Financial Focus
Keep contributing to your
LICENSED
TO KILL
401(k) — in all markets
bugs
If you have a 401(k) plan, you’ve Know your risk tolerance. If big loss- closer to retirement, you may want
got a very good retirement-savings es in your 401(k) are causing you to lose to scale back the aggressive-growth
vehicle that’s probably had a rough sleep, you may be taking on too much portion of your portfolio and create
year. However, while you might have risk for your investment personality. If an investment mix that might be
APEX
Pest
Control
been tempted to toss your statements that’s the case, you may need to rebal- less susceptible to big market drops.
without looking at them, you don’t ance your 401(k) portfolio so that you Above all, don’t lose faith in the power
want to throw away the opportunity have a higher percentage of more con- of your 401(k) to help you save for re-
Jeff
to continue contributing to your 401(k) servative investments. Keep in mind, tirement — in good and bad markets.
— and now you can contribute even though, that your 401(k) is designed to As a retirement account, a 401(k) of- Honeycutt
more. build resources for retirement, so you fers several key advantages. First, you
To be specific, the contribution will always need some growth potential. typically make pre-tax contributions,
limit for 401(k) plans will increase from Don’t overload on company stock. If so the more you put in, the lower your
273-PEST
$15,500 in 2008 to $16,500 in 2009. a downturn hurts your company, and taxable income. Also, your earnings (7378)
And if you’re 50 or older, you can put you have a big percentage of company can grow on a tax-deferred basis,
in an extra $5,500 in 2009, up from stock in your plan, your account will unless you are making Roth contribu-
8-5 Mon-Sat
$5,000 in 2008. (Your 401(k) plan take a big hit. Diversify your holdings tions, which are withdrawn tax-free.
may also allow Roth contributions, among the various investments avail- Furthermore, you can choose from an
which are made with after-tax dollars, able in your plan. While diversification array of investments, so you can create
although withdrawals, including earn- cannot guarantee a profit or protect a portfolio that fits your risk tolerance,
ings, are tax-free in retirement.) Of against a loss, it can help reduce some time horizon and individual objec-
course, higher contribution limits won’t of the effects of market volatility. tives. Finally, your employer may offer
mean much to you if you’re questioning Adjust your investment mix over a matching contribution; if you don’t
whether you should put anything into time. You need to periodically evalu- accept it, you are literally walking away
your plan, given the results of the past ate and adjust the investment mix in from “free money.”
year. How can you reassure yourself your 401(k). When you’re starting It can certainly be upsetting to see
that you’re making the right move out in your career, you can afford to declines in your 401(k) statements. But
by continuing to fund your 401(k) or invest more aggressively, because you if you stopped participating in your
other employer-sponsored retirement have decades in which the market 401(k), you’d have a much harder time
plan, such as a 403(b) or 457(b)? can overcome short-term downturns, reaching your retirement goals. So keep
Here are a few suggestions: no matter how severe. As you move contributing, even in down markets.
Someday, you may be glad you did.
This article was written by Ed-
ward Jones for use by Bill Boughton,
Weaverville’s Edward Jones finan-
cial advisor
Film at
Weaverville
library
The Friends of the Weaverville
Library are presenting the film The
Quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend at 7 pm on
Feb. 10 at the Weaverville Library.
This acclaimed PBS film docu-
ments a group of African-American
artists from Gee’s Bend, Ala. The art-
ists, primarily women, are descended
from slaves and still inhabit the land
their forefathers once worked.
Their artwork, in the form of
quilts, has been hailed by Michael
Kimmelman of The New York Times
as “some of the most miraculous
works of modern art America has pro-
duced” and is also compared to the
great artistic enclaves of the Italian
Renaissance. The film explores the
extraordinary lives, inspirations and
history of the quiltmakers, including
their discovery by art historian Bill
Arnett, and follows them on a journey
to see their work exhibited in a major
art museum.
For more information on this
event, call 250-6482.
www.weavervilletribune.com
Jan 29 - Feb 4, 2009 THE TRIBUNE 7
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