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Current 401k balance and age?

28,762 Views | 190 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by Baby Billy
I Drink Your Milkshake
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AG
32, wife 33 (2 kids but wife works)

401(k)s and Roth IRAs are (at last check) just shy of $500k

no student debt and aggressive savings since starting jobs in early 20's
Phat32
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AG
31 and thought we were doing well. Lots of you are smoking us.
Jamarcus Russell
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Quote:

f you'd invested $1000 in the S&P on Jan 1 2009, that would be worth over $3200 today -- sounds like many of you have only been investing during this boom period.

That same $1000 invested on Jan 1 2000 was worth only $600 on Jan 1 2009, a similar time horizon to that noted above. Basically, the market in 2009 was in the exact same place it had been in 1997.
I always find the above strange. Try to find the one person the put $1000 into a 401k on specific date and never added again. If you are doing it correctly you are contributing every pay period through all ups in down. Over the last 20 years if you just kept plowing ahead into equities you dollar cost averaged through the Internet bubble bursting in early 2000's and the 2008 credit crisis. As Stagecoach mentioned if you stopped or slowed contributing during those times then your returns are lagging.
752bro4
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AG
Quote:

I always find the above strange. Try to find the one person the put $1000 into a 401k on specific date and never added again.
It's a hypothetical so that you can clearly demonstrate movements/gains/losses in the market. Nobody does that, but it's a way to level-set to make it easier to read and comprehend.

"If you put $1000 in the market on July 19, 2001, then $40 weekly through July 9, 2005, but then took a year off, and then XYZ...." Yeah, good luck following that.
Squirrel Master
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AG
Just turned 34. About $190K. Not sure what the wife has in hers. Maybe close to 100K?
LSB_2002
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AG
37 years old, wifey no worky

$400K in rollover IRA's
$50K in 401(k)

Unfortunately, my company match is less than stellar, but still up to 3% annually.
canagian
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AG
752bro4 said:

Quote:

I always find the above strange. Try to find the one person the put $1000 into a 401k on specific date and never added again.
It's a hypothetical so that you can clearly demonstrate movements/gains/losses in the market. Nobody does that, but it's a way to level-set to make it easier to read and comprehend.

"If you put $1000 in the market on July 19, 2001, then $40 weekly through July 9, 2005, but then took a year off, and then XYZ...." Yeah, good luck following that.
Correct, was meant only to make a point that the market DOES go down, sometimes significantly and for a prolonged period of time. I kept putting money away as the market declined, of course, but there WERE several years where my 401k balance at the end of the year was lower than it was at the beginning of the year despite ongoing contributions.
JSKolache
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AG
canagian said:

752bro4 said:

Quote:

I always find the above strange. Try to find the one person the put $1000 into a 401k on specific date and never added again.
It's a hypothetical so that you can clearly demonstrate movements/gains/losses in the market. Nobody does that, but it's a way to level-set to make it easier to read and comprehend.

"If you put $1000 in the market on July 19, 2001, then $40 weekly through July 9, 2005, but then took a year off, and then XYZ...." Yeah, good luck following that.
Correct, was meant only to make a point that the market DOES go down, sometimes significantly and for a prolonged period of time. I kept putting money away as the market declined, of course, but there WERE several years where my 401k balance at the end of the year was lower than it was at the beginning of the year despite ongoing contributions.
During a prolonged downturn, reallocate into a treasury, bond funds, whatever safe option your plan offers. Get back into stocks on/after the turnaround. 2008-2009 was when I truly learned the value of buying low. Bounced my 401 right back up in no time.
AggieFrog
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AG
Can't time the market. Just ride it down and keep buying.
26.2
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GE
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AG
JSKolache said:

canagian said:

752bro4 said:

Quote:

I always find the above strange. Try to find the one person the put $1000 into a 401k on specific date and never added again.
It's a hypothetical so that you can clearly demonstrate movements/gains/losses in the market. Nobody does that, but it's a way to level-set to make it easier to read and comprehend.

