everything in super safe bonds until it bottoms out and starts to recover
Switched to an IRA Roth.
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What Is Your Household's Combined Annual Gross Income?
- Thread starter min0 lee
- Start date
Switched to an IRA Roth.
So you mean I'm doing something right for once?
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I'm shoving every penny I can into my 401K and telling my fund manager to buy, buy, buy. I'm not retiring for another 20 years, I'm betting the market will have recovered by then.
401k plans are almost revered as much as apple pie and baseball. But there is an insidious evil lurking behind them. So Iâ??????m being quite bold by going against the conventional wisdom and pointing out the dark underbelly of the 401k.
The problem I have with 401k plans is that they are investing on autopilot. Almost everyone with a job contributes to them, but they have absolutely no idea what they are doing.
This is probably 85% of the people out there, either by not understanding it or just being plain lazy.
At every company Iâ??????ve worked at, it has always been the same story. The employee is presented with a big smorgasbord of mutual funds.
First time I saw it I was overwhelmed...still am.
One of them is a conservative money market fund that invests in safe short term government securities.
I went 50% conservative and 50% aggressive ...not anymore.
Almost all the other funds are equity funds (that would be stock market funds, for those unfamiliar with the word â?????equityâ???).
The wisdom from Wall Street is that the mutual fund is much safer than investing on your own. But I have some strong doubts about that. All you have to do is look at the huge losses taken by high flying funds when the NASDAQ crashed in 2000. It was the running joke at the time that 401ks had turned into 101ks. Ha ha. Meanwhile my supposedly risky investments in small cap stocks have paid off handsomely and Iâ??????ve had positive returns every year during the big bear market. So whose investments were more risky?
When it comes down to it, the typical 401k investor has no idea how to select a mutual fund to invest in. He is completely and utterly clueless. Faced with a bewildering array of funds, he often follows one of the following strategies: (1) invest a little bit into each fund; (2) invest in the fund with the biggest returns; (3) invest in a couple of funds with the biggest returns (a combination strategy).
All of the strategies above have the effect of encouraging the 401k investor to pursue a risky investing strategy. With the first option, the most conservative, the 401k investor still winds up mostly investing in stocks, because the typical 401k plan offers one safe money market fund, and then a whole bunch of stock funds, so the invest evenly strategy results in most of the money being invested in the stock market.
The second and third strategies are far worse, because the 401k investor puts his money into the sector with the most momentum that is probably the most overpriced. And thus it becomes even more overpriced. But investments donâ??????t go up forever. The NASDAQ finally reached a point where it could go no higher, and then it crashed.
My opinion is that people who donâ??????t know how to select individual stocks are equally unqualified to select mutual funds. But thatâ??????s not what the mutual fund industry wants people to know. (And we know what a bunch of crooks they are, given the recent news stories.)
The problem I have with 401k plans is that they are investing on autopilot. Almost everyone with a job contributes to them, but they have absolutely no idea what they are doing.
This is probably 85% of the people out there, either by not understanding it or just being plain lazy.
At every company Iâ??????ve worked at, it has always been the same story. The employee is presented with a big smorgasbord of mutual funds.
First time I saw it I was overwhelmed...still am.
One of them is a conservative money market fund that invests in safe short term government securities.
I went 50% conservative and 50% aggressive ...not anymore.
Almost all the other funds are equity funds (that would be stock market funds, for those unfamiliar with the word â?????equityâ???).
The wisdom from Wall Street is that the mutual fund is much safer than investing on your own. But I have some strong doubts about that. All you have to do is look at the huge losses taken by high flying funds when the NASDAQ crashed in 2000. It was the running joke at the time that 401ks had turned into 101ks. Ha ha. Meanwhile my supposedly risky investments in small cap stocks have paid off handsomely and Iâ??????ve had positive returns every year during the big bear market. So whose investments were more risky?
When it comes down to it, the typical 401k investor has no idea how to select a mutual fund to invest in. He is completely and utterly clueless. Faced with a bewildering array of funds, he often follows one of the following strategies: (1) invest a little bit into each fund; (2) invest in the fund with the biggest returns; (3) invest in a couple of funds with the biggest returns (a combination strategy).
All of the strategies above have the effect of encouraging the 401k investor to pursue a risky investing strategy. With the first option, the most conservative, the 401k investor still winds up mostly investing in stocks, because the typical 401k plan offers one safe money market fund, and then a whole bunch of stock funds, so the invest evenly strategy results in most of the money being invested in the stock market.
The second and third strategies are far worse, because the 401k investor puts his money into the sector with the most momentum that is probably the most overpriced. And thus it becomes even more overpriced. But investments donâ??????t go up forever. The NASDAQ finally reached a point where it could go no higher, and then it crashed.
My opinion is that people who donâ??????t know how to select individual stocks are equally unqualified to select mutual funds. But thatâ??????s not what the mutual fund industry wants people to know. (And we know what a bunch of crooks they are, given the recent news stories.)
