Quote from: MoonShadow on May 22, 2013, 10:10:03 PM

Quote from: boltactionz on May 22, 2013, 09:04:14 PM

Also, if you are in the United States, you know that retirement account you thought you had? Perhaps now would be a good time to cash out and go physical instead of one's and zero's...!

I think that you know that is easier said than done. For most people, the tax consequences alone of early withdrawal results in most people delaying such a decision. My wife would never let me do any such thing, until the day that I can show her that it's already happening to others, by which time it will probably be too late. The only thing that I can realisticly do is take out a "loan" against it, for which I can only get half of the nominal value and I have to pay back.

I know that it's easier said than done. But the truth is, the pols in this country have been searching for a way to plug the deficit for a very long time, and one way they likely will eventually get around to is capturing the 401k's and IRA's and forcing people to only "be allowed to" invest in government-issued products such as bonds. It's what happened in Argentina back in 1999-2000 or so, it's likely eventually coming to America.

I know of several individuals who have felt it better to take the tax hit and just "suck it up" so that they could be sure they could have SOME of the money rather than wait for the eventual confiscation that ends with them having nothing. It's not a confiscation in the Cypriot sense, but more like a confiscation in that the only thing allowed to be in the retirement accounts end up being a rapidly depreciating asset issued by the US Gov't.

How much do you trust your wife, LOL? (There is a potential exemption buried in divorce law, believe it or not! It doesn't work for everyone, but maybe it might work for you?)