So, my 401K is down 46% since January 1st, 2008. I'm pissed sure, but I'm 33 so I have a lot of time to make it back thankfully. I could transfer everything out to a bond fund, but feel like then I would never have the chance to make it back so I'm just going to let it ride...

How is everyone else doing?

Looking good...years ago many folks laughed @ DH for working @ his city job for 30+ years when he could have made the big bucks elsewhere...but he starts collecting his retirement pay next month, and it has enough money in it fundwise to pay as promised (so they say) for at least the next 40 years...I will start collecting SS later this year...since I've not had any "real" income since 2001 this will be gravy on the potatoes for us...other than that pesky health insurance premium we now have to cough up twice a year...

I transferred a significant chunk of my retirement investments into bonds back in October. Because of that, I'm only down 25% since the end of 2007 (and almost all of that loss was before October). I'll wait until the market has a good month of steady growth before putting most of that back into stocks.

That's the nice thing about IRAs & 401k's - you can move the money around without having to worry about taxes. I'm letting my non-retirement investments ride it out because I don't want to worry about figuring out the taxes.

My Roth IRA is down about half, but it didn't have that much in it to begin with so I'm not really concerned with it. Ditto my 401(k). (Probably lost around 2 grand from those)

My main retirement account is a defined benefit plan, so while the downturn will affect its future growth it doesn't affect the current balance.

I just retired this past December, and I was fortunate to start changing my asset allocation to 50/50 about three years ago. That softened the blow. I have a public pension that that is healthy and I have fully paid medical that also provided the stability to go for it. When social security kicks in for my wife and I we will be in even better shape. We had planned very conservatively, with lots of cushions, so the bad horrible market did not cause us to change our plans.

Ugh! I was only counting the money I had at Vanguard. I still had quite a bit at Smith Barney, and combining everything together, I lost about 38% since the start of 2008!

glad to hear you finally took the plunge..retirement is great. I am working on keeping investments in line as much as possible but doesnt always pan out. Most all the monies I own I never plan on touching anyway.

Yes, I did finally pull the plug. You are right, it is great to have my time to myself, and to get paid to live, not to work. It is hard keeping track of the days though.

If we could just find the bottom of this market, I would feel a lot better. We have a bunch of little vacations planned to ease into retirement that I am looking forward to.

I don't know what day of the week it is or even care most of the time. Weird that now I have not worked a job in over 2 yrs.

I'm jealous! I'm sure that everyone feels this way, but I can't wait until retirement. But it seems ridiculous to have work suck for the next 30 years just so I can get a good retirement. I need to find a happy medium where I can enjoy my work and life now, and when I retire.

I'm way too far on the work side of the pendulum right now, but I know I am doing it for my family and so my wife can work part time to be around for the kids.... Sometimes it's a hard sacrifice.

My situation has been different than most people could do. First when I was working the income I became used to was fairly low considering the overall incomes people get used to. It sure helped and continues to do so that my wife collects ss disability for the rest of her life. Making some good financial moves as far as paying things off helped too. Having only 1 child who is grown and currently making huge money in his career helps too. Biggest one thing really is that I live and have become accustomed to living a very conservative lifestyle where not much money is needed to continue the same pace.

I was -15% for 2008, but I'm only 30 and have lots of time to recover.

Just SO glad I was smart enough NOT to let it buy company stock. My company dropped over 80% in 2008.

I do look forward to retirement, but you are right that it is also very important to enjoy life now, since none of us really know what the future holds.

The key is to find a job you like, that you feel good about doing, that pays enough to meet your obligations, and still have some left over to save, party, vacation, etc. I know, easier said than done, but if you can do that, life will be a lot more fun in general.

And yes, you can add me to the list of those who lost more than enough in the market over the past few months to buy a nice car.

That's most of what is hurting me, all my contribution matching is in company stock which is down 50% since Jan 1, 2009. It held up really well in '08 though, so most of it is recent.

Thats where I got hurt the most in decisions I have made. Besides 401k investments in company stock I had purchased 15k in actual stock for winn-dixie when I worked there. At the point where they went into bankruptcy the value of all stock became a big 0. I lost it all.

I wish it was only a car that I lost, more like a fleet

So are you guys saying that you are down XX% in your Retirement Plans OR does that include 401k's AND stocks held at brokerage firms as well?

I was counting all of my investments (IRAs, 401k's, and regular taxable investments) except for 529's (college for the kids) and my bank accounts.

Took my main retirement account into safer areas in Aug. My ROTH is taking a beating though..I'd say down 30%

Cleaned out my retirement account to pay for school in August. Baller.

My DH says I'm down like 25%. I don't have the faintest idea how to look at those statements.

Does having a SAHH count???

He's really eating into my cookie fund...

Down approximately 32% in 1 year.

S-Adenosyl Homocysteine Hydrolase?
Society for Austrian and Habsburg History?
Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital?

That's all I found on the first page of a Google search for SAHH.

Stay At Home Husband...

He doesn't officially retire until 02/01, but he has vacation and comp time to use up...One fun thing to watch is the competition between him and the other retiree across the street (his wife refuses to retire) to see who can get their walks shoveled first...I think DH was out there @ 3:30 this morning to broom off the very light snow...

Down 48% but my employer matches 100% so I lost everything my employer matched, which sucks because I am only 20% vested.

Just got my 401(k) statement and my account (which I basically haven't touched in 3 years) is now up 4.97% for the year. Nice to see positive numbers for a change!

Still down about 33% from 2007, though. 2008 sucked!

DH got a COLA...only $80, but better than a kick in the pants...I apply for SS in the next few weeks...We've never had so much cash!!!...Life is good...

Update 08/27...SS just notified me I'll be getting $598 a month... Not bad for taking early retirement and probably working only about 15 full years added up...

Dang, wish I'd gotten around to putting more money into my account when I thought about it a few months ago; went to do it today and found that my 3 funds are up an average of 25% for the year.

For those that were patient and stayed the course, the market has rebounded nicely. The S&P 500 has rebounded 55 percent from a 12-year low on March 9.

In order to put together a required downpayment for my current house, I sold most of my investments (lost some value to be sure) and half of my 401K. Hate to see the market rebound but hey, at least I got an ultra low price in the housing market.