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401K is a gold mine for the bankers, which is why they worked hard to push it through back in the day. UK experimented with other kind of private accounts, and it turned out more than 50% of people's profits ended up in the pockets of the bankers. When I went independent, the banks started calling right away to talk me into moving out of the corporate administered 401K, and go solo. Don't do it! When you do, they will no longer be required to send you statements on the fees, and if you ask them how much you pay them, they will flat out refuse to tell you. Why? Because if you knew, you'd probably do something else with your money.
Do you really expect people to buy the tripe? Open an IRA with Vanguard-they publish all their fees on line, and are among the lowest in the industry. AFAIK all other financial institutions do so as well.
George W. Bush's first order of business after being reelected in 2004 was trying to privatize Social Security. For once, his supporters did something right and disagreed. Had the neoconservatives had their way, Social Security would have gone down in flames in 2008.
These vultures are very dangerous, and their plans to privatize things reminds me of the "pharma bro", who changed the price of medication from $13.00 a pill to $750.00 a pill.
not true.
not first order of business but certainly at the top was to try to find a way to make SS solvent. There you go picking up the democrat baseball bat lying about what Republicans wanted to do.
Mr. Bushes approach was to take 2% of SS funds and move them to private accounts that government couldn't take and use for everything else government does.
for those reading (because I know odanny here knows it)
Every dime you pay into SS goes into the general fund to fund all the nonsense about government you don't agree with. You get a "promise" from the government to give you your SS back at some later date.
currently Social Security is 90 TRILLION in unfunded liabilities.
democrats use the word "privatize" to make people think republicans want to hand your money to wall street fat cats.
what republicans have been fighting for is taking YOUR SS money away from Washington DC Fatcat pork loving politicians and handing it back to YOU.
George W. Bush's first order of business after being reelected in 2004 was trying to privatize Social Security. For once, his supporters did something right and disagreed. Had the neoconservatives had their way, Social Security would have gone down in flames in 2008.
These vultures are very dangerous, and their plans to privatize things reminds me of the "pharma bro", who changed the price of medication from $13.00 a pill to $750.00 a pill.
Bush proposed changes to SS that would allow an individual to participate, voluntarily, in a program that allows them to invest up to 1/3 of their payroll taxes into an investment account rather than social security. It was not scheduled to be phased in until 2009, so the recession would have happened before anyone could have signed up for this, and those who did would have been able to ride the bull market we've been in the past few years.
The stock market is up 60% from when this was originally proposed, compared to the minuscule return you get from the money you put into your SS account.
Do you really expect people to buy the tripe? Open an IRA with Vanguard-they publish all their fees on line, and are among the lowest in the industry. AFAIK all other financial institutions do so as well.
Why would I make it up? I am with Fidelity and they WILL NOT send any kind of statement of fees. They'll send it if you are a salaried employee and in a corporate plan, and even then they do it only because a law from 2010 mandates them to do so. I am solo, and they won't send me one. They'll tell you to look at the 'transaction fees (percentage)', which are only a part of the fees they actually charge you. Look at the percentage, and try to figure it out, without knowing all the other ingredients to the formula. Good luck! If you want to know exactly how much you paid this year, or last year, they won't tell you.
So, converting your old corporate 401K is a bad idea.
Why do you think the banks insists that you to convert?
There's no doubt that we are being taken advantage of to some extent and the rich Wall Street bankers that support Obama are getting rich of these fees. Nevertheless, I still have made a significant sum on my 401K going back 20 years or so and have enough now to retire and live comfortably off my 401k for at least 15 years if I so desired.
This could have political ramifications since it's Republicans who are trying to take away government support like Social Security. I wonder why. Well, for one it would give private investment companies, who are probably funding Republicans to push their agenda in Washington, a virtual monopoly on retirement options and planning other than stuffing your money in your mattress. So, of course, wouldn't they like to see social security disappear.
Here's a thought - instead if guessing who these Evil Banksters are "funding", Look it up.
The Clintons' lead that race for Money and always have. Bill is collecting Half Million dollar fees from Foreign Government and Wall Street banks on a regular basis and Hillary's top donors come from those Banks. The Fairy Tale that Democrats & Leftists are always against the Evil Banksters, plays well to their Parrots - but it doesn't have any relationship with reality. It's just sweet Kool-Aid.
