StopTechYSK: Assets in a bank, stock market, 401(k) or pension are not guaranteed
middlemanSIISK what 401(k) means…unless this is US limited info, in which case not ISK.
RandoAnd scheme, it is. They offloaded the responsibility of retirement planning from the employer and financial planners, to the individual. After Eron, obviously the existing system had problems, but now all the responsibility has been punted to the individual, so society can say “well, its your own fault!” When you don’t have enough money in retirement years.
It’s not a scheme, it’s the government using tax breaks to encourage the positive behavior of saving your money for when you’re old. That’s literally what it is.
Tax credits for buying EVs is another example of the government using tax breaks to encourage people to do something that’s beneficial.
Lots of people just don’t save money. 401Ks make it easy and you get good returns, and penalties for withdrawing before you’re old. So you put money in because you know you’ll have a lot more later, and then you keep it until you’re old so you don’t get penalties and lose a bunch of money.
I swear this site is full of the dumbest people on the Internet.
…I know how its supposed to work, I’m just saying instead of giving us healthcare and social nets we get to save money under our own responsibility, and then watch it get spent away in elder years. If you haven’t watched family members spend hundred of thousands on cancer care, or emergency room visits, etc, you eventually will.
Also, thanks for calling me stupid. You’re quite a great person to converse with…
Let’s be more concrete. The real danger here is that the rules around 401ks and IRAs could be changed with new legislation. Or perhaps through a twisted interpretation of law via executive order. Or that new taxes could be levied against them.
The kleptocrats are in charge. And the wealth of the middle class can be plundered to give to the billionaires. For example, maybe they find a way to raise the age where IRA and 401ks can be accessed without the 10% penalty. Or they just straight-up announce a new tax on 401k account balances in order to feed the war effort. The retirement savings of the middle class are one of the few areas the kleptocrats haven’t managed to completely plunder yet. You start a big war. You somberly announce the need for all sorts of new taxes. You conveniently write them so they fall lightly on the rich and heavily on the middle class. You tax the middle class and feed the proceeds to the defense contractors. The wealthy owners of those defense contractors end up with the profits. The retirement accounts of working people get raided to feed the billionaires.
You telling me when I give someone else my money there’s no guarantee that they will give it back? I am shocked and outraged! Just don’t tell my wife.
/S
csm10495
explodicleWell as long as you don’t complain about it being unfair
chickenThe imperfect answer is to diversify. If you think there is a real risk that you get screwed by the organizations you are trusting your money with, keeping some portion of your wealth in any of those things you are ridiculing is a rational choice to hedge against that risk.
Those are all also risky, but the risks are different as they are about your personal security rather than trustworthiness of institutions, meaning you have a lot more protection from being completely wiped out in a single event.
Yupp this guy is right. I’d also say you should consider that Gold specifically tends to do better when the US dollar is doing bad.
And now that US and Isreal is hellbent on starting a world war I’d say that’s a pretty safe bet to have some gold and silver around.
This post wasn’t about recommendations, just information that people should know. Make your own decisions based on your own assessment of the risks and likely returns associated with each option. I’d say precious metals in your physical possession are a simple option with low risk but that’s my opinion.
It has its own issues. Like converting to FIAT / transactions having sizable fees in some cases.
Beyond that, some folks lose their private keys and some exchanges go under.