Danielmedley.com

Monday, October 13, 2008

Those 401(k)s Should Be Left Alone

Apparently, Barak Obama is laying out a new economic plan. I haven’t gone through it thoroughly, but one thing is unsettling.

Penalty-Free Withdrawals from IRAs and 401(k)s in 2008 and 2009. Obama is calling for new legislation to allow families to withdraw 15% of their retirement savings – up to a maximum of $10,000 – without facing a tax-penalty this year (including retroactively) and next year.

I work in financial services. Daily, I work with people dealing with matters of retirement, IRA’s, and 401(k)’s. For many, their 401(k) is the only retirement that they will have. If this aspect of Obama’s economic plan is implemented, there will be many more people who will be insufficiently funded for retirement. If government must interfere, it should interfere on the side of strongly encouraging people to actively plane for and contribute to their retirement, not making it easier for them to screw it up. 

Going John Galt

Here is an interesting take on the painfully partisan politics of our day in reference to Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.

Perhaps the partisian politics we are dealing with now is really just a struggle between those of us who believe in productivity, personal responsibility, and keeping government interference to a minimum, and those who believe in the socialistic policies of taking from others, using the government as a watchdog, and rewarding those who overspend, underwork, or are just plain unproductive.

Of course it’s much more complicated than this, but, in general terms, it pretty much sums up what I believe to be the view of many.