Financial Ruin A-Brewin'? 401(k) question for our resident money guys.

Talk to a Fidelity advisor. They've been terrific for me about risk assessment and alternative methods to deal with your assets to up or down your risk.

Put it in a basic savings account. No risk!

You are probably in higher-risk investments, which go up when things are good, down when things are bad. Talk to your advisor about moving more to bonds which are much less risky, less reward but typically you want to stabilize your money once you plan on retiring. I plan on sticking to S and P 500 index funds.

You only need a single such fund r3

Actually, my funds are pretty low-risk, which is why I'm pleasantly surprised at how things are performing currently. Index funds, bonds, etc. But your suggestion to talk to an advisor now is a good one. Thanks.

As R3 alluded to, check which investments your 401k is actually making. Is it a "target date" of retirement option? Those are fairly safe but as you get closer to retirement I'd invest more in bonds, which are stable and still provide some kind of dividend income. I'm 40 and my 401k disbursements are a lot more risk-prone, as I started saving later in life. I put 40% into the target date and the rest in US large cap, mid-cap, EU large-cap, developing markets, China India & Brazil, and then a little bit of bonds.

My parents didn't do that (my father retired with a pension+stock) and my mother recieved a large inheritance of ExxonMobil. It pays their bills but their monthly income fluxuates is on the whim of the oil market and if an airplane crashed this month. They also pay a lot of tax on it.

Thanks for the good advice!

You cannot remove risk. There will always be some sort of risk. Even doing nothing exposes you to stuff like inflation risk (the risk that inflation will reduce your purchasing power).

There are mulitple different types of risk - Market risk (risk of the marketing going up or down), inflation risk, liquidity risk. Additionally, there is opportunity cost - the potential of lower returns compared to other options when an alternative is chosen.

Asset allocation and diversification are important in order to hedge your bets. Most studies have shown that asset allocation across various types of assets is the most important factor in having enough money for retirement. And yes, you can be too diversified and hold too many different asset types.

The starting point for considering asset allocation is to take 120 minus your age for equities with the remainder in bonds and cash (you should always have at least 3-6 months living expenses in cash). Then consider your specific situation - do you have high monthly cash requirements? Do you have expenses you'll need to address within 2-5 years? How risk averse are you?

Finally, recognize that some very smart people are paid a LOT of money to try to beat the market. Unless you are extremely knowledgeable about stocks, bonds, and investing, you would likely be better served in index funds (equity and bond), EFTs, or similar funds. Managed funds (vs. index funds) will have higher fees, so they really need to outperform (Morningstar 5-star) to make up for those higher fees in returns.

Of course, you should always consult your own tax and investment professional to evaluate your specific situation. These are merely points to consider as you make your own investment decisions.

I retired last year and had moved most of my 401K to conservative, capital preservation funds. Thanks to the DL, I chose to do the following per one response since I was in a Managed Fund with BofA/Merrill that charged outrageously high fees:

"OP, you do not need anyone to "actively manage" a one-fund investment portfolio. You are paying (a lot) for comforting words and a little handholding. Vanguard has a S&P 500 ETF Index and a Total Stock Market ETF Index with only 0.03% fees. Go to their website, it's very self explanatory. Then call them. No one is on commission and they will not try to up-sell you anything."

Despite the conservative investments, it has done very well this year except when it tanked when Dump first started talking about extreme tariffs in March-April. Frankly, I'm paranoid and pessimistic and expect total economic collapse at any minute. But I've also been greedily enjoying the modest returns on my 401K and have been have been able to take some trips with my hubs.

My IRA held in Vanguard’s S&P ETF is doing quite well in 2025.

r8 you can if you convert it to a guaranteed annuity but if you are tied to a specific ammount for the rest of your life.

Annuities are to be avoided at all cost. Bad idea.

I'm 7 years into retirement but my investment portfolio hasn't changed much in the last 10-15 years except for the stock to bond ratio.

