401(k) - Do I need to invest in a fund?

I just signed up for a 401(k) [Fidelity] through work, and I will receive matching funds. When I go online to choose how much I want to invest, I am given a choice of 7 funds. I do NOT want to invest in any of them now. I fully believe that the market is going to pull back even more, and if I invest, I will lose $$$.
1) Can I invest in individual stocks?
2) Do I need to invest in those funds?
2.5) Can I have a cash balance sitting around?

I posted the question on the weekend, and I called Fidelity Monday. I am NOT able to invest in individual stocks. The 7 options I had on my screen were the only ones I can invest in, unfortunately. I do have the option of investing in a "money market" fund, though... So disappointing!
And if I would have invested back when I was first eligible for the 401k, then I would have lost about 10% of my money already!!! I realize it won't be possible to time it, because money goes in there a few times per month, and 'timing' it won't really affect it over the course of my life.

timing the market is unlikely significantly improve your net worth, particularly if your money will be in the plan for 20+ years. I would be surprised if you are really limited to 7 funds at Fidelity. I had a 403b, 401k, and now IRA at Fidelty and I was always able to allocate money into a large number of different funds. Fidelity. com website might have answers for you, I have call the 1-800 number also on the website, several times with good results

The answer is simple. Go to www.401k.com and register, the website is Fidelity's account management site and you can find out all the info you need as well as a contact number for someone who services your companies 401. In case you are not in the mood to do all that work right now...you can rollover your investment only (until you are vested you can't touch the match) into an IRA, Roth, mutual funds program or stocks. No you can't have a cash balance sitting around unless you want to take a %20 percent hit on withdrawal (before the age of 55 or 62 I don't remember). After you get enough money in the account you can give yourself a loan. The nice part about this is you pay back the loan to yourself with interest (Fidelity keeps a little bit for processing and such) even though the interest is really low and it is tax deductible. I would suggest putting the money in mutual funds and focusing on mid-cap domestic and international.

Yes - No and Yes ,,, although it would make more sense to have your idle cash in a Money Market Acct. earning about 4.8% without regard to what the equity markets are doing... these MM accts can be converted to cash overnight as you decide when to enter the market.

Regards,
Texian.

the company i work for has a very similar plan set up. you can not choose other stocks to put the money in. if you don't decide where to allocate your funds they will probably go straight into your company's stock. you cant accumulate a cash balance at all