I was SOOOO Disapointed....

Well we had our 401K meeting with our Guru JP yesterday. The good news in my 401K grew at a decent 16+% last year, the bad news was there will not be a ROTH 401k available through my company any time soon.

JP indicated that due to the double record keeping requirements, additional education requirements for all employees so they could make informed decisions, etc ALL of his 401K client companies decided not to do the ROTH 401k.

He also noted that most of the people participating in the 401k would not gain much from the ROTH option as you can only put a combined $15,500 in the two accounts. He said it was a VERY good deal for younger workers, but they don't contribute much anyway.

I really didn't buy his explanation of this Old versus Young argument. I do think its double the paperwork for the companies, but the bigger problem is that you have to educate your workers so they can make an informed decision between a 401k and a ROTH 401k. There is a liability there if the workers make a bad decision, they can SUE the employer for not providing education.

So in the end the GOOD 401K is the enemy of the BETTER ROTH 401k.

THE 401K GURU COMETH

Well its that time of year again.... No tax time has come and gone for most of us, what I am refereing to is the annual meeting with my companies 401K Guru JP.

My company provides a Safe Harbor 401K and JP travels to all the branch offices each spring to tell us how we are doing, encourage us to save more, and make suggestions on how agressive we should be in our investing.

I generally go with the Agressive mix which is in between Moderately Agressive or Very Agressive. JP had an idea the economy was going down and suggested going MA two years ago and I did, but last year went back to A.

I am hoping he will bring news that my company has finely joined the ROTH 401K bandwaggon.

I guess I will know for sure next Tuesday after his visit. I need to get my tax papers, etc together for the meeting. He generally has a group meeting with all of us in the office and then does a 1/2hr or so one on one with each of us as we need it.

By the way. Here is a cool link for a 401K vs ROTH 401k saving calculator

http://finance.comcast.net/personalfinance/view.html?x=retirement/401k/roth-ira-calculator

REBATES:

We probably all have be enticed to buy something we want but don't really need by the idea of a rebate. I have probably done $3,000-$4,000 worth of rebates in the last few years. Most was things I wanted but didn't really need. The free after rebate siren sings very loud sometimes. I see alot of these offers on Fatwallet, Spoofee Deals and Slickdeals web sites.

Anyway 2millonblog.com had a post a few days back about this and I thought I would comment on it also.

http://www.2millionblog.com/2007/03/how_i_handle_rebates.html

I think it is important to keep copies of everything you send in, because if you do a lot of rebates there will be issues. When I started doing this I would copy all forms and save a paper copy, I also keep an excel spreadsheet with all the info including when I sent it.

I ran across a post a while back with someone scanning all their "paperwork" to a PDF and storing that is a special folder. That is definitely cheaper than making copies if you have a scanner. You can always print out a hard copy to send it if the rebate company gives you trouble.

ROTH 401k

With the new ROTH 401k option lots of employers are starting to roll out you may be wondering how much should I put in my Traditional 401K versus. Comcast has a neat online calculator that you can use to play what if games.

http://lifestyle.msn.com/mindbodyandsoul/careerandmoney/articlegh.aspx?cp-documentid=994839>1=9210&wa=wsignin1.0

MONEY ENVY

Here is a good story about what happens when you live beyond your means, no matter how much you make.



http://lifestyle.msn.com/mindbodyandsoul/careerandmoney/articlegh.aspx?cp-documentid=994839>1=9210&wa=wsignin1.0

Taking the Plunge

I've been thinking of starting an on-line blog for some time now. Since I have some free time this afternoon I thought I would give it a try.

This is started as a learning experience for me so please have patience with me.










I have been a fan of several on-line blogs that deal with personal finance.


Here are a few of my Favorite Blogs

http://divorce2financialfreedom.blogspot.com/
http://www.mymoneyblog.com/
http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/
http://www.2millionblog.com/