Are 401K's safe?

[Madison320]

The biggest problem w/ 401K is you can't get to your money if you need or want to - even with the penalty. Back in '07 I saw the crash coming and wanted to take out 1/2 of our money. Well, the only way we could get it was to leave the job, major medical, or be in foreclosure. None of them applied so the best I could do was move around some of the money. Very frustrating when you aren't allowed to take out your own money. We still put a bit in but just enough to get the employer match.

I had similar problem. Back in 2006 I knew the US was in trouble from all the debt (seems like nothing now - about 7 trillion!). All I had was a few crappy mutual funds in my 401K so I moved most of my money to the international mutual fund. I got hammered pretty good in the crash because the dollar went up.

Anyway after the crash I did some investigating and found that my 401K has a program you can sign up for that allows you to invest in anything you want. I don't think all 401K programs offer this but it's worth checking out. It's great to be able to buy almost whatever I want. Now I own individual stocks, mostly international and a couple of ETFs (oil and gold).

[osan]

What do you think the chances are that 401Ks (or any retirement account) gets raided when the dollar starts to crash? I think it's a numbers game. A lot of voters with retirement accounts would get seriously pissed off. On the other hand an even greater number of voters will have their government handouts reduced if we don't raid retirement accounts.

Stupid question. Nothing is safe. Here, "nothing" means precisely that.

[osan]

Define "safe" .

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to pcosmar again.

[osan]

Once [liberals] get an idea, it's only a matter of time until they succeed in implementing it.

Every time.

[Cowlesy]

I'm happy with mine so far this year. It's up about 7% so far. I'm 66.10% in equities (between europacific growth, large cap value, mid cap value and small cap value), 11.47% bond/fixed income and 22.43% stable value. This way I have a bit across all market capitalization ranges, some exposure to the europe and asia, a little bit of fixed income and some emergency cash in case the market crashes and i can buy some stuff on sale.

[pcosmar]

Which, Games in Vegas (or any casinos) are "safe" .? Which slots are safe?

Of course some win a little,,it keeps the "rubes" playing..

The game is rigged,,and when the house folds,, it is game over. Everything on the table is gone.

Safe?

[Dr.3D]

Which, Games in Vegas (or any casinos) are "safe" .? Which slots are safe?

Of course some win a little,,it keeps the "rubes" playing..

The game is rigged,,and when the house folds,, it is game over. Everything on the table is gone.

Safe?

That's why I don't bet at the New York Stock casino.

[Lmata]

I had similar problem. Back in 2006 I knew the US was in trouble from all the debt (seems like nothing now - about 7 trillion!). All I had was a few crappy mutual funds in my 401K so I moved most of my money to the international mutual fund. I got hammered pretty good in the crash because the dollar went up.

Anyway after the crash I did some investigating and found that my 401K has a program you can sign up for that allows you to invest in anything you want. I don't think all 401K programs offer this but it's worth checking out. It's great to be able to buy almost whatever I want. Now I own individual stocks, mostly international and a couple of ETFs (oil and gold).

That's good to know Madison. I'll have to ask about that with ours. I did move a lot to fixed funds but there wasn't much to choose from.
As far as taking out a loan - I didn't want the huge pay back each month. Why add another payment to the budget when you think the economy is going to tank? Didn't make sense to us as we like to be debt free - even free from being forced to take large payroll deductions to payback 401K loans. I can see how a loan would work if it's a small amount but when you've got a lot in there it's not feasible to pay it all back easily.

[ctiger2]

401K', IRA's etc will ALL be seized by the US Govt at some point. Either an outright seizure OR they'll force investments in US Treasuries to keep interest rates low so the politicians can borrow more, spend more and get re elected more.

All the madness about seizing this and seizing that WILL come to pass.