[Region Warrior]

Mines been better then expected.
What do you think is a fair to good % return on investment?
Don't need to know what yours is, just trying to gauge mine to see if it needs tweaked.

Thanks.

[77 TRASHCAN]

Have a 401K, and an IRA, both been doing WAY better the past 2 years. Still enough $$$ to get thrilled about, Praying the bottom doesn't fall any time around my 59th birthday (3-1/2 years away).

A friend quit putting $$ into his 401K after the 2008 downturn. I've been told that's not a good, idea. Been told you need to have faith, leave it alone.....

[paint guy]

77: Hate to say it, but your friend stopped putting money in at exactly the wrong time. After a downturn that's when you should increase (if possible) what you are putting in. I say if possible because the gov't limits how much you can add every year. Never could figure that one out, I thought they would want us to be self-sufficient.
Region Warrior: not sure what time period you are referring to, but in 2013 a return of 25% or so would have been about right. This YTD, I would expect another 5-10% or so, depending on your risk tolerance.

[Singleton]

My year-to-date rate of return is exactly 6.0%. Not near as good as last year.

You're right Paint Guy, putting $ into a 401k during a downtime is a good idea. Buy the shares while the price is low and reap the benefits when they inevitably again rise

[Jim Doran]

2013 YTD rate of return 13.9%
2014 YTD 8.1%

Using a blended fund with a target retire date of 2025;

I believe your rate of return is also going to be affected by your own employee contributions, so not all of it is change in market value, some was just you adding more to your account.

[ho428]

I had an investment banker tell me back in the early 1980's that if you can average 7% over your lifetime of investing you've done darn good.
With all the ups and downs I've seen since then I think he was spot on. Getting some good returns now, won't last but like that last few downturns it always bounces back over time.
The one thing I hate is not being able to get safe simple interest, to get any decent return requires risk, used to be able to get decent safe simple interest returns.

[Ben M.]

3%. And my broker told me I should be counting my blessings it's been that good.

[ponchjoe]

Originally Posted by Ben M.

3%. And my broker told me I should be counting my blessings it's been that good.

You may want to try another broker unless you are invested in 100% stable funds then 3% is good.

[mechanickeith]

Dont have one, no IRA, no pension,,, nothing. No bank account, no checking, no savings, no credit or debit cards either! After the divorce, working on paying off 60K worth of debt

[Chris65LeMans]

I'm a real estate, rather than stock, guy myself. I have some money in the market, but don't track yearly returns, etc. I did buy some Disney today - that company is a cash machine.

Best stock trade I ever did was selling some stuff last year to buy my LeMans.

[Tim john]

...

[poncho-mike]

I've already sold about half of my retirement savings that was in stocks and mutual funds and gone to cash. I'm getting ready to move the rest soon, maybe today.

I don't like the look of the market. The rise in stock prices has not been backed up by a corresponding move in earnings, getting the P/E ratio out of whack. The political situation in the world is getting pretty crazy.

Some nasty statistics: The Cyclically Adjusted P/E (CAPE) ratio was one of the highest in the world last year. In general, the CAPE ratio reverts to it's mean over time.
When the CAPE ratio gets extremely high, several years of sub-par earnings usually follow. In late July, the CAPE was in the 93rd percentile based on historical data and the markets have risen further since then . The 2007 peak occurred at the 95th percentile. The 1929 crash represents the 100th percentile.

History doesn't always repeat itself, but it often rhymes. I've put about 10% of my savings into gold miners earlier this year.

[77 TRASHCAN]

Originally Posted by paint guy

77: Hate to say it, but your friend stopped putting money in at exactly the wrong time. After a downturn that's when you should increase (if possible) what you are putting in. I say if possible because the gov't limits how much you can add every year. Never could figure that one out, I thought they would want us to be self-sufficient.
Region Warrior: not sure what time period you are referring to, but in 2013 a return of 25% or so would have been about right. This YTD, I would expect another 5-10% or so, depending on your risk tolerance.

Yeah, I agree his decision was wrong. He's a very smart money person, but has made some financial moves through his life that have me wondering. Like variable rate mortgage. He had one one those in the 80's, not good...He's one of those folks that's TOO tight w/ a buck.
My 401 took a big hit in 2008 also, but came right back...
It's a difficult thong to tell a good friend that they are doing something stupid...especially w/ money.