Be careful buddy, make sure he's good at what he's doing and not just coasting and taking your money.
I don't know you guy's, so telling you how much I earn is really no problem.
If we were face to face then maybe I would change the subject.
My wife, well, lets just say she makes more than I do. Being she is in fashion her income fluctuates from month to month.
If we were face to face then maybe I would change the subject.
My wife, well, lets just say she makes more than I do. Being she is in fashion her income fluctuates from month to month.
If it were in person it would depend on who I tell, if it's a well to do person or an old friend I inflate it, if it's a relative or a person who always likes to borrow I deflate the amount.
My girlfriend makes nearly twice what I make, which is fine with me. We own our home, own 2 BMW's and have solar H2O and a PV system which will start making money for us in 4 years or less depending on how oil fares over the next couple years....Not to mention I'm in the alternative energy industry which just got a huge boost with the federal Incentive Tax Credit for resid. and comm. solar installs hopefully my pay increases with the boom in business because I've barely gotten a pay raise over the last few years though our business nearly doubles each year....
so which are we? did you inflate or deflate?
The wife and I combine for around 110k this year. That's down about 20% from last year though! 
I'm taking a huge hit with this economy but we'll survive. I used to think I was in a recession proof business. That's being proved wrong...
I'm taking a huge hit with this economy but we'll survive. I used to think I was in a recession proof business. That's being proved wrong...
Huh?
I usually am honest but not with this...I'm always honest.
The wife and I combine for around 110k this year. That's down about 20% from last year though!
I'm taking a huge hit with this economy but we'll survive. I used to think I was in a recession proof business. That's being proved wrong...
Some places get you in other ways....less overtime, no bonuses..
Sure.
you told us a number and then said you inflate or deflate the real number depending on the person or situation. so i logically asked did you inflate or deflate the number for us?
awesome! how's your photoshop coming along?
Not here, we are not worried about anyone of here asking us for money....well except for KEFE asking for donations to his bodybuilding career.
I took some time off away from it, I tend to do that with most of my hobbies.
I'll get back into it again.
I only make 8$ an hour now. I used to make around 25$ an hour at my old job
Damn, sorry to hear that. What happened if you mind me asking.
Don't take money out of your 401K, and definitely put in the minimum to get whatever match your company offers (if any). Not doing so is like throwing money away. You can always do what I did and invest your 401k in a variety of bonds for the next few months while the marketing drops like a rock.
You drank 24 packs of coors and then would up in a Jailhouse for the DUI?
wow almost summed up the whole story lol.
I See..........I really do.
Are we talking base salary or like with bonuses and overtime salary?
(as if I knew what the 2nd figure would be)
(as if I knew what the 2nd figure would be)
Everything, some jobs work this way.
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You shouldn't give a rat's ass if your income offends people. Never apologize or feel bad because someone else is below you. Nor should you feel bad if someone is above you. You should only feel bad if you're not doing well by your own standards.
I made a bit over $70,000 last year, but this year I'm not going to make shit. I was unemployed for most of the year. I'll probably only clear $30,000.
But I also started trading options this year (while I was unemployed). My goal is to increase my account by 10% each and every month, compounded. Which'll be an annual growth of 183%. If I can even hit 50% of that goal, I'll get my Series 7 and start a hedge fund.
So far, I hit my goal for the first month (September) + 2% (12% total).
I'm also starting a web design company.
This next year will likely be between $75,000 - $100,000, not counting option trading. If I hit my trading goal, the following year will be a banner year...to put it mildly.
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Here, or in person, I'd have no problem talking about my income.
I'm an open book.
I have the belief that when people refuse to talk about the details of their life, that they're doing it because of a lack of self-esteem. They'll claim it violates security or simply state that "It's private", but it almost always comes down to self-esteem. Granted, there are details that should be kept, such a PIN number, but those such are items are few and far between.
I think that, deep down, people believe that when they reveal some facet of their life, that the person they're talking to will judge them or have an advantage over them.
Take this subject for example. Why not tell someone how much you make in person? Does it breach some sort of security? Is it something that can be used against you at that moment? Of course not. What it does do is open you, as a person, to being judged by another. Most people wouldn't voluntarily walk into such a situation.
Even if you're doing well, the fear of being judged is there. Take Doublebase; he's afraid that someone will found out how much above the average that he and his wife make and is worried that someone will judge him poorly for it.
It's funny that the person who would judge him poorly is quite likely doing it because they feel that his success reflect poorly on themselves (self-judging).
This applies to any part of a person's life. How many people have you slept with? Whore! Virgin! minO!
I'm an open book because my self-esteem is solid.
Well then, maybe i'm in the 21inch pump zone..
But, I know people that do better than me on much less
I'm a good earner, not a good manager.
I need to marry a financial advisor
