Saturday, January 9, 2010

401(k)

One of the nice things about working is I now have a new toy to play with, a 401(k). For years I have payed quite a bit of attention to theorizing about investment, so now it is time to try to put some of that knowledge to work.

The first rule I decided on is not to move around money I have previously invested. I easily fall victim to one fad or another, and some of them are probably correct, but I just don't think I can decide how well my investment strategies were for at least twenty years. So ill leave money put to see how the strategy I picked worked. Any attempts at timing the market,  or changing the ratio of investments will only be done with new contributions. 

I ended the year at $3400 after including matching contributions and this years gains. While I have moved around my future contributions a lot I have mostly stuck with two rules: diversify as much as possible, pay as little in fees as possible. 

As of now I am at:
Bonds 19%
Large U.S. Stocks 33%
Mid U.S. Stocks 27%
Small U.S stocks 1%
International Stocks 20%(12% Asian 8% European)

Mostly I would look at the expenses for every fund in the category and pick the cheapest one. So the U.S. Large and Mid Stocks are all in Index funds. The bonds are mostly in a really cheap Vanguard fund, and so on.   

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