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The Champions of the 401(k) Lament the Revolution They Started (Teresa Ghilarducci, again)
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-champions-of-the-401-k-lament-the-revolution-they-started-1483382348 ^ | January 2, 2017 | Timothy W. Martin

Posted on 01/02/2017 11:45:22 AM PST by abb

snip

Economist Teresa Ghilarducci, director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, says she offered assurances at union board meetings and congressional hearings that employees would have enough to retire if they set aside just 3% of their paychecks in a 401(k). That assumed investments would rise by 7% a year.

snip

Ms. Ghilarducci wants to ditch the 401(k) altogether. She and Blackstone Group President Tony James are recommending a mandated, government-run savings system that would be administered by the Social Security Administration and managed by investment professionals. While both are Democrats, they believe their solution has bipartisan appeal.

She says she has already reached out to President-elect Donald Trump’s advisers to float the plan.

snip

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 401k; ira; socialsecurity; teresaghilarducci
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To: Grampa Dave

.
The governments of men on Earth barely have 8 years left to go.
.


21 posted on 01/02/2017 12:03:39 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: abb

Mandated
Government run

No
Hell no


22 posted on 01/02/2017 12:04:09 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: abb

I don’t know if they will ever muster the political will to do this sort of thing, but these people should know that their mere talk about this sh!t has been sufficient for me to scale back my retirement contributions dramatically in recent years.


23 posted on 01/02/2017 12:06:29 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("Yo, bartender -- Jobu needs a refill!")
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To: abb
According to http://www.benefitspro.com/2015/06/30/total-retirement-assets-near-25-trillion-mark, 401k assets were $4.7 trillion in 2015 and IRAs were $7.6 trillion. That's a lot of money the government wants to snag.
24 posted on 01/02/2017 12:08:55 PM PST by KarlInOhio (a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity - Pres. Eisenhower)
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To: abb

How about giving me back my SS with the employer match and interest.

And I will never bother SS again...


25 posted on 01/02/2017 12:10:01 PM PST by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: Professional

The money will be mismanaged and stolen.


26 posted on 01/02/2017 12:10:50 PM PST by virgil (The evil that men do lives after them.)
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To: abb

LOL

A government run, mandated savings program. Uh, hate to tell this moron, but we already have this program. The government steals 6.24% of my pay, and another 6.24% of my pay via a check written by my employer - 12.48% of my pay. And it is run by the government, for the government, and I expect to get pennies on the dollar in return without even the ability to pass along any capital remaining upon my death.

So, what this witch wants, is a second program like this? A duplicate?

Pound sand where her head is currently lodged.


27 posted on 01/02/2017 12:11:25 PM PST by rigelkentaurus
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To: Alberta's Child

You’re not the only one. I was reconsidering that after the election, but I may hold off a bit longer until I see that the Trump administration has rejected this.


28 posted on 01/02/2017 12:11:25 PM PST by LostInBayport (When there are more people riding in the cart than there are pulling it, the cart stops moving...)
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To: abb

I do not trust the system now. I feel the whole 401k thing is good in theory but who has gotten a 7% return? The whole system gets the money stripped out every 8-10 years and I have yet to talk to somebody that won, somebody did. What I really do not like is the potential of the politicians confiscating what we have saved- saying it for the good and you will receive an annuity instead. When you die nothing goes to the next generation. As soon as my younger daughter is out of college I am liquidating mine, at least the ones I can.


29 posted on 01/02/2017 12:14:00 PM PST by dgbrown
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To: abb

A small number of people have done very well. Those who know how to save and invest have very large balances indeed when they retire.

When my father retired, he said the reason he was well-off is that he stayed 100% invested in the stock fund through thick and thin. Few have the courage to do that, but the yields over time can be fantastic.

The ones with the largest balances often had a lot of money in company stock, despite warning not to do this. It does work if you are employed by the right company. Guys at Chevron or Walmart who put in substantial amounts in the 80s and 90s will be in good shape now.

I was very conservative, or I would be really rich instead of merely affluent. I should have listened to my father’s advice, given in 1984 when he retired.


30 posted on 01/02/2017 12:19:35 PM PST by proxy_user
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To: 2banana

10-15 years ago, I would have been willing to do just that. Use 401K to do a buyout on Socialist security, then cancel SS. I’m less than ten years form retirement eligible now, so I can’t pull that off any more. For my kids, I’d love for them to be able to do that.

I haven’t looked at my 401K or other investments for a few months. I’ll bet they are doing great. Really yuugely, bigly great.


31 posted on 01/02/2017 12:20:45 PM PST by cyclotic (Democrats haven't been this mad since we freed their slaves)
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To: abb
What Mr. Whitehouse and other proponents didn’t anticipate was that the tax-deferred savings tool would largely replace pensions as big employers looked for ways to cut expenses. Just 13% of all private-sector workers have a traditional pension, compared with 38% in 1979.

How much of this is due to the now-common mobility of the American worker? How many people today stay at one company for an entire career, where the defined pension really hits its stride? People who stay in one place for no more than five years will not build up a pension benefit that matters.

-PJ

32 posted on 01/02/2017 12:23:27 PM PST by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.)
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To: abb

No no no no no no no. Never.


33 posted on 01/02/2017 12:24:44 PM PST by SoFloFreeper (Isaiah 25:8)
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To: proxy_user
A small number of people have done very well. Those who know how to save and invest have very large balances indeed when they retire.

Well, wouldn't it be best for the system to try and teach people how to save and invest, instead of punishing those who were indeed thrifty, and confiscating their money to hand out as welfare? And it is much more than a "small number."

34 posted on 01/02/2017 12:25:36 PM PST by abb ("News reporting is too important to be left to the journalists." Walter Abbott (1950 -))
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To: abb

There is already a government run retirement system. It’s called Social Security, and it’s been used as the government’s piggybank since 1935.

I’ve said it before, raiding private retirement funds would be an act of war.


35 posted on 01/02/2017 12:26:40 PM PST by Hazwaste (Democrats are like slinkies. Only good for pushing down stairs.)
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To: abb

The government will steal all the money, like they have stolen all the money from Social Security.


36 posted on 01/02/2017 12:32:36 PM PST by kaehurowing
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To: rocksblues

Not to worry. They would use a lockbox just like with Social Security.


37 posted on 01/02/2017 12:33:22 PM PST by pluvmantelo (Boomer Presidents:The Grifter, The Midget & The Traitor. Hoping Trump is The Boss)
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To: proxy_user
Guys at Chevron or Walmart who put in substantial amounts in the 80s and 90s will be in good shape now.

I have two HS classmates who married each other that are in this category with the woman as the Walmart employee at a local store. He was a sergeant in the local PD and has now retired but she has continued to work. I understand the WMT stock will tide them into their senior years in fine style.

38 posted on 01/02/2017 12:35:06 PM PST by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: wastoute

This is the opposite. They take the 401ls and manage then for you.


39 posted on 01/02/2017 12:35:28 PM PST by Bogey78O (We had a good run. Coulda been great still.)
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To: Myrddin

Also, it would give govt appointed managers even more power.

“We’d like it if you supported this policy. If you decide not to, the funds we manage in your corporation may have to be reallocated elsewhere.”


40 posted on 01/02/2017 12:38:37 PM PST by Bogey78O (We had a good run. Coulda been great still.)
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