401k and other retirement plans: have you raided yours yet?

Started by CountDeMoney, January 16, 2013, 11:22:51 AM

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Have you raided your retirement accounts?

Yes, I've had to in times of financial peril
4 (11.4%)
No, never had to touch them
22 (62.9%)
What retirement accounts?  I work paycheck to paycheck, I have no such luxury
6 (17.1%)
Ha! I'm a public employee, and therefore lucky enough to have a pension while still hating on unions, because I'm a GOP dickhead
3 (8.6%)

Total Members Voted: 35

The Brain

Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Neil

Quote from: Jacob on January 16, 2013, 02:16:04 PM
Speaking of changing financial situations, here's a WSJ illustration of the impact of the changes in US taxes:
All those people are still taking home $150 grand after taxes, which is pretty comfortable.  "OMG!  20k more in taxes!" sounds bad, but then they undermine their scare tactics by pointing out that Married Couple still clears almost half a millions dollars a year.
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.

merithyn

Quote from: Neil on January 16, 2013, 02:55:52 PM
Quote from: Jacob on January 16, 2013, 02:16:04 PM
Speaking of changing financial situations, here's a WSJ illustration of the impact of the changes in US taxes:
All those people are still taking home $150 grand after taxes, which is pretty comfortable.  "OMG!  20k more in taxes!" sounds bad, but then they undermine their scare tactics by pointing out that Married Couple still clears almost half a millions dollars a year.

Not only that, but why didn't they show the couple as only bringing in $180,000 - $250,000 like the other situations? I mean, Anyone making over $650,000 is going to pay a higher tax regardless of their marital/familial status. It's ridiculous.
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
I wish, I wish he'd go away...

DGuller

Quote from: merithyn on January 16, 2013, 03:12:38 PM
Quote from: Neil on January 16, 2013, 02:55:52 PM
Quote from: Jacob on January 16, 2013, 02:16:04 PM
Speaking of changing financial situations, here's a WSJ illustration of the impact of the changes in US taxes:
All those people are still taking home $150 grand after taxes, which is pretty comfortable.  "OMG!  20k more in taxes!" sounds bad, but then they undermine their scare tactics by pointing out that Married Couple still clears almost half a millions dollars a year.

Not only that, but why didn't they show the couple as only bringing in $180,000 - $250,000 like the other situations? I mean, Anyone making over $650,000 is going to pay a higher tax regardless of their marital/familial status. It's ridiculous.
Maybe they used the examples their readers could identify with.

mongers

Quote from: DGuller on January 16, 2013, 02:18:59 PM
Is this a representative sample?  :hmm:

You mean the average American adult doesn't have an investment income of $49,000 per annum.   :hmm:

"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

merithyn

Quote from: DGuller on January 16, 2013, 03:18:33 PM
Quote from: merithyn on January 16, 2013, 03:12:38 PM
Quote from: Neil on January 16, 2013, 02:55:52 PM
Quote from: Jacob on January 16, 2013, 02:16:04 PM
Speaking of changing financial situations, here's a WSJ illustration of the impact of the changes in US taxes:
All those people are still taking home $150 grand after taxes, which is pretty comfortable.  "OMG!  20k more in taxes!" sounds bad, but then they undermine their scare tactics by pointing out that Married Couple still clears almost half a millions dollars a year.

Not only that, but why didn't they show the couple as only bringing in $180,000 - $250,000 like the other situations? I mean, Anyone making over $650,000 is going to pay a higher tax regardless of their marital/familial status. It's ridiculous.
Maybe they used the examples their readers could identify with.

Heh. Well, I'm certainly not their targeted audience, or they'd all be making less than $50k.  :ph34r:
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
I wish, I wish he'd go away...

The Minsky Moment

Quote from: DGuller on January 16, 2013, 02:18:59 PM
Is this a representative sample?  :hmm:

It's representative of the class of people most likely to be affected by the change in the top marginal rate and the changes in treatment of investment income.
(and of the WSJ's target demographics . . . )
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
--Joan Robinson

Martinus

I'm now spending a lot of my savings on the interior of my new flat.

The Brain

Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Liep

I don't think I can access those money before the age of 68, or 70 or whatever they raise the pension age to when I get around to being old.
"Af alle latterlige Ting forekommer det mig at være det allerlatterligste at have travlt" - Kierkegaard

"JamenajmenømahrmDÆ!DÆ! Æhvnårvaæhvadlelæh! Hvor er det crazy, det her, mand!" - Uffe Elbæk

Barrister

Quote from: Liep on January 16, 2013, 04:02:55 PM
I don't think I can access those money before the age of 68, or 70 or whatever they raise the pension age to when I get around to being old.

Maybe you can't, but they sure can...
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Ed Anger

Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

Valmy

I have to say if I was making $35,000 in investment income every year I would be pretty jolly.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

Razgovory

Those guys look pretty sad for the cash they are bring in.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

derspiess

Quote from: Valmy on January 16, 2013, 05:00:58 PM
I have to say if I was making $35,000 in investment income every year I would be pretty jolly.

Maybe not if you were a day-trader :D
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall