How Closely Do You Monitor Your 401k / Retirement

[xipotec]

I am new to the saving for retirement / 401k (457b in my case) thing. Just curious how closely do you monitor it? How frequently do you make changes to the distribution?

I have never put money into a retirement account because the idea that the money could not be there when I need it scares me. I have started putting money into my company's deferred comp (457b) plan and I am finding that I am checking it at least one per week. I completely understand that there will be ups & downs and am trying to NOT to panic too much.

I hate to be a debbie downer but set it an forget it.
All it takes is a few runaway banks to tank the stock market and economy and wipe all that savings out....

Hello 2007 I am looking at you...
Point is plan ahead, diversify and pray....
Hovering over it weekly will not change much and age you alot.

 

[sonnyjane]

It's above $196,000.

or $124k if single.

 

[WeatherLights]

Congrats on starting your retirement savings! I also have a 457 and all my contributions go into a target retirement date fund. I look at the quarterly statements and that's it. There have been a few instances over the years in which I've "lost" money from one quarter to the next, but overall the balance keeps growing! As many here have already mentioned, if you are invested in something that is diversified, like an index fund, you can just make your contributions and ride it out. You don't need to monitor for short term fluctuations. In 15-20 years you'll be sooo happy you did this!

I monitor it weekly. I sell if my investment drops below the 300 day ma. And I buy as long as it’s above.

I don't know what this means! What's a 300 day ma?

 

[mnrose]

Once a month or so, I look at the balance. I don't obsess over it. Once a quarter, it's reviewed by my financial advisor. We've got a certain balance between stocks and bonds we are going for, and he analyses it to make sure it's still within our range, and it's rebalanced as necessary. We speak once every 6 months (or more often if something dramatic changes) to make sure we are all on the same page (still) with goals, objectives, time lines. I actively manage about 1/2 of our portfolio, and that I "readjust" with about the same frequency. You can't (or most people can't) accurately "guess" where the market is headed. Remember you are in it for the long haul. Don't be thrown by the day to day fluctuations in the market. I've ridden out two seriously bear markets so far in my working career and today, my portfolio is still at an all time high. I've made up every dollar of loss and then some. I'm still a relatively long term investor as I don't plan on touching a dime of my long term savings until I'm forced to take mandatory distributions in about 8.5 years. But, in the last 6 months, we've started the very gradual shift toward more conservative investments. As we get to the distribution stage, it will get even more conservative.

 

[runwad]

I agree with WeatherLights, invest in a target date fund, or maybe it's called a Lifestyle Fund and forget about it. Look at your year end statements.

When I started working in August 1990 the Dow was 5703, today it's 28,907. Don't worry about it!

 

[amcnj]

The company managing the plan used to issue statements every quarter. So when everything was paper only, that’s as frequently as you could check. Once online access was available, I checked it probably monthly, and after I made changes to my contributions or investments to make sure the changes went through as I wanted them too.

 

[disneychrista]

If your company offers a match, contribute up to the match

When I started looking for a job, two years ago, this was my intention. Regardless of what the salary/wage was I would contribute up to the match. This is also the advice I have given my daughters. My employer does not match on the 457 plan.

There is a separate Retirement plan that has a forced contribution that the employer contributes about 5 times what I do.

 

[sonnyjane]

When I started looking for a job, two years ago, this was my intention. Regardless of what the salary/wage was I would contribute up to the match. This is also the advice I have given my daughters. My employer does not match on the 457 plan.

There is a separate Retirement plan that has a forced contribution that the employer contributes about 5 times what I do.

I figured. 457b’s don’t usually get matched and worked a bit differently. I’d REALLLLLLLY look at getting a Roth IRA. Mine is through ETrade.

 

[RamblingMad]

I don't know what this means! What's a 300 day ma?

300 day moving average. My 401k has an S&P Index Fund that charges a whopping 31bps (0.31%). That's the cheapest available to me. When the index drops below the 300 day moving average, I sell (transfer) and put my money into an income preservation fund. That's the closest thing I have to a money market available to me. When the index crosses above the 300 day moving average, I buy (transfer). Right now, the index is above, so I have all of my contributions buying the index. The last time it dropped below was December 2018. This strategy minimizes my volatility.

 

[RamblingMad]

I agree with WeatherLights, invest in a target date fund, or maybe it's called a Lifestyle Fund and forget about it. Look at your year end statements.

The target funds offered by my 401k charge up to 1.25% in fees. That's insane.

 

[disneychrista]

I figured. 457b’s don’t usually get matched and worked a bit differently. I’d REALLLLLLLY look at getting a Roth IRA. Mine is through ETrade.

It might be something I will look into in the future. Right now I simply don't have the money to put anything additional.

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

My family pulled our money out of retirement accounts and invested in real estate. It’s not for everyone but it’s works for us.
So I guess I check it at the first of every month.

 

[sonnyjane]

It might be something I will look into in the future. Right now I simply don't have the money to put anything additional.

I don’t mean additional, I mean instead of. There’s a huge advantage to a Roth IRA. For one, it’s post-tax dollars so when you retire, you take it out absolutely tax free. The other benefit is that, as I mentioned earlier, anything you put in can be taken out at any time without penalty. For example, if you put in $1000 and it grows to $1100, you can take up to the original $1000 out for any reason at any time without penalty. You only pay on the gains, and can withdraw the rest long before you are of retirement age. This is a great option for someone that’s cash strapped because it can double as an emergency savings. Obviously try to keep it in, but for someone like you that’s gun shy, it’s nice to have that knowledge.

 

[amcnj]

I read an article earlier today that said cybercriminals are increasingly targeting retirement accounts, so they cautioned to keep a closer on eye on your retirement accounts.

 

[mjkacmom]

We have a financial advisor and a plan based on our goals and how aggressive we want to be. so we rarely make changes unless we need to rebalance. And we rely on our guy to make suggestions Or answer questions We tried it on our own a long time ago and always seemed to buyIng high and selling low. For us, this is a much better system. We pay him for His advice but he has made us a lot of money. after the 2008 2009 debacle we got it all back and more. my only advice is to make a plan, set your goals and leave it alone.

Everyone has been making money (including your FA). Since this is DH’s career, he monitors it pretty closely. When my parents died, it took us a while to get their money out of their Merrill lynch advisor’s hands, he was getting over $10,000 a year and was an idiot.

 

[Flowers12]

I worked with a girl who checked it every single day. Every morning when she got in. We read the statements when they come in the mail.

 

[soccerdad72]

401K? Quarterly. Our investment accounts with our financial advisor we check weekly/bi-weekly and then have meetings with them once or twice a year for updates.

 

[cvjw]

DH has an app on his phone where he monitors our investments. They are with an advisor, so we don‘t have to try and figure out where to invest anymore. I never look at them, except when we are filling our the tax returns.

 

[ronandannette]

Once a year, when I get my contribution statement for tax purposes. We have no private investments, only the fund I contribute to through work. There’s no point watching it any closer - it’s all locked into our corporate RRSP scheme and there’s no way to withdraw any of it for self-management. I did not fully understand that when I enrolled years ago and the high level of company matching is too enticing to give up at this point.

 

[Moliphino]

Umm, whenever they send me something? I contribute enough to get the max employer match and kind of forget about it. I'm 32, so I've got a long time before I can even think of retiring.