Reply to how much are you losing, per quarter, on your 401K?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Please talk to a good financial advisor. He/She can help you see your returns in light of (a) the overall market and (b) your investment timeline.

And try again to understand the market. It's not that difficult. For one thing, your statement probably reflects returns through September 30. October has been a really good month, so your account(s) are almost certainly higher now.
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Thanks for the encouragement. I think maybe I understated what I do know. Of course I know what the overall performance is, and not just the quarterly performance. The quarterly performance was just very distressing. My year-to-date losses are 15 percent. I started investing in 1996, but of course that was just a really small contribution - 5 percent at best of a teeny tiny salary, so I didn't have much money in there when the market was strong. I have looked at it again and again, and the overall performance is very, very bad, if you count the company match (which went away during the worst of the market but now returned at half power) it is just on the positive side of a wash. Maybe not enough to keep pace with inflation over that time period and yes, I think my money may have been better off in a sock (or a money market account). I DO keep telling myself yes, I'm in it for the long-haul, but I lost SOOOO much in 2008 / 2009. Then I lost way more since. Last year I actually saw a little climb, so I started feeling good about the long haul, but in the 15+ years I've been in the market, I've felt more pain than good times. And it makes me wonder about market volatility. What if I had several million in there and was planning to retire this year, and had a loss like I did in 2008  2009? (I lost 64 percent of my money that year!). I guess at that point you are in "safer" markets, but still, I know a ton of people who lost a heap that year and had to put off retirement. This is such a huge, huge worry for me. I just don't feel confident in my 401K and we've actually had several funds within it "shut down" for underperformance, and goddamn if that doesn't put a hole in your money. And when I say I don't understand the market, I mean that I don't know anything about moving my own money around. Sorry about all of the profanity. I don't think I'm a stupid person, so it is frustrating that I can't be better with investments. I've read books, articles, etc. I feel like I understand macro economics, but the economics of my own 401K is distressing me.

This was a cover story in Time magazine in 2009, and it articulates better than I can why I am not confident that my 401K is doing much for me. Many of the stories in the book are so relatable. They could easily play out for my family. I want to do the right thing, but it is hard to sock that money away when the sacrifice is NOT looking like it's paying off.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1929233,00.html

Please, those of you who have been talking back and forth with me, if you have time, read the article and tell me what you think. If you look to the left, there's a link to a story "why you should not give up on your 401K yet" as well, which I also read. Would love from people who are more sophisticated investors.

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