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Archive for February, 2013

Finished 1st Goal of 2013

February 22nd, 2013 at 02:30 pm

I just sent the final amount to my Roth IRA for 2012 so I have officially maxed by Roth. Sadly, its my first year doing so but should not be the last.

Next up on the agenda is paying off the credit cards. That really must wait till June so that won't be completed for awhile.

We are on track for DH 401k but I won't mark that off until its completed so that will be there till the end of the year.

I have no clue yet when we will finish the student loan, its too far out for an accurate read though I should be able to update in June.

My 401k - Me vs. the Professionals

February 14th, 2013 at 02:58 am

So my 401k likes to try to upsell me to the managed investments program versus my current do it myself. They ship me glossy, pretty brochures showing me what my current strategy produces in retirement income versus what their plan would provide me. They really should get a live person on the review board.

The last time they sent me a comparison, I was only contributing 10%. As a result, my plan only beat their plan by about $3k in retirement income per year (after all, I don't have to subtract their fees from my do it myself plan). This time, I am contributing 20%. They expect my current plan to make almost twice theirs in retirement income (my husband wants to frame that page).

You see, the managed program will never pull more than 10% of a person's income. Hard for them to compete with my larger contribution. So while they have a couple of questions at the bottom of the graph to ask those few whose current plan beats their plan if they are risking more short term loss (probably, but at my age, I should be) and whether I am willing to change my allocation on my own as I near retirement (why yes, I am), all they are really illustrating is that I am doing fine on my own and would do much worse with them.