On Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:10:55 -0500, Boater
wrote:

Eisboch wrote:
"Boater" wrote in message
...
Ahhh 401k's.... Too bad about those.



That's one of the reasons why many people are having trouble being forced to
ante up tax dollars to
save GM and it's union in their current form and contractual relationships.
The "majority" are watching their own retirement investments tank, and are
concerned about their jobs, their families, their financial stability.




If you are still employed where your 401k is located and operating, is
there a mechanism to withdraw those funds without withholding or tax
penalty, and put them into another sort of tax deferred account, some
sort of IRA, where you have some say over where the funds are invested?
I wouldn't trust "the market" with my retirement funds, but I might
trust a federally insurance bank or banks.

Some 401k plans allow for a portion to be rolled out into a qualified
plan - which means no taxes/penalties - after certain age/employment
requirements are met. They vary widely, but I'd venture to say most
require you leave employment.
This is how the stock market got so inflated - you lock in as many of
the Ponzi captives as you can.
Any equity trading IRA will have no guarantees, but there are FDIC
insured IRA CD's. That's what I put my retirement money in when I got
a portion out before retirement, then all after retirement.
I immediately tripled my returns in the free market.
In the captive 401k my only "safe" option was the money market fund
which offered littler return.
BTW, one of the first financial bailout actions by the feds was to
guarantee 401k money market funds at 1.00 par value.
Money markets can go negative. If they did there would be no safe
haven in 401k's and that would have been a *real* disaster.
I think Obama's team - maybe Clinton's - mentioned allowing
non-penalized withdrawals from 401k's as an option for those facing
mortgage foreclosure, and Wall Street had a **** fit at the
suggestion.

--Vic