When you lose it all, you're not moving in!!!

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Dela444
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2016 8:54 am

When you lose it all, you're not moving in!!!

Post by Dela444 »

Recently, my mother-in-law and I were talking about 401ks. She's 63, still working, has maybe 250k in her fidelity 401k, and says she's getting 16%. I complimented that rate and asked her what funds she was in because my wife has a fidelity 401k and we're interested in decent funds. She told me that she didn't know and that some guy at work does it for her.

Upon further questioning, I find out that this guy no longer works at her employer but has made people a lot of money in their 401ks and that he is a "millionaire". She has given him her log-in information and he makes the new allocations for her. "WHAT!?", I said. I told her that was a very bad idea and asked why can't he just email you the new allocations and you log-in to do it. She says his a good guy and has made people a lot of money. I said he sounds like Bernie Madoff.

At the end of the conversation, She told me he was just arrested for giving financial advice without a license. SMH! I told her giving some guy access to her retirement account was a bad idea. She didn't seem to care. I ended by saying, "When you lose it all, you're not moving in".

THOUGHTS ANYBODY?

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jlozano042
Posts: 836
Joined: Tue Apr 04, 2017 12:37 pm

Re: When you lose it all, you're not moving in!!!

Post by jlozano042 »

Get that spare bedroom ready. I kid, MIL lives with us so I got a kick out of your comment. Sorry I have no advice but I would be very concerned if I heard what your MIL said from anyone I love. Good luck my friend.

ksmoly04
Posts: 66
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2016 2:08 pm

Re: When you lose it all, you're not moving in!!!

Post by ksmoly04 »

As an IT pro, I would highly recommend that she immediately change her account login credentials (read: password). You never know who else this individual may have shared the current credentials with.
Daily Seasonal Since: August 23, 2017
Current Strategy: 16198 / 7.21σ

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rmcdeepsea
Posts: 35
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2014 8:17 am

Re: When you lose it all, you're not moving in!!!

Post by rmcdeepsea »

I wish my MIL had 250K! And she already moved in with us 2 weeks ago! FML, lol

crondanet5
Posts: 4330
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:51 pm

Re: When you lose it all, you're not moving in!!!

Post by crondanet5 »

Can you look at her account to figure out how she was getting a 16% return? Tell us.

Jock14
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2011 12:14 pm

Re: When you lose it all, you're not moving in!!!

Post by Jock14 »

You can't make anybody do anything. That said, change the password. She's given her entire financial future to a criminal. Additionally, people are much more willing to gamble with someone elses money. There are plenty of funds that will invest and manage the money for you. Especially at 63 when you need that money more secure to retire with.

JoeMurphy
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2017 8:42 am

Re: When you lose it all, you're not moving in!!!

Post by JoeMurphy »

Some folks never learn.

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mhende2
Posts: 87
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2016 12:32 pm

Re: When you lose it all, you're not moving in!!!

Post by mhende2 »

It's often easier to scam someone than most of us think, especially us older folks who grew up at a time when trust actually meant something. Those days are long gone, and I don't even trust the paid professionals anymore. I'll bet she's a very helpful person, and believes most others are too, and didn't think about the terrible damage this guy could do. She's now probably somewhat ashamed for not thinking of those things.
I'd recommend go easy on her, and suggest she contact a Fidelity Rep to help her change her account # to a new one because of what has happened. Helpful suggestions go much further than something that comes across sounding like saying, "Hey, you screwed up".
Good luck to you, and to her, and hope I get 16% in my Fidelity portfolio this year!
In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.
-Robert Arnott

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bamablue
Posts: 246
Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2012 11:40 am

Re: When you lose it all, you're not moving in!!!

Post by bamablue »

Yes... please share the details. I have a couple of Fidelity funds and I'm barely able to keep my head above water managing them. I'd do backflips if I could get anywhere close to 16%

shadogree
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:28 pm

Re: When you lose it all, you're not moving in!!!

Post by shadogree »

I'm surprised the MIL never talked about her 401k with her children or her husband? Most older generations seem more trustworthy except for my mother who is 80 and she doesn't trust anyone. It's a good thing you and your MIL talked and hope to get her account secured.

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LittleKing
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2011 1:17 am

Re: When you lose it all, you're not moving in!!!

Post by LittleKing »

Yeah, I talk with my management team about the TSP and retirement options almost daily. I have been asked by many of them to "just take over my accounts" on multiple occasions. I tell everyone the same thing. Even if they were willing to sign a contract in front of my lawyer that absolves me from all guilt should I completely fail or go bust, I would not touch their money with a 10 foot pole. Even if they have no fear of personal information and monies being in the hand of a non-professional investor, I wouldn't do it. I may have degrees in these fields, but I don't work in these fields. Life took me other routes, and now I am just another "cog".

Not everyone has the drive, interest, or time to research, study, and apply methodologies to grow their monies. Because of this, people should be relying on the professionals, backed by insurance and license, and should settle and be thankful for their 6-12% growth. My grandparents lost their whole retirement thanks to Enron. I definitely will not be an Enron experience for the people I will be surrounded by for many years.

