OK, remember I can't give any specific ideas because I don't know you, your risk tolerance, time lines, etc. I'm not wimping out, that's just the requirement of what I do. That being said the answers are as follows: yes, yes, NO!, possibly, only on Tuesdays, and yes your wifes knows.
Glatt, yours is the easiest - all fund performance numbers are net of all fees. That is where the "pick the fund with the lowest fees" crowd sometimes is wrong. Pick the fund that most closely fits your risk tolerance with the most consistent performance over the long haul. Be aware, but not obsessed with the fees. BTW, my guess is that many of the 98 funds available are target date funds and index funds. That is due to the recent thought put into suing companies who offer 401K's without professional advisors in place.
More conservative? That's a moving target. What is your expectation of the economy/world over the next 5 years? What I believe is irrelevant (unless you were my client and I convinced you of my opinions). I still strongly support high dividends, long track records, consistent solid performance over stellar short term performance, transparent management with a team approach over the excellent single manager method.
Diversify. Do you have small, mid,
and large cap? Foreign
and domestic? Developed
and emerging? Growth
and value? Everyone should have some of each of these, the ratios will vary based on
your timeline and
your risk tolerance.
Me personally? I have a really long time horizon and high risk tolerance, but I'm still pretty conservative by nature so I'm loaded up on high dividend and deep value companies right now. I've bought some global real estate and resource companies too. There are some interesting metal exploration ideas out there too, but read A LOT before going down that road.
BigV, yours is an answer that has no answer from outside yourself. You absolutely have to pick a target date. You can change it later, but you have to pick one now. You have to pick a target dollar goal as well. Do you want to leave $$ for the next generation or bounce your last check? Only you can decide those things. The how much is enough question is easy. If you quit working tomorrow, how much $$ would you need to live the life you want to live? No, really. $60,000, $160,000? The amount you need is a function of the amount you want to spend. If you think you only need $60,000 per year but you want to pass $$ onto the kids, then I'd suggest you plan on having $1,500,000 in the bank when you retire. That amount would sustain a $60,000 annual income at a 4% withdrawal rate indefinitely with the principle likely growing with time. $160,000? plan on about $4,000,000. Or $2.2MM if you don't feel obligated to leave money for the kids.
The point is that how much you have is pretty irrelevent until you figure out how much you want to spend.
The longer your time horizon the more aggressive you can afford to be, but the key is to figure out your tolerance to volatility. Cuz its all about you baby.
