Few Retirement Savers Left The Stock Market Last Year

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I am a state employee with a 403(b) plan. Like many employee sponsored retirement plans, the plan limits investments to certain mutual funds and money market funds. This limitation, by the way, applies to almost all 529 college plans as well. The problem for me is that in this climate of approaching economic catastrophe, I don't want my money tied up in anything but government guaranteed funds. So I stopped contributing to the retirement plan. It is better to pay taxes on your earnings now than risk losing them in risky investments, and, yes, money market funds are indeed risky (the government guarantee of certain money market funds is only temporary).

Ma Le of ME 12:03PM January 25, 2009

I stopped contributing to my 401(k) last November, but not because I wanted. Due to IRS regulations, I can not continue to contribute when my earned income stops, as mine did when I got laid off.

rick2rio of MN 9:48AM January 21, 2009

The big players count on the small players panicking and withdrawing at a loss that becomes their gain.
Retirees cannot afford to withdraw at sever losses.
They can only hang in there and wait for their little bit to regain the value they bought in with their collective small investments and only consider withdrawing at a proft like the big players do.

HillbillyBill of TN 12:28PM January 20, 2009

The big players count on the small players panicking and withdrawing at a loss that becomes their gain.
Retirees cannot afford to withdraw at sever losses.
They can only hang in there and wait for their little bit to regain the value they bought in with their collective small investments and only consider withdrawing at a proft like the big players do.

HillbillyBill of TN 12:28PM January 20, 2009