Hi! Young Guy Needs Help Please!

[Vventimiglia]

Hey All,

I am new to this website, and a pretty young guy at 27 looking to try and secure a decent retirement for myself down the road. I'm always open to advice and would like some help from you all on your opinion if I am in the right direction or should be doing more or doing things differently.

From an old job I had transferred my 401k money into an IRA. Currently my holdings are as follows:

iShares Dow Jones Financial (IYF) - 137 Shares / Value = 7,444.58 (UP 57% since rollover)

Sector SPDR Energy (XLE) - 35 Shares / Value = 2,566.55 (UP 66% since rollover)

Sector SPDR Technology (XLK) - 95 Shares / 2,353.15 (UP 52% since rollover)

TOTAL ACCOUNT VALUE = 12,706.90$

This so far; is my total retirement savings along with a few thousand spread out in my TSP 401k fund from the government, and I will earn 1.1% of my salary for the 3 highest years pay due to the fact I am a federal worker. I was wondering if this sounds as if I have so far not done enough? Is there more I can do? Change my investment makeup? Currently I contribute 10% to my 401k and the government gives me a 5% match. Any help is much appreciated, if there is any other info I can provide to make the help easier or more detailed let me know! Thanks all.

[ronocnikral]

Hi! And welcome!

FWIW, I've found the people here to be of great help, but portfolio "critiques" usually get referred to the bogleheads' website. someone may be along to help you out.

You seem to be doing well, and it's great you have started saving. you may not be saving enough or you may be saving too much, it all depends on what your goals are. Since this is a forum about retiring early, I would say you need to crank up your contributions to the 401k as you can while maintaining whatever standard of living you desire.

also, you may want to do a little studying as well...

http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...ist-46732.html

[martyb]

My advice as a 53 yr old federal employee preparing to retire under CSRS in just a few (19) months: Do your best to get to where you can max your TSP asap. No advice here as to how to best invest, that will be up to you, but I'll say for sure that at your age, you don't want to be only in the G fund. My one other bit of advice is to try to build up a Roth IRA.