Are you afraid that the government will confiscate your 401K to stay solvent?

[swampwiz]

I have been reading this, and am becoming a bit scared. Keep in mind that most folks have little to nothing in their retirement accounts, so what do they care?

Bob Brinker Fan Club Blog: Bob Brinker on Government Encouraging Savers to put 401K and IRA assets into annuities.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE...geId=121891%29

[LOL!]

No, I am absolutely not afraid.

[Gumby]

Don't worry. After the black helicopters take you to the FEMA concentration camp, you won't need your 401k.

[Htown Harry]

Check out this thread, Swampwiz, for more discussion and links to the actual proposals.http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...ion-48633.html

My answer to your question: No.

[ESRwannabe]

Am I afraid of it? Yes.

I think taxable accounts are the safest way to go for this type of risk. It would be difficult to mess with them without also affecting people rich enough to have lobbyists and other variations of bribery going on.

[plex]

As afraid as I am of lightning hitting me, or a planet busting meteor hitting Earth.

[RonBoyd]

Yes! That fear ranks right up there with the other biggies:

Deer Attacks.JPG Stolen Identity.JPG

[Nords]

Why would the govt confiscate 401(k)s when they can just tax the heck out of them?

[zinger1457]

What is really scary is the number of people that actually believe what these talking heads say. With all of this government conspiracy talk going on it's just a matter of time before more Timothy McVeigh's start coming out of the woodwork.

[W2R]

No, I'm not worried about it at all.

On the other hand, I am quite a worrier in general. So, I made sure to engineer my retirement in such a way that I am getting income streams from a number of sources, not just one. Any one source of income could crater and I could still manage (just not as comfortably).

[73ss454]

I think the government will need a lot of Riot Gear, "they" should be affraid

[NW-Bound]

Why?

Yes, like Nords said, it would be far easier to tax the heck out of before-tax account withdrawals. And then, for after tax money, wouldn't a bit of money-printing inflation take care of that?

I don't know what is going to happen, but it is going to be gradual so as not to upset anyone too badly. Things have a way of evolving, like means testing for SS, higher premium for Medicare for people who can pay, etc... No conspiracy needed either.

I don't think it is going to be doomsday, but our living standard may have to be lowered a bit to match our lower productivity compared to years past.

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R So, I made sure to engineer my retirement in such a way that I am getting income streams from a number of sources, not just one. Any one source of income could crater and I could still manage (just not as comfortably).

So, what percentage of your portfolio have you buried in your backyard? I may need to tweak my AA too.

[Lister]

Even it it all came to be you could just pull out of your 401K and take the 10% tax penalty to avoid it if you are under 59-1/2. Yes we all want to minimize taxes on our retirement funds but it would be better than any government effort to force or control your finances. Also if this ever happened I would expect a huge decline in the market from everyone selling their 401K's. This would not leave much to be confiscated or taxed and would defeat any evil intent they have so I would not worry about it.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound So, what percentage of your portfolio have you buried in your backyard? I may need to tweak my AA too.

Now THAT would be an income stream that I wouldn't tap in to, unless the market crashes a lot worse than it has, KWIM?

Nah, I only have 8% cash and it's in two financial institutions. I never have any cash at home. I have meant to squirrel away a few thousand somewhere around the house, but haven't ever got around to it.

[Animorph]

Geez, no Social Security, no 401k, inflation and taxes going way up, I might as well just give up and spend it all now before they take the rest!

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Animorph Geez, no Social Security, no 401k, inflation and taxes going way up, I might as well just give up and spend it all now before they take the rest!

That's it!! Spend, spend, spend! And be sure to keep working so you can keep contributing lots to SS and taxes.

[Koolau]

Not particularly concerned about this particular "threat", but it's clear the "ins" (whether dems or reps) are gonnna need a boatload more money to continue buying votes from us. The fact that they'll be using our money is disturbing, but we've probably reached a tipping point (more folks ON the dole than those providing the money). It' our own fault, of course, and maybe it's not too late. Still, I'm always surprised how gullible we all are to ever have let it get this far. Of course, it's just my 2 cents worth (wait, let me check my 1040, I think it's a BIT more than that!)

[ziggy29]

No. Not an outright "taking." There could be some tinkering around the edges to make it a little less of a good deal moving forward, and perhaps higher tax rates when we go to withdraw it, but I really don't see an outright seizing of retirement plans.

[FIREd]

No, not worried about my 401K being confiscated by the government. I could see them take away the tax deduction, which some say unfairly benefits high earners, and of course I wouldn't be surprised if higher taxes in the future made the 401K a not so good deal.

[meierlde]

Most likely change to go back to where survivors have to take distributions over the life of the original 401k holder (i.e. the same percentage RMD's after the estate taxes are paid). Recall that they changed to allow those who inherit to reset the RMD clock I suspect it will modify to over the originators lifetime. The idea being that one could not keep money in an IRA/401k for more than 1 lifetime.