Anyone else's 401k sucking?

[midnight armadillo]

45% of my 401k is in a self-directed account, where I have money split between a gold-oriented mut fund, a declining dollar fund, and an energy sector fund. Those are doing quite well. I can't go above 50% in the self-directed account due to company rules. At age 33 I figure I can tolerate risk :)

The rest is in the company-approved list of funds which is your standard mix (small and large cap, different 'blends' of risk, bonds, etc). Those are all at round 0.1% for the year. Due to this dragging so badly my overall total is barely budging.

This is very frustrating. There will be no $ available for non-401k investing for a year or so. Anyone in 401k doldrums?

[stray cat]

1. I think its true for all of us with 401s - I try not to think of it as lost income

but defintely not a retirement plan....

[whatchamacallit]

5. If your contribution is high or maxed, it's hard not to think of it as lost income

[phantom power]

2. It's hard to imagine many 401k investments doing well.

I assume there are exceptions, but the market is so bearish right now. I'm sure the list of funds doing well is the much shorter list.

[splat]

3. You're lucky to have a self-directed half; most of us don't have that choice

Everything I have is sinking.

[midnight armadillo]

8. I'm quite glad to have it!

I've noticed that individual stocks seem very volatile these days so I don't go near those (I also don't know enough about 'em). I stick with relatively established mutual funds.

[rox63]

4. My 401K was tanking so badly that

I recently moved it all to more conservative bond and "stable value" funds. At least it should be relatively safe from huge stock market losses. When the stock market looks a bit healthier, I'll move it back over.

[whatchamacallit]

6. 3 months ago I moved everything to the money market and rebalanced

It's been gaining.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. This was supposed to be the wonderful substitute for defined benefit pensions

You could "control your investments" and "potentially do better than under a traditional pension." Most people didn't look at the fine print that said "or potentially do worse."

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. I have a 401 K and 2 Roth accounts which

I can control, having taken the 401 K out of the job selected annuity when I was able to.
Stuck it in 5% cds which are due in 2009. Now I am wondering if they will be there in 2009.
One Roth is in MM funds ( Vanguard) as is a chunk of cash, one Roth in
European Stock Market index which is down 6 bucks a share but not moving either direction for some time now.
I am eligible to tap into the Roths and cash them out, debating on that now.
Problem is to decide if the AAA rated paper that Vanguard holds in the MMF is any good. Been following all the news closely, sounds like the contagion is spreading to AAA bonds.

Any ideas????

[spooky3]

10. Even your company mix account is doing a lot better than mine.

I have a global account and a life cycle fund (where managers are supposed to adjust investments depending on expected date of retirement). Both are down about 10% for the year.

[WacoRenegade]

11. never got a 401k

Every six months they drag all of us non-401kers into a meeting where a 401k guy tells us all about the beauty of the system and bla bla bla. He also makes it a point to let us know where his 401k is at. The last meeting it was around $900k, beore that $1.4M, before that $1.2M, IIRC. The last meeting was about 4 months back--well before the huge crash of late. At the end of every meeting everyone but me signs up for it. He always asks me, "Why did you decide not to?"

I always say: "I'm waiting for the crash."

Can't wait for my next meeting!

[AllyCat]

13. Stick to your guns Waco! And welcome to DU! n/t

[AllyCat]

12. Husband and I are both losing.

I'm feeling like I don't want to put anything else into it right now.

Remember, Wall Street does not work for us.

[hack89]

14. I get a generous company match

so I am still coming out ahead.

[question everything]

15. At 33, don't worry

I remember how our 401Ks were sinking in the fall of 2002, but eventually came back and more. And even now, without adding a single penny - they were with former employer - are still ahead of where they were in 2001.

Just be patient, and diversify.