Stocks & Investing

[mhsmith0]

There are some companies that have badly managed 401(k) plans for various reasons, but unless you're in such a company, you should be investing pretty solidly in that plan, and diversifying investments pretty well. For instance, I currently sock away 12% of salary in 401k, and split it between various indexes, plus an emerging markets fund (active managed only because we don't have an index for that).

Nice and diversified, and I pay zero attention to it. I also put a bit in an ira and an hsa, but not much and that's mire "investing for fun" type stuff than where my important savings go.

Also, paying off any kind of debt that has a high interest rate (especially credit cards) is super high priority for anyone who has that issue, even beyond long term tax advantaged savings.

[mhsmith0]

FWIW I think most peoples' 12 month ROI has been pretty good given the market. Most of my savings are in my 401k, and that has like a 26% ROI over the last year, and it's all various funds (mainly indexes). I've actually been drawing my investment mix a bit more towards bonds / stable value of late; my 401k is now 2% stable value, 5% bond index, the rest a mix of various indexes and one emerging markets actively fund (we don't get an emerging markets index option). most likely if the market continues to move up I'll shift towards 10%, 15%, maybe even 20% stable value / bond if things seem to be getting REALLY frothy (though still a clear majority in equities, US and international).