Staying the course
Name: Geo Verna
Age: 43
Hometown: Windsor, Calif.
My wife and I are in our early 40's and one year after Lehman Brothers and two years after the Dow's all time highs, we have not changed our strategy for saving for retirement.
Currently, we're 20% in bonds, 40% in large-cap stocks, 25% in small-cap stocks and 15% in international stocks. We're mostly in index funds and we revisit this quarterly and yearly, adjusting as needed. Both our companies offer 401(k) matching and we contribute the maximum. We also set up an automatic withdrawl from our savings each month into a tax-exempt bond fund.
From the high in October 2007 to the low in March 2009, our portfolio fell 43%. But as of September, it is down just 18% from the 2007 highs. Year-over-year its down 7%.
The two stocks that tanked the most are also the two biggest gainers since March: Powershares ETF Trust Golden Drg and Vanguard REIT Index fund.
Sure, as time goes on we will modify our allocation percentages, but we are staying with the path that we set to follow.
NEXT: Cashing out at the highs
