IRA Allocations?

[ARrocket]

Hi everyone, just found this forum. I'm a 20 year old college student, and I have a Traditional IRA through TIAA-Cref that I started a couple of years ago...needless to say it hasn't really done too well; it's valued at about $400 behind my actual inputs

I'm wondering what allocations to choose for this IRA...I Googled this awhile back but didn't really come up with anything. Currently, I have the following allocation:

76.26% Equities (CREF global equities, CREF growth, TIAA-Cref International Equity Fund - Retirement Class)

23.74% Real Estate (TIAA Real Estate)

I'm not really sure what to set my allocations as (there is a whole list of options, which I'm not sure what all of them are). I figured real estate seemed to be doing well from looking at my statement, so I put most of it in that. If anybody could give me some tips and/or direct me towards a good website with relevant info, it would be much appreciated! Thanks.

[dczech09]

I'd say your current mix is pretty good. At the age of 20, you certainly don't need to worry about bonds or money market securities. Stick with equities and real estate. Personally, there is more exposure to real estate than what I would like. Are there options to reduce the real estate portion? I'd say drop that closer to 15% if possible, and make sure you pick up some small-cap, emerging market, and mid-cap value equities. I'm not sure what you could do with TIAA-Cref as I am not familiar with them, but this is what I recommend. I have about 15% real estate in my Roth and we are in the same age category.

[ARrocket]

I'd say your current mix is pretty good. At the age of 20, you certainly don't need to worry about bonds or money market securities. Stick with equities and real estate. Personally, there is more exposure to real estate than what I would like. Are there options to reduce the real estate portion? I'd say drop that closer to 15% if possible, and make sure you pick up some small-cap, emerging market, and mid-cap value equities. I'm not sure what you could do with TIAA-Cref as I am not familiar with them, but this is what I recommend. I have about 15% real estate in my Roth and we are in the same age category.

Yeah I can reduce the real estate portion, I originally had it much lower, but thought maybe it would earn more if I increased it.

Thanks for your advice, I'll try to cut it down a little bit. Appreciate the help, especially from a fellow Wisconsinite! (Milwaukee here)

Btw, do you know of any resources I could check out to help me make decisions regarding this in the future?

[snshijuptr]

For a general idea, see if TIA-CREF has a target age fund. The 2050 on should be about right. Look for what kind of split they use. Personally at 24 years old our portfolio is in 45% US stocks, 20% world stock, 15% international growth stock, and 20% bonds and fixed income. These are all in funds and indexes. I have the benefit of a CFP as a brother. You might want to see if CREF offers financial planning for free or a small fee.

[ARrocket]

Thanks for all your help guys, I've reallocated; let's see how this turns out

[jIM_Ohio]

the allocation looks OK, just realize that 2008 is included in all 10-5 and 2 year return periods right now, so of course account will look a little off.

If you believe in the investments keep them
if you want new investments, change them
make sure you have a plan as to how retirement monies get invested