Is it worth it to invest in my company's 401K?
543409
First of all, ccontributions are made with pretax income, so 401(k)s are great (as opposed to investing in a mutual fund with your after-tax money.  You can contibute up to $15,000 per year.  Also, check to see what Humana's company match plan is.  Most companies will match a portion of your contributions...free money!  And if you leave the company, you can roll over your balance into an IRA (without being taxed), and begin taking withdrawals at retirement age.  401(k)s are simply the best investment alternative...invest there before anything else.\n\nRoth contributions are made with after-tax dollars.
57714
This is just my opinion :)...\n\n401K reasonable. Couple of things may happen...where the company contribution goes and where your contribution goes. Also, generally takes 3 to 5 years to be fully vested so you "get" the entire company contribution. If you go this way, take advantage of the maximum employer contribution. It's free money!\n\nROTH IRA  Taxed before you put it in so you aren't taxed when you take it out (Traditional IRA's are the exact opposite). Suggest you contact a broker, start a monthly contribution to a ROTH in a solid mutual fund. A good broker will sit with you and discuss your risk tolerance.\n\nIf you can afford to do a 401 and an IRA, do both.\n\nRegardless of what plan you choose, get started now and make monthly contributions.
1022786
Invest in your companies 401K plan. If they match your contribution, they can double your money right away.  Ask you HR person for details.
897653
Your investment is in an IRA so there won't be a taxable distribution (unless you pull the money out of the investment).  Sometimes there can be account closure fees that mutual funds may charge or the financial institution you are working with.  If you are in a bad investment, it can be worth any fee to move into a stronger investment.  Look for long-term results rather than just the past 3 or 5 years.  Good Luck.
592059
10% penalty plus taxes...so, yeah, at least 30% penalty. \n\nProject returns 50%....which will be taxable, right? So, if you are in 25% bracket, you lose 25% of your return...so, now you are down to a net gain of 37 1/2%.\nSo, it costs 30% to access your money to make a 37 1/2% return....\ntherefore...\nyou net 7 1/2% return. My guess is....you stand a decent chance of making 7 1/2% INSIDE the 401/k and saving yourself all the hassle of moving the $$ around.
653896
There are pros and cons of variable annuities as an investment.  I think the key here is whether your employer has a matching program (like you contribute 5%, and they match 5%).  If yes, you should still join, variable annuities or not, you are getting free money from them.  If there is no matching, you should forget about them and open your own 401K account else where and invest in regular mutual funds yourself.
816615
I would not stop funding the 401K all together but you could split the difference, make sure you are catching everything that your employer will match (no need to throw away free money) if you were  investing more then that cut it back and use the extra to pay your bills off faster but commit to this and follow though. this is going to be tough, Good luck!!
195053
You should put in at least as much as you need to in order to receive your company's match.  If you put in less than, then you're walking away from "free" money.  Anything over that amount is a personal investment decision.  My old company had a terrible 401(k) program with few, and mostly bad, investment options.  I put in enough to get my company match, and then put more money into an IRA.  My current company has a great matching program, and terrific investment options, so I'm maxing out my contribution.  \n\nThe short answer is put away as much as you can.  The longer it sits in an investment that's growing, the more money you'll have at the end.
453126
I'm not a financial advisor, so you should check on this, but I believe that you will pay early withdrawal penalties plus income taxes at your current base rate on whatever you take out for whatever reason before you are 59 1/2.\n\nYou can take a loan against it, but you'll  have to pay that back.  I think you can also divide the entire value by how many years you likely have left to live (from actuarial tables) and take annual "substantially equal payments" without penalty.  All in all, very, very bad idea to use 401(k) money before you are at least 59 1/2.  \n\nCheck the Motley Fool for sound advice on paying off your loans.
