Retirement Planning / My 401k balance is down a lot. Should I pause contributions?
W
21May 13, 2022
My 401k balance is down a lot. Should I pause contributions?
And I'm maxing it out. Not feeling so good about it obviously. Thoughts on that? I am thinking to pause contributions until things feel more stable in a few months maybe? Or is that a really bad idea? I'm not sure.
Replies (15)
A
293May 13, 2022
@Wayne46S, actually if anything you should double down now in market downturns. Since you're already maxing it out, there is not much further you can go, but please stay the course and don't panic in a volatile market like this one. This could be a great buying opportunity of a lifetime (I hope I'm right:-).
W
21May 13, 2022
@armandoHD5, 👍 needed someone to say it like this. Had I pulled out I would have missed today's massive rally.
P
0Aug 10, 2022
@armandoHD5, love that, double down! If a sweater you were eyeing were to drop it's price from $30 to $15, you would probably jump at the chance to buy, right? It's the same thing here! The market got cheaper and we should at minimum keep having those contributions get deducted from our pay and even increase it in times like this!
C
110May 22, 2022
@Wayne46S, everything is down so I wouldn't react to that. Continue investing and don't check your account!
W
21May 22, 2022
@CruiseAO4, yeah I suppose we are all down!
C
110Jun 11, 2022
@Wayne46S, right, we're all in the same boat and it's only a matter of time before things start looking up. May seem dire now but things can only go back up from here on out although this market has room for more volatility thanks to this persisting inflation.
J
23May 24, 2022
@Wayne46S, how do you know when to go back in? It's nearly impossible to know when the market has bottomed.
W
21May 31, 2022
@JanaPRY, thank you! I'll stick this out. Had I pulled out when I posted this, I would have missed all last week's gain.
K
28May 19, 2022
@Wayne46S, The saying that timing the market never works is so true. 90% of professional stock pickers can't beat the S&P so why should we think we do it? Keep contributing, esp if you have more than 10 years before you plan to retire.
T
217Jun 04, 2022
@Wayne46S, I can't say one way or another for sure since I don't know anything about you. But as a rule of thumb I wouldn't touch this. The only reason you might want to is if your allocations are off and you need to re-allocate. You might actually want to increase your contributions during a time like this...
W
21Jun 11, 2022
@Tasha992, Thanks I appreciate your opinion.
C
65Jun 11, 2022
@Wayne46S, I just did the opposite by upping my contribution from 4% to 7%. I'd only do that after you have saved 6 months of emergency padding.
W
21Jun 11, 2022
@CraigGQZ, I get this. For someone who is new to investings the idea of investing more or "doubling down" is really counterintuitive but in reality it's how people build their wealth it seems.
P
10Jul 21, 2022
@Wayne46S, No if anything you should contribute more, but only if you personal situation allows for you to contribute more.
D
1,075Nov 10, 2022
@Wayne46S, No I don't think you should. If anything you should contribute more to your 401k as long as you can!