I will say that I do daily encourage people to learn though. I excitedly talk about all the great ways and resources that people COULD be exceling in their retirement goals. I openly tell people, daily, the what, and how I accomplish what I do. I have shown people this site, TSPCALC, and others to progress their TSP knowledge. I put the TOOLS in their hands and encourage them to learn the basics FIRST, but if at all hesitant or emotional, to leave it to the professionals.

The problem with passion is that it is excitable, persuasive, and contagious. Zeal is important and should be utilized to help all people feel empowered to pursue their options. But zeal without knowledge, and wisdom is just another destructive hurricane that will ultimately destroy everything in its path.

Dela444
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2016 8:54 am

Re: When you lose it all, you're not moving in!!!

Post by Dela444 »

I appreciate everyone's concern and the humor of some :D I'll be sure to inform her that not only I am concered.

I haven't seen MILs 401k but I have the numbers from my wife's 401k with Fidelity.

We're currently at a 16.32% YTD rate of return. These are the current funds that I have her in for the last 8 months.

25% VANGUARD INST INDEX
22% TRP US MDCP VAL EQ
20% VANG EXT MKT IND INS
17% CONESTOGA SM CAP IS
16% TRP GRTHSTK TRUST B

Dela444
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2016 8:54 am

Re: When you lose it all, you're not moving in!!!

Post by Dela444 »

LittleKing wrote:Yeah, I talk with my management team about the TSP and retirement options almost daily. I have been asked by many of them to "just take over my accounts" on multiple occasions. I tell everyone the same thing. Even if they were willing to sign a contract in front of my lawyer that absolves me from all guilt should I completely fail or go bust, I would not touch their money with a 10 foot pole. Even if they have no fear of personal information and monies being in the hand of a non-professional investor, I wouldn't do it. I may have degrees in these fields, but I don't work in these fields. Life took me other routes, and now I am just another "cog".

Not everyone has the drive, interest, or time to research, study, and apply methodologies to grow their monies. Because of this, people should be relying on the professionals, backed by insurance and license, and should settle and be thankful for their 6-12% growth. My grandparents lost their whole retirement thanks to Enron. I definitely will not be an Enron experience for the people I will be surrounded by for many years.

I will say that I do daily encourage people to learn though. I excitedly talk about all the great ways and resources that people COULD be exceling in their retirement goals. I openly tell people, daily, the what, and how I accomplish what I do. I have shown people this site, TSPCALC, and others to progress their TSP knowledge. I put the TOOLS in their hands and encourage them to learn the basics FIRST, but if at all hesitant or emotional, to leave it to the professionals.

The problem with passion is that it is excitable, persuasive, and contagious. Zeal is important and should be utilized to help all people feel empowered to pursue their options. But zeal without knowledge, and wisdom is just another destructive hurricane that will ultimately destroy everything in its path.


GREAT POST SIR!!

crondanet5
Posts: 4330
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:51 pm

Re: When you lose it all, you're not moving in!!!

Post by crondanet5 »

Why are you wasting time encouraging people who don't want to hear it? Get the plan for the day presented and get them to work. You would be amazed how long winded mangers can be when they think their employees are interested only to find out the employees were milking the time off the managers gave them discussing something that was only of interest to the manager. Put them to work.

Also, everyone should be careful offering advice to fellow employees about how to allocate their money because if the Funds recommended go down in value there may be grounds for a lawsuit. If they want to sit in the G Fund let them.

nodak
Posts: 69
Joined: Sun Apr 02, 2017 6:36 pm

Re: When you lose it all, you're not moving in!!!

Post by nodak »

Yeah, this kind of stuff really bothers me. Hope no damage was done to her account. A couple things that standout from your post:

He was “arrested for giving financial advice without a license”. People do that all the time without getting in trouble. He must have really crossed a line with somebody (lost their money, misused their info…). From that, I would assume its not all sunshine and roses for everybody that has entrusted him. (on the other hand, it could have been a website issue)

Also, it sounds like you have not seen her account and based on her not knowing what funds she is in, she probable hasn’t looked recently either. So, where is she getting the 16% number from –taking his word for it maybe? And what does “getting 16%” mean? YTD? Last 12 months? Average?

Good luck, hope you can get her to change her password ASAP. Assure her that she can invest on her own, she doesn’t need some coworkers “help”.

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Fund Prices2024-03-28

FundPriceDayYTD
G $18.15 0.05% 1.05%
F $19.08 -0.06% -0.74%
C $82.21 0.11% 10.55%
S $82.43 0.30% 6.92%
I $42.57 -0.24% 5.95%
L2065 $16.38 0.02% 8.37%
L2060 $16.39 0.02% 8.38%
L2055 $16.39 0.02% 8.38%
L2050 $32.73 0.01% 6.95%
L2045 $14.91 0.02% 6.58%
L2040 $54.38 0.02% 6.22%
L2035 $14.34 0.02% 5.79%
L2030 $47.67 0.02% 5.38%
L2025 $13.15 0.03% 3.43%
Linc $25.61 0.03% 2.82%

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