Financial Fitness with Alan Akina - Should You Continue to Contribute to Your 401K?

27 May 2020 · 1 min

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This content was created by Alan Akina. This content was uploaded by Alan Akina. This is a YouTube video titled "Financial Fitness with Alan Akina - Should You Continue to Contribute to Your 401K?" (published May 27, 2020). It is a short financial-advice segment hosted and delivered by Alan Akina offering guidance on whether to keep contributing to a 401(k) during the COVID-19 pandemic—recommending continued contributions when possible to capture employer matching and buy at lower stock prices, but advising suspension only if near retirement or facing immediate cash-flow hardship.

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Good morning, gang. I've been getting this question quite a bit lately. Alan, should I continue to contribute to my 401 during this pandemic? Now, this is a loaded question, so the answer is that it depends. Now, my first suggestion would be to continue making contributions if at all possible for a couple reasons. First, if your employer offers a matching program, not taking advantage of it is like leaving free money on the table. Secondly, stocks are generally across the board lower priced now because of the virus. Contributions now will help you to pick up on some great deals. Now, if you are nearing retirement age and you do not have time on your side to recover from a stock market drop, then you should not contribute. I also know that cash flow can be an issue. So, if there is absolutely no way that you can take care of your basic living expenses, then you may consider temporarily suspending contributions. Now, once your cash flow comes back, I would activate your contributions again. Now, here's the bottom line. Things may be tough now, but consistently investing over many, many years will boost your retirement, a retirement that your future self will thank you for. For Wake Up Today, I'm Alan Akina. See you on Thursday.