From: mark0young@aol.com (Mark0Young)
Newsgroups: misc.invest.financial-plan
Subject: Re: Enron 401k
Date: 3 Jul 2003 17:40:01 GMT
	iQBVAwUAPwRp4vl/I4+O31e5AQEF3QH+LhRCM9xFWNCa5TFXD9RPPzRnnFqlc7Rw
	lZ5fRkGHpYzhwi36dlyEaIqDwFrmO39oqLOz3Nf+JV8ZBzQpEqb5Hw==
	=76Dt
	tests=BAYES_01,EMAIL_ATTRIBUTION,REFERENCES
	autolearn=ham version=2.53

In article , "Ryan Williams"
 writes:

>And so under the circumstances, shouldn't the Enron 401k should be thought
>of as a short-term investment rather than the normal long-term retirement
>vehicle that it would normally be?

No. If you have a long-term investment plan and you are happy with it, you
should remain with substantially the same investment plan. If the market is low
when the funds are transferred to the new 401(k), the custodians will be
selling low and buying low. If the market is high, the custodians will be
selling high and buying high. What you will miss out is market action from the
time the first custodian sells and the second custodian buys, but an
interruption in the market exposure is not the same thing as suddenly having a
short investment horizon.

What you should do after the funds are transferred is to make sure the money
gets invested in the investment vehicles that best fit your investment plan. It
is likely that some of the specfic investments will be different, so you may
have to do some reading of what the new 401(k) offers and select appropriately,
maybe doing some fine tining of your plan based on what the new 401(k) offers
or doesn't offer.

Generally, it is good to view all investments towards a particular goal as
belonging to the same "portfolio," so all your investments intended to fund
your retirement should be viewed together. So, if the 401(k) is lacking in a
particular area, you might be able to compensate by having exposure to that
area in your non-401(k) investments. (For example, my 403(b) is lacking small
caps and is weak in foreign exposure, so my Roth IRA and some of my taxable
investments compensate by over-exposure in those areas so my overall retirement
portfolio is more diversified than my 403(b) alone.)

Mark A. Young