growing_older
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2007
- Messages
- 2,657
It has been my misfortune to work for companies with low/no match and generally expensive fund choices in their 401k. Still, the limits being higher than IRAs and the ability to rollover to an IRA when you change employers have made 401k an excellent finance tool for me. So called "reforms" that improve fund choices (make TSP available to everyone), raise limits, encourage more matching, improve portability by allowing in service rollovers, could make it even better. But there's no one proposing any of those. Instead they are proposing mandatory enrollments at very low contribution levels, additional involvement of "professionals" who are frankly mostly salespeople (not planners) and who would be compensated in higher fees, restricted investment options possibly run by a quasi-government panel, greater restrictions on portability and rollovers, and mandatory annuitization. The more radical reformers are proposing existing 401k, IRA, 403b all get sucked into the new schemes.
I get that they are working the least common denominator and trying to make a plan that helps people who otherwise sometimes do a terrible job of helping themselves, but I hope they don't end up doing so in a way that hurts those of us who were doing a fine job of taking care of ourselves already.
I get that they are working the least common denominator and trying to make a plan that helps people who otherwise sometimes do a terrible job of helping themselves, but I hope they don't end up doing so in a way that hurts those of us who were doing a fine job of taking care of ourselves already.