Topic: Retirement Investing Ideas (Read 25695 times)

allancoleman · « **Reply #15 on:** September 24, 2004, 10:05:45 PM »

i think your idea of being in the balanced fund is excellent . i sat there for years in the past before we had all the choices we have now and did fine . with our new choices of :

balanced fund - more stocks , less bonds

balanced fund - fifty / fifty

balanced fund - more bonds , less stocks

you should really be able to fine tune your asset allocation to your particular risk ( how much money do i want to lose

) tolerance . the really nice thing about the xerox 401(k) is you have ' daily ' switching which alot of mutual funds will not give you . and my last conversation with hewitt / xerox was you could set up a withdrawal ( monthly , quarterly , etc ) schedule from your 401(k) and still roll it over to a I.R.A. later if you want .

spoke with clayt this morning . he is moose hunting and might need help getting one out of the woods when his regular hunting buddy disappears in a week or so . i told him sure . and all i need is a couple of steaks .

the key to your retirement OW is to WATCH your retirement fund balances regularily . in the days of the secular bull market with ever increasing highs , you could buy and hold and look at your account every year or so and it was o.k. in this secular bear market with newer lows , you HAVE to keep a closer watch on your account balances . if you are watching your account balances and they are dropping , then DO NOT develop a ' deer in the headlites syndrome ' and just sit there and watch it go down . figure out where your losses are and come up with a plan to stem the bleeding . i look at mine nightly when i can and DEFINITELY log my accounts totals monthly to make sure i'm not losing money . in this ' world gone mad ' , it's the money you DON'T LOSE that's important . it's o.k. to lose in some asset classes as long as your overall totals stay positive . it's called REAL return . i'm ahead for the year and sleep fine . clayt is behind for the year and is struggling . he'll be fine cause he's a ' shooter ' and a trader . but it's not my style .

ask questions . here or from other friends . easier to learn from other's mistakes than to make them yourself .

some terms and things to think about OW are :

asset allocation - what percent of your critical mass do you want invested in the different asset classes . that is stocks - bonds - gold - whatever .

asset allocation is the single most important investment decision you can make . in other words , it's more important what percent of your critical mass is invested in stocks or bonds than to hit it rich on one specific stock pick .

critical mass is the amount of money necessary to live the life style of your choice without working if that is your choice . some people choose to work . for me , ' work ' is a four letter word .

in retirement , the generic ( general ) advice is to start at roughtly a fifty / fifty mix of stocks & fixed income . then you proceed from there . my own present asset allocation is roughtly ( changes every day with the variences of the markets ) is 10% stocks and 90% fixed income . i am alittle too light on stocks . that wasn't a good place to be last year , but a good place to be so far this year . each person has to determine their own asset allocation . as a guide line , the generic advice is to be no more than 80% stocks and no less than 20% . i would agree with that guideline even though i am lighter on stocks than that at this present time . in the past , i have been as much as 100% stocks ( in the 90's during the secular bull market and made alot of money ) and as light as 5% ( in the years of 2000 , 2001 , and 2002 in the beginning of the secular bear market and made alot of money ) .

principal spend down - i feel in the beginnng of your retirement , retention of your principal is important . however , in the end , when your QUALITY days are at a decline , i feel a principal spend down is o.k. especially if you do not have heirs as i do . i want my last check i write to the funeral home to bounce .

.

life is a bunch of choices .

allancoleman · « **Reply #16 on:** September 27, 2004, 01:32:45 AM »

to whom it may concern : i have changed the name of this topic to ' Retirement Investing Ideas ' . hope you don't mind owen ? <_< ? . pretty much follows the theme of the posts . the content , names , and posts will remain the same to protect the guilty .

.

on another note , to better answer owen's question about the suitability of balanced funds for a asset allocation in our xerox 401(k) , i just copied this from the xerox / hewitt web site :

Year to Date ( 9/24/2004 )

Balanced Fund - More Bonds = + 3.81%

Balanced Fund - Fifty / Fifty = + 3.41%

Balanced Fund - More Stocks = + 3.04%

Income Fund = + 3.28%

Enhanced Bond Fund = + 4.16%

U.S. Stock Fund = + 1.70%

International Stock Fund = + 2.67%

Small Company Stock Fund = + 0.99%

Xerox Stock Fund = ( - 1.12% )

as you can see OW , there's plenty of choices here for any investor . plus you also have the ' Other Market ' place window with even more mutual funds to pick from .

