Financial Fellow

Written by J.P. Wicklein

I read an article in Time last week advocating the death of the 401k. Their rationale was that 401k’s are failing to prove themselves as an effective retirement savings vehicle for the masses. In light of the recent financial meltdown the argument to replace the 401k with another retirement savings vehicle, such as a federally-controlled pension system, has gained attention. Although there may be rationale for providing a government-controlled retirement savings option, beyond Social Security, eliminating the 401k would be a travesty.

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   Written by J.P. Wicklein
     The following summarizes each of the Financial Fellow articles for November 2008 in two sentences or less.
1)   How to Avoid a Big Tax Refund:  If you wish to increase your take home pay throughout the year, while decreasing your annual tax refund, you can do so by increasing the number of [...]

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   Written by J.P. Wicklein

     Recently, I read an article on Gen X Finance in which the author discussed pension plans.  The article rekindled my distaste for defined benefit pension plans provided to government employees at the expense of the taxpayers. In short, defined benefit pension plans provide retirees with a consistent source of income from retirement to death. How much the retiree receives depends upon their age, salary, and length of service. The problem with defined benefit pension plans is that they are horrendously expensive.

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