Why Your 401(k) Still Hasn't Recovered

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You are disillusioned. I'm not partial, but I can't stand to hear another person blame George Bush! Stop blaming one party. Fannie and Freddie were put into place by the Democrats and are still being sustained by the Democrats. Guess who passed the reform for those institutions to lend out sub prime dollars (by the way it started in the 70's with a Democratic congress)? Yeah, we made a killing during the good years and as soon as all that debt turned sour, everyone blames George Bush. The good times of the Clinton era was fueled by DEBT. Gov't debt, company debt, and the average Joe's debt. The economy wasn't that great. We just borrowed as a country to get whatever we wanted when we wanted it...which fueled our growth. Everyone in this country who is a fool watches the news and points fingers at everyone else except themselves. They didn't need the HELOC to buy that car or big screened TV.
Now we are headed back in the right direction but everyone is still whining because it didn't happen overnight. GUESS WHAT?? REAL growth doesn't happen that way unless it's super inflated. WE are making progress but lots of people continue to say otherwise because they can't see it immediately. I thought that would be a lesson this country would have learned in our near crash....you can't always get what you want... not always right away anyway. Just stop blaming one guy - this started MANY years ago.
Kudos to you Mike for being smart about your own investments and not blaming investment companies.

Michelle of FL 12:42PM July 18, 2010

And . . . then-along came Jonesssss. AKA - the Rich get Richer at yur/our expense, ... jus like ALWAYS, even before, except noww they cn give US even less.
Man are WE fools? 4 shore! Many x over, FOOLS because WE keep letting GOVT & BIG BUS/BRO du it 2 us BIG-TIME.
For all of the DEVOUT CHRISTIAN FOLKS that we claim to be, (residing in the USA), we are pretty P/poor Caretakers/Followers/do'ers!
AMEN

denko of IA 12:03PM July 18, 2010

Sorry, Jlynn, but the housing mess occurred on the Republican's watch, not the Democrats. They failed to oversee and regulate it. When George Bush first took over the White house, he got a surplus handed him from Bill Clinton, and he blew it all on the needless Iraq war, and was the first president ever to fight a war without raising taxes to support it. Hello deficit and national debt! Let's hope the electorate isn't fooled by the Republicans attempt to shirk their responsibility for all this, and the "party of No" is diminished enough in November, so Congress can finally dig us out of this mess! Pols in Washington who continue to say "NO" to the American middleclass are NOT their friends, and need to be voted out so the nation can finally move ahead!
God willing, indeed!

George of MN 3:31PM June 11, 2010

Hi my name is Mike.
I know the pain you all are going through. Last year when we had our little crash ha ha, I had lost 50% of my 401k funds. That included my contribution and company matching. The last time this had happened to me was 911 crash. When that crash came it was a 20% loss for me. It took 5 years to get back to where I was.
That included my contributions and company match. I was lucky this time, I stayed in, I managed to recover my loss in less than a year. I pulled out when I hit break even. If you are one of the people who bought the bottom of the crash last year I feel bad for you. The only thing I can suggest is to wait until we get a huge correction to the the market and then put your money back in. I am not a market analyst or a mutual fund manager, but I do have common sense. I have been watching the market for about 10 years now, so you may consider me a expert in finance investment. I still have thousands of dollars in the market. If you wish I will try to get you back to where your you where for free. If there is a company that wishes to hire me please contact me at mk_martell
@yahoo.com This is a no bs offer and only serious people will be replied to.
GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF OF YOU.
MIKE

mike martell of NH 5:51PM June 03, 2010

I have made money during the fall & partial recovery of the 401k. I do this by monitoring my 401k allocations daily. I keep a record of each of the Fidelity fund prices, when the price of the fund is peaking to record high, I transfer all the money into another fund and at lower Share price. When the I see the market having trouble, I transfer all my cash into Bonds & Inflation protected T-Bills. By using this method, I made a 54.7% return on my 401k in last 2 years.
Bottom line, protect your assets - when was the last time your 401k fund manager called you and told you to move your money before a market correction or crash?? let me guess...never!

Daniel of FL 8:05AM June 03, 2010

I will be retiring shortly. Yes, it is disappointing that things are not what many of us thought they would be. The most difficult aspect of this development is the fact that many of us were not responsible for the lack of ethics that pervades our government and financial institutions. Fortunately, I am educated, have made some good financial decisions and have lived below my means. The accounting scandal (I blame the gov't and the industry itself), 9-11 (I blame the terrorist) and this recession (I blame the Democrats for the Housing mess and the Republicans for the lack of financial controls on certain industries) have left many of us fed-up. November will be the deciding factor as to whether I remain and/or step it up in the stock market. If the primaries are any indication, I believe the electorate is awake and will attempt to set things right.
God willing!

Joyce Lynn of MA 2:00PM May 25, 2010