12817
It depends on how old you are.  Most retirement plans depend on the economic conditions at the time of retirement.  One person can take their 401k out this year and might get more money then the person taking it out the year after.  See, its all economics.  On top of the economics, its what you invest in.  When you put money in a 401k, you have experts putting it into mutual funds for you.  They take alot from you.  So, theoretically, you can buy your own stocks and make a heck of a lot more.  And instead of investing in them for 45 years, you can invest for 8 years and make the same amount or more.  This is true, however, you dont know what to invest in.  So, I suggest you start small and on something a bit more safe.  I will show you 2 or 3 of the best ways to do this.  I am a rare coin expert.  These ways are not fool proof because the economy goes up and down in a cycle of booms and busts.  But, they do cut out the risk because you only have 10 years left.  \nThe first method is through gold.  I suggest you buy the physical form and not stocks or anything of that nature.  You can buy the physical form and allow the sellers to store it for you.  Do not allow them to store it for you if they are just a small company.  I would rather take the physical gold with me.  There is a fee to take this gold with you though.  But, its better then not having it.  With gold, its always hovering at about $278 to about $315.  I would say that anything less then $290 is a good buy.  When you buy, they always tack on an additional couple of dollars because the gold was assayed into a gold bar for you.  When gold is high, they add like $4.  When it is low, they might add $7 dollars.  Dont worry about this.  Just pay for it.  I would rather buy bullion coins then the gold bars in the packages.  They cost $10 dollars above the gold value in the bar form.  Now, there are certain gold bullion coins that you should and shouldnt buy.  Its always best to go for the pure gold ones.  The reason being is, sometimes a jewelry store will take it in, but they will only pay for its content because they were going to melt it anyways.  And if it wasnt pure 24k, then they might have to take a couple dollars off to turn it into 18k or 14k, etc etc.  So, the purest ones are the Canadian gold coins, and the Chinese gold coins.  When gold goes down, you buy, when they go up, you sell.  Its that simple.  You cant lose because gold goes up and down all the time.  So, dont sell if you lose.  Just keep it there.  Whats the point of saving if you are going to dip into it?  So, over the course of 10 years, I know you can make a sizeable profit.  The question is large or small because you will not know when to buy and sell.  All you see is a profit when you sell, and you see a cheap price when you buy.  What you do is buy when its around $290 or less.  Sell, when it goes up.  And with the excess, you can buy more gold.  Just continue doing this.  I know for a fact that you can start off with $3000 dollars today and make at least 20 trades in the next 10 years and make no less then 100% of your investment back.  Gold is currently at $500 plus.  What if you bought it when it was $290 or less, which is what is preferred.  Thats over 200 per ounce.  So, in a year or two, do you see that you would have had over 5k?  You just have to wait till it goes down to around the 300 mark.  I mean, even if you buy for 290, and it goes up to 310 in 2 weeks, you can still sell and make 300 dollars.  That would add almost another ounce to your portfolio.  Continue to do this until you are about to retire.  During the last year, you will be waiting for the highest price you can find to sell.  Another thing to look into is instead of gold coins, you can buy grain gold.  They are just little balls of pure gold.  They are usually a couple dollars cheaper, but they are hard to obtain sometimes.  \nSecond way of investing is buying coins from the US mint.  They will be the cheapest price you pa
922819
Well, you're doing better than we are, I'll say that.\n\nAs for being on the "right track" it all depends on what your goals are. Investing and saving can get really complicated, so I recommend you talk to a financial advisor. They have alternatives for you that you hadn't thought before.\n\nMy manager was in a situation where she had an old 401k earning lousy interest (around 3%) for years, and is now making at least 12% on it. It's a higher risk, but she decided it was the best for her goals.\n\nAnother benefit right now is compeitions is pretty fierce for deposits, so if you do choose to go with your local bank or investment firm, chances are you can get a great deal.
79238
If I were you, I'd not take a whole lot of stock in a pension.  Remember, IBM just froze theirs and they are a financially sound company.  If I were you, I'd make sure I had enough money invested to make sure I could retire well - Don't believe it.
261331
I myself am a small business owner - self employed and opened up a ROTH IRA through www.sharebuilder.com about a year ago. The cost can vary depending on what plan you choose and how much you choose to invest every month. I myself invest $120/mo. and there is an additional $25 stock fund fee every year. My account value is nearly $2000. I strongly urge you to take a look at www.sharebuilder.com for your IRA investment needs. I've been very impressed with them. It's perfect for small business owners primarily because there are no minimum investment fees and their portfolio is very versatile.
1163265
Do you have a rainy-day fund?  If not, I'd focus on saving money into a rainy-day fund in case you lose your job or your car needs work.\n\nWould the company match more if you put more into your 401-k?  If so, try to at least get all the company match.  Otherwise, consider a Roth IRA since you probably don't pay any income taxes anyway with two kids and their associated $1000 tax credit.  There's no point in trying to reduce taxes in a tax-deferred account if you don't pay any to begin with.
124590
Well the PF that is deducted is paid in 2 tranches, check if you got both your tranches also.\n\nYou should ideally get your share + Company share + interest
802098
This is a great company to invest in.....They are gaining market share. As an employee - if you are skilled - it might be a great Future. \n\nUsually rewards follow performance.   :o )
1162875
http://www.tradingresources.org/ira-401K-investing.htm\n\nshould be able to help answer your question.\n\nMoni