17 Jan '17 13:21>
Originally posted by SuzianneReason may not have smiled on you, but certainly you can understand fortune?
Anything to denigrate the worth of one of the best and most popular retirement systems on the planet, while attempting to scare the bejesus out of people nearing retirement age.
You call it a "ponzi" scheme while desiring to place it in the hands of the largest class of criminals on the planet. Bankers.
Research it for yourself and see if you can find a single instance of a 401(k) fund going broke.
Why?
Because the market trends up.
Always has, and it appears that it always will---- even the Great Depression didn't stop the trend.
Despite even the occasional rare losses, overall, the money is allowed to grow.
Not so with the mattress method, which lacks both the immediate deference benefit (thus allowing for opportunity gains) as well as the hedge against inflation and the diminished value of the dollar over time.
Popularity certainly cannot be the gauge when compliance is mandatory.
You may as well claim our tax system is the most popular system of funding a government.
If you're trying to night frighten the children, then leave them out of it.
Give people the option of allowing the government to continue socking their money away without any benefit other than a dollar then for a dollar now OR be more involved and proactive with their own money in a fund which allows for possible gains.
See what people go with if given the choice.