The choice was made before I learnt investment.

Look back, I think my decision is not bad--after all, I have my IRA/403 under my control, and treating the pension as bond investment. One year is not a good judge, 10 years or 20 years is better. I have heard a lot of storied that some people lost their life saving after 2000 crash, that was the time right before the choice time (for self-managing). The worst are professors who were close to retirement. The tech bubble does hurt a lot of people.