This Thanksgiving holiday weekend, you are very likely to find at least a few minutes of down time. Here is a quick idea to protect and profit from those few minutes alone.
Review your current company 401(k) retirement plan holdings. Open your most recent quarterly paper statement you received in the mail. Or log in to your company 401(k) retirement plan account website.
Find the column or the tab that lists past investment returns. You are very likely to notice a huge gap in past investment performance of at least one of your current company 401(k) retirement plan mutual fund holdings.
You currently own at least one turkey mutual fund. Maybe more.
The idea is to sell the worst company 401(k) mutual fund that you currently own. That’s right, shoot the turkey right now. Call the company 401(k) retirement plan provider’s 800 number, or sell the mutual fund online.
Most individual company 401(k) retirement plan participants own the same stocks and bonds in multiple mutual funds. The end result is too much expense for little or no investment performance. You are not getting what you are paying for.
There is no need to own six, eight, or ten company 401(k) retirement plan mutual funds. You don’t reduce your investment risk. All you do is to lower your investment returns. And worse, it costs you a lot more annual expenses.
The current stock market levels are near all-time highs. Selling the worst performing mutual fund now will preserve your 2016 stock and bond market gains. Better yet, you have money to reinvest in better mutual fund options after the next stock market pullback.
There is no reason to be positive or negative right now on the stock or bond market. There are good reasons to own fewer and better mutual funds in your company 401(k) retirement plan account going forward.
Shoot the turkey mutual fund. Put the proceeds safely away in the money market account option. Heat up some leftovers.
Ric Lager
Lager & Company, Inc.
