Some things just don’t go together.
I’d never heard of this before seeing it on Yahoo! Finance today.
A spokesperson for the company offering a 401(k) debit card offers this, ahem, reasoning:
“…the cards give people a sense of confidence and control, which in turn encourages otherwise reluctant people to participate in retirement programs, knowing that their savings won’t be locked up for decades.”
Um, really? Call me old-fashioned, but the speed bumps hindering access to my retirement savings exist for my own good.
Tags: 401k debit retirement
Super – I wonder if the overdraft fees that get associated with it (and that can’t be far away) will have the 10% “early withdrawal fee” added on….Maybe we’re about to see the very first negative retirement account.
Considering the problems people already have with staggering credit card bills, why let them run up a loan against their 401k? Like someone mentioned in the article, I don’t think people should be given such “liquid” access to their retirement savings. It’s bad enough that we won’t have social security when we retire, why find other ways to deplete your already measly 401k account?
Nothing I hate more than seeing someone take penalties on IRA or 401(k) early withdrawals. Shame on The Reserve. This is exactly the opposite of what we should be encouraging Americans to do.
Seems to me if you like buying lattes and pocketbooks on installment, this is a product made for you.
Doesn’t this completely eliminate the whole purpose of a 401k?
“We will give you a savings account, but just in case you really want the new 150″ plasma, we will give you quick and easy access to that money for only a 10% early withdrawal fee and we will even give you the papers to file with the IRS to make it quick and easy.”
BAH! Its like a retirement plan for crackheads. Sad
Yes, and decades from now, it won’t be there. Travesty.
Yeah, I thought the whole point of a 401k was to not touch it until retirement. So now its just a checking account with more complex regulations?