« **Reply #17 on:** September 27, 2004, 04:35:03 PM »

Received you message, excepitionally sharp on the funeral home check. Good belly laugh. One other thing I would like to get some feed back from, is just exactually how safe do you think those monies are in the Xerox 401 k savings plans. If for some unforseen reason, the Big X not longer exists, will the monies still be there. I have talked to a couple of people in Human resources. and just get the political correct answer, don't worry, Oh sure it will always be there, it's garranteed. But that California bank thing was garrranteed also, and went belly up. I just don't want to loose it all in a stroke of a pen. Clayt would say take the monies and run. Oh yea, tell him that I will call sometime, and Jim and I are making plans to visit the bearded one next year.

allancoleman · « **Reply #18 on:** September 27, 2004, 06:33:08 PM »

excellent question owen . i think the monies are as safe with xerox / hewitt as they would be with any other large brokerage house ( schwab , fidelity , etc ) or mutual fund family ( schwab , vanguard , etc ) . which means STAY FLEXIBLE and ever vigilant and move your funds if you ever feel any concern . that's one of the biggest benefits in going with a lump sum settlement that you manage yourself as opposed to a pension where you give someone else your money and HOPE they can honor their promise to provide you with that check .

supposedly the monies in the xerox 401(k) are totally separate from xerox . and supposely if xerox went bankrupt , the monies are supposed to be there . and you're right about how Clayt feels . he has ALL of his monies with schwab so he can follow their fortunes as a brokerage house as far as the safety of his money .

personally myself , i rolled my ' transitional account ' over to a I.R.A. with schwab ( had a local office in my town ) . took my xerox ESOP as common stock and have them in my personal schwab brokerage account , left my ' before tax ' , ' after tax ' , ' profit sharing ' , and ' company match ' accounts with xerox / hewitt . i also have a ROTH I.R.A. account set up with Fidelity ( did so on the phone & snail mail years ago ) and will probably set up another ROTH I.R.A. account with Vanguard ( will do so on line and maybe a phone call ) because of a personal issue with schwab about not being able to get vanguard's ' admiral shares ' in my schwab account in their gnma mutual fund when i get ready to purchase that asset class later . so i've got my stuff pretty spread out .

i'll let Clayton know about your call . thanks for the input here . we all learn from sharing our personal finances i think .

allancoleman · « **Reply #19 on:** September 27, 2004, 07:17:57 PM »

hey big ' O ' . just talked to clayton and he said go have a ' cowboy ' or a ' cowgirl ' . he said you'd know what he meant . :blink: .

allancoleman · « **Reply #20 on:** September 27, 2004, 11:54:08 PM »

just received a personal e - mail from KT6135 :

" Hi Allan , just receive some info , the company goes by " NMIS " hope this helps . Northwestern Mutual Investment Company . Thanks , Allan "

after looking on google i found this : ( http://www.nmfn.com[/url] ) . from what i can tell KT by looking under their " investment products " tab on the top and searching under ' mutual funds ' , they offer what is called in the industry as ' alphabet ' soap or ' loaded ' mutual funds .

i feel if you are really knowledgeable you may be able to pick a investment that is suitable for you among a bunch of loaded funds . however , if you look at Vanguard ( a true no - load mutual fund family ) or deal with a Schwab account ( one of the largest no - load mutual fund family offerings in the industry ) , or a Fidelity ( who also offers many no - load mutual funds too ) , you can more easily find a true no - load mutual fund . and there are others too .

suggest you take the time to educate yourself about the difference in no - load mutual funds and loaded mutual funds . the difference in fees is easily a factor of 10 . in other words , you will pay two tenths of one percent annually ( called a expense ratio ) for a vanguard mutual fund and as much as two percent annually ( OR MORE ) for a similar loaded mutual fund . PLUS usually a loaded mutual fund can charge up to six percent ot more to get into or out of their funds . PLUS often you will find that you CANNOT get out of a loaded mutual fund without paying a penality . and vanguard ( or anyone else that has a true no - load mutual fund ) will let you in AT NO COST and out at NO COST unless you're trying to " day trade " mutual funds and move in and out of them often at short intervals .

leave your money with xerox KT until you go down the learning curve . suggest you start with the " mutual fund educational alliance " ( http://www.mfea.com[/url] ) or plug in ' mutual funds ' into google . anyone that can work on ' goofy ' xerox designed , manufactored , and xerox supported

