The mere contrast between Jude and Sue's situation and your own should convince parents that low contributions to a 401(k) plan are not tantamount to catastrophe.
At least when one's 401(k) tanks it doesn't directly imperil one's job.That's little comfort to baby boomers, now forced to delay retirement plans.
(Admittedly they may have padded it out a bit how else to explain the presence of "robber", "oui" or "k mart" in a list that otherwise places rather more emphasis on sexual adventurism?)Last week, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's (PTA) memo and accompanying list of the words sent to mobile-phone service providers were leaked on the internet.
If the market tanks around the time you retire, you may end up with much less retirement income than you expected.He targets a popular type of private account in America, the 401(k) plan, but his argument could be applied to any kind of private account.The ugly truth, though, is that the 401(k) is a lousy idea, a financial flop, a rotten repository for our retirement reserves.
It has promoted individual retirement-savings accounts, akin to American 401(k) plans, even before they were enshrined in Japanese law.
McCain said he would propose that people 59 years and older who withdraw money from IRAs or 401(k) retirement plans in 2009 and 2010 pay a tax rate of 10 per cent on the money rather than their higher normal tax rates.
Surveys in America show that, on average, younger members of a 401(k) plan tend to keep a large chunk of their plan assets in equity funds, which are riskiest but also promise the highest returns over the long run, and that members switch into less risky bond and money-market funds as they get older.
The average account balance in a 401(k) account for Americans in their 60s is only $87,800.This may neglect the presence of other financial assets, held outside pension plans, but it has many pension experts worried.
Interestingly, the lower levels of liquid saving may explain why there's been an increase in the number of people taking out loans against their 401(k) plans or paying the penalty to draw on them early.
And over the longer run, policies that discourage saving look foolish at current saving rates.What's interesting about the long term trend is that it coincides with the period when private pension accounts became more popular (the figure above counts 401(k) programmes and contributions to defined-benefit plans).
bit harsh on bloggers, and bit rich from the revolving door to K St We're trying not to take it personally.
