[kiddsmom]

Mine has come up considerably since taking a dive. Anybody else?

 

[bearsdad]

I still refuse to look

 

[kiddsmom]

I still refuse to look

I felt that way. I looked a couple of weeks ago. To my surprise, it had come up. I looked again today, up again! Mine has come up 10K since taking a dive.

 

[Ender's Mom]

My 403(b) is on the up... I started contributing again this year (after taking a break the last 2 years)... pretty smart/lucky move in hindsight.

 

[HersheyK's Dad]

'My 403(b) is on the up... I started contributing again this year (after taking a break the last 2 years)... pretty smart/lucky move in hindsight.'

I am sorry to criticize, but no? Not smart or lucky. You missed the opportunity to put money away tax free, and maybe some match $s depending on what your plan offers. Failing to put money into a tax deferred account is a mistake in general.

However, I think you are the one that said you were making significant progress on killing credit card debt? That might be more than a legitimate excuse.

 

[Ender's Mom]

Failing to put money into a tax deferred account is a mistake in general.

However, I think you are the one that said you were making significant progress on killing credit card debt? That might be more than a legitimate excuse.

Let's see here...

I have contributed to my 403B ever since I started working for the university system in 2000. In 2006, I stopped contributing for several reasons... my financial situation had changed (no longer in school so not receiving that tuition tax credit and having to pay back student loans) and so I stopped contributing... leaving the money I had already put in, in. Over the last 2 years it has lost over 1/2 of its' value. During that time yes I could have invested in it, and all those investments would have been buying shares of funds while they were expensive and declining.. so every dollar of it would have been worth less now than when I put it in. I was "lucky" in that my financial situation at the time prevented me from contributing to funds that were about to tank along with the rest of the market. Instead I made headway into decreasing my personal debt which is way more beneficial in the short-term AND long-term.

Now... my situation has changed... I'm going back to school, freeing up some money every month to go towards investing in my 403b again and paying off credit card debt (still working on that but making significant progress... I only hope I can avoid most of the rate hike that the credit card companies are about to do to us average consumers) and now that I believe the economy is back on a slow upswing, I'm going to contribute again.

"it is always good to invest in real estate"... I can't believe how many times I heard that line before 2008. Thank god I didn't buy a condo/house *cough*Eric*cough* and stuck with owing more than my home is worth and with a monthly payment I cannot afford and unable to sell it.

So no... it is not ALWAYS a good idea to invest in a tax deferred company sponsored plan... USUALLY, yes... but it wasn't for me. I made the right choice and I'm benefiting from it now.

On the flip side... my co-worker JUST THIS MONTH stopped contributing to her 403b because "it has lost so much money over the past 2 years"... UMMMM... hello?!!!... now is not the time to stop!

 

[Bob Pr.]

I'm retired but had some money in Fidelity Magellan for many years and it lost over half its value. Recently, I was swayed toward Index Funds because of their lower maintenance costs so I transferred my Magellan assets over to Vanguard Explorer.

I checked yesterday and was pleased to see its value had increased over 10% since 3/26/09.

Then, just as a reality check, I looked at the performance of Magellan and it had increased probably by about the same %!

 

[bearsdad]

Well I broke down and looked.. wasn't as bad as I thought. Magellan is the only fund where I'm upside down - upside down by over 35%. I lost a lot of my big gains but at least most are in the positive again

 

[myfavoritedog]

Mine is up...still way down from its pinnacle tho

But I am glad it seems to be on the upswing again. I had to stop contributing for several years as I got out of debt. Once that was out of the way, I started up again. I continued to contribute through the dive because all those securities were at firesale prices. I figure as it comes back I am pretty well positioned.

I contribute to a rollover IRA since my employer doesn't have a match. I figured I'd be better off contributing to a fund that already has a stash in it as opposed to starting from scratch.