{"id":196668,"date":"2025-10-02T07:54:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T07:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/196668\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T07:54:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T07:54:14","slug":"the-biggest-401k-mistake-people-make","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/196668\/","title":{"rendered":"The Biggest 401(k) Mistake People Make"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When interviewed by Rebecca Mezistrano, producer of TheStreet<\/a>, personal finance expert Dave Ramsey weighed in on the biggest 401(k) plan<\/a> mistake Americans make that could be costing them millions.<\/p>\n

His answer? Jumping in and out of the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey freak out when the market goes down,\u201d stated Ramsey. \u201cThey stop, they start, they try to time the market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ramsey then noted that people trained to time the market can\u2019t even do it well \u2014 so the lay person shouldn\u2019t try.<\/p>\n

Learn More: Dave Ramsey Says This Is the Best Way To Pay Off Debt<\/a><\/p>\n

Consider This: 10 Cars That Outlast the Average Vehicle<\/a><\/p>\n

Ramsey stated that those with money invested in the market do best when they ignore their emotions (be it panic or excitement), avoid reacting to short-term fluctuations and simply allow their 401(k) plans to grow untouched.<\/p>\n

He goes on to say that individuals trying to time the market<\/a> never keep up with steady investor. The steady investor wins every time, but do other financial professionals agree?<\/p>\n

\u201cI often disagree with Dave Ramsey<\/a>, but on this point he is 100% spot on,\u201d stated Robert Johnson, chairman and CEO at Economic Index Associates<\/a>, who claimed attempting to time the market is \u201cfool\u2019s gold.\u201d <\/p>\n

Johnson cited the J.P. Morgan Asset Management\u2019s 2025 Retirement Guide<\/a> to demonstrate that over a 20-year period from Jan. 3, 2005, to Dec. 31, 2024, \u201cif you missed the top 10 days in the stock market, your overall return was cut by over 40%,\u201d and, \u201c[seven] of the best 10 days occurred within two weeks of the worst ten days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Translation? The biggest market gains happen too infrequently, too unpredictably and too densely to risk pulling your money out of the market<\/a> and missing them.<\/p>\n

Find Out: Here\u2019s Why You Might Want To Invest Your Retirement Savings in a Roth 401(k)<\/a><\/p>\n

Lisa A. Cummings, Esq., attorney at Cummings & Cummings Law<\/a>, also agreed with Ramsey, adding that timing the market results in counterproductively buying expensive securities during market highs and selling low amid fear \u2014 \u201cwhich results in the opposite long-term goal to preserve your contributions and grow your earnings over a longer time horizon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listen to Ramsey on this one: Set it and forget it.<\/a><\/p>\n

More From GOBankingRates<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com<\/a>: Dave Ramsey: The Biggest 401(k) Mistake People Make<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When interviewed by Rebecca Mezistrano, producer of TheStreet, personal finance expert Dave Ramsey weighed in on the biggest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,155,147,530],"class_list":["post-196668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-dave-ramsey","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}