Is this good? 401k

[greenmimama]

My DH just got his quarterly update.

We have put in             $2159
Employer partial match $1782

total                            $3941

earnings                      $ 519

This isn't our only savings for this year, but just wondered if this is a good return on our money. I'm not stupid but I get so confused with this stuff. thanks

[skunkfunk]

Are those just the contributions? What's the total amount in the account?

[greenmimama]

Sorry those are strictly the contributions from 2014, the total in that account is $32476

[skunkfunk]

Sounds like you are not invested very aggressively. The S&P 500 is up 4.5% or so since january, whereas you are up 1.6%. What are your holdings?

I just adjusted mine as when we went to a new 401K plan, they put mine in some pretty conservative funds without asking me. So I've just done this myself in the last week.

[Rube]

Hell, I'd take the return via the employer match! 82.5%? Holy shit.

My statement usually has a brief comparative analysis. It shows the gain or loss of my total holdings against a bunch of other benchmark funds.

[skunkfunk]

Hell, I'd take the return via the employer match! 82.5%? Holy shit.

My statement usually has a brief comparative analysis. It shows the gain or loss of my total holdings against a bunch of other benchmark funds.

Yeah that's a great match and definitely worth it, my question is regarding the funds they are invested in.

[Frankies Girl]

Sounds like you are not invested very aggressively. The S&P 500 is up 4.5% or so since january, whereas you are up 1.6%. What are your holdings?

I just adjusted mine as when we went to a new 401K plan, they put mine in some pretty conservative funds without asking me. So I've just done this myself in the last week.

+1
Definitely sounds conservative. I'm seeing 3.11% for the quarter, using index funds set about 80/20 (stocks/bonds). Had some bond drag that brought the percentage down, otherwise I'd have been a bit higher.

Nice match there, tho.

[greenmimama]

Thanks, we will look into some more aggressive funds. Appreciate the responses.

I agree the company match is nice, they do a 100% for so much and then another % as it increases if that makes any sense.

[clarkm04]

A good benchmark IMHO to use is the S&P 500.  Here's CNN's S&P tracker:

http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/sandp/

From January 1st, it's up .95% for the year.

For 1st Quarter (Jan 1st - Mar 31st) it was up 1.44%. 

The higher your stock % in a low cost S&P stock index your returns minus dividends should be close to the S&P 500.

Your return may or may not be "good" depending on your asset allocation, financial goals, and fund selections. 

I hold about 30% bonds in my portfolio so, when the market is doing well, my gains are lower.  When it's not my losses are also lower.

[Rube]

Hell, I'd take the return via the employer match! 82.5%? Holy shit.

My statement usually has a brief comparative analysis. It shows the gain or loss of my total holdings against a bunch of other benchmark funds.

Yeah that's a great match and definitely worth it, my question is regarding the funds they are invested in.

You didn't give us any information so it's impossible to tell. That's why you should look at your statement.

I'm extremely heavy in equity and it's aggressive funds. I'm down 1-2%, except of course in my index funds.

[Cheddar Stacker]

It could be too conservative but it all depends on the allocation and the timeframe you're analyzing.

I'm in pretty aggressive funds and my return was only 0.35% for the quarter. 30% of my holdings lost money during the quarter but they were mostly small cap (which I feel is an aggressive category, maybe I'm wrong).

I think you need to look at a longer timeframe. 1 quarter should not be the basis behind your decision. Post last year's earnings as well to see how that stacks up against the benchmarks.