Unfortunately, I believe it is you who does not understand fully what is going on with the economy, Double. The value of the Dollar varies regularly. Yes, it has gone down in value compared to other currencies such as the Yen or Euro. What you may not realize is that this is actually a sheep in wolf's clothing. The Chinese have been intentionally holding down the value of their currency for 20 years. You know why? Because that drove manufacturing to their country. It's cheaper to produce a widget in China than it was here. This is a very simple and elementary business principle that has been practiced for eons.

Now, on to your second point: Companies cannot "take away" the money that YOU have invested in a 401k plan. Understand something: An employer does NOT manage the 401k funds. They contribute to it, if they should decide to, but they do not CONTROL it. IF they took the money that YOU put into the plan, that is a FELONY. They can decide to discontinue company contributions to the plan, and may decide to close their 401k plan altogether. That does NOT mean that your money disappeared into a huge void. Since the plan is MANAGED by someone else, perhaps American Century Investments, for example, they have the money (or what is left of it after the value of the investments hit the floor), and THEY will contact you and ask what you would like to do with the remainder of your funds (cash out, or roll into another investment - the 1035 exchange).

Now, the lady who lost her entire 401k was more than likely the victim of the market decline. I myself lost over $60k in my investments, rolled the remaining funds into American Century when my company went belly up and unfortunately, used most of it for living expenses while I looked for new employment.

I've got news for you on the Health Insurance coverage. Companies never really could afford to subsidize the group health insurance policies that they were paying for. And again, that does not mean that you cannot have insurance. You can go get your individual plan anytime you want. Employers are finally figuring out that they do not have to pay that much anymore, especially when they cannot afford it. Example: Total Premium on my group plan for myself and family at my last corporate job: $870. My contribution was $300/month. The company paid the rest. I bought my own policy, I paid $450/mo. The employer paid NOTHING. There is no reason for a cash-strapped company to continue paying for your benefits if they cannot afford it. Health insurance is available. All you have to do is go shop for it. If the company can save that amount of money, and perhaps just toss an extra $300 or so into your paycheck so you can buy your OWN coverage, they save money, and possibly saved YOUR JOB.

We'll never use the "Euro". The Euro is the currency of the EUROPEAN UNION. Get it?

We may not ever use the Euro, but watch for the Amero......

I believe what DobleDear meant by companies "taking away" 401K's was simply discontinuing contributions to it or not allowing future contributions .

EXACTLY!!!!

Aaahh, I see. That makes sense. That happens a lot unfortunately. Evene in good times when businesses have trouble, they tend to scale back on their contributions or pull out of the funds altogether, forcing employees to roll into another investment. Either way, that money (or what is left of it after a market crash) is available for the employees to move into other managed funds anytime. The employer contributions were golden though. I'll definitely miss that "FREE MONEY".

Me too, but I drive for a "NICH" company. In fact they have ALL of this type of freight tied up, and they broker out what they CAN'T haul.
2500 to 3500 consistant, more if I do an occasional West-Coast load.
9945 miles between Jan 9 and Jan 31; 22 days, 3315 miles a week.

__________________

Thats pretty damn good mileage, roadkill! Tell em to hold an OTR truck for me for when I get back in the spring of '10. I'll go back and forth REPEATEDLY from the east coast to west coast for three days off!

So what happens with funds that aren't fully vested ? Can you leave the plan as it is until vested to avoid losing contributions when rolling it over ?

Typically, if a company is dissolving a plan, laying off, or going out of business, your funds are automatically vested, and you'll be given an option by the plan administrators or the managers to roll it into another fund, keep it with the same managers, or cash it out. Cashing it out of course, leaves you with a huge tax bill as well as a penalty for early withdrawal of retirement funds.

Has anyone heard President Obama's Speech Last Evening ??

His first concern was the economy and how he went to Elkhart Indiana. (won't go into details bout that) He fears what is happening in that state , eventually the whole country will have an affect. He stated how the local news there, broadcasted for the people , where the Food Banks are.

He also stated this country is in a disaster and a spiral decline.
What he proposes to do, is create Government jobs ( exactly like they did back in the 1940's during the great Depression) in infrastructure.
He stated there will be 4,000 jobs created building and repairing roads and bridges.
Yet he stated earlier, over 5,000 people filed unemployment within the last three months.

This is the highest record of Unemployment Rate since 1960's. Over 654,000 people are affected. And it's still rising.

Obama believes if the government doesn't step in, this country will Crash.

In my opinion, it's already happening, for the reason Obama stated, too many Corporations relied to heavily on Credit. They don't have the cash flow to make their Payroll. So they start downsizing.

As more and more people get cut off from their their jobs. More and more people have less money to spend. Businesses are not getting the customers and sales, so they wind up closing their doors.
What Obama stated, was the exact statement I made earlier. The spiral downfall.

4 thousand jobs for this country is Not going to cut it.
We will not be able to rely heavily on Coporations to provide jobs and look out for us., for our welfare and benefits. More and more people will be without retirement and health coverage. And they won't be able to afford it either. How can you ? Without work?

Mark My Words
Each American citizen will be looking out for themselves. Plan and prepare yourself., without relying on Corporations to Provide for you.

Many Corporations have Already Left this Country and Many are already shutting down.
just to give you one example, CVS pharmacy has bought out all Marcal Paper towels that were produced, for the reason Marcal Production is closing it's door. This is just "One" example. I can give you a list of pages of who's going under.


If you don't believe about the Euro , Jarhed, than do your own homework and read the letters written from Africa to the United Nations. It's easy to find on the internet.
Sorry to hear, you're behind on your times.

This started with the first President Bush, meeting with other countries for the One World Order System. This will be ordered from the United Nations and ALL Countries will have the same currency.

You need to catch up on whats really going on in this world. Not about how employees lost their 401k plans.

This is Serious Stuff out here. This is Really Serious when the President comes onto all broadcasting TV Stations , and announces Nationwide, what is happening!
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