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Help me choose my 403b plan
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I work for a school district and have access to a 403b or 457 plan.

I have never contributed to a tax deferred plan, but would like to this year. I will most likely contribute $18k (max) since my wife does not have a tax deferred plan.

I spoke with the sponsored company fr my district and was told they are the only ones who can set up my 403b. She said I have 3 options:

1. Fixed annuity. Average return of 1%, low risk. (Obviously not picking this one)
2. Variable annuity. Stated that this is a mix between stocks and mutual funds. It is high risk and has high fees. Returns of 2-3%
3. "Fixed Indexed" she was obviously selling this one hard and made me think it was too good to be true. Said you keep your gains in the stock market but can't take any losses. Stated that it has no fees and average returns of 7%. Honesty, it sounded like whole life insurance to me, but she never used that term.

I have a Roth IRA with trade kings and I just put money in whenever I want and buy/sell for $4.95/trade. Can't I set up something I self manage like this for a 403b? They specifically stated that I have to go with my employer sponsored company.

Can I self manage option 2? What would slowtwitch recommend?

http://www.ironmanglib.com
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Re: Help me choose my 403b plan [tri dpt] [ In reply to ]
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How does #3 work ... something doesn't seem right with it .... without more detail it would be hard to say anything definitive but man you're handcuffed with only three choices
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Re: Help me choose my 403b plan [tri dpt] [ In reply to ]
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Can't help with selecting which one to go with, but had a negative experience with a 403b that made it a real chore to roll over into an IRA, so you might also consider that if you don't expect to be with the district in the long term.
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Re: Help me choose my 403b plan [tri dpt] [ In reply to ]
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many 403b s have gone from you being able to choose where you would open the account down to one plan sponsor. Unfortunately it sounds like yours is with an insurance company and you're stuck with 3 different types of annuities.
Is the fixed index capped at a certain return? If
It averaged a 7% ROR my guess capped ~10%. If there's no downside risk you need to be giving up something on the upside. Unless she was saying your income base would never go below contributions (initial premiums). ?

What carrier is sponsoring the plan ? MetLife

"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "
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Re: Help me choose my 403b plan [tri dpt] [ In reply to ]
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Wow, all 3 sound like SHIT. There's only one company available?

Can't I set up something I self manage like this for a 403b?

I doubt it.

Your wife could likely also contribute to a Roth which I'd probably look at before this.
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Re: Help me choose my 403b plan [windywave] [ In reply to ]
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Ok, it looks like I may have some other options with quite a few companies. I called Vanguard, since they were one of the names I recognized and it seems I may be able to set up a 403b7 with them.

However, my employer also offers a 457. What's the catch with this plan? From my brief research you can take money out of this plan without a penalty fee? You just pay the income tax on it? Unfortunately I can't do the 457 with Vanguard but can look into it with other companies

http://www.ironmanglib.com
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