I'm 37. I don't have too much saved yet but I'll currently putting about 10,000 into my 401K annually plus matching. I've got a basic 401K with basic options ranging from very conservative to very aggressive...The standard options...S&P 500, International Stock, American Growth Funds, etc...(I won't pretend to know what all these mean past "Aggresive, Moderate and Conservative").
So, where should my money be (I'm pretty much 100% Aggressive now)? I'll be in the market for another 20-25 years and hopefully contributing this much until at least I have have to pay for college or something (20 years away).
Thanks in advance for any basic or detailed information past what I can read in my 401K booklet...In other words, don't be afraid to give specific information...I won't hold it against you! ;)
People make so many mistakes in thier 401(k)s because they are people and if you get a large group of people together most will be morons.
Employees that invested thier entire 401s in Wall-MArt for twenty years are now multi millionaires. IS that strategy risky? Of course it is! Yet risk equals high gains, it also equals financial destruction.
I do not like people to lose thier retirement portfolios but I like it even less when the government tries to dictate how much I should put into an equity. I know the article did not say this but Senator Kennedy and Senator Feinstein did, and even tried to introduce legislation to mandate employees portfolios.
In other words, when things are great, everyone makes money and all is well. When things tank, it is not the fault of the poor little guy.
To address another poster, gold funds do well when things suck. People feel confident in gold funds when things are bad so large numbers put thier money in gold funds. Royal Gold Inc. is a good stock to buy. It is not a fund but it brokers trades in gold and it does well when gold does well. The trading symbol is RGLD.
Johhny Shear, if you are aggressive, I would recommend investing in the Third Millenium Russia fund. I am heavily investing in Russia right now and believe it or not, the Russian Economy will blow up in the next few years. The symbol for this one is TMRFX. Feel free to check it out. I read analysts but do not follow them blindly but this is rated five stars by MOrningstar.
Do not invest all of your assets into this fund but do invest as much as you can while keeping a safety margin. Its up 43% this year. I am happy with it! :D
I would give you specific equities to invest in but for a retirement plan it is a good idea to keep it as safe as possible and use funds.
The time for Bonds and Bond funds was late 1999-2000. They are still making money but if I owned them, I would watch them carefully as thier time is almost up.
If you all do not know about the reforms in the Russian economy, then you have not been paying attention... I would suggest reading Capitalism Magazine. BTW, they called Enron a stinker for quite some time and anyone that followed the Enron debacle would realize how easily avoided it could have been if you were a shareholder.
As a basic rule of thumb, if a company can not tell the public HOW it makes its money, you should watch it VERY carefully.
I will even suggest a book for beginning investors to read. It is somewhat old but the info is still pertinent. The book is "One up on Wall Street," by Peter Lynch. God, I love that guy!
Good luck and remember that a "recession" is just a time to find good buys! :D