[ARCHIVED THREAD] - 401K (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 4/21/2011 6:11:37 PM EDT
| Should i cash out my 401k and get some of are bills payed off? I am a little nervous about the future and my country. |
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I consider my 401K just another faucet of prepping. In this case a 401K represents the sunshine and rainbows viewpoint.
I wouldnt stop prepping because I thought the world was going to be just fine anymore than I would stop saving because I thought the world was going to end tomorrow. |
| I see the 401k and stock market as nationwide legal gambling, if you know how to get in, make good money then cash in your chips before the house gets you, well you are the big winner. If you are like most you look at it like it's some type of money tree and keep blindly throwing money at it thinking it's going to bloom and make you rich. |
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Quoted: I consider my 401K just another faucet of prepping. In this case a 401K represents the sunshine and rainbows viewpoint. I wouldnt stop prepping because I thought the world was going to be just fine anymore than I would stop saving because I thought the world was going to end tomorrow. What he said |
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If the economy crashes and everyone...is bankrupt..Who the hell cares if you pay your bills? Everyone will be broke....so you cannot pay it back.....well I would feel like I need to but how would you do it? If the dollar crashes, it will be like toilet paper...so use cash that would be worthless and pay your debt....remember most all contracts are for dollars..not gold, silver or some other currancy...it could be a god send to some of the people living waay beyond there means.
If you could get your hands on thousands of worthless dollars then use them to settle your debt....thats what your contract loan is for?...right? dollars!! |
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Should i cash out my 401k and get some of are bills payed off? I am a little nervous about the future and my country. so, i have to ask. what type of bills? what type of terms? (e.g. short term, high interest debt /versus/ long term, low interest debt) how big? are we talking honda accord size or ferrari v12 size bills? the reason i ask is because investing (or in this case paying down debt) on the basis of emotions is pretty much a sure route to under-performance if not outright failure. analysis of your debt situation can be done on a pragmatic basis, and a plan for unwinding it developed in the same way. ar-jedi |
| I wouldn't cash it in. However, I made the decision last week to stop contributing beyond the very small amount my employer will match, at least for the summer. I just have too many fairly urgent projects that require cash right now the money is better spent that way, I believe. Prices are rising due to commodity use right now. Either they'll come down when the economy tanks again but I may not be employed, or they're continue to rise, making my money worth less. I want to end this summer with the majority of my necessary projects taken care of. |
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I would not cash it out, but I also wouldn't be contributing any more than it takes to earn my matching funds from my employer.
Up until my layoff, my wife and I were saving about a third of our income, but we split it between 401k, extra mortgage principle, cash savings emergency fund. |
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Raiding your 401k is a bad idea. The cost in penalties is prohibitive. You should consider getting a part time job instead or sell off some stuff through craigslist, rummage sale or equipement exchange. I've seen the economy look like this before. Jimmy Carter was president. The U.S. recovered from that idiot and what he did. The U.S. will recover from this latest idiot. |
| I was thinking about doing the same. I decided to lower my contribution to a minimum to have more money applied to bills. I also sold some stuff and will be doing another couple of rounds of sell down. That should pay off my last credit card by end of summer. After that I'll look at where we are and decided how much if any to ramp up the 401K contribution to |
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Quoted: I consider my 401K just another faucet of prepping. In this case a 401K represents the sunshine and rainbows viewpoint. I wouldnt stop prepping because I thought the world was going to be just fine anymore than I would stop saving because I thought the world was going to end tomorrow. This. Don't touch it. |
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how can you cash it in while still working? my company says I can't unless I quit or fired... Most companies you can't. If your trying to pay off bills often times you can borrow against your 401k penalty free and with a very modest interest rate. I did this instead of getting a traditional auto loan and it worked great for a time because a.) the interest was much lower and b.) there was no requirement for me to have full coverage insurance on the vehicle. Down the road it bit me because I was laid off forcing me to take a distribution for the remaining loan ballance and I had to pay the penalty. As a general rule you can not pull out cash early unless there is a "hardship" (divorce, death in the family, forclosure, etc.) and most companies require documentation of such. |
| Don't cash out, you will hate life in just a few years for only a little relief it will get you. If you can, take a small loan against it and it will pay you back. Not trying to be a smart ass: Try paying your bills on time and get out from under the loans a little at a time. It will be tough, but you can do it if you live under your means a little bit. I've been there. My 401k is and has been a kick-ass way for me, a poor boy, to save for retirement. |
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Never touch your retirement accounts early. What if the shit doesn't hit the fan? You'll be severely assed out when you reach age 60. This is ARFCOM right? Get both! Enough said.^ I was going to throw up a big long winded reply with charts, graphs, and all kinds of data to demonstrate what was said above in three sentences.  You can feel free to send you thanks to him for saving you from having to read all that. Seriously, those three sentences pretty much covers it.