In its entirety my portfolio consists of four Vanguard funds: Vanguard Total Stock ETF, Total Bond ETF, Total International Stock ETF and Total International Bond ETF.

Prior to retirement I was at a 65% stock / 35% bond mix. At retirement I moved to 55 / 45 stock / bonds. Of that, 70% is domestic and 30% international.

My returns with this portfolio: Year to date 8.82%, one year 10.83%, three years 8.53%, and five years 8.83%. Since I withdraw less than 4% annually on average, my overall balance has not fluctuated much since retirement.

Vanguard's average ETF expense ratio: 0.05%, which is one of the lowest in the industry.

I'm not really looking for fund/bond/risk assessment advice. I'm not trying to play the stock market. I'm asking if there's a way to take the money I have now, or some of it at least, and put it somewhere safer if we have a crash or recession. Is there someplace you can park funds from a 401(k) without a big tax penalty?

If you’re risk averse and want to stay (hopefully) a little ahead of inflation, put more in a money market fund. But unless you see chaos for the untold future starting soon, the market moves up and down and until now has always recovered. Sometimes at great cost, those costs usually borne by the least able to pay them. Sometimes at some length (the Great Depression), some as a consequence of events beyond the markets (weather, crops, wars), but it’s always come back until now.

R14

Now confirmed as EST. Or just an lgnoramus.

[quote] Put it in a basic savings account. No risk!

Or a money market account, very low risk but higher yields than savings.

[quote]Put it in a basic savings account. No risk!

"Backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government."

Remember when that was something you could believe in?

Move money into treasuries or a money market fund—but they won’t grow much there either

GOOOOOOLLLLDDD!

[quote]Put it in a basic savings account. No risk!

There absolutely IS risk even in a CD or money market account, as I clearly failed to communicate. You've merely traded one type of risk for another. Market risk is only one type of risk.

[quote]I'm not really looking for fund/bond/risk assessment advice. I'm not trying to play the stock market. I'm asking if there's a way to take the money I have now, or some of it at least, and put it somewhere safer if we have a crash or recession. Is there someplace you can park funds from a 401(k) without a big tax penalty?

Based on this comment, you need more detailed advice than you should take on a discussion forum.

The market is current in a major bubble. That along with the tariffs and trade wars and inflation will bring it all down relatively soon. Ask your financial advisor about a fixed annuities option. Consider putting at least half your investments in them. You will not lose any principal and your interest rates will remain constant for whatever the agreed period term. When the market tanks, you know at least that portion of your retirement money is secure.

I’ve had very good luck with TIAA.

R23 Indeed, TIAA has a unique, stable value, annuity fund named TIAA-Traditional that would fit what OP wants. If OP works for a non-profit organization, TIAA may be an option in addition to Fidelity.

There are now also IRA versions of TIAA-Traditional available to everyone, but they tend to not earn and payout as much as when you have the fund via a non-profit employer’s 403b retirement plan.

R24 I have a lot of friends and former colleagues at nonprofits whose retirement funds ticked past $1m in their 50’s simply because they joined an organization early in their careers and had some generous employer contributions. Weirdly, some slow and steady mousy types (like me) built sizable nest eggs while some of our high flyer friends (marketing, publishing) aged out of their professions a decade ago and spent down their savings “staying afloat”.

R23 TIAA has high fees.

[quote]If OP works for a non-profit organization, TIAA may be an option in addition to Fidelity.

I do! But I haven't seen anything about TIAA in our benefit information. I'll look into it. Thanks.

OP, how old are you? What is your current balance/asset allocation/desired draw? Otherwise, possibly look into TBills.

If you really are serious, post on Bogle Heads, not the DL.

[quote]Is there a way to remove risk at this point? Move money around so it isn't going to disappear if/when the economy and stock market take a dive under this administration?

[quote]Frankly, I'm paranoid and pessimistic and expect total economic collapse at any minute.

