nharmon
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response 93 of 96:
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Feb 4 01:40 UTC 2006 |
"In creating your allocation, you will have to balance the risks
inherent in each investment against their respective returns. From 1925
through today, cash investments generated average returns of 3 percent a
year, bonds averaged a little over 5 percent and stocks averaged about
11 percent."
--http://www.401khelpcenter.com/mpower/feature_100901.html
Stock or equity mutual funds: Such funds are pooled amounts of money
that are invested in stocks. Stocks represent part ownership, or equity,
in corporations, and the goal of stock ownership is to see the value of
the companies increase over time.
* Risk: Stocks can and do lose 10-30% of their value in a matter of
days. However, if you stick with big U.S. companies, you should
be fine over the long term.
* Return: 10.7% average, with years as bad as -43.59% and as good as
+52.83%.
-- http://www.fool.com/money/401k/401k02.htm
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klg
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response 94 of 96:
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Feb 4 01:42 UTC 2006 |
A Roth 401(k), if your employer makes it available, allows an employee
to put up to the annual IRS 401(k) (in 2006, that's $15k - or $20k if
you were born before 1957) limit into the plan. Combined employee
contributions to a regular 401(k) acct and a Roth 401(k) acct cannot
exceed the annual limit. What's good for a lot of people is that unlike
a Roth IRA, the Roth 401(k) can be used regardless of how much you earn
annually.
If the after-tax plan you had last year, though, is the same as the
after-tax plan you have this year, then it's not a Roth 401(k). Your
employer would have told you if it is making a Roth 401(k) available.
Chances are, it's not. Very few employers are making them available due
to (1) the admin cost and hassle, (2) the expected low employee use
rate and (3) as it now stands, they won't be allowed after 2010.
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gull
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response 95 of 96:
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Feb 4 06:26 UTC 2006 |
I'm not rich enough to play with the market the way Motley Fool and
similar sites suggest. My stock investments are all in mutual funds,
mostly index funds. Individual stock picking is an entertaining way to
gamble, but it's not my thing. I don't play the lotto, either.
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