[Old Blue 66]

Its my belief that you should have someone look at the investments in your 401K annually. I do. Rate of return should be a consistent 9-10%. Thats what ours is. My wifes is bigger because shes been with the same company for 15 years and their match is strong.

[Jim Doran]

When one includes the match and contributions in the rate of return, the size of the account ( value ) then comes into play. If you have $1M then the match / contribution is less impact, vs if you have $100k.

Contributions are limited to $17.5K if < 50 years old and $22k if >= 50 years old.

Match doesn't usually vary with years of service. Don't understand the 15 years aspect.

[ken73]

I got 5% last year but I am in a consertive plan as my employer has a high match. Plus at 54 years old dont wan too be too risky

[geeteeohguy]

6-10% in my T-Rowe mutual funds, and 4-5% in my work-offered, non-match 401k. The only advantage of the work 401 is that it is lowering my tax bracket. Much better to do your own homework and invest more wisely. My work 401 is politically driven, and has gotten out of sound investing due to political correctness, which is a mistake (they dumped Smith & Wesson after a school shooting) .I always invest in what is needed by consumers, not what is hot at the moment. I have some oil stocks and mecical stocks that have done very well, also. I sure miss the days when I could keep a ton of money in a regular bank account and make 5%!!!

[rohrt]

I just watched something on PBS on a predicted market correction coming soon.

On a side subject PBS had a long story on Active vs Index funds. The amount of money being lost to the fees is astounding. After watching that I really started to pay attention to the fees that my active funds are charging and started moving my allocations to index funds.

[NeighborsComplaint]

Originally Posted by poncho-mike

I've already sold about half of my retirement savings that was in stocks and mutual funds and gone to cash. I'm getting ready to move the rest soon, maybe today.

I don't like the look of the market. The rise in stock prices has not been backed up by a corresponding move in earnings, getting the P/E ratio out of whack. The political situation in the world is getting pretty crazy.

Some nasty statistics: The Cyclically Adjusted P/E (CAPE) ratio was one of the highest in the world last year. In general, the CAPE ratio reverts to it's mean over time.
When the CAPE ratio gets extremely high, several years of sub-par earnings usually follow. In late July, the CAPE was in the 93rd percentile based on historical data and the markets have risen further since then . The 2007 peak occurred at the 95th percentile. The 1929 crash represents the 100th percentile.

History doesn't always repeat itself, but it often rhymes. I've put about 10% of my savings into gold miners earlier this year.

You and I are on the same page. I am not afraid to get out and go to cash and sit on the sidelines.

Just before the internet bubble burst, I realigned my IRA into small cap value mutual funds. Something just told me intellectual property is only worth so much and smaller investors will realize the internet startups were over-valued cash suckers and look for new places to invest. The small cap funds took off at a 20%+ return clip as a result of investors bailing out on the internet bubble and I did great.

When the market is screaming, everyone is an investment genius. I learned my lesson on financial advise during the crash. Funny how when the market is bad, the "experts" couldn't recommend a safe investment with a reasonable return other than tying your money up for 2+ years in a crappy CD with interest earnings you blow buying lunch.

When I suggested I would just go to cash and sit it out a while, they all said "Oh no, bad move. When the market turns you will be left behind." I thought, better to be a step behind than risk it all. Things are different, these are permanent adjustments coming down the pike, not temporary setbacks to be waited out.

I went to cash before the crash when my gut told me things were about to get ugly. Having dabbled in real estate (buying, rehabbing and flipping cheap foreclosed properties) you could see the entire housing and mortgage industry was a house of cards.

I went back into mutual funds after a sustained period of stock market gains and may have missed the toe of the spike but a well diversified Mutual Fund is slower to react to market swings anyway. I didn't miss much and am way ahead of where I was before the sub-prime mortgage debacle by practicing a loss mitigating strategy.

If I were in common stocks, I might have a different opinion, but again the mutual funds move slower with less risk and require less maintenance. The gains are not as high but neither is the risk for loss.

[Simple Man]

9.3% give or take last year on my Roth.