"DSK" wrote
Dave wrote:

... Of course they also take more market risk
in these accounts. Those kinds of plans are not covered by the guvmint
insurance.


You mean like individual 401Ks

I bought $1000 worth of AT&T stock back in the early '60s when it was the
blue chip of blue chips and you could buy a new Chevy or Ford for under
$2500. After 40+ years of splits and spinoffs, and some bad management, I
sold the various companies it had become realising about $3000. Did I
triple my money? Some'd say so. But the equivalent new car costs $25,000 so
allowing for inflation I lost about $7000 compared to what that $1000 would
have bought back in 1960.

I changed jobs circa 1985 when my 401k worth some $30,000. During the next
15 years (same fund) it rose to about $52,000. Then along came Bush and it
dropped to $37,000. Now its up to almost $50 again but, factoring in
inflation it's worth about half that, or a tad less than it was worth in
1985.
I had another little $15,000 401K in 1999. I moved it to a bank account when
it lost $7000 during Bush's first year.

Point isn't "beware of Bush" but that investments all have ups and downs.
If there is another decade of big inflation, as some forsee, and one has to
retire during a "down" one might be glad to have SS. If I'd had to cash
these 401ks right after Bush took over I'd have lost alot more. As it is
I'll just have to wait a few years longer to retire.