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A couple defensive positions to take for a 401k

1) Borrow money from your 401k and pay off debt. This is a twofer option as the debt that you would have paided to others now gets paid to yourself in the form of a 401k loan repayment. Some people even leverage this further by paying down the mortgage, then because their loan to value is better, can then refi their house at a better rate or shorter term. My neighbor did this. By taking out ~30,000 from his 401k, and then applied this to his house. This allowed him to drop below 80% of the current market value of his home. This lowered his mortgage insurance rate AND his now improved credit score allowed him to refi at about 3.25%. This lowered his monthly payment by about $250. He is putting that $250 into silver each month. He is kind of a prepper.

2) Move your money out of stocks and into bond or precious metals if your 401K allows it.

3) If your 401K has limited options, move to bond based or REIT based mutual funds. This is the option I have exercised for the amount of the 401k that remains. For me, that is less than $20,000. My year to date return has been an average of about 13%. Some of my investments are in company stock fund as per the 401k plan.

4) Move into foreign based mutual funds. Gas and Oil companies look to be a safe bet for the next 3 to 6 months.

5) Cash ... I have heard others say that their 401k has a cash or currency option. Better to hold it than lose it’s value.