stasiman |
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A member of our group cashed out their 401k before Christmas.....bought $40k worth of silver....worth over $80k now...... My buddy bought a ton of Ford stock when it was at $2 a few years ago. Made a killing. I doubled my money in 3 years when I sold a few months ago. You can make some good money with wise investments. |
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I see the 401k and stock market as nationwide legal gambling, if you know how to get in, make good money then cash in your chips before the house gets you, well you are the big winner. If you are like most you look at it like it's some type of money tree and keep blindly throwing money at it thinking it's going to bloom and make you rich. Any sort of legal (and most illegal) gambling is a net loss proposition. Gve them a dollar and you average $0.80 back. Investing is typically net gain proposition on average. A 401k makes this even more profitable by allowing you to make money off of the government's share for up to 40-50 years before they take it. Yes there is risk. Just like buying a house, getting a college degree, whatever, it doesn;t allways pay off. But on average it does for the past 200 years. CB, socking away the IRS limit of $15,500 into his 401k |
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Let's see...
Precious metal making new highs... Dollar collapsing... US debt at stratospheric levels most would have only laughed at a few years ago... The same debt being UNABLE to ever be repaid... And same debt being increased at a crazy rate... Today's news saying China will dump 2/3rds of their UST holdings... Home foreclosures at incredible levels that most would have rejected just a few years ago... Our standard of living collapsing... Unemployment at high and growing levels... The few jobs being created, mostly non-productive ones... US balance of trade completely in the crapper... The US population dumbed down and trained to be dependent and ignorant so as to be more helpless than ever... High fructose syrup in EVERYTHING killng our livers... ...and making the kids fat not to mention their dependence on vid games, TV, etc... Our .gov doing NOTHING to encourage meaningful business and job creation... ...actually, just the opposite!... .gov expanding like topsy... .gov [states and federal] not able to make good on retirement obligations shortly... Our economy, that would otherwise be in an unbelievably BAD DEPRESSION, would it not be for the Fed's UNSUSTAINABLE printing... Illegals getting free everything, popping babies, free med care, housing, food... [we're 'paying' for it...] ...and ENCOURAGED to break the law and come here by the politicians they will vote for -for more 'stuff' [at our expense and the loss of our country]... .gov talking and planning to tap into our 'juicy' retirement accounts once it has to reduce printing money... ONE Supreme court justice away from a socialist biased court and God knows what... [like 2nd Amendment...] ^^^ are just a few of our troubles as we whistle at our TV's while we skip through the graveyard [of our own creation]... ––-So, what to do abt the 'money' in 401ks, IRAs, savings accounts, muni bonds, corp bonds, under your pillow... Sorry, if you read this far, I don't have an answer.  Wish I did.
