Photo Source: Severine's photostream on Flickr
Last year, I read Amanda’s posts about recovering from her money coma with a sense of relief.
I too was stuck—in an investing coma.
During the ten years I worked in a corporate job, money was automatically transferred to investments my dad had picked out for my 401k. I’m embarrassed to say I threw away every statement unopened. I didn’t understand investments, so I ignored them.
Then I had a baby, quit my job and moved to another state. My 401(k) statements stopped coming … and I let myself forget about them.
Recently a friend asked me, “Who is your retirement account with?”
Uh, what? I had no idea. And I couldn’t find a single document.
Two hours later, no joke, a T. Rowe Price email popped up in my inbox. My 401(k) statement.
I took it as a sign to wake up from my investing coma. I called T. Rowe Price to first (ahem) get my password so I could log in.
I realized my money was split evenly between two funds: TRP Blue Chip Growth (TRBCX) and TRP New Horizons (PRNHX).
When I checked the fact sheets for the funds on the site, I realized they were both equity (i.e. stock) funds. Although I'm not an expert (yet), I knew that having 100% of my retirement money in stocks felt too risky now.
