't research or track.

Don

How can I tell if its an Index fund versus managed funds?

I know some of the ones I looked at had the managers listed, but didnt see any that did not.

I can list the ones that do have tickers if necessary.

As far as the bolded part, I had the exact same feeling

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by CornHusker4Life

Everyone should pull their money out of the market TODAY! Why? Because I just opened and fully funded my wife and Is Roth IRAs. This means the market will inevitably plummet today. Blame this thread and all the contributors to it(esp Greg Weld)

[B]Honestly, Thanks for everyone who has posted on this thread(esp Greg) and made investing easier to understand![/B

Jarrod

I SHORTED the S&P and the NASDAQ on your first post - knowing a newbie was about to invest. The short worked out fabulously so I thank you! LOL




Kidding of course. I never go short anything. Well... I AM short... but that's a physical trait.

[GregWeld]

Today is just another shining example of why I just can't get behind the high flying IPO's that have come to market lately. Maybe we LOVE their products -- Maybe they have really great businesses... but the IPO's valued them so richly... that they are priced for perfection and beyond. We need to learn to separate the STOCK from the COMPANY some times.


GoPro (GPRO) doubled a guys money since the IPO. Stunning! I like to make about 10% a year on my money --- and am perfectly happy with 5% cash flow from it. So looking at 100% return in a matter of weeks is far better than good! AS LONG AS YOU BOUGHT IT SOMEWHERE LOWER -- as in FAR LOWER -- than where it went... And that's the issue for me. Sure - if you bought at IPO prices... you caught a double. But if you were buying on the way up - then you most likely do not have a double. Maybe you have 10 or 15% which is far more likely... and then you wake up one morning and BAM!! The stock is DOWN and down hard in one day...

Personally --- I can't stomach that... it churns my guts (used to when I invested in this kind of stuff). It's like walking on pins and needles... euphoria on the big up days --- and suicidal when it all gets washed away in minutes!

Amazon -- Down today BIG. GoPro down today BIG... Netflix down the other day HUGE...

I prefer to invest... and go play... get checks regularly in the mail... and have restful sleep.

Just saying. Not saying people shouldn't invest in this stuff.... if you're young - have great incomes - have money to spare... have your investments totally squared away. Then by all means you SHOULD BE investing in these things. Just make sure you meet the above criteria - or gamble at your own risk.

[dhutton]

Originally Posted by captainofiron

Thanks for the info, yea the funds that we can chose from have pretty high expense ratios compared to my old company (0.8-1% vs 1.3-1.8%), not sure why the difference.

I was able to see the top holdings in each fund, but I guess they didnt want to show the bottom, hahaha

I was just calculating, and at my old job I had a 48% return on my 401k contributions, which are now helping me in my personal IRA,



How can I tell if its an Index fund versus managed funds?

I know some of the ones I looked at had the managers listed, but didnt see any that did not.

I can list the ones that do have tickers if necessary.

As far as the bolded part, I had the exact same feeling

Generally index funds have the index in their name. Any Vanguard funds on your list of available funds? What company manages your 401k? If the fund lists a manager then it is likely actively managed.

Don

[captainofiron]

Originally Posted by dhutton

Generally index funds have the index in their name. Any Vanguard funds on your list of available funds? What company manages your 401k? If the fund lists a manager then it is likely actively managed.

Don

the 401k is through Baird

We dont have any Vanguards

we have a few Franklin funds, a couple Fidelity funds, Hartford, American Century, Blackrock, Prudential, alot of SSgAs

the only ones that have Index names is SSgA S&P 500 Security lending series, a couple other SSgAs have the Index in their names, but I couldnt find info on those

[dhutton]

Originally Posted by captainofiron

the 401k is through Baird

We dont have any Vanguards

we have a few Franklin funds, a couple Fidelity funds, Hartford, American Century, Blackrock, Prudential, alot of SSgAs

the only ones that have Index names is SSgA S&P 500 Security lending series, a couple other SSgAs have the Index in their names, but I couldnt find info on those

Sounds like you did the best you could with the information available. My wife's 401k is completely blind. She just puts in her money and hopes for the best. Drives me crazy....

Don