We have all seen this example in Minnesota as we drive to work or to the grocery store. We have seen it on a four lane highway or on residential street. We have seen in cars that pass us or cars that we pass.
The young driver is on their cell phone texting while driving.
Young people are the worst, right? They are the ones that think they can actually drive 65 miles per hour, in traffic, changing lanes.
Besides being illegal, texting while driving is extremely dangerous. Any level of common sense would tell you that texting while driving is extremely dangerous to any driver on the road at the time.
The same level of common sense should be applied to the management of your Minnesota company 401(k) retirement plan account. I frequently meet with individual investors who are showing the same level of dangerous behaviors in managing their retirement money as the drivers that text while driving.
Individual company retirement plan participants who don’t pay attention to the U.S. economic and stock market cycles are one big negative event away from another historic company 401(k) retirement plan accident.
Just like the most recent stock market decline. The major U.S. indices are just 4% off their all-time high price levels. Several years of stock market gains hang in the balance every single day.
Most individual company 401(k) retirement plan participants are too busy trying to manage their family, kids, grandkids, school, and work schedules while at the same time trying to keep an eye on their investments. In most cases, the company 401(k) retirement plan account is the biggest attention casualty in their lives.
You should not text while you drive, even though some people do it every day. You should not be responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars of your company 401(k) retirement plan money if you don’t have a game plan to manage the downside risk.
You are driving in stock market traffic with the smartest investment professionals in the world. The sophisticated stock market computer technology available today is beyond the reach of individual investors. Every day the stock market is moving at the equivalent of 65 miles per hour and is changing lanes frequently.
Right now, you need to pay more attention to the amount of risk you are taking in the stock market. Your company 401(k) retirement plan account is at risk.
Ric Lager
Lager & Company, Inc.
