What’s your 401K doing?

[Newbie2012]

24 minutes ago, HuntHarder said:

The advice about not timing the market is spot on 99% of the time...   Events like COVID proved that there are still times when you can effectively time the market tho.  I put almost my entire 401k on the sideline for almost 6 months.  I was able to buy in "cheap" and reaped some pretty substantial gains.  I also actively manage my own 401k funds and shift them according to world events.  Right or wrong, I have done well thus far.  Shifting from Large cap to small cap or bonds, energies, out of tech, back into tech has worked for me.  I also tried to educate myself on how the stock markets reacts to certain events.  My personal accounts, I like to swing for the fences on individual stocks, with my 401k, I still to funds to stay diversified.  

That’s a good point. It takes discipline and unfortunately, most people put their retirement strategy on the sidelines. I talk with a few coworkers and some say they don’t even participate in the company retirement plan! Our company matches 5%. Free money and they’d rather not mess with it. It’s shocking!! Free money!

Where do you stack? I’m doing much better than what this article shows. 

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/010616/whats-average-401k-balance-age.asp

[HuntHarder]

I've maxed mine out for 7 years of participation, as well as a company match. (75% of first 6%). Those averages in that article seem low, but i bet they are spot on as an overall average.  Im about 7x average for my age group. I'm fairly new to investing, but it really interested me, so I tried hard to understand the giant scheme they call the stock market.  When the big fish let me make money, I try to.  Just a bottom feeder tho.

If everything goes my way, I'd love to be fully retired by 55 with medical benefits.  

90% of my 401k is roth as well. Company match and the remaining 10%, goes into traditional.  I dont envision a world of lower taxes in my future.  Taking advantage of every tax loophole and advantage is gonna be key in my opinion. 

[Crazymonkey]

I'm just throwing money in and don't want to see the swings in losses .It should come back up .I'm just glad to have the company's 50 percent match back

[Edge]

Me ol lady's 401 is down, down. It's managed by Fidelity, but I credit Brandon for our woes.  Not all stocks are down or flat.

 

 

[ShutYourLib]

20 minutes ago, HuntHarder said:

I've maxed mine out for 7 years of participation, as well as a company match. (75% of first 6%). Those averages in that article seem low, but i bet they are spot on as an overall average.  Im about 7x average for my age group. I'm fairly new to investing, but it really interested me, so I tried hard to understand the giant scheme they call the stock market.  When the big fish let me make money, I try to.  Just a bottom feeder tho.

If everything goes my way, I'd love to be fully retired by 55 with medical benefits.  

90% of my 401k is roth as well. Company match and the remains 10% goes into traditional.  I dont envision a world of lower taxes in my future.  Taking advantage of every tax loophole and advantage is gonna be key in my opinion. 

If you have maxed out your contributions, how do you have 90% of your account in Roth?  Or, did you mean you only max out the Roth contribution? 

[HuntHarder]

2 minutes ago, ShutYourLib said:

If you have maxed out your contributions, how do you have 90% of your account in Roth?  Or, did you mean you only max out the Roth contribution? 

Ellaborate

[HuntHarder]

401k max contributions is 20,500 for 2022.  I contribute that much with 90% of it going into roth 401k vs. 10% going traditional as well as company match goes into traditional.  

Roth ira and Roth 401k are completely different when it comes to contribution limits.  

[NMBPMAN]

Mine is 💩💩

[firstcoueswas80]

Stopping contributions because it's not performing well it's definitely one of the dumber pieces of advice offered on this site ever.

[twistzz]

What Stanley said, I dollar costed average my whole career and maxed the 401K every year with a 6% match for 35 years.  Now I'm fat dumb and happy    Keep investing you will get there eventually.   

[stanley]

44 minutes ago, HuntHarder said:

401k max contributions is 20,500 for 2022.  I contribute that much with 90% of it going into roth 401k vs. 10% going traditional as well as company match goes into traditional.  

Roth ira and Roth 401k are completely different when it comes to contribution limits.  

Ya, I'm confused too, in that I thought Roth was limited to 'post tax' dollars, which the $20,500 ($27,000 for us old-timers) does not apply.  IRS contribution limits apply to 'pre-tax' money.  Possibly one of those those back-door Roth transfer-thingys that they've been trying to shut down.  But I'm definitely NO tax advisor, nor would I purport that all 401K management firms are equal., so rock on!!  🤑👊

Edit:  10-4 on Roth 401K vs. Roth IRA being different.  Again, I'm no tax advisor. 

[HuntHarder]

28 minutes ago, stanley said:

Ya, I'm confused too, in that I thought Roth was limited to 'post tax' dollars, which the $20,500 ($27,000 for us old-timers) does not apply.  IRS contribution limits apply to 'pre-tax' money.  Possibly one of those those back-door Roth transfer-thingys that they've been trying to shut down.  But I'm definitely NO tax advisor, nor would I purport that all 401K management firms are equal., so rock on!!  🤑👊

Edit:  10-4 on Roth 401K vs. Roth IRA being different.  Again, I'm no tax advisor. 

Common misconception on roth 401k vs roth ira.  Imo, if employer offers roth 401k, it's a no Brainer.  Income limits prevent contributions to Roth ira, but not roth 401k.  

[ShutYourLib]

26 minutes ago, stanley said:

Ya, I'm confused too, in that I thought Roth was limited to 'post tax' dollars, which the $20,500 ($27,000 for us old-timers) does not apply.  IRS contribution limits apply to 'pre-tax' money.  Possibly one of those those back-door Roth transfer-thingys that they've been trying to shut down.  But I'm definitely NO tax advisor, nor would I purport that all 401K management firms are equal., so rock on!!  🤑👊

Edit:  10-4 on Roth 401K vs. Roth IRA being different.  Again, I'm no tax advisor. 

Exactly. I am curious if there is a way to contribute more to a Roth that I don’t know about.  Max contribution for 401k is $20,500 for 2022, but max allowable Roth contributions are capped at $6000 in 2022 if under the age of 50, and $7kmif over the age of 50.  I am curious if you are doing a back door Roth, and how that works if that’s what you are doing. If your brokerage account has a setting that allows you to allocate more than 6k to your Roth, you should probably talk to a tax advisor very soon as you could have repercussions for going over max roth limits.  

[stanley]

4 minutes ago, HuntHarder said:

Common misconception on roth 401k vs roth ira.  Imo, if employer offers roth 401k, it's a no Brainer.  Income limits prevent contributions to Roth ira, but not roth 401k.  

That is a freaking huge deal and awesome, given the Roth designation allows for tax free growth.  Gotta check that out with my plan admin to see if I have that option!  👍

[ShutYourLib]

6 minutes ago, stanley said:

That is a freaking huge deal and awesome, given the Roth designation allows for tax free growth.  Gotta check that out with my plan admin to see if I have that option!  👍

Agree. Need to look into this more.