Sold VFIFX and TRRNX

My initial goal was to SELL the following funds as soon as :
VFIFX hits 25
TRRNX hits 11.50

but I have decided to sell them before they reach the target which I think is unlikely to happen in the next year or so.

Sold VFIFX ~ 21.92
Sold TRRNX ~ 9.60

I may consider them buying whenever they are available at a bargain(lower price)

Max'd my 401k for the year

My 401(k) contribution has been maxed out...$16,500 for 2009!!!

Beginning of each year, I contribute about 50% of my pay into my 401(K) account and this allows me to quickly reach the maximum amount allowed to contribute end of March...

Ofcourse, you need to plan ahead for the lean months of Jan, Feb and Mar but once they are out the way, you can use your paychecks for other things!

Received IRS Refund

I received my IRS refund over the weekend and will be splitting it so a portion of it would go towards ROTH IRA for 2009 and also pay down my mortgage..

2K towards ROTH IRA bringing my YTD contribution to 4K
5K towards mortgage and my remaining mortgage balance is ~74K

401k down about 50%

My 401K investment is down about 50%...that's 50% down the drain of everything that I have invested in the market since 2001...its tough to swallow this..

Even if the market rises 100% in the next 5-6 years, I would have barely made any money(Infact, would have lost money if you factor in the inflation)

I have a strategy to get out of the stock market gradually once am close to recovering my investment...

I plan on exiting the stock market completely as soon as :

VFIFX gets closer to $25

TRRNX gets closer to $11.50

Do you think this is a wise move?

401k plan forfeitures

One of my goals for this year is simplicity, simplicity, simplify, simplification....

I wanted to consolidate all of my 401(k) into one account.

Recently, I requested direct rollover from my older 401(k) accounts into the current 401(k) account and was surprised to see that I lost a bunch of monies on forfeitures.

So, What are 401k plan forfeitures?

"Forfeitures are portions of an account balance that a participant loses by terminating employment prior to becoming fully vested.
These amounts are reallocated to the remaining participants based on the terms of the plan document."

ah-ha, so I never lost the money...It just wasn't there to begin with since with terminating my employment with the past employers I was forfeiting the money anyway.

Here are two examples:

Retiring in India

I just got back from my trip to India and I have been considering what retirement would be like in India..

Am assuming you need about $1000(or Rs 45,000 : 1 USD = 45 INR) per month to live a comfortable life, not luxurious but just comfy..

However, I want to up the ante and say I would need about Rs 2 lakhs(Rs 2,000,00) per month.

Lets do the math...



State Bank of India has the following rates on their website:
4% would be the Savings Account rate.
8% would be the Fixed Deposit rate(Certificate of Deposit) for 1 year..

To achieve my goal of Rs 2 lakhs per month, I need to have saved atleast 650k in cash..tall order indeed!!!

How to become a millionaire by 55

Currently, my only retirement plan is to contribute the MAX towards my 401k($15,500) and Roth IRA($5000) for a total of $20,500.00

If I continue to contribute the MAX until am 55 and assuming the rate of return in the stock market to be about 5% a year, I will have approximately about $1 million dollars. Ofcourse, this would fluctuate based on market peformance over the next 20-25 years..

Shown above is the excel math....