Hey PPEN...I have a question
from Toonafish  
10/13/2008 2:28:40 PM

Rated:

  I'm 51 years old and about 9 or 10 months ago, when the market kept showing signs of a downturn, I moved about 50% of my stocks over to bonds in my 401k. I believe this has kept me from taking such a big "paper loss" as many others have.

My question is this....should I keep 50% of my account in bonds or be more aggressive in what looks to be a rising market in the months/years to come?

I know you're not a financial planner but you seem to have a pretty good grasp on investing.

toona

****************************************************************************** I'm thinking a 60/40 split would be a good mix right now. Monday was a great day for all of our 401k accounts! Hope it continues.... toona

Edited 10/14/2008 7:16:56 AM

Edited 10/14/2008 7:17:26 AM

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   Hello anybody home....LOL from Toonafish  10/14/2008 11:15:32 AM
 Ok..maybe that was too easy a question.

   Toony, from PPEN  10/14/2008 7:23:59 PM
 Before I try to answer your question let me ask a few of my own.

You are now 51. How much longer do you plan to work? If you are going to work for another 15 years you can safely be pretty aggressive right now, ie., have a greater percentage in equities and less in bonds.

What is your risk tolerance? If you spent last week draped over the john puking your guts out because of the huge losses in equities you need to have less equities and more bonds.

What percentage of your retirement living expenses must be provided by your own savings/investments? If you have a huge (AND SECURE) pension which will provide all you need in retirement you can afford to be a lot more risky with your current investing. In the long term higher risks equals higher earnings.

Toony, I think this should best be continued via personal email. Think a bit about what I have asked here and then send me an email with your questions or comments.

Please note that I am not asking this to preclude others from reading my thoughts but rather to provide a bit more privacy for you. I am uncomfortable discussing another's financial situation on a public forum like this.

I have plenty of time so I will do my best to provide the kinds of information you will need to make sound decisions. Fire away.

PPEN

   Thanks PPEN..... from Toonafish  10/15/2008 8:07:33 AM
  Thought I had lost you for a while there....LOL

I will send you an email

toona

Email has been sent !

Edited 10/15/2008 10:59:21 AM

   my take from MikeF  10/15/2008 2:50:28 PM
 Since you were smart enough to move it out early if I were you I would take advantage of the discounted price and put it back. There are bargains out there for the picking. GM is selling at least 75% below what it's worth. And the same could have been said for Wachovia. It had a market value of $120B 12 months ago and it was trading at under $10B just before Wells Fargo paid $15B in stock. In reality it's probably worth $60B once this crisis is over. And Wells is not in the sub-prime market.

I'm not a big fan of "timing" and/or buying specific stocks but if you're in a fund in those markets you stand a good chance of coming out ahead of the curve.

   Thanks Mike.... from Toonafish  10/15/2008 4:29:41 PM
 Your comments are right on the money..IMO

toona