...about your retirement...the 401K...the SEP-IRA...etc...? With the way that the stock market is crumbling, I am thinking I may have to delay my retirement by 5 years.
Of course I'm worried. I'm a college graduate who barely makes sh-t to begin with, and what little retirement I've saved/am saving up ... well, let's just say I'm expecting the worst. I'm not panicking, but I'm certainly concerned. Concerned for my parents, too.
I took all my money out of the market the time when the market jumped to 11.5k. I am up 10% for the year. I am just waiting for the right sign to jump back in. I might do it today or tomorrow.
Nah, we'll have social security to take care of us.. I'm down 15% for the year in my retirement.. YAY!!!!
Not worried at all. I’m leaving all my retirement money in mutual funds. I’m not going to use it for another 30 years or so, so why should I worry about what’s happening now? The sky is not falling.
We switched companies this year and one of the smartest things I did was to do nothing and leave my money in the low risk bonds it automatically put it in... capital preservation I say...
People under 40 shouldn't be all that worried. Look at it as a time to buy up underpriced stuff in the next 18 months or however long this lasts. People close to retirement? It'll hurt bad.
Not worried. I'm 47. I've still got 13+ years until it's time to retire. Just wish I would have gone to all cash a little sooner.
Personally since I was silly enough to not contribute to a 401k and I have no investments the only thing I am worried about is the value of my house and becoming unemployed. I have heard that the only people who have to worry are the ones with over 50k invested in IRAs or 401ks. That doesn't mean it's right, just means that's what I have heard
You have to be concerned about the short term losses that are you sure to pile up. Long term I have moderate faith in the American economy to right itself, although it's clear we have been in an artificial bubble of growth. Markets will recover, and people will have money again, but don't expect recovery to shoot back up today's levels for quite some time. A lot of people will still lose their homes. That affects my wife and me. We wanted to put our house up on the market this year to get a place more appropriate for a small child. We've got a fixed loan, so we're not worried about that. However, it will probably be summer 2010 or beyond before we actually put it on the market. A lot of people are going to be in this position. Why sell your home when you'll take a beating for it? At least we're fortunate enough to be able to afford it. My 401(k) has consistently been losing money, although I managed my funds to be in less risky funds and recently switched to guaranteed income funds. GIC's have a low return values, but better a small positive than a large negative return. The company I work for manages 401(k)'s and other retirement plans (from compliance, IRS, and government regulations; we don't deal on the investment side of things). We get some of our money directly through the clients, but we also get percentages of total client assets with various vendors (John Hancock, ING, Hartford, etc.). Market values are crashing right now and people are pulling money out of their retirement plans. That means less revenue for my company, although it is offset some by the fees we charge for loans and distributions. I am concerned how current economic conditions will affect the future of our business.
Anybody under the age of 50 really shouldn't be worried at this point. In the long term, there is no way the American economy is going to feel ramifications that would cause someone who has 10+ years of working ahead of them any real problems. In fact, for those of us who are under the age of 30 (especially if you are single, or without children, therefore able to take more risks), this could be viewed as the perfect opportunity to really acquire some long-term stocks that were otherwise out of your price range. You might feel the pinch in the short-term, but things will shake themselves out eventually.
I know how you feel. I graduated in May, and I just found a job last week. It's a government job, so I'll be making bupkis. My gross salary pre-law school was higher, not even counting my loan payments. It's going to be tight for me for a couple of years. Could be worse. I've heard people in my class who got big firm jobs bought luxury cars using their offer letters, BEFORE the bar. If it keeps getting worse, a lot of those people's six figure jobs are going to be at risk.
You've got 40 years before you retire. What exactly are you concerned about? Hell, if you just graduated from college and are already contributing to your retirement, you are already WAY ahead of the game. Sometimes I wonder if all these cable news channels telling everyone the sky is falling are part of the problem.
This is real concern we should all have. When companies can't borrow money, they must cut expenses. In the short term the easiest thing for a company (in Texas) to cut is Labor. This is just the tip of the iceberg
I've been out of the market since March. I did well early this year, and bailed. I'm excited about the prospect of getting some bargains in the next couple of months.
