Filed under: Business, economy, Education, Family, Finance, Investing, middle class, Money, Retirement, stocks | Tags: Business, economy, Education, ETFs, Family, Finance, Investing, middle class, Money, Retirement, stocks
During the recent crash in late 08 and early 09, retirement accounts experienced massive losses, however many professionals on Wall Street made a killing because they had tools that were available to them that weren’t available to the middle class in their 401k’s. Is this fair? Pro’s were shorting the market and buying the double and triple weighted ETFs that bet against the market, and profiting from everyone else’s losses. They were simply following the trend of the market (which was lower) and made a nice living, before having to cover (their shorts) and be in cash, ready to get long (buying low from a fundamental standpoint) again. This really burns me up knowing that the working class of people were burned and taken advantage of and no one can do anything about it. Some people had to come out of retirement or prolong their wish to retire for a few more years because of this.
There needs to be more options available to employees of companies that offer retirement plans such as the ability to be in cash at appropriate times, stock alternatives (including the ability to be short), and the same ETFs that were used against them (this levels the playing field). Most employees are in mutual funds in their retirement accounts which preach being invested for the long haul, but they all got burned as well do to the lack of liquidity in the funds and no one actively managing their accounts. Change needs to be made and it needs to happen soon! Employers need to offer a variety of plans and be flexible with the choices of employees. Also, employees need to be able to make changes as frequently as possible as they see changes going on with the economy and our country. The working class needs to start paying closer attention to their money being invested. Oh and by the way, those retirement fund managers got paid their fees regardless of performance because their goal is to be a sales person first and grow their asset base because it’s more money in their pocket. It’s time to be aggressive and push for equal rights with investing your money and your future wealth!
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