I've been working on another blog with my friends, investors and traders (I'll post a link here when the blog is out), and did not have any plans for my own blog, especially on retirement. Not that I don't care about retirement, but I did not think my 401K might be a subject of a blog.
It all started with an e-mail that I sent out to about 15 people with an idea to exchange thoughts on managing retirement (mostly 401K) accounts in 2010. Here is what I wrote back on January 8 of 2010:
2008 was a year to be in cash. 2009 was a year to be fully invested in stocks and bonds. I suspect the next two-three years might be very bumpy.
If you have any idea in regards to how to allocate the money for 2010 or find any relevant information about the funds, please, share.
I learned over time that most people are not actually interested in managing their 401K (or other types of retirement) accounts. Another thing I learned was that most of those who are interested and manage their accounts believe that spreading money more or less evenly across the mutual funds and adjusting allocation towards bonds as we are aging is all that is needed. The mutual funds "will take of themselves" is a prevalent attitude.
I thought, being engineers, we should be able to find some kind of an orderly approach to the job. I did understand that I probably would not find one that I'd be 100% happy with, but at least I'd research what was available out there. The purpose of this blog was to share my findings and my experience with 401K. Most of what I am going to talk about here is also applicable to other retirement plans like 403 457 and any IRA accounts for the matter.
Below is a link to one of many articles on the subject: 7 401(k) Mistakes You’re Probably Making - Planning to Retire (usnews.com)
It all started with an e-mail that I sent out to about 15 people with an idea to exchange thoughts on managing retirement (mostly 401K) accounts in 2010. Here is what I wrote back on January 8 of 2010:
2008 was a year to be in cash. 2009 was a year to be fully invested in stocks and bonds. I suspect the next two-three years might be very bumpy.
If you have any idea in regards to how to allocate the money for 2010 or find any relevant information about the funds, please, share.
I learned over time that most people are not actually interested in managing their 401K (or other types of retirement) accounts. Another thing I learned was that most of those who are interested and manage their accounts believe that spreading money more or less evenly across the mutual funds and adjusting allocation towards bonds as we are aging is all that is needed. The mutual funds "will take of themselves" is a prevalent attitude.
I thought, being engineers, we should be able to find some kind of an orderly approach to the job. I did understand that I probably would not find one that I'd be 100% happy with, but at least I'd research what was available out there. The purpose of this blog was to share my findings and my experience with 401K. Most of what I am going to talk about here is also applicable to other retirement plans like 403 457 and any IRA accounts for the matter.
Below is a link to one of many articles on the subject: 7 401(k) Mistakes You’re Probably Making - Planning to Retire (usnews.com)
