I feel like pulling all of my money out of my 401k

[moparacer]

I am getting to the point I am fed up with the whole deal also.

I contributed to it faithfully in the 90s only to see it evaporate in the dot com bubble. Then took another huge hit with 9/11 and now we have the current meltdown that looks like its going to linger for years. They have not fixed anything yet, they are only kicking the can down the road.

I did move a considerable amount of my IRA into stocks 3 days after the lows so I made a considerable portion of what I lost back.

Ill be dammed if I am going to set back and watch it evaporate again though.

 

[nerp]

Stop checking the balance. Check back in 5 years.

 

[Wyndru]

A few years ago after I lost a lot in one quarter I moved half of my money over. At that point money markets were paying 5 percent; but now they don't pay shit either so although you won't lose anything, you won't gain much either.

I'm losing faith that 401k's will ever make me the 10 percent/year over the lifetime that many fund companies like to state.

 

[Slew Foot]

Do what most people do, spend all your money then beg the govt for a handout.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

do it.

 

[thegimp03]

I think the hardest part of pulling all your money out and throwing it into a money market fund would be timing the reinvestment. Hindsight is always 20/20, and quite a few people got lucky by reinvesting their money into stocks again last March/April. I kept all of my money in my 401ks allocated to stocks through the downturn in 2008 and early 2009 and weathered the storm. I happened to throw about $35k cash into a few ETFs and some stocks in early May 2009 and got lucky with the run-up through this Spring.

As for your follow up question to mine, whether you have to roll an old account over, it really depends. If your old employer's administrator doesn't charge a fee to let the account sit there and you like the investment options in the account, then you can leave it there. You can also roll it over into a new employer's account if you like the investment options there. This year, a lot of people are rolling their old 401k's into Roth IRA accounts. The big benefit of these is they give you more control over your investments than a 401k plan administrator would, you won't pay any taxes on capital gains which will allow the account to grow. I'm planning on doing this with my old employer's account in the next couple of months.