Monday, December 15, 2008

The 401(k) Crisis

What is Washington, D.C. cooking up in response to the retirement savings crisis? With a new administration in town, there's a good chance some reforms may take place.

The scariest one on this list is:

A new national savings plan

Proponents of a government-backed retirement savings account that would guarantee an inflation-adjusted return of 3% initially got little support. But recently one of its biggest backers was asked to testify on Capitol Hill - a sign that the plan is getting serious attention. 

Sounds like one of those crappy insurance products that guarantee that your savings will never go down.  But this would be run by the government, so it'd be even crappier.