So a couple of years ago I was able to join my company's 401k program (Fidelity). I add 15% a week of my income and the company matches me at 6x 1% of my income ( a weird way of saying 6% of my gross), this means I put away about $450-600 a week depending upon how many hours I worked.

At the end of last year I had $40,000 and was around 11% returns. Around Jan 5th I was around $35,000 and -15%. It has been a horrible year. Only once have I hit 0% interest, and that was a day to celebrate. After losing nearly $8,000 so far this year I've been able to creep up to about $42,000 and only -13%. It bums me out because I knew I'd be around $55,000 at the end of this year.

So my question is this, do I keep buying "cheap" shares of mutual shares and reap huge rewards when the market bounces back, or should I only add about 5% to my 401K and then divert 10-15% towards guaranteed CD's or other such investments? Heck my bank would give me nearly 6% just to keep the money in my account.

I certainly feel like I'm losing my, but hey maybe I'll rake in huge profits in a year or two right? Most of my funds are being bought for about half what they were last year, meaning I'm doubling my potential for the same price. Any advice from those that have rode this roller coaster would be great.

Goals? $400,000-500,000 in 10-15 years. That way I know I'll be able to live from my returns and cut back on the type of work I do when I'm 45. Maybe I can work in a fish store after that.