Yesterday, layoffs were announced at two of the biggest Minnesota companies.
Fridley-based Medtronic is going to layoff a total of 1,000 jobs world-wide of which 250 jobs will be lost in Minnesota.
Even closer to home, Golden Valley-based General Mills announced a layoff of 850 workers globally, with about 425 of the jobs being lost in Minnesota.
Find out what's happening in Golden Valleyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The sluggish growth, or no growth, in world-wide economies continues. The markets for everything from medical devices to the food we eat are not growing fast enough now for companies to maintain anything even close to full employment levels.
Layoffs are hugely stressful for the employees who lose their jobs and their families. The shock and surprise of a job loss can last for several months.
Find out what's happening in Golden Valleyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
In my experience, the last thing on the mind of any laid off employee is the current investment management status of their company 401(k) account. Even employees who are fortunate enough to find jobs quickly at other companies don’t pay enough attention to their individual retirement plan account at their former employer.
The current stock market environment makes inattention to any current company 401(k) an extremely dangerous situation. In just a few weeks, stock market gains that took several months can be wiped out completely.
My advice to anyone recently laid off is to analyze as soon as possible how much risk they are comfortable with now in their company 401(k) retirement plan account.
It is possible that you have a small amount of investment gains over recent months. If that is the case, you may want to give some serious consideration to reducing your stock market exposure now.
Give some consideration to taking some of your recent stock market gains “off the table” now, and placing those gains into the safety of your company retirement plan money market account.
The stock market will always be there for your company retirement plan account.
Your mind is not going to be on managing your company retirement plan account over the next few months. Don’t let that fact cost you any company retirement plan principal.