Free Republic

When asked if bank account confiscation will be going worldwide, Jim said, ”Well, it’s now in their bag of tricks, but yes, they can do anything they want too now. I for one am worried and I’m taking preparations. Who knows if I’m right or not, but I’d rather be safe than sorry as all of those people who had money in Cyprus have learned. They thought they had a normal bank account…but now it’s been [taken] with the sanctions of many governments and institutions.”

Why is it that every current wirehouse advisor says they’re completely open-architecture, while every former wirehouse advisor says they faced pressure to sell proprietary products?The New York Times ginned up controversy recently with its front-page story, “Selling the Home Brand: A Look Inside an Elite JPMorgan Unit,” which reinforced the view that wirehouses put themselves first and clients second. Now Alicia Munnell (left), director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, picks up the thread.The trouble started with The Times exposé, which detailed how advisors at JPMorgan Chase & Co. were supposedly pressured to sell the bank’s own...

Rule Of Law: Markets tumbled after Cyprus and the EU said they might tax private bank accounts to pay for a bailout. Arbitrary property grabs are a new low and a bad precedent in this crisis. Worse still, it can happen here. As bad as tumbling markets around the world are, they seem to be the only signal strong enough to catch the attention of Europe's otherwise unaccountable bureaucrats who have long since learned to ignore street riots. As stocks fell from Tokyo to New York, Europe's leaders are scrambling to say they had nothing to do with the cause...

Okay, I don't want to get into it too much but I feel I've been doing all I can to prepare for the impending collapse except a safe and effective way to pull out 1/2 my money from my 401K. However, I'm concerned about: A) The penalties and taxes. B) This will kick me up to "millionaire" status if I pull out half. C) I want to put most of that to get my Mortgage down and pay off any other debt and buy some more "tangibles" What is the best way to do this? I've already maxed out on...

There are any number of places on the web referring to a Clinton Administration-era proposal for a "one-time" (yeah, don't get me started, either) tax on 401(k) assets of 15%. There are plenty of them are here at Free Republic. Boortz does it. The list goes on and on. What I cannot find is anything really reference-able on the subject. "Boortz said it" or "xyz on Free Republic said it" really just doesn't cut it. Does anyone here have a real source on this?

A new national study shows that too many of us are cashing out 401(k) accounts to pay bills. If that retirement account is calling your name, a financial expert advises you to stop listening.

The stale old stock pickers’ debate about whether to bet on the right jockey or the right horse might leave out the most important long-term factor for building a diversified portfolio…you just might do better betting on the right track. In other words, and for whatever reasons, it might be true that highest amount of value (best mix of return and risk) might come not from the choice of which CEO is in charge or which sector the company works in, but rather on the policy environment in which the companies are forced to operate. Over time these differences in...

Warning: Stock Market Likely To Crash From Here, 50% Drop! Stock-Markets / Financial CrashFebruary 28, 2013 - 05:37 PM GMT By: Dr Martenson I don't relish the job of constantly pointing out the risks to the equity markets. But since few on Wall Street seem willing (or able) to do this, I'm "making the call" for a market correction, as enough variables have aligned to indicate a high likelihood of stocks heading downwards from here. I've only given one other such warning about equities before, and that was in March of 2008, when I warned of the possibility of a...

Quietly, behind the scenes, the groundwork is being laid for federal government confiscation of tax-deferred retirement accounts such as IRAs. Slowly, the cat is being let out of the bag. Last January 18th, in a little noticed interview of Richard Cordray, acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Bloomberg reported "[t]he U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [CFPB] 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 thought generates some skepticism, as aptly expressed...

A recent Bloomberg article stated this: _______________________ 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...

Via Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog, [ZH: We have discussed this threat over the past several years (must read).] 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...