Don’t ever let politically partisan wishful thinking about the market affect your investing decisions. The people who were hoping earlier this year for a long-term collapse of the market and pushing that prediction were wrong. The market bounced back.

People will say, “Well, that’s because blah-blah-blah happened.” That’s the point. The people hoping for collapse didn’t foresee see that blah-blah-blah would happen, so anyone who listened to them and sold at a loss or who didn’t take advantage of the dip lost out.

Seek out the advice of financial experts who don’t have any stain of partisanship on them.

[quote] the market moves up and down and until now has always recovered.

Why do you state, “until now”? The DJIA was only a few points from its all-time high this week. It always recovers, even now.

"But I haven't seen anything about TIAA in our benefit information. I'll look into it. "

Please don't. TIAA is the way of the past for non-profits, universities, etc. Funds and annuity 'contracts' with high fees, low returns, terrible customer service, etc. My institution got rid of TIAA and went solely to Fidelity, which is much more user friendly and offers lots of options for investments with lower cost, higher transparency and more up to date.

R21 doesn’t recognize cheap sarcasm when it’s staring him in the face.

R30 because I’m not psychic. Yes, the market has always recovered until now. But I can’t see the future.

Can you? If so, monetize your gift.

Invest everything in good video equipment and start an OnlyFans.

It is really not rocket science. Invest early in your 401k, and keep doing it. Pick index funds that follow the s&p500, or fund as someone pointed out. If you put in 100 dollars a week, easy to do with a 401k at 21 - 42 years later at 62 you would have 1.2 million to retire with.

[quote] If you put in 100 dollars a week, easy to do with a 401k at 21 - 42 years later at 62 you would have 1.2 million to retire with.

It’s best if you contribute the maximum allowed each year. For 2025, it’s $23,500, so $452 a week. If 50+, you can contribute another $7500:

Buy Can All Pet.

R25 I began saving and investing from my take-home pay when I was a poor, junior faculty member. My academic employer made excellent contributions to a retirement plan, which at the time was limited to TIAA (then named TIAA-CREF). Most went into TIAA-Traditional. Later, Fidelity was added, and as my salary increased, I put voluntary pre-tax contributions there while my employer continued to contribute to TIAA.

Bottom line: If the Extreme Court rules next week that a sitting president has the power to terminate Social Security, I can replace it by annuitizing my holdings in TIAA-Traditional.

There’s plenty of peer-reviewed, academic research that concludes that slow-and-steady, rather than not trying to time the market by jumping in and out of it, wins the race.

One word. Plastic.

R35, for many of us, saving $100 a week 42 years ago was impossible. In 1992, when I graduated from college, that was double my rent. I’ve caught up by hyper saving later in life. Money is harder to come by in your youth, but that is exactly when you need it most - both for the short and long term.

[quote] If the Extreme Court rules next week that a sitting president has the power to terminate Social Security

Didn’t mean to alarm anyone. That was a hypothetical; it’s not actually happening next week.

I'm probably crazy, but I'm riding the market right now. My retirement has grow 43% in the last two years, just by ditching my financial advisor and putting it into S&P and NASDAQ index funds (except for 67 shares of QQQ and 100 shares of Reddit that I bought at $47). I know I need to get into something safer soon, but Trump will do whatever he needs to keep the stock market going up. It's how he measures his success. I'm 69, and haven't taken a cent out of it yet. Between Social Security and a very small salary I take, I haven't needed to dip into it. I have to start taking the mandatory distribution at 73, so a few more years. But I may get out of the market before then.

OP, R13 here. I think you missed the point. Look at what the economy - domestic and global - has been through in the last 15 years. Yet if you stick with index funds that track the total stock and total bond markets, you would have done ok. The worse mistake you can make it is pulling money out of the stock market with the hope of jumping back in when you think the timing is right.

And R9, the advice you quote in your response is what I wrote in a previous post.