http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2013/02/06/young-bucks-how-and-why-your-401k-is-changing/?intcmp=obnetwork

It doesn't seem that all young people believe Obama and the dems will deliver for them at retirement. I am encouraged that these folks are understanding that SS is not what to depend upon at retirement. If they are making these kind of decisions it means they are reachable for the GOP and financial/fiscal sanity.

We clearly must make some changes for people who are under fifty as far as eligibility is concerned. One might surmise from this article that this group understands. Being one that is collecting SS I believe most seniors also understand the Ryan type plan would have no affect on them. I firmly believe the dems and the MSM are the ones making all the noise about seniors not being for any changes. They are well aware any self-direction would remove billions of dollars from the collections and they would not be able to "rob" SS.

There is one dirty little secret about SS and the premise it is not taxable. I was self employed after I reached my full eligibility and started collecting SS. If one earns a certain amount then 85% of SS is taxable. My CPA advises that IRA distributions are considered "earned" income in relationship to SS payments. That is double taxation as our payroll taxes were part of earned income and we paid income taxes on those amounts.

At my stage I am into principal retention. The folks I work with look for short term fed bonds, mostly Ginny Maes,  that have a decent return for today's market. Fortunately, my situation makes this an OK deal. They are bewildered that interest rates have stayed this low.

I should have said I also insulated principal as well.  Like I said I moved 95% of the entire fund.  I've got about 18 to 20 more years to work so I will let the contributions ride for a while then make another large move somewhere down the road.

With where you are keep taking advantage of that 401-k and the matches. Also, it might be a good idea to looking into a Roth. I was fortunate enough to have worked with a company that had both a 401-k and a defined pension plan. People in my age had choice to take a lump sum at retirement which I did. I could roll it into an IRA which has worked out well.

Is putting your wealth in dollar denominated assets really a good idea?

Is no one concerned about maintaining purchasing power?

Sure, nominal gains look nice but preserving wealth is more important to me.

I need to decide if I want to stop funding my current traditional IRA and open up a new Roth to fund instead.  I have about 20 years to go until I retire.

I need to speak to a professional adviser on this.

One certainly needs to talk with a CPA who can look at your current tax situation. The question is save money on taxes now (regular 401-k) or have money tax free when distributions begin (Roth IRA).

I think I have this right.  The path I am following is based on some research I did and basically it said put your money into a 401K up to the point where your company does not match.  For additional savings it said to set up a Roth.   

I am not an adviser so what I say is my opinion and you need to figure out what is best for you.  But I would think that with at least 20 years until retirement, I am not so sure I would be putting everything into a safe type of fund.  If you did then you missed the recent run up in stock prices and missed that gain.  Not so sure now is the time to transfer as you would be coming late to the party.  It really is hard to pick the times where it will be good to be in the market and times when it will be bad.  In my experience, when you make that determination the up or down has already done its thing.  The bad think about my 401K is that when you move money out of an account it comes out at the end of the day.  I think this economy is ripe for a big down turn and I am not sure you will see it coming and by the end of the day it might be too late. 

But with 20 years take what happened since 2007 when it was at its last peak that we just beat.  If you had it in any fund  you took a beating.  However as the market dropped you were contributing to that fund and getting more shares per dollar.  When it hit its bottom you were buying shares that would increase a very nice percentage and you average cost per share has dropped.  So now we are back at the highest point ever which is kind of sad because it just beat a price that was set 6 years ago.   But through that time to now you would have profited a good amount.   It sucks to see the hit you took when it goes down but since you are not going to touch it for 20 years it pretty much does not really matter.   But it does take some fortitude to stay the course when you lost enough to have bought a new car. 

If you have less time then the plan is different because you might not have time to recover from a drop off.   

I just started contributing to my 401K about six months ago. Right now I'm contributing about 5% of my income. I'm getting the max company contribution at the moment which is what I was aiming for. I was planning on knocking it up to 10% but I'm not too sure. I was thinking maybe it would be better to instead set that additional 5% aside to pay off loans (school, auto, etc.).

Any suggestions?

I cashed out long ago, sometimes it better to find something that will go up in value faster, things like copper when it's cheap, only to unload it later when it sky rockets.

Thing is, it looks like the stock mkt bubble may be at it's peak, and we know what happens after that.
So if your 401K is tied in there, it will take quite a hit. Is there some other avenue you could go with your companies help?
Ask your HR dept, or finance and see if they have any suggestions.
Though paying off bills may go a lot further in the long run.
Good luck and welcome to the forum.

Thanks!

I'm not too worried if the 2k I've stashed away in my 401k thus far takes a hit :).

What are some other options to consider for saving for retirement?