"If you put $1000 in the market on July 19, 2001, then $40 weekly through July 9, 2005, but then took a year off, and then XYZ...." Yeah, good luck following that.
Correct, was meant only to make a point that the market DOES go down, sometimes significantly and for a prolonged period of time. I kept putting money away as the market declined, of course, but there WERE several years where my 401k balance at the end of the year was lower than it was at the beginning of the year despite ongoing contributions.
During a prolonged downturn, reallocate into a treasury, bond funds, whatever safe option your plan offers. Get back into stocks on/after the turnaround. 2008-2009 was when I truly learned the value of buying low. Bounced my 401 right back up in no time.
During a prolonged downturn, as long as it isn't a permanent downturn, a aren't you actually getting the most for you money upon recovery? Seems like that would be the worst time to go for the safer investments
Phat32
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AG
Everyone seems to be forgetting the tax advantages here...
Ag13
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AG
JSKolache said:

canagian said:

752bro4 said:

Quote:

I always find the above strange. Try to find the one person the put $1000 into a 401k on specific date and never added again.
It's a hypothetical so that you can clearly demonstrate movements/gains/losses in the market. Nobody does that, but it's a way to level-set to make it easier to read and comprehend.

"If you put $1000 in the market on July 19, 2001, then $40 weekly through July 9, 2005, but then took a year off, and then XYZ...." Yeah, good luck following that.
Correct, was meant only to make a point that the market DOES go down, sometimes significantly and for a prolonged period of time. I kept putting money away as the market declined, of course, but there WERE several years where my 401k balance at the end of the year was lower than it was at the beginning of the year despite ongoing contributions.
During a prolonged downturn, reallocate into a treasury, bond funds, whatever safe option your plan offers. Get back into stocks on/after the turnaround. 2008-2009 was when I truly learned the value of buying low. Bounced my 401 right back up in no time.
Let me know during the next crash when the market is turning around!
Ogre09
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AG
So sell low during the downturn, hope it's before it hits bottom, and try to time buying back in when it turns around, hopefully below where you sold and hopefully after it quits falling??? Sounds like a good way to take a big hit.
Clavell
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AG
Have been buying at every down turn and every recovery for last 36 years. In other words I have never changed my every pay period purchases based on markets.
TamuKid
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AG
Ag13 said:

JSKolache said:

canagian said:

752bro4 said:

Quote:

I always find the above strange. Try to find the one person the put $1000 into a 401k on specific date and never added again.
It's a hypothetical so that you can clearly demonstrate movements/gains/losses in the market. Nobody does that, but it's a way to level-set to make it easier to read and comprehend.

"If you put $1000 in the market on July 19, 2001, then $40 weekly through July 9, 2005, but then took a year off, and then XYZ...." Yeah, good luck following that.
Correct, was meant only to make a point that the market DOES go down, sometimes significantly and for a prolonged period of time. I kept putting money away as the market declined, of course, but there WERE several years where my 401k balance at the end of the year was lower than it was at the beginning of the year despite ongoing contributions.
During a prolonged downturn, reallocate into a treasury, bond funds, whatever safe option your plan offers. Get back into stocks on/after the turnaround. 2008-2009 was when I truly learned the value of buying low. Bounced my 401 right back up in no time.
Let me know during the next crash when the market is turning around!
PM me too, please!
Baby Billy
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AG
JSKolache said:

canagian said:

752bro4 said:

Quote:

I always find the above strange. Try to find the one person the put $1000 into a 401k on specific date and never added again.
It's a hypothetical so that you can clearly demonstrate movements/gains/losses in the market. Nobody does that, but it's a way to level-set to make it easier to read and comprehend.

"If you put $1000 in the market on July 19, 2001, then $40 weekly through July 9, 2005, but then took a year off, and then XYZ...." Yeah, good luck following that.
Correct, was meant only to make a point that the market DOES go down, sometimes significantly and for a prolonged period of time. I kept putting money away as the market declined, of course, but there WERE several years where my 401k balance at the end of the year was lower than it was at the beginning of the year despite ongoing contributions.
During a prolonged downturn, reallocate into a treasury, bond funds, whatever safe option your plan offers. Get back into stocks on/after the turnaround. 2008-2009 was when I truly learned the value of buying low. Bounced my 401 right back up in no time.


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