On 11/10/2019 12:21 PM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
In article , "frank says...

If you work and retire from the company now there is no pension and no
health insurance. I think you are better off because more is put in
your 401k and when you are retired you alone are responsible for your
welfare. Problem would be people that spend these savings before they
retire.



I think the main thing about a 401k is that if a company matches some of
the money you put into it, it gives a good reason to do so.

Had the company I worked for not started the 401k , I doubt that I would
have put anyting in on my own. I was almost 40 years old at the time. I
was so strapped for money at the time it started up, I only put in the
minimum ammount we had to to get it started. About 6 months later we
got a raise and I put that into the 401k to max it out.

I hit it lucky and 2 times when the stock market started down, I moved
the money to a money market type of account. Then as it started back up
I went back to stock, which in the 401k was sort of a mutual fund.
Worked out very well. The third time the market dipped, I had so much
on my mind that I let it slip by. The money dropped to almost half,but
in a few years, it came back up and more. Lost a lot in the last dip ,
but it is now more than it ever was. You just have to have a way to
ride things out for about 2 years if the market does go south.

Being retired I plan on staying in stock of some kind. I will probably
keep about half of the RMD for a year in cash/money market just incase
the marked does tank for a year or so.

As I told the man that handles my IRA, I have enough pension and SS that
I can get by. I may have to eat beans instead of steak for a year, but
can get by just fine as all is paid for.



I read someplace that 100 minus your age is the percentage you might
invest in stocks. That is where my 401k just happens to be today.