I admit, I don't know a whole lot about the markets do's and don'ts and would like to hear from the forums more savey on this subject. I am one of those people who let Vanguard do the investing for me through my employer.

Any advice as to switching things around or things to keep a close eye on?

Any help would be appreciated. I have taken a beating like many have already mentioned here on the forum but would like to limit my beatings if possible.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

 

ADDITION NOTE: I am talking about moving funds WITHIN the 401k

My opinion:

When working with an employer-matched 401k, there are certain very strict limitations on the amount of times you can move funds within a given time period.

I believe most 401ks have a limit set that funds being moved OUT of a given fund cannot be moved INTO the same fund within the same month or quarter. You have to read the exact rules. This is done to discourage speculation with retirement annuities.

Just remember that if you feel like either cashing in or out of the market at any time, and you cash into a volatile, high-risk fund, you will not be able to move the funds back into the fund you moved the funds out of - hence you should make sure that your choice of funds includes multiple low-risk, stable annuities that you can move your funds into should you make a mistake.

 

Soronoros, Made some good points, read what you can and cannot do as far as moving things around. The beatings have been far reaching, all sectors have been given a shave,
so to say. If you move to the safety of cash now, you lock in the beating you took. One can only hope that there is little downside left. The pros are pros for a reason, the good ones know how to read many signs in the market place, unfortunately after bear stearns collapsed, few people understood how big of a deal it was.
School yourself, there are a lot of sites on the internet, that explain how investing is supposed to work.
Good luck!

 

Steve, at the most, you may want to rebalance your Vanguard account. Do not panic sell and/or get out of your 401k. If you do, you'll probably pay about 50% in taxes. If you can get DFW radio station 820am, Ric Edelman has a very good financial talk show on Sundays from 11am-1. Or, you can check out is website at www.ricedelman.com and search his books on Amazon. The Lies About Money is a good read. I think he's about to release another book soon.

From what Ric said this morning, this is probably the best time to buy stocks we'll see in our lifetime. Think of it this way, the money going into your 401k plan is buying stock at a good price.

Remember, the beating is only on paper. The Dow was at an all time high just a year ago.

 

Thanks guys for all the advice. I can kick myself due to having so much in short term reserves and not going by the model they suggest for my age. I realize it is just a guide but I have been more aggressive and do not have the balance between bonds compared to stocks so maybe I would not have lost as much.

I will look into everyone's suggestions.

Steve