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Cleaning up a retirement mess

22.12.09

Question: I'm changing jobs and would like to roll over my $150,000 401(k) into an IRA account. Since I already have other IRAs in individual mutual funds, I would like to put those funds as well my new IRA rollover in one place so I can split the percentages invested in each individual fund just like my old 401(k) with 15 options. Do you recommend this approach? --Randy P., Montezuma, Iowa

Your 401(k) may have returned to pre-crash levels. But just treading water won't power you to a comfortable retirement. These four moves will. Last year it looked as if the era of the celebrity fund manager was finally, definitively over. The best and brightest had not only failed to avoid the financial meltdown but did worse than the market as a whole. Now some are staging a comeback. Anyone who's ever sought mental-health treatment knows how quickly the bills for such care can add up, even with insurance. Just what the doctor didn't order: money anxiety on top of whatever else you're facing.



Lisa and Bruce Brown are fortunate enough to have plenty of assets to protect. Foremost of these is their children: The Browns are the proud parents of four-year-old Emma, and they have another baby on the way. The Oakland couple also have considerable assets of the financial variety. Thanks to diligent saving and smart property investments, the Browns have a net worth of nearly $2 million. Select from our sampling of the largest passive portfolios that track either U.S., foreign, or specialty markets. There's a name for what ails you, and it's called "luxury guilt." Even if you can afford to travel, you reason, isn't it wrong to indulge when times are so tough? Well, if you haven't been swayed by the open-your-wallet, shorten-the-recession argument, how about this one: You may be missing a rare chance to visit some of the finest hotels on the planet at prices you aren't likely to see over the next decade. The deals now are better than in the aftermath of the Asian economic crisis, 9/11, or SARS, says Jan Freitag, vice president of Smith Travel Research, making travel to just about any place in the world from 30% to 50% more affordable than last year. One note: If you don't find these rates on the hotel website, call to book.

The dollar has fallen for much of this decade, and lately the decline is picking up speed. Already down more than 15% against the euro since March, the buck is expected to sink another 10% by the first quarter. Usually, when a once-strong asset falls this far out of favor, the correct long-term strategy is clear: Be a contrarian and buy.

Last autumn I took time off to go back to school. The timing turned out to be just right: My American economic history course at the University of California at Berkeley got to the Great Depression in early October, around the time everyone became convinced we were about to have another one. If 84-year-old Bob Sievers of Pacific Palisades, Calif., had his way, Congress would scrap the estate tax altogether when it considers an Obama administration proposal on the future of the controversial tax. As co-owner of a lumber business for 40 years, Sievers built his wealth from scratch and paid taxes on his earnings every step of the way.

Question: I'm 49 and my wife is 50. We agree on most things, except how much of our investment portfolio we should keep in cash. She is completely risk-averse and focuses only on the "spanking" we took in the market last year. I feel that by letting so much money sit in CDs earning 1% to 2% we're missing out on better opportunities. Currently, we've got about $500,000 in cash as part of an otherwise well diversified portfolio. Can you help me convince her to take half that money and buy into some dividend-paying blue chips? --Garry, Atlanta, Georgia If you think you're immune to market panic, consider this experiment. President Obama has said he'd like to lower the tax load on families making less than $250,000 and to raise it on people who make more than that.



The home-equity line of credit fueled thousands of extreme kitchen makeovers during the real estate boom. But the housing bust and the credit crisis stopped the HELOC party with a vengeance: Tens of thousands of homeowners had their lines cut or frozen, and most lenders stopped issuing new ones altogether. Question: Should I contribute more to my 401(k) than I have to in order to get the company match? --Terry, Kennett, Missouri He's worked on both the sell side (Bank of America and Citigroup) and the buy side (Andor Capital Management.) Now as retail analyst David Strasser settles into his new job at Janney Montgomery Scott, he talks to Fortune about retail stocks, the economy and whether consumers are every going to start shopping again.

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