5 Responses to “Managed Investments Funds Offer High Returns”

  1. Nick B says:

    My 401(k) has lost 44%. Please assist in re-balancing my fund allocations, or confirming my current choices.?
    My work sponsored 401 (k) has lost approx. 44 percent YTD this year, and while I know that I am by far not alone in this regard, I was reviewing my asset allocation to determine if I need to re-allocate my dollars. If any of you are savy in this regard, and would care to help and offer your suggestion and reasoning, I would appreciate it.

    I am 27, and would consider myself a risk taker, so don’t mind high risk tolerance investments…and obviously (and unfortunatle) have a while until retirement…but I also don’t want to throw good money after bad.

    Here are the options my work offers for my 401(k) plan, with their cummulative 3 month and YTD returns in the following format (Investment, 3 Month cumm return, YTD return, As of Date)

    Stock Investments
    Large Cap
    * DODGE & COX STOCK -12.10, -26.05, 09/30/2008
    FID BLUE CHIP GROWTH -9.22, -18.41, 09/30/2008
    FID FIDELITY -14.14, -22.87, 09/30/2008
    FID GROWTH & INCOME -14.30, -30.95, 09/30/2008
    * FID GROWTH COMPANY -18.31, -22.78, 09/30/2008
    FIDELITY MAGELLAN -21.27, -30.61, 09/30/2008
    * SPTN US EQ IND ADVAN -8.36, -19.29, 09/30/2008
    VANG PRIMECAP CORE -8.65, -13.23, 09/30/2008

    Mid-Cap
    FIDELITY LOW PR STK -12.17, -19.48, 09/30/2008
    * VANG CAP OPPS ADM -13.87, -20.06, 09/30/2008

    Small Cap
    TRP NEW HORIZONS -7.31, -17.31, 09/30/2008
    VANG SM VAL IDX INV 1.51, -8.72, 09/30/2008

    International
    * AF EUROPAC GROWTH R5 -17.99, -26.16, 09/30/2008
    AF NEW PERSPECT R5 -14.72, -22.36, 09/30/2008
    * FID DIVERSIFIED INTL -20.84, -28.50, 09/30/2008

    Specialty
    VANG REIT IDX INST 5.34, 1.92, 09/30/2008

    Blended Fund Investments:
    FID ASSET MGR 50% -9.15, -15.32, 09/30/2008

    FID BALANCED -12.63, -18.34, 09/30/2008
    VANG TARGET RET 2005 -5.26, -8.57, 09/30/2008
    VANG TARGET RET 2010 -6.32, -11.23, 09/30/2008
    VANG TARGET RET 2015 -7.13, -13.17, 09/30/2008
    VANG TARGET RET 2020 -7.87, -14.66, 09/30/2008
    VANG TARGET RET 2025 -8.66, -16.25, 09/30/2008
    VANG TARGET RET 2030 -9.46, -17.73, 09/30/2008
    VANG TARGET RET 2035 -9.92, -18.60, 09/30/2008
    VANG TARGET RET 2040 -9.87, -18.55, 09/30/2008
    VANG TARGET RET 2045 -9.90, -18.56, 09/30/2008
    VANG TARGET RET 2050 -9.88, -18.57, 09/30/2008
    VANG TARGET RET INC -4.21, -5.77, 09/30/2008

    Bond/Managed Income

    Stable Value
    FIDELITY MIP II CL 3
    7 day yield as of 09/30/2008 3.69% 0.94 3.10

    Income
    MGRS FREMONT BOND
    7 day yield as of 09/30/2008 N/A% -3.45 -2.40

    MY CURRENT ASSET ALLOCATION ARE ALL IN THE FOLOWING STOCK FUNDS:
    LARGE CAP DODGE & COX STOCK 30%
    LARGE CAP SPTN US EQ IND ADVAN 20%
    MID-CAP VANG CAP OPPS ADM 20%
    INTERNATIONAL AF EUROPAC GROWTH R5 10%
    INTERNATIONAL FID DIVERSIFIED INTL 20%
    Total: 100%

    Any help with new or better allocation would be helpful, or if it is worth it to take the losses now for future reward, I am not opposed to keeping as is. Also, if you would suggest a change, would you suggest leaving my current holdings as is…and only changing where I invest future contributions, or taking the money out of my holdings in the above funds and putting the dollars into new places?

    Thanks!

    - To clarify, I did not put this post on here in search of the one person who can predict the future and tell me what my 100% certain returns would be under each choice. I do however freely admit that there are others out there more experienced in 401k decisions than I am who might be able to offer an opinion to a young guy, not close to retirement, and willing to take the risk of investing in stock funds. I thank those of you who can offer such advice.

  2. Joe the Ice Cold Eskimo says:

    Nobody can tell you where to put your money to get the highest return. If anybody knew, we would all put our money there and be rich in a few months. Do your own research about the different companies, any suggestions are only opinions.. My opinion, buy star bucks and winnebago.. but that is just me…. I think both are way under valued.. that is just me..
    References :

  3. Sophie B says:

    I would leave it alone….when the market comes back, that will jump back up….

    Remember you still have the same number of shares, they just aren’t worth as much right now…
    the high risk stuff is cheap right now, i would continue on…
    References :

  4. Judy says:

    You’re 27 – you have tons of time before retirement. Now’s the time to be agressive. I’d leave it alone. It might well go down more before it comes back up, but if you pull out now you lock in some pretty large losses. And continuing to put money into the same funds allows you to dollar cost average, and buy in cheap right now.

    Good luck. Anything you do is a guess, But getting conservative now, when the market has lost so much and at your age, doesn’t make much sense to me. If thing are still this crazy in another two years, I might take a different attitude.
    References :

  5. Repairmanjack says:

    You have good funds. They all have low expense ratios.

    You need some bond exposure. Even 10% will help. Unless you have some money in bonds you are NOT diversified. Even if you think you have a high risk tolerance:

    If you want I can enter your portfolio into Morningstar’s portfolio tool and X-ray it, or you can do it yourself.

    Also, see what would have happened to your returns had you done this:

    LARGE CAP DODGE & COX STOCK 30%
    LARGE CAP SPTN US EQ IND ADVAN 20%
    MID-CAP VANG CAP OPPS ADM 10%
    INTERNATIONAL AF EUROPAC GROWTH R5 10%
    INTERNATIONAL FID DIVERSIFIED INTL 10%
    VANG REIT IDX INST 10%
    FIDELITY MIP II CL 3 10% (stable value)
    Total: 100%

    You could also buy the Vanguard target retirement date fund. If it’s too tame for you, keep out 10 – 20% for a stock fund.

    Also, read this and make sure there are no hidden fees in your 401k:

    http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2007/02/401k.html
    References :

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