RadioShack 401(k): A Missed Opportunity

I still have a soft spot in my heart for RadioShack. Despite its constant identity crisis as a retailer it has beat out much of the competition (Good Guys, anyone?) and is still in the running. RadioShack was my second job ever and it basically put me through college. I worked at the same mall store, under the same manager, from October of my senior year of high school in 1995 until after I graduated from college and left for grad school in July of 2001.

Now that I have begun investing, I am kicking myself (insofar as it is ever productive to do so) for not having enrolled myself in the company 401(k) for those five plus years. While I haven't calculated how much I would have invested at this point had I done so, I am sure it would be a significant sum. The irony now is that I am considering getting rehired at the local RadioShack to save a little extra cash before the summer, since I really only work a couple of days per week as a college instructor.

I remember my boss, Joe Pierce, telling me not to be surprised if I found myself back at RadioShack someday. Not that I am dissatisfied (more like tired) with the teaching and the Ph.D. research, but i miss the simplicity of having very specific goals to meet each day/week/month and the fun of meeting those goals as a team. What can I say, I guess there is just something about that big Circle-R.