posted on Aug, 2 2008 @ 07:10 AM
Personally, I put all our ROTHS into an FDIC Insured Money Market in March. Should have picked up on it sooner (January) but still, I have saved
myself from further losses. Mutual Fund and stocks are not FDIC insured, meaning a large part of what people have their retirement accounts invested
in could disappear if their Bank fails.
I have noticed that it's been impossible to earn anything on my accounts without really active research & action, and I am not in a position to do
that right now. So our retirement accounts, if we are lucky, are holding, but most people's are way down. I stopped bothering with Employer Sponsored
plans 10 years ago when I realized the choices and restrictions for most of them don't allow the freedom to escape if a mess happens in the market.
Everything is in self directed ROTHS now, and I am about to cash them out and pay the penalty to put towards my mortgage principal. I just don't see
the point anymore in planning for a future that isn't panning out right now and my goal is to become debt free as quickly as possible, then I will
catch up on my ROTH's easily when the payments are cleared on my mortgages and I take that money I have been paying into them to put for retirement.
At my age, I am in the this is too scary category, but I see no other alternative. My Financial Planner is going to be pissed, but even my Accountant
agreed to this move.
Bottom line is (as I will explain to my Financial Planner where all my accounts and loans are) would you rather see me keep my Retirement accounts and
end up defaulting on my loans with you? I didn't think so.
I am a responsible person who had to move during the top of the bubble. My home is now upside down (I owe more than it's worth). The school of
thought is to go ahead and default on the loans if one of us gets laid off (which is happening by the boatloads around my area), but all these people
will never have anything once they destroy their credit with a default. Not going there myself.
It really does seem that there is a concerted effort to guarantee no one has any retirement assets by the time people my age and younger should be
retiring. They are just allowing (if not deliberately manipulating) the markets to fail us, along with Social Security.
What is going to be left? What will happen to us? The only solution I see left is forced Socialization of the US somewhere down the road. I hope I'm
wrong, but the monetary situation is beyond broken and the writing is on the wall. They are past the point of a fix. It's a house of cards/ponzi
scheme and our elected officials have allowed the whole thing.