Mistakes made when investing can cost you big time. If you leave your job and then cash out your 401(k) when you haven’t reached the age of 59-and-a-half, you have to pay income taxes to the IRS plus a 10% penalty. This will also forfeit decades of growth on that funds; money that you’ll need when you retire.
Investing can be a complicated thing to learn, and some may find it daunting to understand. However, you shouldn’t let this stop you from trying. It can be a good way to build your fortune even when the stock market is shaky.
To start with, you have to take note of these investing mistakes that are easy to do yet are easy to fix.
Not Compounding
E-Trade vice president of investment strategy Mike Loewengart advises people to start investing while they’re still young because they have decades to grow the funds.
In the past, you could get compounded interest from savings accounts. However, interest rates have plunged so low that the yield is no longer that good. According to Loewengart, compounding is an easy way of saying that interest is building on your investment’s interest. Younger people have a powerful advantage since they have a longer time to let their funds grow.
Misusing Funds
Some people may be tempted to give up learning about investing when they encounter terms like equities, risk tolerance, asset allocation, diversification, and rebalancing. They’ll probably wish that other people will do it for them.
If you can relate to this, then this might be the perfect investment for you: target-date fund. Target-date funds are considered presets. It involves the right combination of stocks and bonds, depending on your age and investing horizon.
However, there are still two ways to mess this fund strategy. First is when you try to diversify it by adding more funds. Certified financial planner Jeanne Fisher, who works with Nashville-based Global Retirement Partners, says that this is especially relevant for younger people since funds that are 5-10 years apart are very much similar.
Another way to mess the target-date fund strategy is by investing in an S&P 500 index fund. It just duplicates what the target-date fund already holds.
Ignoring Fees
Your 401(k) does not come without a fee. Yes, your employer wants you to save for your retirement. However, there are still costs involved in maintaining this retirement account. According to certified financial planner Douglas Boneparth, who is also the founder and president of New York-based Bone Fide Wealth, these costs cover the buying and selling of investments, owning it, and fees for the person helping you manage your investments (if there’s one).
This may mean that for a balance of $103,700, one has to pay $467 a year. These costs can have an impact on your returns. The more fees you pay, the lesser investment you’ll have available that can compound over time.
For the case of target-date funds, these are actively managed and, therefore, are generally more expensive compared to index funds that are just managed passively. You’re basically paying a professional to manage the allocation for you. But according to Fisher, this is still considered inexpensive in the world of funds.
Wanting to Time the Market
Those who withdrew their retirement accounts to cash when the market was going down would probably give you false confidence to do the same. However, that’s only half the story. Fisher says that those who got out of the market don’t know when to get back in. They might end up missing a rebound. He says that the best ones happen after a market crash, just like what happened during the 2008 to 2009 global crisis.
According to Vanguard, the investors who stayed through the crash were able to regain more than they lost. Hypothetically speaking, an investment of $50,000 would have plunged by half in early 2009. But by 2015, the investment would have rebounded to $84,200.
Being Too Conservative
When an investor is too conservative, Loewengart says that it may be an unintended risk for them. Not pursuing equities means that you’ll have less money to spend because the funds won’t outpace inflation.
Even when the market is volatile, you’ll want to stay invested in equities. It may be unnerving, especially to Millennial and Gen Z investors who got into the market during a 10-year bull market. Loewengart advises to weather through the storm.