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Private Equity Investing Now Allowed in 401(k) Retirement Funds

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11–20 of 74 posts

Re: Private Equity Investing Now Allowed in 401(k) Retirement Funds

#11

Private equity isn't an appropriate asset class for 401(k)'s. Public markets have a threshold for rules/regulations and reporting requirements. You don't want your retirement account to be a casino. You want companies that can provide stable, long-term growth of your portfolio-- so the money's there when you need it.

Is the current public market not a casino?

Re: Private Equity Investing Now Allowed in 401(k) Retirement Funds

#12

Private equity isn't an appropriate asset class for 401(k)'s. Public markets have a threshold for rules/regulations and reporting requirements. You don't want your retirement account to be a casino. You want companies that can provide stable, long-term growth of your portfolio-- so the money's there when you need it.

> You don't want your retirement account to be a casino.

You should take a look at Fed actions regarding public markets over the past few months.

Re: Private Equity Investing Now Allowed in 401(k) Retirement Funds

#13
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Private equity is commonly how the rich got rich. Theres all sorts of asset classes not available to the common public that keep them from reaping rewards. Another being investing in catastrophe bonds and insurance. Tons of fortunes made off all sorts of financial assets, that really arent that esoteric, they are just in the shadows.

"how the rich got rich" is survivorship bias. Private equity is also how many people lost some or all of their life savings. I myself have "invested" tens of thousands of dollars in a few startups that have actually gone on to be moderately successful. But my equity has been so diluted that I will be lucky if I get back half of my original investment. The game is heavily biased towards the last shark in the pool, and…

Private Equity doesnt work like that, vc investing is a completely different game. If you want to stay middle class, continue investing like the middle class, i.e. etfs. If you want to move up, invest like those in the class above you do. I think the common knowledge about what kinds of risk the common man should be taking on are in some ways constructed to keep the "prestige" of finance. Its an industry built upon the appearance of competence

Re: Private Equity Investing Now Allowed in 401(k) Retirement Funds

#14
Can we now subject large "private" firms to the same scrutiny that "public" have to obey? I always thought it was ridiculous that you could call a trillion dollar company with millions of shareholder, "private."

From the sounds of it, this ruling handwaves away the inherent risk of investing in a company whose finances you have no visibility into by claiming that putting it into a diversified private fund is the same as a diversified public fund. Which is fine, but they should be subject to the same reporting requirements as public companies.

These regulations didn't appear out of thin air. The business world is full of evil people looking to rob everyday investors. See: Enron.

Re: Private Equity Investing Now Allowed in 401(k) Retirement Funds

#15

Private equity isn't an appropriate asset class for 401(k)'s. Public markets have a threshold for rules/regulations and reporting requirements. You don't want your retirement account to be a casino. You want companies that can provide stable, long-term growth of your portfolio-- so the money's there when you need it.

Private equity is commonly how the rich got rich. Theres all sorts of asset classes not available to the common public that keep them from reaping rewards. Another being investing in catastrophe bonds and insurance. Tons of fortunes made off all sorts of financial assets, that really arent that esoteric, they are just in the shadows.

Depends on which part of the ladder you are on. If you're the fund manager of a big fund, you got rich. If you're the LP of growth seed rounds, you probably got rich. If you're the LP of later stage rounds, you probably didn't get rich.

Re: Private Equity Investing Now Allowed in 401(k) Retirement Funds

#17

Private equity isn't an appropriate asset class for 401(k)'s. Public markets have a threshold for rules/regulations and reporting requirements. You don't want your retirement account to be a casino. You want companies that can provide stable, long-term growth of your portfolio-- so the money's there when you need it.

Is the current public market not a casino?

I would not call public markets a casino, but I suppose some people have pretty liberal definitions for such things.

Public companies have to submit regular financial reports, which are handled by independent auditors. So you can be reasonably sure that a company claiming to make money, is making money. And executives have a legal requirement to protect share holder value.

Buying shares in Apple is much less of a "gamble" than opening your own business.

Re: Private Equity Investing Now Allowed in 401(k) Retirement Funds

#18

Private equity isn't an appropriate asset class for 401(k)'s. Public markets have a threshold for rules/regulations and reporting requirements. You don't want your retirement account to be a casino. You want companies that can provide stable, long-term growth of your portfolio-- so the money's there when you need it.

Is the current public market not a casino?

Not to the same extent as PE because of all the regulatory requirements of being a public company.

Re: Private Equity Investing Now Allowed in 401(k) Retirement Funds

#19
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Private equity is commonly how the rich got rich. Theres all sorts of asset classes not available to the common public that keep them from reaping rewards. Another being investing in catastrophe bonds and insurance. Tons of fortunes made off all sorts of financial assets, that really arent that esoteric, they are just in the shadows.

"how the rich got rich" is survivorship bias. Private equity is also how many people lost some or all of their life savings. I myself have "invested" tens of thousands of dollars in a few startups that have actually gone on to be moderately successful. But my equity has been so diluted that I will be lucky if I get back half of my original investment. The game is heavily biased towards the last shark in the pool, and…

Startup investing isn't private equity. Private equity is acquiring a profitable company with limited equity and a pile of debt, paying it down, and selling it at a profit.

Re: Private Equity Investing Now Allowed in 401(k) Retirement Funds

#20

Private equity isn't an appropriate asset class for 401(k)'s. Public markets have a threshold for rules/regulations and reporting requirements. You don't want your retirement account to be a casino. You want companies that can provide stable, long-term growth of your portfolio-- so the money's there when you need it.

Private equity is commonly how the rich got rich. Theres all sorts of asset classes not available to the common public that keep them from reaping rewards. Another being investing in catastrophe bonds and insurance. Tons of fortunes made off all sorts of financial assets, that really arent that esoteric, they are just in the shadows.

Yes, but the ones who get rich from PE funds are the PE fund managers. Investors not so much: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3623820
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