Investing 102

[captainofiron]

Originally Posted by dhutton

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

Glad to hear, yea while it sucks that we dont have more options it is nice that they offer a pretty good match, so I'll take that free money thank ya very much, haha

[dhutton]

Originally Posted by captainofiron

Glad to hear, yea while it sucks that we dont have more options it is nice that they offer a pretty good match, so I'll take that free money thank ya very much, haha

Did you research those SSGA funds here:

http://www.ssgafunds.com/

Don

[captainofiron]

Originally Posted by dhutton

Did you research those SSGA funds here:

http://www.ssgafunds.com/

Don

I tried, but I didnt find ours on there

Ours say: Class J, IX or VIII

[GregWeld]

This is the part that just kills me on this company funds... they obscure... and add fees... and all manor of stuff that just makes investing harder and harder for the uninformed.

I agree that matching (free) money is a good thing --- but if you kick in 6% and they kick in 3% -- but then hit you with 1% annual management fees etc... AND you don't get growth and or income... then you can be putting money into a black hole. Sometimes the "match" just isn't worth it when you do the math.

People forget that they can open up IRA's and ROTH IRA's etc outside of their work plan... and then control and or understand what their hard earned money is going in to. Frankly -- I'd rather MAKE 30% than I would get a 3% match. But then again - that is putting a burden on the investor and the average guy/gal just isn't up to the task.

[dhutton]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

People forget that they can open up IRA's and ROTH IRA's etc outside of their work plan... and then control and or understand what their hard earned money is going in to. Frankly -- I'd rather MAKE 30% than I would get a 3% match. But then again - that is putting a burden on the investor and the average guy/gal just isn't up to the task.

There are income limits beyond which you cannot contribute. For those people 401k plans are the only option as far as I understand it. Married couples quite often exceed those limits.

Don

[CornHusker4Life]

Originally Posted by dhutton

There are income limits beyond which you cannot contribute. For those people 401k plans are the only option as far as I understand it. Married couples quite often exceed those limits.

Don

Yep 181,000 adjusted gross income for married filing jointly for Roth IRAs.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by dhutton

There are income limits beyond which you cannot contribute. For those people 401k plans are the only option as far as I understand it. Married couples quite often exceed those limits.

Don

All true and I agree Don -- but that wasn't my point. The point is that people should at the very least - look into alternatives.

Personally --- I've NEVER been allowed to open these types of accounts due to their limits... I still looked into them.

[dhutton]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

All true and I agree Don -- but that wasn't my point. The point is that people should at the very least - look into alternatives.

Personally --- I've NEVER been allowed to open these types of accounts due to their limits... I still looked into them.

I fully agree. I research this stuff extensively in large part due to what I've learned from you in this thread. Thanks!

Don

[captainofiron]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

This is the part that just kills me on this company funds... they obscure... and add fees... and all manor of stuff that just makes investing harder and harder for the uninformed.

I agree that matching (free) money is a good thing --- but if you kick in 6% and they kick in 3% -- but then hit you with 1% annual management fees etc... AND you don't get growth and or income... then you can be putting money into a black hole. Sometimes the "match" just isn't worth it when you do the math.

People forget that they can open up IRA's and ROTH IRA's etc outside of their work plan... and then control and or understand what their hard earned money is going in to. Frankly -- I'd rather MAKE 30% than I would get a 3% match. But then again - that is putting a burden on the investor and the average guy/gal just isn't up to the task.

From what I understood in their 401k presentation is our company takes care of all the fees while I am with the company and if I leave then I am responsible for those fees from the point of my termination on.

My company matches 100% up to 4% and 50% above 4% to 6%

so its not bad, and I see what you mean about trying to make it seem like magic, by the way, the guy that does this is that fast talking used car salesman guy who wanted me to roll over my old 401k to my new companies 401k or an IRA with them

Anyways, I picked the funds that had the best returns over the past few years, had the top 10 companies that I knew, and the lowest fees.

So hopefully in the end I will come out with much more than matching percentage that the company gives

[GregWeld]

You do the best you can do with what you have to work with. Just looking into your holdings is more than most folks do.

Originally Posted by captainofiron

From what I understood in their 401k presentation is our company takes care of all the fees while I am with the company and if I leave then I am responsible for those fees from the point of my termination on.

My company matches 100% up to 4% and 50% above 4% to 6%

so its not bad, and I see what you mean about trying to make it seem like magic, by the way, the guy that does this is that fast talking used car salesman guy who wanted me to roll over my old 401k to my new companies 401k or an IRA with them

Anyways, I picked the funds that had the best returns over the past few years, had the top 10 companies that I knew, and the lowest fees.

So hopefully in the end I will come out with much more than matching percentage that the company gives