401k and the Dow hitting 20

[Anonymous]

Damn. Some of you get insane matches!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am very financially naive so please don't flame me for asking this question.
Hearing about the Dow hitting 20 makes me wonder about the following:
In 2007 DH and I had 400k in a 401k. We withdrew it all and used it to make a bad investment. We have not built it back up and yes we had to pay huge taxes on the early withdrawal.
My question is had we not done that and continued to contribute (about 50k per year) what would we have now and what would it be worth? I guess just a masochist for wanting to know as I regret this decision but there is nothing we can do about it now.
Just wondering if any financial people out there could make a calculation??

In 2007, the DJIA was around 14,000.

It is currently around 20,000

You can do a simple algebraic ratio to roughly calculate what the principal would be today.

14,000/400,000 = 20,000/x

That comes out to about $571,000, if you just kept the principal and did not add any more money.

If you had not withdrawn it, and continued to invest $50k per year, at 8.65% (the average rate of return between 2007 and 2016) you would now have: $1,541,044.18

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am very financially naive so please don't flame me for asking this question.
Hearing about the Dow hitting 20 makes me wonder about the following:
In 2007 DH and I had 400k in a 401k. We withdrew it all and used it to make a bad investment. We have not built it back up and yes we had to pay huge taxes on the early withdrawal.
My question is had we not done that and continued to contribute (about 50k per year) what would we have now and what would it be worth? I guess just a masochist for wanting to know as I regret this decision but there is nothing we can do about it now.
Just wondering if any financial people out there could make a calculation??

In 2007, the DJIA was around 14,000.

It is currently around 20,000

You can do a simple algebraic ratio to roughly calculate what the principal would be today.

14,000/400,000 = 20,000/x

That comes out to about $571,000, if you just kept the principal and did not add any more money.

If you had not withdrawn it, and continued to invest $50k per year, at 8.65% (the average rate of return between 2007 and 2016) you would now have: $1,541,044.18

wouldnt $450k of that b their contributions whih they still receive sans match ovr last 9 years? they spenti guess

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I found an online calculator that assumes 6% and it said about 1.8. Wow.

That sounds about right.

Sorry op. Live and learn.