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Apr 9, 2010View in Crawl 4
Well dude, it seems to me my parents and everyone's parents I knew who had money in their 401k and various investments pre-9/11 pretty much lost it all. so.. dang.
I participate in my company's 401(k) program AND I also participate in our employee stock purchase program. First, the 401(k) will match 4% up to 5% contribution by the employee, so I do the 5 to max out and get the matching 4. Second, if I buy my company stock through the employee program, I get the stock at a DISCOUNT. I can then sell the stock 1 year after purchase. So, I buy the stock at a discount and even if it stays at the same exact point, I still make money. Yes, if it goes down then I lose out, but that's why I also put money into a Roth IRA, index funds, social lending, and a savings account. Spread it out, and be smart about it, and its all good.
A little bit. I don't think stock trading is necessarily so risky - if you're thinking about retiring divert your portfolio towards dividend yielding stocks and try to make sure your dividends are enough to live on (or, at least, are enough to supplement your other sources of income so that you have enough to live on).If you have a dividend rich portfolio, you can ignore the stock's valuation. What do you care that your shares of Altria are down 24% from their 52-wk peak when all you really care about is the 6.7-8.7% dividend yield? Then again I'm assuming the company doesn't hit hard times and have to stop paying out the dividend, in which case...
"Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy And Greedy When Others Are Fearful." - Warren BuffettWhen the stock market is down, that's the time to buy. It sounds like you missed a golden opportunity. Does your employer do matching?
Hi Warren. Nice to you see you on digg.(Teasing - you're absolutely right. Sorta. Not acknowledging your losses until you sell the property is the exact bull s**t that the banks were trying to do, but the underlying principle, that the value is likely to come back if you are a little patient, is absolutely right - at least when it comes to stocks. Real estate... is more complicated. The time the house sits empty it's a sitting duck. The value is likely to deteriorate from various unfortunate effects.)
I'm laughing -- but remaining cautious. I work for a company that no one thought would make it, didn't take federal funds and isn't owned by the US government or an Italian company. The company stock part of my plan has grown leaps and bounds beyond the rest of my investments.But, like I said, I'm cautious. I'll move the money if we do something stupid like try to cover up deadly sudden acceleration problems.
Enron and Lehman brothers are extreme examples. You have better chances at getting hit by a bus and never collecting retirement than that happening to you /e. GM and Chrysler havent made a profit in years. What I'm saying is, if the attitude at your work is great, and you like what your company does, then there are not many better metrics for investment. For the average investor, people who pick companies they simply just like do better than people who do all sorts of analysis. accounting books can be cooked, and even so past performance is no indication of future. so you got inside knowledge, even if small, + matched funds which shield your investment at 8% of a portfolio. over diversification just means you'r retirement does what the market does, and the market dropped 50+% from the highs, so its not like it did them much good to begin with.Enron was pretty painful to people because they had almost all of their retirement in the companies stock, which is extremely risky. 100% is a lot, 8% though sizable, not so much.
zzzblazApr 10, 2010
Well dude, it seems to me my parents and everyone's parents I knew who had money in their 401k and various investments pre-9/11 pretty much lost it all. so.. dang.
hawaiianruleApr 10, 2010
Your 401k is invested in completely worthless meaningless paper.
zzzblazApr 10, 2010
You know more than me, I think you sound like a financial advisor.
oskizzleApr 10, 2010
I participate in my company's 401(k) program AND I also participate in our employee stock purchase program. First, the 401(k) will match 4% up to 5% contribution by the employee, so I do the 5 to max out and get the matching 4. Second, if I buy my company stock through the employee program, I get the stock at a DISCOUNT. I can then sell the stock 1 year after purchase. So, I buy the stock at a discount and even if it stays at the same exact point, I still make money. Yes, if it goes down then I lose out, but that's why I also put money into a Roth IRA, index funds, social lending, and a savings account. Spread it out, and be smart about it, and its all good.
amaoicanApr 10, 2010
A little bit. I don't think stock trading is necessarily so risky - if you're thinking about retiring divert your portfolio towards dividend yielding stocks and try to make sure your dividends are enough to live on (or, at least, are enough to supplement your other sources of income so that you have enough to live on).If you have a dividend rich portfolio, you can ignore the stock's valuation. What do you care that your shares of Altria are down 24% from their 52-wk peak when all you really care about is the 6.7-8.7% dividend yield? Then again I'm assuming the company doesn't hit hard times and have to stop paying out the dividend, in which case...
amaoicanApr 10, 2010
"Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy And Greedy When Others Are Fearful." - Warren BuffettWhen the stock market is down, that's the time to buy. It sounds like you missed a golden opportunity. Does your employer do matching?
amaoicanApr 10, 2010
Hi Warren. Nice to you see you on digg.(Teasing - you're absolutely right. Sorta. Not acknowledging your losses until you sell the property is the exact bull s**t that the banks were trying to do, but the underlying principle, that the value is likely to come back if you are a little patient, is absolutely right - at least when it comes to stocks. Real estate... is more complicated. The time the house sits empty it's a sitting duck. The value is likely to deteriorate from various unfortunate effects.)
zzzblazApr 10, 2010
I'm not there anymore. Anyhow, this was when they were greedy, that is all I'm sayin. I quit in like early 2002.
balthisarApr 10, 2010
I'm laughing -- but remaining cautious. I work for a company that no one thought would make it, didn't take federal funds and isn't owned by the US government or an Italian company. The company stock part of my plan has grown leaps and bounds beyond the rest of my investments.But, like I said, I'm cautious. I'll move the money if we do something stupid like try to cover up deadly sudden acceleration problems.
autokadApr 10, 2010
Enron and Lehman brothers are extreme examples. You have better chances at getting hit by a bus and never collecting retirement than that happening to you /e. GM and Chrysler havent made a profit in years. What I'm saying is, if the attitude at your work is great, and you like what your company does, then there are not many better metrics for investment. For the average investor, people who pick companies they simply just like do better than people who do all sorts of analysis. accounting books can be cooked, and even so past performance is no indication of future. so you got inside knowledge, even if small, + matched funds which shield your investment at 8% of a portfolio. over diversification just means you'r retirement does what the market does, and the market dropped 50+% from the highs, so its not like it did them much good to begin with.Enron was pretty painful to people because they had almost all of their retirement in the companies stock, which is extremely risky. 100% is a lot, 8% though sizable, not so much.