As important as the money trail is, there are other indications behind the scenes that Clinton does not envisage any radical changes — or even any significant restrictions — on Wall Street.
Her top advisers include two former investment bankers who have a history of being soft on financial regulation. Both held high positions in Clinton's State Department and would be obvious candidates for cabinet posts in a new Clinton administration.
Tom Nides, a veteran of Morgan Stanley and a former chairman of the main financial services lobbying group Sifma (Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association), was deputy secretary of state under Clinton.
Robert Hormats, a longtime vice chairman at Goldman Sachs and currently vice chair of Kissinger Associates, was an under secretary during Clinton's tenure at State.
It was President Bill Clinton, let us not forget, who brought Goldman Sachs co-chairman Robert Rubin and his coterie of Wall Streeters into his administration and championed the financial deregulation that led to the 2008 financial crisis.
You have to be savy about any investment you make.
My mother worked for a bank that became part of Bank of America (whom I truly feel is a crappy vile company).
She just worked rank and file, low income, maybe 60k in her 401k having saved diligently for years.
In comes a BOA "representative" pressuring them to roll over their 401k into this BOA account so she sent me the details to get my advice those SOB's were trying to move her into some egregious pre-loaded expense fund that would have taken something like 6-7% off the top right from the start. It was offensive to see them try to f*dge their own employees with an inside sales con job like that.
So, they aren't ALL bad but some sure are....just like in most industries.
"Americans collectively are losing billions of dollars a year out of their retirement accounts because they're paying excessive fees, according to researchers studying thousands of employer-sponsored retirement plans across the country.
The rearchers say part of the trouble is that many employers that offer 401(k) plans to their workers are outgunned by financial firms that sell them bad plans loaded with hefty fees. That's especially true, they say, for small and mid-size employers that don't have much financial expertise in-house.
At a manufacturing firm in Minnesota, Justin Johnson, a new employee, is enrolling in the 401(k) plan. He's got two kids, and…"
This could have political ramifications since it's Republicans who are trying to take away government support like Social Security. I wonder why. Well, for one it would give private investment companies, who are probably funding Republicans to push their agenda in Washington, a virtual monopoly on retirement options and planning other than stuffing your money in your mattress. So, of course, wouldn't they like to see social security disappear.
If you put your money in something with unreasonable fees that's your fault. There are plenty of funds with low fees. I realize the concept of personal responsibility is foreign to you. People like you need the government to wipe your backsides.
Surplus in the SS fund are required to be invested in Treasuries. Initially, this included a mixed bag of marketable and unmarkable special obligation bonds. Since 1980, all surpluses have been invested in un marketable bonds with little consideration given to the long term impact.
The amendments to SS made in 1983 were devised by the Greenspan Commmission and sold to Congress as a method of ensuring a 30 year surplus of $2.7 Trillion. In reality, it created a new source of general fund income to offset tax cuts, especially on high income earners and the Earned Income Tax Credit for low income earners.
Middle class- not so much. This act also enabled SS to be taken off the unified budget.
Bush 2 campaigned on taking SS private. His first admin deferred it due to 9/11 and the War. He campaigned again on the promise to take SS private during his second term and he made a huge effort to do so. His pitch included:
Limiting benefits for the wealthy
Indexing benefits to prices instead of wages
Increasing the full retirement age
Discouraging the taking of benefits early with penalties
Gradually and Eventually allowing people to invest up to 1/3 of their balance into their choice of 5 diversified funds chosen by government.
The Dems opposed and Republicans were a mixed bag. The more Bush talked about it, the more unpopular it became with the public. Gallup showed a 65% disapproval rating before Bush Pulled the plug.
The SS Trust Fund will exhaust surpluses by 2035 and the shortfall is projected to be about 1.2% of GDP.
The Disability Trust Fund is expected to exhaust surpluses in 2016.
The options remain the same, a combination of
Raising Payroll Taxes on all or just higher incomes, and/ or
Raising full retirement age, and/ or
Reducing benefits
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