Today the twin fake memes of a "Fiscal Cliff" and "Austerity" are combining to create a contrived excuse to tax and steal far more of your wealth and income, including your retirement benefits. The press is filled with articles and editorials like one recently at CNBC entitled "Amid Tax Talks, a cry of 'Save My 401(k)'." Many retirement, offshore and political experts including Jeff Berwick, Larry Grossman and others are now warning how government revenue needs and austerity measures by the Obama Administration today threaten the private retirement system and benefits of millions of successful Americans. Back on January 28,...

CNN) -- IBM, one of America's largest companies, shook the employee compensation world when it announced recently that it would contribute only once every December to its employees' 401(k) accounts. Any employee who leaves before December would not be able to collect the company's match. Workers at IBM aren't marching to the picket line like Walmart workers and longshoreman who protest pay and working conditions, but you just never know. Only about 9% of the nation's employers make matches once a year. IBM's move is paving the way for big companies to go down this road.

What is going to happen to our 401 (k) accounts and IRA’s after January 1? Will the retirement accounts which many Americans have sacrificed so much to accumulate be rolled over into federally issued and guaranteed bonds in order to prop up notoriously under-funded, union pension funds across the country? Getting an answer will prove to be daunting, especially as media attention seems focused on little but the impending “fiscal cliff.” Listening to a poignant, impromptu speech given by Linda from St. Lucie County during the Allen West recount makes clear just how hard she worked to raise three daughters...

DETAILS: THE PLAN TO STEAL YOUR 401(k)November 29, 2012 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: We have a couple of sound bites from the New School professor of economics, the New School for Social Research professor of economics Teresa Ghilarducci, who explains the theft -- uh, the purchase -- of your 401(k) by the government. TIME Magazine now has a big story out saying that this must happen. It must have to happen to save us all. BREAK TRANSCRIPT RUSH: By the way, TIME Magazine is not the only one floating this idea for the regime to claim your 401(k). And coming...

Many Americans didn't bother to vote in the past presidential election, some out of apathy or a belief that the election would hardly affect them. They are in for a rude awakening now that Obama has won re-election. His Santa Claus false promises are unsustainable, so there are going to be few winners and a lot of losers as he redistributes wealth. Obama ran on a platform of making the rich “pay their fair share of taxes,” but raising taxes on the wealthy will only fund the federal government for eight days a year. In order to even partially keep...

Call The Rush Limbaugh Show program line between 12 Noon and 3PM Eastern Time at: 1-800-282-2882 E-mail Rush: ElRushbo@eibnet.com Fax Rush at: 212-445-3963 Write a letter to Rush and mail it to: The Rush Limbaugh Show 1270 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 Join This Ping List Now! Click Here To Join this Ping List! Image by Cool Text: Free Logos and Buttons - Create An Image Just Like This

Suddenly within 24 hours three articles appeared in the NYT, Atlantic Monthly, and Time discussing a Danish "study" about the tax breaks for the 401K plan. Naturally they all discussed whether the government should abolish the tax break for them. What was it they said about never wasting a crisis?

One of the earliest fears about tax-favored savings accounts like IRAs and 401(k) plans was that when this pool of savings grew large enough Congress would not be able to resist tapping it to help solve the nation’s debt problems. We’re about to find out if those fears—persistent for decades—have been justified. Everything including the sacred mortgage deduction is on the table as lawmakers wrestle with the fiscal cliff, a year-end avalanche of scheduled spending cuts and tax increases. With a combined $10 trillion sitting in IRAs and 401(k) plans, retirement accounts make a juicy target. Some of this money...

NEW YORK – Two years ago, as WND reported, the Obama administration was proceeding with a novel way to finance trillion-dollar budget deficits by forcing IRA and 401(k) holders to buy Treasury bonds by mandating the placement of government-structured annuities in their retirement accounts. Remarkably, those financial professionals specializing in private retirement savings and the U.S. citizens investing in private retirement plans now face the possibility the Obama administration and its allies on the political left will impose rules and regulations that effectively abolish the private retirement savings and investment markets. Recent evidence suggests government officials continue to eye the...