Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 479 posts

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#211

Post by empath75 »

temp246810 wrote: post #35

Even though I'm doing all the right things like maxing out 401k etc., I can't help but feel that I will regret it later. It feels like everyone grew up hearing the same thing (people are poor planners, people go broke in retirement) and now as adults have vowed that will never be them. The problem is that now everyone thinks this way - index funds are on the rise, people are saving into their 401k, I can't help but t…

You can always put some of your 401k into short term stuff like a money market account if you think the market is overpriced. That way you have money on the side you can throw into the market after it corrects. I've got like 20% of my 401k in a money market account for just this reason.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#212

Post by pwthornton »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #206
pwthornton wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The very nature of saving in a 401k is that you never at one time put in a high percentage of your balance into it. The max individual contribution is $18,000 a year. Let's say you have been doing around $10,000 the first 10 years of your career and the economy tanks. You now have 30-40 years until retirement, and you start doing $15,000 or so a year. That money that you put in before this huge crash may not grow tha…

You can contribute more after a certain age as a way of catching up.

True.

And you can also do other savings vehicles outside of your 401k to save even more money. I just wanted to illustrate that it's not like people put all of their money into their retirement account on one day and if a crash happens the next they are screwed.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#213

Post by eli_gottlieb »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #204
eli_gottlieb wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because you're surprised, doesn't mean it was "the people". You can't have an Electoral College system in which shuffling Toledo across state lines changes the electoral outcome and credit the people for political outcomes.

Are Michiganders still angry about that?

Not that I know of, but the point is that our system ought to be robust against historical and statistical flukes. If you're going to decide elections via first-past-the-post at all, you should at least make the election pass a 95% likelihood hypothesis test for difference-of-means or something.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#214

Post by SEJeff »

adventured wrote: post #117
hillz wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean... He did lose the popular vote. So 'most' people didn't have an influence on the election. Or at least, the plurality of people.

Trump easily won the popular vote for the 48 states that aren't California and New York. Popular vote indeed. There's a very good reason the electoral college exists.

Ummmm and Illinois, you know the one with Chicago. Hillary won IL popular vote with 3,090,729 votes to Trump's 2,146,015.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#215

Post by merpnderp »

DoodleBuggy wrote: post #47
callinyouin wrote: post #4

I'm not planning on Social Security being around by the time I'm old enough to tap into it, and I'm also not planning on having any kids to bail me out when I go senile, so yeah I'm putting a lot into my 401k. I think a lot of people my age (turning 30 next week) are feeling the same way, so I wonder if it's younger workers driving this trend.

> "I'm not planning on Social Security being around by the time I'm old enough to tap into it" You need to change that attitude or your complacency will allow politicians to take it from you. The fact is you pay ~16% of your paycheck into social security and medicare, it is designed to be like a pension. It is not an entitlement, it's your money.

But it isn't your money. They take your money today and then tomorrow ship it out to someone on social security. Your money is well and long spent on Depends and Ensure by the time you retire at which point some other sucker is on the hook to pay for your dotage.

And like every pyramid scheme, if the bottom becomes too small it will fail spectacularly.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#216

Post by eli_gottlieb »

fr0sty wrote: post #112
wang_li wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Social Security Trust fund generally runs a surplus (as recently as 2014 it added $25 billion.) However it's projected that around 2030-2034 the number of recipients will be drawing more than is being paid in. At that point your statement will become more correct than it currently is.

> as recently as 2014 it added $25 billion Yes, but that is $25B out of total receipts of $884B[0]. For every $1.00 paid in over $.97 was paid back out to beneficiaries. In 2015 it was $.975 and 2016 will probably be higher still. According to this page[1] the trust fund will be depleted by 2035. I know that is a projection and things can change, but to say there is no room for concern borders on hubris. [0] https://…

We could just eliminate the contribution cap. Then it keeps working in perpetuity, because we'd actually be taxing the people who have money.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#217

Post by TheBeardKing »

cmurf wrote: post #194
callinyouin wrote: post #4

I'm not planning on Social Security being around by the time I'm old enough to tap into it, and I'm also not planning on having any kids to bail me out when I go senile, so yeah I'm putting a lot into my 401k. I think a lot of people my age (turning 30 next week) are feeling the same way, so I wonder if it's younger workers driving this trend.

That's amusing. I'm 45 and said the same thing when I was in my mid-20's. And now I think it's just naive. The most docile 60 year olds I know become positively vitriolic at the idea of even the age of benefit payout being changed by 5 years. If Social Security were just done away with, I guarantee you the violent revolution they'd be considering wouldn't involve clever devices that take people's heads off cleanly, q…

Only there's now bi-partisan recognition that SS is insolvent and something must be done. The left wants to increase taxes and remove the cap, who knows how far they could get to taking that if the populist Sanders side takes over, and the right wants to reduce benefits and/or privatize. If the stagnation keeps up until retirement, I guess they'll just quit writing checks.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#218

Post by legodt »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #172
thesimpsons1022 wrote: post #141

obviously alabama and wisconsin need their votes to count much more than california or new york. rednecks deserve their voice to be heard 10x more than well educated tolerant people on the coasts.

Oddly, you don't sound very tolerant...

Being intolerant of bigots doesn't exactly make you as bad as them...

Parent comment is wrong and overgeneralizing a bit (as others have pointed out, awful people exist everywhere and transcend the bounds of class and geography), but the line of thinking you are getting at that it is hateful to be agressive against perpetuators of evil is somehow equal to their hate is dangerous and incorrect. It isn't fascism when you stomp a fascist.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#219

Post by ProAm »

etjossem wrote: post #159
ProAm wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The OP said, "I'm counting on basic income being a thing when I retire." -- He is counting on Social Security.

He's counting on something that definitely won't be there if there's the political will to cancel Social Security. ;)

If there is no social security there is no way there will be enough money for basic income from a governmental standpoint

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#220

Post by eli_gottlieb »

NoGravitas wrote: post #130
torpfactory wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I truly believe that whatever people think about social security not being around when they retire, that it will be around at some level. We will almost certainly reduce benefits and/or increase retirement age. What is the alternative? There are far too many people who really can't save for retirement due to low wages for a significant part of the population. We aren't going to let these people live in abject poverty…

> There are far too many people who really can't save for retirement due to low wages for a significant part of the population. We aren't going to let these people live in abject poverty, and they aren't going to have any money to cough up to support themselves. The history of the US in the past several decades suggests that yes, we absolutely are going to let these people live in abject poverty. Unfortunately.

The history of the human race suggests that "letting" these people live in abject poverty will result in their "letting" a bunch of government buildings explode, whereas paying them the Social Security we owe them will not.
Post reply on HN