What are all these tariffs doing to your 401(k)?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The situation is so unprecedented that financial planners say there isn't a reliable model for predicting where the chips will fall.

As Wall Street's expectations grow dimmer for a quick resolution on President Donald Trump's tariff and trade disputes, the nest eggs of ordinary Americans hang in the balance.

Investors had been pinning their hopes on a potential meeting between the president and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at this month's G-20 Summit in Japan that could break the impasse, but that optimism is dwindling. CNBC reported that analysts from both JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley expressed doubt that the two leaders would meet and agree to a trade deal.

In a new research note, analysts at Goldman Sachs estimated there is a 60 percent chance that the U.S. will levy a 10 percent tariff on the remaining $300 billion of Chinese imports, a 70 percent chance that Trump will follow through on his threat to slap a 5 percent tariff on all imports from Mexico, and a 40 percent chance that the White House will implement sweeping tariffs on imported cars.

"We still expect deals with China and Mexico to lead to a removal of the tariffs, but not until late 2019/2020," they wrote.

But that might be too late for the U.S. economy, market observers warned. "It's going to continue to weigh on markets," said Mitchell Goldberg, president of ClientFirst Strategy. "The longer it goes on, the worse it gets."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/savingandinvesting/what-are-all-these-tariffs-doing-to-your-401-k/ar-AACkLmx?li=BBnbfcN

Well speaking personally, my retirement accounts peaked in January of 2018, fell about $60,000, returned to Jan. 2018 level last month. Now they're falling again.

[Indykatie]

1. I Moved To a Fixed Fund in January- I'm Not Making Any Money on Investments But Not Losing Either

Sooner or later the Market will have to realize Trump is an idiot and pushing us toward recession. The worst thing about this is that he doesn't give a damn that he's going to tank the economy.

[NBachers]

2. I transferred everything into a tiny-interest guaranteed annuity fund. No growth, no shrinkage.

Just a shoebox to put my money into each week. In April, I finally got back to where I'd been last September. As a working 70 year old, I'm just interested in steady savings and stability.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. What are your percentages? The numbers aren't important.

Your retirement account fell about $60,000, but was that from $1,000,000, or 200,000? Or some other number?

Not too long ago someone else here on DU complained about his (perhaps her) investment accounts falling some particular amount, but again, it's not the raw numbers but the percentages that matter. Did your account fall a whole lot more than the stock market as a whole? Ask yourself why? How exactly are you invested? If your investments are dropping more than the market as a whole, I'm going to suggest you are in very risky investments. If a lot less than the market as a whole, then why are you worrying? The market goes up. It goes down. New highs are frequently established. New lows are not, at least not since something like 1934.

Perhaps I feel a bit smug, because I have a financial advisor who has moved all of my investments into what I consider very safe areas. My up side is not as high as it might be, but my down side is a whole lot less than the market as a whole So yeah, my investments are a bit down right now, but not enough to affect me financially.

Here's the other good thing about that advisor. About six years ago he persuaded me to put about half of my available money into two different annuities. Now I know that annuities are generally scorned here, but they shouldn't be. I honestly don't know all of the details, but I will tell you this. I have recently (as of last August) started taking income from those annuities. My monthly income increased about 20%. Which is a lot. The return on those annuities, in terms of the money I'm taking out, is over 5%. That's more than I can safely take out from my other investments. Oh. And currently they are worth more than the money I originally invested, and were I to die tomorrow, my heirs would get that current worth.

Meanwhile, I live below my means, as I hope all of you do. My current income leaves me quite comfortable, for which I'm very grateful. Even with the recent drop in the market and corresponding (although a bit less) drop in my investments, I can still savely take out the 4% that's considered prudent. Perhaps more to the point, if the market were to tank in a big way, and my investments likewise tank, I could cut my current take from the investments by 50% and still do okay. Lucky me.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

4. I was at $1,100,000 in January 2018

Currently at $1,073,000. Guess I should be thankful it hasn't been worse.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. So you are down five tenths of one percent.

I'd say that's not very much. The dollar amount feels high, but honestly, you need to look at the percentages. You can lose a whole lot more before you need to be very concerned.