401k's are... BAD?

[astadt]

Horrible Article from CNN...

http://us.cnn.com/2012/05/08/opinion/walker-retirement/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7

The piece only makes a couple good points imo, and those are that A) the three beg stool for retirement philosophy is dead and that b) some 401k plans have high fees.

But to suggest that 401ks are dangerous and hurt people is seriously irresponsible and Anti-mustashian! Im disappointed this garbage made it up on the website.

[arebelspy]

It's * statistics like this that make me mad:

IRAs and 401(k) plans lost a combined $2.8 trillion, or 47% of their value, between September 2007 and December 2008, the height of the economic recession.

Fear mongering, when they don't mention how much of that (almost all) has come back.  And anyone still working and investing in that time would have been buying low, so they'd have a HIGHER net worth now than before the crash.

[skyrefuge]

I don't know if the Editor's Note was originally at the top of the article, or if it was added later, but it's kind of critical to understanding it:

"Yvonne Walker [the author] is president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1000, which represents 95,000 California state employees."

So it's really just CNN publishing an organization's self-serving political propaganda that says "compared to taxpayer-funded pensions, which you better not vote to take away from us, 401(k)s suck".  Which is true.  But only applies to people who might lose the chance at participating in a cushy pension system.

[Guitarist]

It is my belief that the feds should get involved with 401k's in two areas:

- They should put a cap on expenses and fees charged to the investor.
- They should make personal finance a high school graduation requirement.

Because what I read is a clueless author writing about a clueless woman. I don't mean that as an insult to the subject of the piece, she is just literally not in the know. That close to retirement, her 401k should have been in much safer funds since she was apparently living the normal American life (ie, not mustachian). It is meant as an insult to the author, however.

I wonder if this is the same person...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Employees_International_Union

SEIU Local 1000SEIU Local 1000 is affiliated with the California State Employees Association (CSEA) with one other union, the California State University Employees Union, SEIU Local 2579, and two other non-union affiliates of unrepresented managers, confidential and supervisory employees and an affiliate of retired state employees. Yvonne Walker has been president since 2008.

In September 2011, a small group of members proposed raising the Executives of SEIU 1000 annual salaries by up to 300%. The proposal was not going to be voted on by the regualar membership, but only the executive membership. When news of this proposal made it to the rank-and-file members a huge email campaign started Statewide calling for the resignation of the current leadership. During the Executive meeting in Oakland, CA where the proposal was to be voted upon a last minute decision was made by Yvonne Walker to pull the topic from the agenda with the comment that the pay proposal "would be studied further."

[sideways8]

What? We have to.... learn stuff? Huh?

I completely agree that personal finance should be taught in high school. Definitely.