Leaving $$$ in a 401K, regardless of whether the $$$ are sitting in equities or a cash fund, leaves an investor in paper.
I used to think such comments were foolish, extreme overreaction and impractical.
Now I’ve become a convert, believing above statement about risks of 401(k)’s is correct.
However, I don’t agree there is any real risk of a total societal (and economic) meltdown that sends us back to sleeping in caves, and all bank accounts, incl. 401(k), become worthless. That won’t happen. It will be something more sinister.
The real danger is that US government will eventually have to go after the money in 401(k)’s. They will steal the money from 401(k)’s by dramatically increasing the taxes to say 50%, or it could be more extreme (nationalization)
By fairly conservative estimates the US government debt + obligations is over 53 trillion. The GDP runs about 13 to 14 trillion annually. Those numbers and grade school math + common sense brings you to the obvious conclusion the USA will face bankruptcy unless extreme measures are taken such as stealing our 401(k)’s, and devaluing the dollar…etc. Conservative estimates also indicate federal taxes will eventually have to go up to at least 40% just to keep the government afloat.
I think a key related question is whether or not our government keeps its promise to not tax retirement withdrawals from ROTH IRA’s.
Looking at the brighter side of getting laid off, the loss of income for that year might pull one’s MAGI below the threshold allowing partial or full conversion of Tradition IRA to Roth IRA.
Currently I have only 25% of my entire retirement portfolio in a ROTH IRA; the rest is in my Traditional IRA. It was a nice coincidence that last year, it was the ROTH IRA that I was able to increase by 82% year-on-year. So I had my highest level investment return in my most tax-protected account. Hopefully the government will NEVER get a dime of that.
