by Daniel Kittell | News, Retirement, Tax Planning - Individual
“Set it and forget it” is a common approach when it comes to a workplace 401(k), yet it likely will play a substantial role in the financial security of your future. Consistently contributing to your 401(k), and learning how to manage it, will set you on the course to living golden in your retirement years. Below are some tips to help you make the most of your workplace 401(k).
Contribute to the Match
Employers often match contributions up to a certain point, which means you’re getting free money for participating in the program. You should contribute at least up to this point. Beyond this, a typical rule of thumb is to add about 15% to your 401(k) plan each year, including company contributions (i.e. if your company matches 3%, plan to contribute 12%).
Boost Your Investment Savvy
Expense Ratio? Risk Tolerance? Whether you’re going it alone or recruiting the help of a financial professional, you need to have a basic knowledge of investing. Before filing away the information sent to you by your plan, be sure to read through it and look up any terms you don’t understand.
Get Help with Account Management
Of course, having a basic understanding of investment terms will take you only so far. If your investment knowledge is shaky, it might be worth it to recruit the help of a professional. Some 401(k) plans even offer free advice from a professional, or they will provide model portfolios to follow.
Save with a Target Date Fund
The simplest approach to a 401(k) plan is to allocate savings to the target date fund with the date that corresponds to the year closest to the year you reach age 65. With this low maintenance approach, the fund automatically adjusts as you get closer to retirement.
Learn to Rebalance
If you’re not partaking in the target date fund, you will need to perform routine maintenance on your 401(k), which is what “rebalancing” means. Provided you have a mix of stocks and bonds, you will have to buy and sell assets as they move up or down in value. Generally, participants have the option to automatically rebalance through your plan’s website, typically with a quarterly or annual rebalancing.
Rethink Withdrawals
Though you may be able to take a loan from your 401(k), they usually have to be paid back within five years, with interest. The risks of borrowing from your 401(k) come when you lose your job or change employers, because the loan will be due almost immediately. If you can’t repay the loan, you’ll be taxed and burdened with a 10% penalty for early withdrawal. Not to mention, by taking out a loan on your 401(k), you are shortchanging your retirement savings in a way that could be extremely difficult to catch up.
Mix It Up
Your 401(k) should be only one prong in your retirement plan. Your home and other assets, funds from a side hustle, and other investment accounts like an IRA might be additional prongs that make a complete picture of your financial future. Spreading your assets over multiple income streams will yield better returns, so if you switch jobs at some point, consider whether rolling your 401(k) into your new employer’s plan makes the most sense for your situation, or if you should put those funds into an IRA, which may give your more investment options.
by Pete McAllister | News, Retirement, Tax, Tax Planning - Individual
Financial advisors commonly advise their clients to seek investments with high returns in order to maximize their retirement funds, but most investors don’t realize that high fees are eating into those earnings.
While fund fees have steadily declined in recent years, many investors don’t realize how much they’re paying in fees to begin with or how much these expenses and other investment costs are eating into their retirement savings. Remember that as your investment returns compound over time, so do the fees, which means your payments could accumulate to 2% or more.
Below are some of those hidden fees and what you can do to avoid them.
Expense Ratios
This refers to the annual fees charged by all mutual funds, index funds, and exchange-traded funds as a percentage of your investment in the fund. Expense ratios apply to all types of retirement funds, such as your 401(k), individual retirement account, or brokerage account, and they cut a percentage of your investment in the fund depending on its annual yield.
Mutual Fund Transaction Fees
This is a fee you pay a broker to buy and sell some mutual funds on your behalf, similar to a “trade commission” that a broker would charge to buy or sell stock.
Sales Load
These fees surface when a broker successfully sells a fund to you that has a sales charge or commission.
Administrative Fees
These fees are associated with maintaining your portfolio or brokerage account.
Brokerage Account Inactivity Fees
If your account allows you to buy and trade at any time, you could face an unexpected inactivity charge if you don’t trade for a few months.
To determine whether your retirement fees are too high, check the fee disclosure and look at the expense ratios on the mutual funds you are invested in. Likewise, check these fees before you invest in a mutual fund you are interested in.
To help balance your investment accounts and minimize your retirement fees, take advantage of lower-fee mutual funds if your 401(k) plan already has an expense ratio of over 1%.
Finally, be aware that fees may also be related to how much advice you’re getting and where that advice is coming from. Human advisors are more expensive than robo-advisors, and an actively managed fund will cost more than an index fund or an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
by Stephen Reed | Estate Planning - Individual, News, Retirement, Tax Planning - Individual
For many, even hearing the word investing seems like a frightening proposition filled with great risk and little reward. While investing your hard earned money certainly involves patience and a willingness to learn some key principles, it does not have to be the intimidating process that many make it out to be. According to research, there are four concerns people often cite when choosing not to invest: lack of knowledge or experience, lack of pricing transparency, distrust of the financial industry and the sheer complexity of investing. Below, we discuss ways to conquer each of these concerns and begin investing well.
LACK OF KNOWLEDGE/EXPERIENCE
We can’t sit here and act like investing is a walk in the park. It takes time, patience and at least a general understanding of some finance and investment principles. However, you do not need to have your MBA or have worked in finance for 10 years to grasp the fundamentals of investing. Luckily, we live in an age where you have a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips. A simple internet search can return articles, blogs, podcasts and more that discuss concepts such as long-term compounding of returns or diversification to lower risk. Solid research combined with common sense can put you well on your way to investing sensibly.
LACK OF PRICING TRANSPARENCY
Surely, there are often additional charges, such as fixed index annuities and variable annuities, that can seem confusing or excessive when considering the cost of investing. However, there are plenty of investment structures out there with clearly defined and labeled fees. Sites like morningstar.com allow you to search for investment quotes and discover the annual expenses and sales charges associated with that fund, providing you with a clear directive and comparison to invest where it makes the most sense for you.
DISTRUST OF THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY
Markets shift on a daily, sometimes even hourly basis, and there are financial advisers out there who take advantage of people’s lack of knowledge, so while a dose of skepticism may be healthy when you begin investing, it should not stop you entirely. If you understand upfront that the markets will indeed fluctuate, sometimes dramatically, so you must remain patient, and know that every investment firm may not have your best interest in mind, you will enter the market cautiously and avoid falling into unknown investment traps.
COMPLEXITY OF INVESTING
Many financial firms will advise a plan of constantly scanning the market and jumping in and out of funds based on new data to be the smartest investor, a process that truly does sound complicated and confusing. However, while this process may work for some, it is not a one-size-fits-all formula. There are a variety of options, from total stock or bond market index funds to target fund portfolios, where you can build wealth for your future with less hassle and constant shifting.
Many let the fear of failure stop them from even trying, but you don’t have to let your fears control you. Be smart, consider your options and do some solid research to mitigate uncertainties, then get those feet wet and start planning and investing for your future, today.
