Comment on YSK: Assets in a bank, stock market, 401(k) or pension are not guaranteed
pishadoot@sh.itjust.works 4 days agoIt’s not a scheme, it’s the government using tax breaks to encourage the positive behavior of saving your money for when you’re old. That’s literally what it is.
Tax credits for buying EVs is another example of the government using tax breaks to encourage people to do something that’s beneficial.
Lots of people just don’t save money. 401Ks make it easy and you get good returns, and penalties for withdrawing before you’re old. So you put money in because you know you’ll have a lot more later, and then you keep it until you’re old so you don’t get penalties and lose a bunch of money.
I swear this site is full of the dumbest people on the Internet.
…I know how its supposed to work, I’m just saying instead of giving us healthcare and social nets we get to save money under our own responsibility, and then watch it get spent away in elder years. If you haven’t watched family members spend hundred of thousands on cancer care, or emergency room visits, etc, you eventually will.
Also, thanks for calling me stupid. You’re quite a great person to converse with…
WoodScientist@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Let’s be more concrete. The real danger here is that the rules around 401ks and IRAs could be changed with new legislation. Or perhaps through a twisted interpretation of law via executive order. Or that new taxes could be levied against them.
The kleptocrats are in charge. And the wealth of the middle class can be plundered to give to the billionaires. For example, maybe they find a way to raise the age where IRA and 401ks can be accessed without the 10% penalty. Or they just straight-up announce a new tax on 401k account balances in order to feed the war effort. The retirement savings of the middle class are one of the few areas the kleptocrats haven’t managed to completely plunder yet. You start a big war. You somberly announce the need for all sorts of new taxes. You conveniently write them so they fall lightly on the rich and heavily on the middle class. You tax the middle class and feed the proceeds to the defense contractors. The wealthy owners of those defense contractors end up with the profits. The retirement accounts of working people get raided to feed the billionaires.