Suggestions For Better Ways To Invest 401K Dollars

By Gregory Miller


Many older people look forward to the day they can finally retire. In order to enjoy this retirement, they need to have funds put aside to make sure they can continue to live the life they have built up. Younger people should begin putting money aside as soon as possible in order to achieve their goals by the time they're ready to retire. There are several ideas for better ways to invest 401K money and make sure that your retirement is fully funded.

Starting early is the top piece of advice given. By adding just a little bit of money each month to the fund, you can use the compound interest to grow your money exponentially. Waiting until after your thirties to create a retirement fund will require quite a bit larger investment in order to catch up. It's a great habit to start early and continue until you retire.

Many employers have matching funds. The employer matching is usually between one and five percent match of your contributions. This means whatever you contribute to your salary, up to the matching percentage, the employer will match it dollar for dollar. For instance, if your matching amount is two percent of your salary, the minimum you should put into the company 401k is two percent. The company will match it and make it a total of four percent without costing you anything extra. That's basically free money.

Compound interest goes hand in hand with an early contribution. The reason for starting smaller but early works is because even the interest you earn starts to earn more interest. The principal amount is added to the interest from last year before the next year's interest is calculated. This is the basics of money earning money.

Evaluate your risk tolerance when investing. Many different plans have different growth rates. The rates are based on risk factors. The risk is that if the stock market goes down, your fund might lose money and therefore not provide growth. However, if the market goes up, the investment of the fund is in higher yielding stock that provides a higher payout. There are funds that range in little to no risk all the way up to high risk. Each type of risk offers growth based on the risk factors. Low risk offers smaller gains. High risk offers higher gains.

Paying taxes is required, now or later. The question is when do you want to pay taxes on your money. When you retire and have no other income, it can be a pain to also have to pay taxes on your retirement money. Roth IRAs pay taxes as you go. This eliminates the need to pay after you retire. However, leaving more money in the fund by not paying taxes could provide higher growth over time by waiting to pay taxes until you retire. There are benefits to both ways and it really comes down to planning and personal preference.

Never ever pull money out of your retirement. This advice is critical. Even taking a loan from the fund can prove difficult to repay in time to avoid penalties. There are usually severe penalties to removing or closing your fund before your retirement age. This also means the money won't be there when you're ready to retire.

Reaching those golden years of retirement is a big goal and should be well funded. Taking the time to put money aside early and letting it grow over the years is a great way to get to that goal without having to stress. Leave the money alone until you're ready for it and you should really be able to enjoy your retirement.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment