Remember going away to summer camp as a kid? Growing up as I did in Minnesota, my parents and I looked forward to summer camp every year.
My summer camps always involved sports. I went to basketball camp in my grade school years and football camp in my high school years.
Those camps gave kids the chance to get back to the basics of the game. I looked forward to being able to spend a whole week of my summer focusing on the development of better habits playing the sport I loved.
I knew that if I spent the time developing my skills, I would have more confidence to make better decisions later on in the year when the season started.
This summer, when your kids are off at summer camp, it would be a good idea for you to spend a little of your free time getting caught up on your current holdings in your company 401(k) retirement plan account.
I am not talking about spending the whole week studying your company 401(k) account. I am talking about taking just a little bit of that free time you have during summer camp week to get a better idea of how much risk you are taking now in your company retirement plan account.
You only want to take as much stock market risk now as the economic and stock market cycles allow for. You don’t know your risk level until you take the time to sit down and look over the content of the mutual funds you own in your company retirement plan account.
There are plenty of investment professionals who are concerned about the lack of growth in the U.S. economy. If the current economic weakness translates over to the U.S. stock markets, you don’t want to be late to the game of preserving your company retirement plan account principal.
Don’t repeat the historic stock market losses many individual company retirement plan account participants endured during the 2007-2009 stock market decline.
So, take your 401(k) to summer camp. Sit down in front of your most recent quarterly company retirement plan account statement for a couple of hours when the kids are at summer camp.
Ric Lager
Lager & Company, Inc.
