My 401K has a YTD of -98.87%

[cayamaka]

I do the lowest risk one that my advisor suggested thru Lincoln financial. I logged in today and it says -98.87% YTD RETURN, I’m a little nervous cause I started it last year and I am almost to 8k I am only 25 and wanted to think about my future. My company matches. And I’m doing 8% of my check. Is this normal?

SECOND EDIT: whoever said it was just a glitch was right! My account looks way better today! Still going to get better investment strategies

$7,039.61 Account balance
5.07% YTD rate of return
(01/01/2024 - 03/08/2024)
N/A Annual rate of return
8% Current contribution
$233.86 My last contribution (03/06/2024)
$1,121.32My YTD contributions
$560.66My YTD employer contributions

EDIT: thank you all for your advice, and teachings, comments.. I have learned more today than I have in a 1 hour phone call with a financial advisor!! You all are so helpful and friendly. Thank you. I’ll be calling Lincoln Monday and trying to get into a tad more aggressive investing fund so that I can see that money grow!

 

[ninjatoth]

@cayamaka Are you sure your company didn't change providers? Something similar happened to me, turns out the company changed providers and moved all my money to a different account. Do you actually see what fund(s) are invested in?

 

[mindjammer]

@ninjatoth Similar thing happened to me with an ex-employer 401k account. Received a letter a month later from a new brokerage that my funds were transferred.

 

[cayamaka]

@ninjatoth YourPath Passive 2065 Mod SAH6

That’s what comes up that says I am investing in, he said it was the least risk because that’s when I’ll retire is year 2065

How do I find out they switched company’s? Because all my Logins and information seems the same

 

[ninjatoth]

@cayamaka Contact your employer. Looking at that fund it seems fine. Your employer is the only one that can answer this question

 

[animalinstinct]

@cayamaka Read your emails. There would be multiple about a change in company, or a transfer into a different fund. Sometimes they change funds to cheaper ones of the same/similar allocation.

 

[cayamaka]

@animalinstinct I checked my email and message portal on Lincoln seems down to maintenance. I wonder if that’s what caused this glitch.

 

[onecontent]

@cayamaka you should have a notification in your brokerage account, an email, or a physical mail sent to the mailing address on file

 

[jm001]

@cayamaka I have a fund at fidelity which shows a gain/loss on the positions page as negative because it doesn’t reflect dividends. I always have to go to a performance page to see total return which includes them. It has never jumped that negative though. I would search for a report page and see what the Total Return is.

This is how it has been explained elsewhere
“To answer your original questions, at least for Fidelity (i don't have a Vanguard account, so not sure about that). The "Total Gain" column only represents the unrealized gains. So, if you put in $100. The fund paid $5 in dividends, and had $10 of appreciation (so now worth $110, assuming you took the dividends in cash). Then the "total gains" column would show $10. Your actual return is $15, but that is not reflected in the "Total Gain" column.
Even if you re-invest the dividend, the "Total Gain" column will still show just the $10, since your basis is now $105, and your account value is $115, the Total Gain is still reported as $10.”

If your dividends take time to get credited, that might cause a valuation issue for a bit I guess also?

 

[pineapples]

@jm001 If dividends are reinvested tax-free then the current value reflects the dividends already

 

[jm001]

@pineapples It may just be a fidelity issue then because the positions page shows a reduction in total gains when a dividend converts gains into basis. I spoke to a fidelity rep and they explained the difference between what they consider total gains and total return. The latter includes capital gain and dividend distributions properly credited. The also showed me another place to check the total returns. Similarly, the positions page does not show Roth vs traditional 401k which also bugged me, yet it is clearly shown elsewhere.

That being said, those are my only two issues with fidelity. I have been overjoyed otherwise

 

[pineapples]

@jm001 If the stock drops by a higher percentage than the proportion of additional shares you’ve accumulated through dividends then you’ll have lost money

 

[jm001]

@pineapples That makes sense, but the way the fidelity positions page shows dividends, if you invest $100 and it goes up to $110 (10% gains )and subsequently has a $10 dividend, your basis increases by $10 although typically the price goes down $10 so still $110 but your basis increased so total gains becomes 0 (0% gains where it showed 10% before). This bothered me because it is counter indicative for reits who returns gains regularly or bonds who try to maintain a price of $1.

You are correct though that investments can go negatively though. Someone looked at his target date fund and saw positive returns so I was thinking maybe it was a calculation issue? That’s a lot though. Hope op posts what he finds out.

 

[pineapples]

@jm001 That’s very strange, your cost basis should only ever be what you paid for it.

 

[jm001]

@pineapples They consider dividends reinvested as new investment thus increasing basis. They even show dividends from shares purchased as company match as being added to basis purchased by company match. I am fully vested so it didn’t bother me as much as a reit paying 9% being shown artificially low. The price has increased a couple percent annually so total returns were about 11% but it was shown on the positions page as only a couple percent of “gain”. Crazy to me until they showed me where to see total returns vs total gains.

They showed me where to find total return which was what looks right to me, but the positions page shows it awkwardly.

 

[jenny221]

@jm001 Your basis only increases if the stock price you pay for the reinvested dividend shares is higher than the price of the shares you bought originally. Not sure how dividends can be reinvested tax free without taking a loss to offset the capital gain from the dividend. I also know nothing about IRA's so that could be my issue also

 

[grace_chaser]

@cayamaka I looked up the literature on Google.

It looks like the majority of your holdings are BDOKX at 40% weight and BKTSX at 38% weight of the 2065 fund.

With such a high negative amount, my guess is you misread the metrics somehow. Even if you were to invest at any time last year, you would not have had a -94% loss. Your investment manager would’ve had to fuck up royalty. And if they did, you should definitely report it. Because you are owed compensation.

It could just mean that they took 94% of your contributions and invested it into the fund. Which is why your contributions are -94%

But I don’t know. My recommendation is to go to your fund manager your broker and ask them directly. They will have the information and if it smells fishy to you? Don’t be afraid to reach out to government agencies and ask for their help. That’s why they exist.

 

[xrrbx]

@ninjatoth Stock splits can also temporarily screw up the numbers. I've seen Fidelity credit me with added shares from a stock split without adjusting the price for the stock split.

 

[yabado]

@cayamaka Did they hire an "expert" from WSB to manage your fund?

 

[abbafather]

@yabado 401 Manager went NVDA 1500$ 0DTE