During a recession, many people have a tendency to panic if they see their retirement accounts falling. Some people may even overreact by taking money out of their account or they stop contributing altogether. Participants who are fearfully eyeing their accounts may want to read a recent New York Times article, “You Can Panic in a Recession or You Can Strategize.”  The article deals with investment strategies as a whole (not just retirement), but it does offer some tried and true advice: MaximizeYour 401(k).

Even in a recession, participants are better off continuing to save for the long term than if they stop temporarily stop contributing to their retirement account. As the Times article points out, participants that receive a matching company contribution are essentially getting free money. Free money is something no one wants to walk away from, especially during downtimes. You shouldn’t forget the tax breaks that come from saving in a 401(k) either. For those participants who do start to panic and want to stash their money under their mattresses, NADART offers retirement calculators to show them just how much tax savings they are getting by putting their money in a tax-deferred retirement plan as well as how much money they will have in the long term.

In these difficult financial times, NADART’s goal is to help plan sponsors and participants get the most from their retirement dollar with low-fees and a variety of investment options. In addition to the retirement mentioned above, NADART provides 24/7 account access, allowing participants to easily rebalance their asset allocation. If you’d like to learn more about NADART’s products and services, please contact a NADART representative at (800) 462-3278, ext. 7161 or e-mail nadart401k@nada.org.