The USA couldn't be more effectively destroyed by any external enemy as compared to what we have done to ourselves. Amazing. |
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––-So, what to do abt the money in 401ks, IRAs, savings accounts, muni bonds, corp bonds, under your pillow. a portfolio consisting of market-diversified, geographically-diversified, and currency-diversified investments. same as it always was. ar-jedi |
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––-So, what to do abt the money in 401ks, IRAs, savings accounts, muni bonds, corp bonds, under your pillow. a portfolio consisting of market-diversified, geographically-diversified, and currency-diversified investments. same as it always was. ar-jedi Doubt if it works this time... Too many reasons not to... |
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A member of our group cashed out their 401k before Christmas.....bought $40k worth of silver....worth over $80k now...... The math on that does not work, unless he found a fool to sell/buy from. it's a cool story bro, just roll with it. next you should ask if he has sold half of it to lock in at least breaking even. people always forget that part... ar-jedi |
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a middle of the road solution is to stop contributing except for the minimum to get the match if you get one, and take that after tax money and 'invest' in something else. I stopped putting money into mine 2 years ago and invested in other ways. Agree and agree except I stopped all but the match in 2007. |
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a middle of the road solution is to stop contributing except for the minimum to get the match if you get one, and take that after tax money and 'invest' in something else. I stopped putting money into mine 2 years ago and invested in other ways. +1...Me too! |
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Agree and agree except I stopped all but the match in 2007. just to clarify –– you decided to put LESS money in when the market was way down? ar-jedi Well to be honest, I did what I felt the Lord told me to do. The market value did not really have a say in it. What I did I would not tell another to do. We all have to make our decisions based on what we feel is right. |
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Agree and agree except I stopped all but the match in 2007. just to clarify –– you decided to put LESS money in when the market was way down? ar-jedi Well to be honest, I did what I felt the Lord told me to do. The market value did not really have a say in it. well, i guess that is one approach. ar-jedi |
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Agree and agree except I stopped all but the match in 2007. just to clarify –– you decided to put LESS money in when the market was way down? ar-jedi Yep, I did that. I came all out of stocks and mutual funds when the DOW was climbing through 12,500 on Feb 7, 2007. Since I didn't loose anything when it collapsed, I just decided to not tie up any more money in the shitty selections available for my 401k. I don't get a match, I get a % put in whether I put in or not. The money that money elsewhere minus the taxes. |
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You know 401Ks and IRAs are retirement investments the key word being investments.
I can't really give anyone such personal investment advice without knowing more information than anyone in their right mind would post on an internet forum. Everything comes into play from your income to how old you kids are and sending them to college. About the only advice I can give on retirement is double up on everything. Don't count on any one source for anything. When I started thinking retirement, everyone had pensions and once you retired medical insurance and then once on Medicare supplemental insurance. I can forget that now. My wife had to go back to school and get a job just so we could have medical insurance now. She'll have to work till 65 or we buy insurance and non-group policies fight you tooth and nail to pay anything. Heck, I'm less than five years away now and think I'm too lean. I planned on needing only two of three investments to make it. I could have lost my 401K entirely and my plans not alter a day. God help all those folks that thought their homes was a financial investment. Except those who have not been paying attention or in denial, their plans just took a major hit all over the country. I thank God even though my plan is paid in full, my mortgage payment and taxes are less than a two bedroom apartment (cheap one at that). You never know, you may have to pay that too. This all shifts with time and we as a country getting worse not better. We're talking taking now from those already retired, let alone us heading that direction. Think end game and double up. That doesn't mean save for retirement when you can't put food on the table, but it does mean you better expect on it being worse in the future not better. On a whole, my dad's generation was the last to get a job, work at the same job all their lives, pay off their homes, and retire with money in the bank, medical insurance, a retirement plan, and social security. We have to get a lot more creative. Tj |
| I have been having similar thoughts. In the past 401(k) is a no touch, but with the threat of hyper inflation I have been having thoughts of cashing a couple of mine out and paying for a cabin on my mountain BOL. If hyper inflation occurs a paid for acreage and house will be worth a lot more than my 401(k) will be. |
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A member of our group cashed out their 401k before Christmas.....bought $40k worth of silver....worth over $80k now...... The math on that does not work, unless he found a fool to sell/buy from. it's a cool story bro, just roll with it. next you should ask if he has sold half of it to lock in at least breaking even. people always forget that part... ar-jedi Most casual investors will stand around like sheep and watch their assets fall like a rock rather then sell. 2008 is a prime example. It's some kind of psychological phenomena. |
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God help all those folks that thought their homes was a financial investment. Except those who have not been paying attention or in denial, their plans just took a major hit all over the country. I thank God even though my plan is paid in full, my mortgage payment and taxes are less than a two bedroom apartment (cheap one at that). You never know, you may have to pay that too. I don't know, I think it's still a good investment. After you pay the morgage off you can live in the house payment free until you die. When I bought my house it was because it was worth XXX to me (I would have paid more, and would of loved to pay less, but if it wasn't worth the purchase price I wouldn't have bought.) I wish it was worth to others what I paid for it, but unless I move thats not really important. The media was screaming about affordable housing. Well, they got it now. |