, gear can make lite work handling your own investments .

this is my opinion only and not necessarily shared by xertech or anyone else on this board . if it were my money , i wouldn't touch a loaded fund with a ten foot pole . much less ' your ' money KT . and remember whose money this is . :rolleyes: .

p.s. if any of ya'll sent me a personal e - mail , i will respond on one of my forums unless you request otherwise . feel it really helps to information share and not reinvent the wheel . somebody , somewhere , somehow has already made the same mistake you're getting ready to make weither it's fixing copy machines or investing money . wouldn't you like to talk to them first ? <_< ? . or read about it on a nice open forum such as this ? ? where you can make up any name and call yourself anything you like . :blink: .

« **Reply #21 on:** September 29, 2004, 03:07:38 PM »

HI Al--Just wondering if a person is jumping in and out of different funds in the 401k savings accounts. Do the fund managers get a maintaince fee for every time a person changes funds. Just say for example, that I go back and forth from the income fund to the balanced more stock fund 10 times per year. Am I assessed a maintance fee 10 times? I know fees are relative low, but if a person gets nicked 10 at a quarter percent fee rate, does,t that equate to a 2 1/2 percent rate? When checking account balances on hewitt, it never shows the deduction for a maintaince fee., and I know they are pulling it from somewhere. Signed--still working in the lower 48

allancoleman · « **Reply #22 on:** September 29, 2004, 04:46:15 PM »

hello big ' O ' , ( clayt said don't call ya owen

) ,

excellent question . i just checked on the xerox / hewitt 401(k) web site and the only fund that charges you a ' transaction fee ' to move in and out of the fund is the INTERNATIONAL fund . when i went there and clicked on the link to the international fund , the link sent me straight to the morningstar site which is nice cause they are a good reference to check performance on mutual funds and you would want to go there anyway to double check to see if the fund you are looking at switching into is really the one you want . the penality is called a ' redemption fee ' and it's a big TWO PERCENT changed on the gross amount ( ouch

) if you move monies in and out of that fund within 30 days . the other funds in the 401(k) to my knowledge do not have a transaction fee . the ' other place ' window with retail mutual funds in it are a totally different arrangement and you really need to check each and every one for their own rules .

one of the things you ( or anyone else for that matter ) need to do if you're going to manage your own money is to get VERY familar with the web site that you've got your money with weither it's xerox or schwab or vanguard or fidelity or whoever . keep in mind , if you're in doult , CALL them on the phone and ASK . develop a dialog with whoever you're dealing with . you'll find as you go down the LEARNING curve , you'll get better and better and be able to help others with your new found knowledge .

as for weither you should do alot of switching in and out of different mutual funds , that's a total different question and very complicated and different people who have different RISK tolerances . the BASIC advice ( and it's good advice ) is to NOT do alot of switching cause you either CHASE the market or you get what's known as WHIPSAWED by the market . meaning you thought you bought low and were going to sell high ( the general idea

) and you wound up buying at the top

and selling at the bottom

. suggest you make your first asset allocation decision ( fifty / fifty between stocks and bonds is a good place to start ) and stick with it awhile to see how it gos . make yourself a chart , look at your totals NITELY in the beginning ( if you don't and you get on the WRONG side of this market , you can lose more money in just a month than you can believe ) . and then after awhile you will find the asset allocation that has a good SLEEP FACTOR ( allows you to sleep at nite without worrying about it

) and you won't be making any big switches after that .

the key to investing in the market ( the stock or bond market ) is to learn how to WATCH ( and the xerox 401k is really excellent about giving you a daily update on your year to date returns - if you are negative on the year , your numbers are RED and if you're positive on the year , your numbers are BLACK ) the market . plus the xerox 401(K) is really good about giving you a ' last four weeks ' look , a YTD ( year to date ) look , a ' last twelve months ' look , a one year - three year - and a five year looK . after you learn that , the GOOD stuff will show itself . just keep your returns POSITIVE and LOOK , ASK , and you'll do fine . whatever you do , if you start to lose more money than you want to , DO NOT develop a ' deer in the headlites ' syndrome and keep riding your LOSSES down . if you're losing money and you don't like it , get the heck out and switch . use common sense on this stuff . it's not rocket science . you're either making money or you're aren't . and if you don't understand it , figure it out , or stay away from it . clayton is a really good different source of information for you . clayton is a ' trader ' by heart and really follows the market daily .

