Seeking 401k Advice (1 Viewer)

Dougd

Guest
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Messages
1,998
Reaction score
37
Age
43
Location
kenner to dc
Offline
I know a few of you are quite savy investors and was looking for some advice.

I'm 27 and have only been contributing for the last 3 months. My company offers 20 funds with 15 having fronts loads of 3.5-5%, no thanks. The remaining are the following:

Dodge and Cox Internaltional Stock ---- DODFX ----- .6%<O:p</O:p
Wells Fargo Advantage Small Cap Value Z ------ SSMVX ------ 1.36%
Wells Fargo Advantage Index Inv ------ WFVEX ------ .43%
American Funds Fundamental Invs R4 ------ RFNEX ------ .65%
<O:pWells Fargo Advantage Mid Cap Disciplined ----- SMCDX ----- 1.31%

My current contributions are 50% DODFX and 50% RFNEX. I was thinking of changing to 15% SSMVX but is 1.36% too high for consideration (40% DODFX & 45% RFNEX)? Everything I read says I should have an index fund, but most of what I am considering has fairly consistently beaten the S&P 500.

I recently bumped up my contribution above where my employer matches with everything loosing 10% recently, good idea or bad idea? Should everything over match go in a Roth IRA and what fund makes up a good Roth IRA? Should I just dump the money in a 2045 retirement-date, no-thinking fund?

Does anyone else's head spin trying to plan for the future?
 
I was going to start a similar thread a few days ago, I'm looking into starting another investment besides my employers which is pretty good, i just got into the investing game a little late and i would like to catch up a little. I was thinking another mutual fund with usaa. I also have a good chunk of money in my checking account that we would like to do something with for the short term so we could possibly use it if need be.
any help with would be appreciated.
 
what i did was call one of the top firms, Vanguard was my choice - see what they suggest - though generally they deal with long term investments - short term you could play the market - depending on how long short and long term are defined.

i am in a fund that is based on my age - it changes its risk as i get older, the older you become the less risk you want to take since you have fewer earning years ahead of you.
 
If you go with a Roth, then keep in mind that your contributions are after-tax as opposed to pre-tax for your company contribution. I suppose you could open a regular IRA which limits you to, I think, 4k contribution annually for the over you refer to. At least you would have more choices, and the contributions would be pre-tax.

Check the Morningstar ratings on those funds, and be sure to read the prospectus.
 
I heard really good things about that Dodge and Cox fund, but I've been watching it the last 6 months and it hasn't done much, if anything.

I really like Vanguard's services. Good service and no load funds. Note that if you go Roth (which is capped as well, around 4K) - although you're putting in after-tax monies, your earnings are then tax-free, which is a great benefit for long-term investment. Note, also, that your income can't go above 100K (approx) or you will be subject to a tax penalty.
 
I was going to start a similar thread a few days ago, I'm looking into starting another investment besides my employers which is pretty good, i just got into the investing game a little late and i would like to catch up a little. I was thinking another mutual fund with usaa. I also have a good chunk of money in my checking account that we would like to do something with for the short term so we could possibly use it if need be.
any help with would be appreciated.

I like ING for online savings. Check out bankrate.com and you can find the best interest rates out there. ING is really easy and setting up laddered CDs is simple as well. Their mutal fund offerings don't look enticing to me.

Check the Morningstar ratings on those funds, and be sure to read the prospectus.

Everything I'm looking at is a 5star fund except for the mid cap. I started considering the small cap one after reading about how they added gold to their holdings.

I heard really good things about that Dodge and Cox fund, but I've been watching it the last 6 months and it hasn't done much, if anything.

I really like Vanguard's services. Good service and no load funds. Note that if you go Roth (which is capped as well, around 4K) - although you're putting in after-tax monies, your earnings are then tax-free, which is a great benefit for long-term investment. Note, also, that your income can't go above 100K (approx) or you will be subject to a tax penalty.

I didn't think they penalized you for making 100k but that you just could not contribute that year or you had to convert it to a typical IRA.
 
put about 60-70% in the index fund, it follows the S&p 500. you cant go wrong with that, split the remainder up among the other ones
 
remember if you make over a certain amount of money your roth is not tax deductable...if your self employed own your on bus. or your a contractor. go with a S.E.P. you can ivest up to 25% and write it off your taxes..
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom