The $50 question: What are the most important things you can do to grow your retirement savings?
Last week, we conducted some focus group sessions to see how people who didn’t know anything about Smart401k reacted when presented with our website and our service. What was unique about this group from our perspective was that they didn’t ask to find out about our service – we were coming to them to gauge their reactions and understand their needs and values regarding retirement savings and investing.
We learned a lot, and not only about the strengths and weaknesses of our website and how we describe our service. We also learned that people have different perspectives about what the most important things are you can do when saving and investing for retirement.
Instead of just telling you what our focus group thought, or what we at Smart401k believe the best practices are, we’d like to ask you what you think – In your words. Just tell us what you think are the three most important actions you can take to positively impact your retirement savings investments and why. At the conclusion of the survey we’ll send a $50 Starbucks Gift Card to the person who gives us the best response (in our opinion).
In addition, we’ll put a selection of the responses as comments to this blog entry. Let us know if you don’t want us to publish your name and we’ll be sure to exclude it before posting your response. If you are more comfortable just emailing us your response rather than commenting on this blog entry, please send it to info@smart401k.com.
We’ll close this contest/survey on Monday, September 22nd and send out the Gift Card shortly afterwards. Thanks, and good luck!
September 13th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
1) Keep fees to an absolute minimum by utilizing no-load funds and ETF’s
2) Diversify your portfolio of stocks and other assets
3) Don’t try to beat the market, 95% of the pro’s don’t beat the market. Your risk
increases dramatically when you try to beat the market.
4) This one’s a bonus; use covered calls and cash covered puts to increase your returns
and minimize your risk.
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:54 pm
From Tim Botica, submitted Mon 9/15/2008 11:24 AM:
Stay invested no matter how volatile the market is. Retirement is a long term investment.
Contribute more dollars to your retirement fund(if possible) even in a down market.
Stay diversified and try to ignore all the media reports that discourage your will.
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:55 pm
From Mary Kay Edwards, submitted Sat 9/13/2008 11:58 AM
Is this how you comment on the Blog entry? I’ll try it. The 3 most important actions you can take to impact your retirement savings in my opinion are:
1. SAVE AS MUCH MONEY AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN! I currently raised my 401K contribution to the maximum. I only wish I would have reacted to do this sooner. I am 52. The way to make your savings grow is to HAVE MORE SAVINGS to work with-at my age anyways.
2. Make sure you get the best financial advise possible to make your hard earned savings dollars grow. I tried to pick the fund choices that my company offered in 401K but I did not do well.
3. Live smart but be happy. Don’t be excessive in spending on shopping, vacations, cars, homes, etc. My husband and I take 3-4 mini vacations per year none are extravagant cruises, etc. but they make us happy! I don’t shop (purchase) excessively but I make sure I buy myself one nice thing per paycheck. We could have went into debt in our late 40s to purchase another bigger, newer home but we’ve opted to stay at our current home which is paid off. It’s nice enough with no worries (only taxes & upkeep).
That’s my answer!
Thanks,
Mary Kay Edwards
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:57 pm
From Julie Barnhill, submitted Sat 9/13/2008 5:07 PM
1. Start saving the most you can afford, the earlier the better,
2. stay the course of remaining invested in the market with a diversified portfolio, and
3. seek advice from an investment professional.
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:59 pm
From JAMSMI5, submitted Mon 9/15/2008 6:40 AM
1. Stop focusing on the trees and look at the forest. There is so much noise in the market during volatile times. The noise just adds to the confusion and raises your anxiety level but effectively does little more. Put on the sound suppressors and keep in mind what your goal is. Long term retirement planning.
2. When the market is down, no matter how painfully, there is a sale happening in damaged stock (not damaged companies). It is very hard to run into a burning building when everyone else is running out but that in fact has its rewards in the long run. Do your homework. Learn the fundamentals. If you cannot read a balance sheet (to start), you are doing yourself a disservice.
3. Assess your risk tolerance. If you can’t stand the heat…..
September 23rd, 2008 at 6:00 pm
From Frank Strauss, submitted via email on Sun 9/14/2008 1:46 PM
Invest early and steadily
Time rewards the patient
Ignore daily gyrations of the market
Focus on long-term results, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, annual, 1-3-5-10 yr %
Invest in exceptional managers
They posess the knowledge, know-how and their long-term performance identifies their commitment, especially when they have their own money invested in that fund.
Thank You
Frank M Strauss
October 1st, 2008 at 11:56 am
Submitted by Matthew Chrispen on 9/16/2008 11:45:22 AM
Here are my answers – really targeted to those who don’t “participate” in their 401k choices:
1. Pay attention and care deeply about your retirement and future. Too many people are focused on the day to day run about with their business and family that they put off seriously considering what is best for them for future retirement planning. This should include how much time a person WANTS to spend and if they should hire an investment expert to manage for them to maximize the impact of their hard earned savings.
2. Set clear and realistic goals for the future and retirement and watch your pocketbook. While we are talking retirement savings, most people forget to budget and plan for other major life events, or even simple ones like buying a car. Working out a clear understanding of how much you make, how much you spend and where, is essential to changing lifestyles and living within our means. While I would love to have $100M for retirement, I cannot get there from here, but I can start by maximizing my income through disciplined and passionate lifestyle changes and being smarter about purchases, and with a properly managed budget, not need to dip into retirement savings for emergencies.
3. When in doubt, seek out help, and be patient and consistent. I have been tremendously frustrated finding information on mutual funds and stocks, and everyone has an angle. I have this idea that if someone is looking at something from an angle, they don’t see the whole picture, and by definition it is skewed. Gather as much information as possible, seek out help to define the confusing elements, and don’t give up. Set a plan, stick to it, and adjust it when necessary. Services like Smart401k help us DIY investors by providing good and rational guidance, while providing strong investment principles. Morningstar, Yahoo and other sites also help provide additional day to day information, but don’t bite on “hot” information, stay true to your plan and shift your portfolio only when you are confident market changes are impacting your personal goals.
Please let Adam know how much I appreciate his radio show and services like Smart401k… Someday soon, I hope I have enough of a purse to justify the Mutual Fund show.
Cheers,
Matthew Chrispen