My 401k plan requires me to divvy up my distribution of funds over stocks, goalmanagers, or whatever. I’ve been watching from day to day how this list of options is doing on the market and I’ve picked the ones that are growing and doing the best. My question is, is it better to leave them alone for the entire quarter, or sell them when they start to drop and redist. into lower stocks that are starting to go back up?
401k is like a scab to me… i’m going to keep picking it… but i want to know really what is the best approach…
Timing the market is a fools game. Invest on a regular schedule (payroll deduction every month or paycheck is best), select a variety of different types of funds, and ignore it till you quit.
That’s my advice, FWIW. Remember with your employer’s contribution you are already making a (fill in employer’s contribution percentage here)% return*. Whatever you make off the market is just gravy on top of that. Are you going to drive yourself crazy over 1% or 2% gain? What’s the point?
*Example: my employer matches 50% up to the first 6% of your salary. So I am autmatically making 50% return on the first 6% of may salary that I put in. The rest… isn’t worth the stress. JMHO.