retirement already?

surprisingly, no one sent me a message saying they no longer wish to receive emails of my blog. victory! in fact, i even received some positive feedback. i bet this was the case because no one thought that i would post again till 2010. but here i am.

so during my unemployment stint, i tried to ignore an important financial area - retirement savings. i did this because i was confident that my skills and experiences would land me a job before anything got out of hand. this almost happened - twice. but unfortunately, investing money from my savings and leaving my 401k just sitting around in my former employer's plan weren't the best ideas.

i had been putting off talking w/ my financial adviser for months. events such as my initial lay-off, the end of my severance pay, or a return trip home would have all been good opportunities to have the necessary investment discussions. but i really thought i'd be able sneak by until i was once again gainfully employed. i realized after my latest near miss of employment, last thursday was when i was informed the company was "passing" on me, that i needed to talk to my financial adviser.
 
my call from monday was returned, and we spoke for over an hour and a half on tuesday. while these aren't necessarily the worst calls to have, especially if the market is improving like it has been since 2008, they're also not the most fun. i was able to suspend my investments in the mutual funds i hold for 3 months. i thought this was a good timeframe - enough so i wouldn't be worried about how rent's going to get paid, but also good motivation to get back to receiving a pay check and to go through the big process to get there. however, i always have the safety net of suspending things a few more months. 

and as for my 401k, while i knew there were a couple of options i really wasn't sure what the best was - though i did know that cashing out was the worst. shortly after telling my financial adviser that i hadn't done anything w/ it, he started his pitch to open an IRA at his firm. it actually did make the most sense for the long run, but the 4.5% that gets chopped off immediately to have them manage my money was tough to swallow. and then i started wondering if he had my best interests in mind or was trying to make a quick buck for him and his firm. i think it's a little of both, but i've been w/ them for over 6 years so i feel pretty good about him as an adviser. in the end i was just glad to have done something "proactive" with my money, finally. now if only i could comfortably add more. hopefully soon.