What is a good personal rate of return?

Question

I contribute a percentagfe of my paycheck into a 401K program. I move this money around in different funds and some have a good Personal Rate of Return, while others are not so good. On my entire portfolio I have an average rate of return of 1.000% to 2.000%. What type of return rate should I aim for?

Before I started using the differerent funds, my money went into a stable stock option. I just started investing into all funds available through my 401 k. I have 6% of my weekly paycheck put into this account, plus the company matches half of what I put in. I make between 32,000 to 45,000 a year, depending on how much overtime I do. As soon as I get a couple more bills paid off, I am going to increase my contribution. I can go up to 50%.
Here is a break down of the funds I am utilizing:


Euro-Pacific

Developing Countries

Small Cap

Mid Cap

Real Estate Fund

Growth Fund

Growth Fund of America
Stable Value Option

Real Return Fund

PIMCO Real Return Fund (Institutional Class) - PRRIX

Total Return Fund (

Moderate Asset Alloc

Aggressive Asset Alloc.

Stock Fund Dodge & Cox Stock Fund - DODGX

Balanced Fund


My goal is to get at least 100 shares in each of the funds. I only plan to move money around if one of the funds is losing

Answer 1

Are you serious?
1.0% or 2.0%?
You're getting screwed! Or rather...you're screwing youself!
You say "I move this money around ..."
Quit moving the money around! Let it do it's thing!
You should only move the money around once or twice per year.And then only to rebalance your account so that each of your holdings are brought back in line with the percentages that you initially specified.
You ARE invested in 4 or more funds,aren't you? If not then you better think about how you're going to spread your allocations around!
I don't know how old you are,but if you're young (20's,30's,even 40's) you should have NONE of your money invested in bonds! Many financial gurus will tell you that you need to keep some money in bonds so that your money doesn't suffer from market volatility.But market volatility is something you WANT! Especially if you are contributing to your fund on a weekly (or monthly) basis.
When the market goes up,your previous holdings are worth more.When the market dips,you're now buying the shares of your plan at a lower price.Bond funds are "safer" but they usually don't grow enough over the years to keep up with inflation.So you're actually losing money!
If you invest your money properly you should be seeing average yearly returns (over a decade or more!) of anywhere from 8.0% to 14.0% depending on what funds you invest in.
10.0% is the norm,as equities will take serious losses from time to time.But some of them will put your net-worth through the roof.
Check out MSN.com,and go to their "Money" page.
They have plenty of good advice.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What is a good personal rate of return?
I contribute a percentagfe of my paycheck into a 401K program. I move this money around in different funds and some have a good Personal Rate of Return, while others are not so good. On my entire portfolio I have an average rate of return of 1.000% to 2.000%. What type of return rate should I...

Answer 3

I think a good rate of return is 11%. The stock market has returned around 8% a year throughout it's history. If you go to http://www.top10traders.com - and see the best traders have made annual returns of over 100%. I think the more research you put into investing and understanding stocks and markets - your return will go up. Good luck.

Answer 4

1-2% over what time frame. If its annual, that's a terrible return, it should be 5% for fixed income, and closer to 8-10% for equity. If you are young and therefore putting money in a 401K, it should be definately be closer to 10%. Move into more aggressive funds. The only way you are getting 1-2% is if you are in a money market, and a bad MM fund at that.

Answer 5

In the long term, five to ten years, you should be getting atleast about 8 percent annualized with a deiversified portfolio of stocks and bonds. You're probably not taking enough risk if you have been in the 401k for that long. If you've got quite a few years until retirement add more in stock funds. A rule of thumb is to subtract your age from 100 and put that percentage in stocks.

Answer 6

401k Rate Of Return

Answer 7

That depends on what kind of investment options are open to you. 401K plans often offer only a limited selection of mutual funds. Depending on your options, I suggest about 20% in bond (or money market) funds, 10% in a real estate fund (if available) 35% US stocks, and 35% international stocks. A portfolio like that should return about 10% a year.

Answer 8

it depends on how much of a risk your willing to take. if its a big risk like stocks, youre looking for a rate of return of 7-9% but if its a smaller risk, your rate of return will be less

Answer 9

20 %