Goal

By following an investment process and discipline that works for you, hopefully you‘ve been able to build up a balance in your 401(k) account and are now beginning to achieve some of your career goals.

At this point, it is important to begin increasing your contribution closer to the annual limit. You should be contributing at least the minimum to receive your company’s matching contribution, if any, as this essentially equals 100% return on your contribution (this may vary depending on your company’s plan specifics — see Employer Match in the 401K GPS Knowledge Center).

This 401K contribution may be difficult depending on other financial challenges that you may have, including mortgage payments and college planning. Please see the Life Planning section of the 401K GPS Knowledge Center for more information on how to prepare for the many challenges in life while still ensuring your retirement is secure.

Plan

With over 15 years to retirement, you can still afford to take more risk in your portfolio, usually resulting in an overweight in equity allocations for your given risk tolerance. At this stage, you will benefit from establishing and following a more focused investment plan than when you initially began saving for retirement.

You should have a much clearer picture of your portfolio outside of your 401(k), including the impact of expenses and liabilities on your 401K contributions. All of these factors should be considered when completing or making adjustments to your risk profile. While you still have time to make up for investment losses, significant downturns can have an impact on the quality of your retirement.

Stay on Course

As life events become more complicated, it’s easy to neglect your 401(k) plan, especially with a good number of years left before retirement. Yet severe market downturns can have a pronounced effect on your account, so it’s important to stay disciplined with your investing.

Knowing you likely won’t have time to monitor your 401(k) account on a daily basis, 401K GPS will provide you with quarterly recommendations to ensure your portfolio is best positioned to take advantage of market movements. Our 401K GPS investment team will also send you straightforward quarterly and emergency intra-quarter guidance along the way, making sure your downside is protected while allowing you to participate in market advances.

Of course there is no guarantee that our signals will be correct every time; however, we will make every effort to protect you in down market cycles. We recommend consulting with a tax or financial advisor to obtain appropriate advice regarding your comprehensive retirement, investment, and tax planning.