Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Hit

My 401k lost about $12,000 yesterday, and is now down almost 23% year to date. I was obviously not the only one checking this morning, as the website was very slow, and I got a message at one point that the system was unavailable!
My E*Trade account is down about 18.5% YTD, and my E*Trade Roth IRA is down about 14.5% YTD. Yesterday's drop didn't seem to hit as hard on E*Trade, but I have a lot less money there anyway.
Did you check your investment accounts today? How did yesterday affect you?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was just about to check my 401K when I saw this post.

I am the greatful daughter of parents who put money into mutual funds 20 years ago for me to use as a down payment. I cashed it all out a week ago. I am breathing a huge sigh of relief since I had considered trying to ride out the past few weeks bumps and dips. I am afraid to look at my 401K balance...deep breaths....

Anonymous said...

I checked my 401(k) account last night. I've lost almost 20% YTD about half of that yesterday. I immediately transferred it all to a fund that invests in Federal bonds, etc. Less growth, but less risk!

Anonymous said...

I don't retire for 35 years. So no...I don't need the trauma. But I'm not scared. I just wish I had more money to buy!

Anonymous said...

Don't check! :)

Yeah it hurt for me too but "fortunately" most of it was in retirement accounts that I can't touch for a long long time.

Unknown said...

Dammit. I read your post and thought "what a funny game!" but when I saw the numbers I couldn't help but feel queasy. Way to test that financial gag reflex.

Anonymous said...

My 401K is down 21.1% this morning too.

What's the prudent thing to do going forward? Keep contributing? My current 401K savings plan has me contributing 10% of my paycheck.

Anonymous said...

401k is down 15% YTD. Being in my mid-30's, I'm not too concerned. Personal trading account is up 22% YTD, but I'm claiming that's due in large part to some lucky timing of a couple of trades in the last 2 weeks.

Anonymous said...

Personal (aka "high risk") trading account lost about 7% yesterday, down something like 35% YTD, but I am putting as much additional cash as I can tolerate into it over the last few months - especially yesterday afternoon. I won't look at the 401K - too depressing because the dollar amounts are larger, but I've got 25+ years before I will need it. Wish I had even more cash to put in right now...

Chiot's Run said...

I haven't checked mine yet, won't until the end of the month for net worth calculations. We have decided to start throwing all our extra savings (after maxing our IRA's) at our mortgage. Looks like we'll have it gone in 2-3 years, that'll be a huge burden if the economy does tank. With that and our years worth in emergency fund I think we'll survive.

Should be interesting to see what happens. This is exactly why I don't have cable any more.

Anonymous said...

I was shocked beyond belief when I saw how much teh stocks went down. 777 points in one day! Unheard of :(

Anonymous said...

hi madam X,
I'm 24 & don't have any investment accounts except for an ira roth which i started 2 years ago. Should I buy stocks now since i'm in it for the long-haul? i was thinking of buying vanguard's 500 index funds. i've already lost quite a bit of my ira roth retirement fund so i'm hesitant. please let me know. thanks.

Anonymous said...

Good news everyone. This is a normal part of economic gyrations and is on par with historical trends. Think of it as buying equities at highly discounted prices. When the market rebounds which is almost a certainty, you will profit very nicely. The only concern is length of time before the market rebounds. It could be one year or 7 years. But when the time is right those who persevere will profit nicely and then some.

Kady said...

I'm down 17% YTD.

Anonymous said...

I jumped out about 30 days ago after about a 50k loss. I am mostly in cash now except for one IRA account that I am allowing to ride the market. I learned some lessons, though costly. I will never ride the market with my cash accounts again. I am a firm believer that unless you are an active trader and know what you are doing the days of buying and holding are gone. The past 90 days has essentially wiped out 3-5 years of returns for most people.

Too much uncertainty for me. I do not like the rules that Hedge funds play by. I do not think the market will ever be the same since Greenspan allowed derivatives into the market plan back in the 90's. Too many poeple are manipulating the marget with out nearly enough skin in the game.

Anonymous said...

I'm down about 20% YTD. My house lost quite a bit of its value too. Sometimes I feel like cashing out all my investments and pay off the mortgage.