401k Choice Help for a dumb dumb

Sludig

Sludig

Golden Baronet of the Realm
9,004
9,315
New job pays in $4.50/hr to a 401k. I'm youngish and hopefully spending 20 years here. I get the feeling they dont do any matching contributions since we get this amount flat on top of normal hourly? Not ready to but probably want to start laying away extra instead of just sitting it all in a checking account.

My options are these. I know it cant be as simple as choose best 10 year percentage I dont think.


Direct rip from page I have th choose my proportions.
Investment Option Name Investment
Option Code
(Internal Use Only)
Great-West Lifetime 2015 Fund I T1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G15C1O ______%
Great-West Lifetime 2025 Fund I T1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G25C1O ______%
Great-West Lifetime 2035 Fund I T1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G35C1O ______%
Great-West Lifetime 2045 Fund I T1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G45C1O ______%
Great-West Lifetime 2055 Fund I T1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G55C1O ______%
American Funds New Perspective - R3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G98050 ______%
RidgeWorth International Equity Index I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GSE050 ______%
Alger Small Cap Growth Institutional I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GSI050 ______%
Great-West S&P SmallCap 600 Index Fund I. . . . . . . . . . G93050 ______%

Munder Mid-Cap Core Growth A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GMC050 ______%
Great-West S&P 500 Index Fund I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G94050 ______%
Marsico Focus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G25050 ______%
MFS Value Fund A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GMV050 ______%
MFS Total Return A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GMT050 ______%
Oppenheimer Global Strategic Income A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GOS050 ______%
PIMCO Real Return Admin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GRR050 ______%
Wells Fargo Advantage Core Bond Admin. . . . . . . . . . . . . GWM050 ______%
Key Guaranteed Portfolio Fund. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . KGPF ______%
MUST INDICATE WHOLE PERCENTAGES =100%


On the performance page I dont get why it lists this willshire 5000 Total Market TR which isnt in the above list of choices. These GW lifetime 2xxx Funds seem higher reliable %'s than any others.

Edit: Apparently cant paste the table well.

But that willshire is identically listed multiple times showing 3mos 4.8%, TTD 7%. 1 year 25%, 3year 16%, 5year 19%. Since start date/10yr 19.6%.

The Great west lifetimes run roughly like this. 3mos 3.86% , YTD 5.5%, 1year 16.5%, 3year 9%, 5year 12.9%, Start/10yr 13.6%. Also lists investment expences 10.4 per 1k gross.
 
P

Poster

Lord Nagafen Raider
119
24
Check the expense ratios for each as well, then compare against the vanguard fund that tracks the same index. 401k fund choices are notorious for being high fee.
 
Sludig

Sludig

Golden Baronet of the Realm
9,004
9,315
They seemed like they were mostly close to in ratio based on the %/returns and whatever. Couple whernt like wells fargo had a high high fee.

What good does vanguard do me if it's not an option? Should I look into rolling or otherwise seeing if I have an IRA option? I dont know the first thing about investing. Was hoping to find a good choice to pump into or maybe split between 2. The guaranteed portfolio seemed ultra bunk at like 1.2% with the fee's eating like half that.
 
Harfle

Harfle

Lord Nagafen Raider
1,055
69
Poster_sl said:
Check the expense ratios for each as well, then compare against the vanguard fund that tracks the same index. 401k fund choices are notorious for being high fee.
Click to expand...
What he said. Also if they do match, and expense ratios are shit I think it might be best to goto match limit then do a IRA. But I am sure someone else in here will tell you something better then what I said.

I know with my 403B we can elect to have our deductions in a roth status, as well.
 
Harfle

Harfle

Lord Nagafen Raider
1,055
69
Investment Option Name InvestmentOption Code

Great-West Lifetime 2015 Fund I T1G15C1O

Great-West Lifetime 2025 Fund I T1G25C1O

Great-West Lifetime 2035 Fund I T1G35C1O

Great-West Lifetime 2045 Fund I T1G45C1O

Great-West Lifetime 2055 Fund I T1G55C1O

American Funds New Perspective - R3G98050

RidgeWorth International Equity Index IGSE050

Alger Small Cap Growth Institutional IGSI050

Great-West S&P SmallCap 600 Index Fund IG93050

Munder Mid-Cap Core Growth AGMC050

Great-West S&P 500 Index Fund IG94050

Marsico FocusG25050

MFS Value Fund AGMV050

MFS Total Return AGMT050

Oppenheimer Global Strategic Income AGOS050

PIMCO Real Return AdminGRR050

Wells Fargo Advantage Core Bond AdminGWM050

Key Guaranteed Portfolio FundKGPF

 
S

Soriak_sl

shitlord
783
0
Those are some expensive shit funds. Alas, there's little you can do about that. You should look into whether your employer matches up to some amount, or whether it's a direct contribution (irrespective of how much you put in). If it's the latter, put in absolutely nothing yourself and just invest your employer's contribution. If it's matching, it's going to depend on how they match, but most likely still worth contributing up to the max matching.

In terms of the choices, I'd just dump everything in the Great-West S&P 500 Index Fund. It comes with a 0.60% expense ratio (compared to 0.05% for VTI), which is terribly high for an index fund, but is at least less than the others I've checked. You want to avoid the actively managed ones, because you're not only paying a higher fee, but you're likely to do worse even before fees. The lifetime funds (which are the most conservative lifecycle funds available from the provider) have substantially higher fees at 0.99%, so I'd avoid those.

sludig_sl said:
On the performance page I dont get why it lists this willshire 5000 Total Market TR which isnt in the above list of choices.
Click to expand...
It's probably listed as a benchmark. The Wilshire 5000 captures returns for the total US stock market. It's really just distracting information: you don't want to pick your funds based on how they do against a benchmark, because past performance is no guarantee for future performance.
 
T

The Ancient_sl

shitlord
7,386
16
Soriak_sl said:
Those are some expensive shit funds. Alas, there's little you can do about that. You should look into whether your employer matches up to some amount, or whether it's a direct contribution (irrespective of how much you put in). If it's the latter, put in absolutely nothing yourself and just invest your employer's contribution. If it's matching, it's going to depend on how they match, but most likely still worth contributing up to the max matching.

In terms of the choices, I'd just dump everything in the Great-West S&P 500 Index Fund. It comes with a 0.60% expense ratio (compared to 0.05% for VTI), which is terribly high for an index fund, but is at least less than the others I've checked. You want to avoid the actively managed ones, because you're not only paying a higher fee, but you're likely to do worse even before fees. The lifetime funds (which are the most conservative lifecycle funds available from the provider) have substantially higher fees at 0.99%, so I'd avoid those.
Click to expand...
I'm just going to echo what Soriak said, because it's both correct and comprehensive. This thread is pretty much over.
 
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