It’s Coming: The Government Wants to “Help Manage” Retirement Accounts

Many people, including myself, have discussed this threat over the past several years.  The obvious concept is that when the government runs out of money, or they face a drying up in interest for its debt, they will come for the $19.4 trillion in American’s retirement accounts.  It seems that day may be finally drawing near.

I stopped contributing to my 401k back when I worked at Bernstein, and I will probably now have to give more serious consideration whether I want to take the penalty and move the funds out of my retirement account entirely.  I haven’t made any decisions, but will be watching closely.

I’m sure the government is just trying to protect your retirement account from terrorists.

From Bloomberg:

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is weighing whether it should take on a role in helping Americans manage the $19.4 trillion they have put into retirement savings, a move that would be the agency’s first foray into consumer investments.

“That’s one of the things we’ve been exploring and are interested in in terms of whether and what authority we have,” bureau director Richard Cordray said in an interview. He didn’t provide additional details.

The bureau’s core concern is that many Americans, notably those from the retiring Baby Boom generation, may fall prey to financial scams, according to three people briefed on the CFPB’s deliberations who asked not to be named because the matter is still under discussion.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Labor are the main regulators of U.S. retirement savings vehicles and funds. However, the consumer bureau — established by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act — sees itself as a potential catalyst for promoting a coherent policy across the government, the people said. 

Full article here.

In Liberty,
Mike

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63 thoughts on “It’s Coming: The Government Wants to “Help Manage” Retirement Accounts”

  1. This is really scary. The worst part is that most people are going to get hit with no warning. For “our own good”, the Feds will seize the accounts and promise an annuity. This will happen after the current ramp up of the stock market causes a big tumble resulting in huge losses for those coming late to the party.

    I already took the hit and pulled all my funds out. It seems that more and more, the safe bet is own what you can physically touch; land, metals, food, ammo……..

    Reply
  2. I cashed in my IRA and took a 50% hit. My wife said I was crazy. I bought gold at $808/oz and silver at $16/oz, plus some firearms and ammo. Now my PMs are worth more than my IRA when I cashed it in and I still have all the firearms.

    Go ahead and take the hit. It’ll be worth it just for your peace of mind.

    Reply
    • Not really…you get taxed at 33% standard and if you have enough in your IRA, you can get pay over 40% if it brings your annual income high enough…not a gross exaggeration.

    • I bought silver at 6 dollars an ounce. Today its 28.5 dollars an ounce. What would have happened if I toke a 50% hit on my 100k 401k and bought silver at 6 dollars an ounce? Let me tell you I would have been taxed 50% then taken 50k and turned it into over 220k in silver! Its clear to me get the heck out of any government 401k plan. Bull markets cannot be taken advantage of if your sitting on the sidelines of some 401k plan. You just dont have enough choices in your 401k + your government may get there dirty hands on it anyways! The best way to strip power from government is defund there ability to tax you;) You do this by possessing your assets personally not in paper.

  3. “The bureau’s core concern is that many Americans, notably those from the retiring Baby Boom generation, may fall prey to financial scams….”

    Hilarious!

    Reply
  4. Wow, this is really scary! The Consumer Protection Bureau, the government agency that Wall Street and the TBTF banks are fighting tooth and nail to abort before it’s born, is going to rob me of my retirement accounts. And all along I thought it was the criminals on Wall street I had to worry about. Silly me. I’ll be so glad when my Social Security account is privatized and in the hand of these people!

    Reply
    • The TBTF banks have done everything possible to stop the Consumer Protection Bureau and especially to combat Elizabeth Warren who is one of the few people in government who understands the financial system AND sides with the 99% who have been ripped off by them. Pick the targets for your fears carefully and don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.

  5. Seizing the retirement funding has ALWAYS been a mandatory element of asset stripping, whether it was LBOs in the ’80s-’90s, the IMF receivership of various hapless nations, Argentina et al, or private equity more recently.
    What’s floated in this article (as though it’s a new idea, grounded in concern of the retiree) is one of the most practiced and routine forms of financial looting in our era. What the banking overlords have inflicted on individual companies and distant foreign countries is coming home for the Big Kill.
    …it is to weep.

    Reply
  6. I’ve been worried about this for some time, and we can now withdraw our various 401/IRA’s without penalty–but what to do with the money?

    Put it in the bank while we’re trying to figure out what to do? Gubmint can get it in a bank account.

    Bury it in a coffee can? We live in an apartment.

    Where to keep it safe? Need ideas.

    Reply
  7. I’ve always felt that the 401(k) was one of the greatest scams perpetuated against the public in US history. It is nothing more than a Wall Street Tax. The stock markets’ exponential gains from 1985-2001 can be attributed directly to defined contribution plans. (For that era, plot 401(k) contributions and the SP500 or the DJIA on the time axis and you’ll see the same graph.) Consequently, it was the profits generated by investment banks, during that period, that allowed these banks to buy their way to becoming TBTF. I find it rather ironic that it was our money that was ultimately responsible for the demise of democracy in the US.

    Reply
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  9. The US government can’t manage their OWN funds, let alone YOURS! Remember ENRON? The politcos that were involved in THAT (Jeb! Bush, Marco Rubio) sure as H*** got their money out while thousands of investors who had been contributing for YEARS lost their life’s retirement.

    Reply
  10. What a bunch of sensationalist BS. The article doesn’t say that. Meanwhile, let’s keep trusting the too big to fail banks with our retirement funds, lets not regulate them, and lets all stockpile lots of automatic weapons and gasoline in our basement for the inevitable day of reckoning.

    Reply
    • Politicians corrupt everything they touch – see Goldman Sachs. Do you honestly believe Obama & Pelosi give a damn about our problems? The first step in moving to
      socialism/dictatorship is confiscation of the citizenrys
      firearms. Can”t understand how one can be so naive as
      to think it can’t happen in the USA.

  11. The only scam will be one that the Federal Governement creates– They have the most talented hackers and they turn it into a national incident, and the sheepel will willing fall into line to protect their money from the false problem — The more the Government tries to help me the more afraid I get of them– for God sake- Just leave us alone — The coruption in Washington is at a new level by both parties

    Reply
  12. Just wait til the chicoms wants to put the screws to the U S and they kill the petrodollar. Why do you think they are loading up on gold, silver and all natural resourses they can get their hands on and paying for them in the petrodollar

    Reply

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