p.s. anyone else on this forum that feels like jumping in at any time on these issues . PLEASE do so cause that is how we ALL ( me too

) learn here .

as usual this is NOT meant to be specific investment advice and is NOT necessarily the opinion of xertech or anyone else on this web site . PLEASE consult your own investment advisor for detail advice . remember whose money it is :rolleyes: .

allancoleman · « **Reply #23 on:** October 05, 2004, 10:48:12 PM »

just received my hard copy of the august issue of " Investing for your Future " in my snail mail . this is the news and views about the xerox savings plans . performance results are through 6 / 30 / 2004 . this issue focuses on the broad strategy allocations plans such as the balanced fund - more bonds , the balanced fund - fifty / fifty , and the balanced fund more stocks .

this is a good reference for ' big O ' and others for determining their asset allocation . also gives other web sites for investing reference .

allancoleman · « **Reply #24 on:** October 23, 2004, 12:26:48 AM »

what determines stock markets :

http://www.suite101.com/print_message.cfm/.../109491/1019542[/url]

" crowd psychology " is as important in determining a company stock price as any other factor .

i rate this article on par with the one above and a ' must read ' for money managers .

p.s. for those of you who are interested in how this equates with the price history of xerox stock , please refer to the recent e - mail conversation between KT6135 and myself on the ' more out the door ' topic on " the cse coffee house " forum .

as usual this isn't necessarily my opinion or anyone else associated with xertech . as always , it's your money . :unsure: .

allancoleman · « **Reply #25 on:** October 23, 2004, 01:48:23 AM »

more on what determines a stock price :

http://www.suite101.com/print_message.cfm/...g/97736/1019600[/url]

and of course , as gos stock prices , so gos markets .

you can read many books with hundreds of pages ( i have / do ) each on investing and not learn as much as in these three articles i have posted above with these few pages .

xertech and i aren't responsibile for the contents of these articles . after all it's ' our ' money .

. and we are careful with our money . this is for educational purposes only .

allancoleman · « **Reply #26 on:** November 03, 2004, 08:27:20 PM »

owen , big O , i recently ( at tonites market close ) made a major asset allocation shift from 9% stocks to 79% stocks . i already called dick & CLAYT and informed them this morning . dick already made his market buy last week . not sure where clayton is on all this cause he usually deals in individual stocks .

since you're clayt's friend , thought i'd let you know too . after all , it's " my money " .

.

« **Reply #27 on:** November 04, 2004, 08:45:30 PM »

Al--got you message about moving to stocks. as of nov. 1, my 401 k is 55% income fund and 45% bal fund more stock. I do have to call Clayt, as news of leaving the big x is nearing. Are you optomistic that the dow will hit 11k by years end?

allancoleman · « **Reply #28 on:** November 04, 2004, 09:51:24 PM »

" big O " ,

i'm not optimistic about the Dow hitting anything by year's end . i just made a calculated ( random ) guess based on technicals and made a major ( for me ) asset allocation shift .

with your 55% income fund and 45% balanced fund - more stocks , you are actually ( roughly ) 29% stocks in your TOTAL asset allocation . so if the market really rallies ( ? ? ) from here , you will partake in 29% of that GAIN . just as if the market really tanks from here , you will only LOSE 29% of your assets if your market assets went to zero . which they aren't likely to do . your present asset allocation falls within the " generic " advice of , " no less than 20% stocks , and no more than 80% " .

start slow . KEEP your returns positive ( whatever you do , DO NOT get on the WRONG side of this market ) , and read - read - read . call clayton cause he's your friend and has some good books for you to read about investing . ask him about the excellent book he STOLE from me

. clayton can also advise you about being on the wrong side of the market .

" we're all in this together . i'm pulling for ya . keep your stick on the ice " as Red Green says . yell if you've got any other questions big O . want to make a friend of clayt's welcome here .

.

allancoleman · « **Reply #29 on:** November 19, 2004, 07:04:03 AM »

more ideas in drawing down your retirement accounts :

http://www.suite101.com/print_message.cfm/...g/13785/1029605[/url]

and , of course , it gos without saying that NONE of these ideas are the opinion of xertech or myself . they are meant to be for educational purposes only . afterall , it's your money .

.

Author Topic: Retirement Investing Ideas (Read 25695 times)