$10K, 24yrs later

[kodiakisland]

Left a job in 2001 and for some reason had exactly $10K in a 403B invested with Fidelity. Decided to keep it there invested in whatever growth fund they had and not touch again. Usually looked at it every 6 months or so, mostly to make sure the money was still there. At one point the fund closed and the balance was transferred to some low yield fund, so I transferred it back into whatever growth fund I could find.

Coming up on 24 years hands off. It has had ups and downs that were pretty crazy at times. Now sits at $130K. Has 6 more years to sit before I touch it. No big revelations here, just fun to see what $10K turns into given enough time, even if not managed well.

Start early. It's hard to make up time.

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

Great real life example. Wish I would have been more hands off.

 

[El Jason]

Great real life example. Wish I would have been more hands off.

Same. We’re playing catch up.

 

[mxracer317]

Left a job in 2001 and for some reason had exactly $10K in a 403B invested with Fidelity. Decided to keep it there invested in whatever growth fund they had and not touch again. Usually looked at it every 6 months or so, mostly to make sure the money was still there. At one point the fund closed and the balance was transferred to some low yield fund, so I transferred it back into whatever growth fund I could find.

Coming up on 24 years hands off. It has had ups and downs that were pretty crazy at times. Now sits at $130K. Has 6 more years to sit before I touch it. No big revelations here, just fun to see what $10K turns into given enough time, even if not managed well.

Start early. It's hard to make up time.

Nice work on not touching it and letting it grow! That is a sweet amount of growth.

However, for anyone reading the OP post it is HIGHLY advisable to roll your 401(k) into either an IRA or your 401(k) at your new place of employment.

Should the plan switch companies (i.e. move from Fidelity to Vanguard), by law, they are required to sell your position and move you to cash when they transfer to the new 401(k) plan.

The OP got lucky by it staying with Fidelity, as I’ve seen many people leave it only to find that it had been sitting in cash for years and missed out on potential growth.

Just a friendly heads up so no one gets burned by that.

 

[kodiakisland]

Nice work on not touching it and letting it grow! That is a sweet amount of growth.

However, for anyone reading the OP post it is HIGHLY advisable to roll your 401(k) into either an IRA or your 401(k) at your new place of employment.

Should the plan switch companies (i.e. move from Fidelity to Vanguard), by law, they are required to sell your position and move you to cash when they transfer to different companies. The OP got lucky, because they might’ve had it sitting in cash for over 24 years. Just a friendly heads up so no one gets burned by that.

Yeah. I don't remember why, but I had a 401K and a 403B from the same company. Rolled the 401K but let the 403b ride. Thought about transferring it several times and was just too lazy.

 

[mxracer317]

Yeah. I don't remember why, but I had a 401K and a 403B from the same company. Rolled the 401K but let the 403b ride. Thought about transferring it several times and was just too lazy.

It happens! Luck was on your side. Great job saving and leaving it be. That’s what makes a difference.

 

[Salmonchaser]

Nice work on not touching it and letting it grow! That is a sweet amount of growth.

However, for anyone reading the OP post it is HIGHLY advisable to roll your 401(k) into either an IRA or your 401(k) at your new place of employment.

Should the plan switch companies (i.e. move from Fidelity to Vanguard), by law, they are required to sell your position and move you to cash when they transfer to the new 401(k) plan.

The OP got lucky by it staying with Fidelity, as I’ve seen many people leave it only to find that it had been sitting in cash for years and missed out on potential growth.

Just a friendly heads up so no one gets burned by that.

My degree is in finance but I never used it for much, but I agree you got lucky staying with Fidelity. A well respected outfit. Took me a few minutes to remember how to do the math, I was going back to 1974, but approximately 11.3 percent over the last 24 without managing it, yep you did well.

 

[npaden]

Should the plan switch companies (i.e. move from Fidelity to Vanguard), by law, they are required to sell your position and move you to cash when they transfer to the new 401(k) plan.

Just wanting to correct some misinformation. This isn’t true. The plan administrators should do their best to map whatever fund you were in to a similar fund at the new investment company. If there is not a similar fund they may move it to a money market fund but that should be a last resort.

 

[npaden]

11% over the last 24 years is a pretty good return. Better than my 401k over that same time frame. 2001 was a good year to start with right after the dot com bubble burst.

One thing to think of about leaving money in an old plan vs. moving it to a new employer plan is what is the management fees. The new disclosure requirements make it much easier to see what fees are being charged and sometimes you can do better moving funds from an old employer into a discount investment firm in an IRA than rolling it into a new employer plan with higher fees.

We work really hard to keep our fees in our 401k plan as low as possible but I’ve seen some plans with advisory and record keeping fees over 1%. I wouldn’t want to roll my money into one of those plans.

 

[ChaosOneZero]

Nice work on not touching it and letting it grow! That is a sweet amount of growth.

However, for anyone reading the OP post it is HIGHLY advisable to roll your 401(k) into either an IRA or your 401(k) at your new place of employment.

Should the plan switch companies (i.e. move from Fidelity to Vanguard), by law, they are required to sell your position and move you to cash when they transfer to the new 401(k) plan.

The OP got lucky by it staying with Fidelity, as I’ve seen many people leave it only to find that it had been sitting in cash for years and missed out on potential growth.

Just a friendly heads up so no one gets burned by that.

This is a great piece of advice.