Finally got online and checked hubby's 401k from a previous employer(worked there 25 yrs)and has no type of 401k where he is now.He has lost 43 thousand dollars.He's 51 years old and prbably no chance of getting back to where it was.Doesn't have much more than 43 left in it.I think I'll cry now.Thanks for listening

I am so sorry - I have no words of advice - just wanted you to know I was sad with you.

Huh? Why would he lose 43,000? This brief post doesn't even make sense. You're going to have to expand if you want people to know what you're talking about.

itzme91 I am truly sorry to hear this about your husband, prayers that something good will happen ... Peace. Catherine

She's right -- your DH hasn't "lost" a penny. While his 401K account might show a current value of $43,000 less, he would only actually "lose" the $43,000 if he were to sell right now. Since he's only 51, he probably can't take out his 401K money for at least 8 years. Hopefully, by the time he's 59-1/2, he will have earned that $43,000 back -- plus more

While it's obviously unnerving to see your account balance take such a hit, hang in there and expect to see the numbers go back up eventually. Yes, i am optimistic

We logged into my hubby's account (similar to 401K) last week to find it less than 1/2 what it was a year ago. We were thinking of taking it out to pay bills off, but can no longer afford to.

I am sorry for the stress that it puts onto you...I am right there with ya.
((Hugs))

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I guess what I'd TRY to do is to look at how much was originally put in there and evaluate the growth from there? To me, it would be a loss if it was less than had originally been put in there, if you know what I mean? I'm sure it's hard with him being in his 50's. Such hard times for many right now.

I don't know if this will help but you didn't really "lose" anything. It was all on paper. I saw an explanation of this on tv the other day. Nobody has really "lost" anything. The example they gave is if someone came and said your home is $400,000 then next month they say it's only worth $350,000 you have not really lost anything. Same thing with the 401K. I know it's a disappointment and scary but you never really had the money it was all on paper.
People just remember this is a "normal" fluctuation of the market although much more extreme than anything that has happened in the past.
It's really scary if you have had money in for years watching it "grow" then this happens.

It's part of the stock market.

I do sympathize with you and I am sorry this happened right now. Hopefully you will be able to minimize the loss by biding your time until he is 62 or 70 the market will have changed several times by then.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

It takes something like this market to remind everyone (myself included) that the Stock Market is a RISK. I am really concerned for my elderly parents who didn't heed the advice that $$ needed in 5 years should not be in the market. In their case, money has been "lost" because they do not have the time to earn it back and it is not available for their use, as they planned.

Technically it might be the case that people aren't really losing anything when their 401K takes a dive but having been one of the people watching the numbers drop in our account, it is a difficult thing to see.

We are lucky, we are in our 30's and have time but "losing" about 100,000 is still a hard thing to see, even if it is just on paper.

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Sell crazy some place else, we are all stocked up here.

I hate to be a pessimist ,however thats spelled.But doesn't having more time also mean having more time to lose more money?Thats a huge gamble.In 30 years ,for all anyone knows,it could go down to $5,000 instead of up.I feel bad for all of you with these 401 k plans.
It must be hard to gamble with so much money.

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OP, I know you are worried. Try to keep positive and hope things will turn around. Blessings to you...

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Love, J.

Look on the bright side, this is only temporary (well depends who the next President is). NOW is the best time to ADD to the 401s, before year end, if you can, especially with stocks at pennystock levels.

example: mid septemer Wachovia was down to $0.25 a share, spend $1,000, got 4,000 shares, now when the buy-out is complete, those 4,000 shares are worth a minmum of $100,000, all for a $1,000 investment. Nice return for a short-term/time investment.

Just wait it out.

I have just a question for you, How long did it take to loose Half of your 401K? The DOW hasn't even dropped in half, so that doesn't make sense to me unless you have it in the riskiest of funds, at being in your 50's there is no way you should be doing that. You should have it mixed around, but in the more conservative funds. I watch my husband's 401K and do all the stuff with it, and when the market started going south, we immediately put it into conservative funds, it's hard to watch it loose 900 in one day, and over a weeks time, (last week) we lost over $3,000 but, then just Monday, it went back up $1,300... It is all a gamble, but you have to be smart about it too, and educate yourself on what to do.

I think the only way to have lost 50% is to have been invested in a particular stock that tanked and not diversified at all. The other possibility is to have been in a fund that dissolved. I know one of the funds that is offered through our 401k plan at work went belly-up and paid out something like 20c on the $1. Thankfully, I wasn't invested in that one.

As for whether it's real money, to pretend that it wasn't real to anyone planning for retirement is ridiculous. To see your savings erode is painful no matter how you look at it.

cj/

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he has less now than the amount originally invested 8 years ago.No we havent added any to it because of all the drastic changes (the Co he worked for moved all jobs to Mexico(cheaper labor,I can no longer work.So in the last 5 years our income has been reduced from around 75,000 a year to less than 30,000 when gets overtime.Today he got laid off for 2 days maybe longer.Between all the health problems,financial problems and deaths in our family i feel like giving up!The 43.000 i mentioned is from what it was at the hightest this year.