Stories like these terrify me, mostly because I am very concerned about what will happen to the retirement savings of people who did the responsible thing and did save, and lived well within their means, and contributed to their 401k (or other retirement savings).
The most active voters are the older groups, and as people like the author reach their elder years with nothing to retire on, they presumably vote in their own best interest.
As it stands now, there are ~$4 trillion dollars[1] in 401k savings. It is currently not being taxed, with the assumption that it will grow during a person's working years, and be taxed when it is withdrawn, as income tax.
However, as people like the author reach a certain age, I am fairly convinced that there will be a significant tax on retirement savings from the responsible folks to pay for those who didn't save appropriately. Politically it's fairly straightforward: we have millionaires who can "afford" to help pay for the less fortunate! This ends up hurting the people who saved so that they could properly afford to send their kids to schools, to be able to go on vacations in their retirement, etc.
As much as the story has been "max out your 401k!", I'm fairly convinced that it's going to end up being a worse deal than people count on. I don't really have a solution other than to "diversify investments", but stories like this do terrify me. I plan for retirement and try to be responsible about how I live my life so that when I choose to retire, I'll be able to enjoy it and spend time with kids/grandkids or golfing/traveling/whatever.
[1] https://www.ici.org/policy/retirement/plan/401k/faqs_401k
The most active voters are the older groups, and as people like the author reach their elder years with nothing to retire on, they presumably vote in their own best interest.
As it stands now, there are ~$4 trillion dollars[1] in 401k savings. It is currently not being taxed, with the assumption that it will grow during a person's working years, and be taxed when it is withdrawn, as income tax.
However, as people like the author reach a certain age, I am fairly convinced that there will be a significant tax on retirement savings from the responsible folks to pay for those who didn't save appropriately. Politically it's fairly straightforward: we have millionaires who can "afford" to help pay for the less fortunate! This ends up hurting the people who saved so that they could properly afford to send their kids to schools, to be able to go on vacations in their retirement, etc.
As much as the story has been "max out your 401k!", I'm fairly convinced that it's going to end up being a worse deal than people count on. I don't really have a solution other than to "diversify investments", but stories like this do terrify me. I plan for retirement and try to be responsible about how I live my life so that when I choose to retire, I'll be able to enjoy it and spend time with kids/grandkids or golfing/traveling/whatever.
[1] https://www.ici.org/policy/retirement/plan/401k/faqs_401k