k_pip_k
Don’t like to see people lose money but I am missing the relevance of your post. Had you not put the money into the 401K you were guaranteed a tax loss that year. 10000K put into the 401 K would ahve only been 7 K you would have kept had the govenment got their hands on it.
Also with respect to losing 5000 K you would ahve lost in a traditional account aswell had you invested ina similiar fund option. Now would you get to book the loss. Sure. But 7 out of 10 times the upward drift of the market means you are going to win. So I like the fact that when I am getting dividends I am not paying taxes or filling out end of year tax forms.
It is even more important, right now being that most money managers have used up their losses from 2000 so there will be more distributions at the end of the year. So 401k gains are shelterd form this.
So all in all k_pip_k I think that maybe your strong confirmation bias agains t the 401K comes from some unfavorable selection choices inside of the 401K.
Now if you want to debate that 401K’s are bullshit because companies are paying workers lower salaries because they are Promoting (total Compensation) through 401K plans and Health savings plans etc. then that is a whole different thread.
