jimmyle, my 401(K) also sucks re precious metals– no such option whatsoever. I looked back in 2007 or so and blast blast blast– no way to move my $ into something more solid. All I get to choose from are various types of “funds”.

So I did the best I could and moved like half of it into bonds-type funds, the closest I could get to T-bills given the options they gave me, and lost “only” 25% in the fall of 2008. As the $#!+ was hitting the fan I boosted my proportions so that nearly half of it is in the “stable value fund” (like a money market account), another third in conservative bond funds, and the remainder in my basket of stock funds. Since then I’ve gained most of what I lost back.

However, I think this stock market rise is a mirage and I don’t trust it. Also my company suspended the 401(K) match. So I cut in half the % of my income that I put into it each month, and have that money wired into my credit union account instead. I figure when the market crashes I will wait til stocks appear to have bottomed, then up my paycheck deduction again enough to “put back in” what I put in the credit union.

I know this attempted market timing is kind of cheesy, but I just can’t see putting my 16 raisins into this thing only to see it decline by 25 raisins during the year. It feels like flushing my money down a black hole when that happens.