WTH???? Most Americans want to end IRAs and 401Ks, if it means more take home pay?

Photo above - 85% of people polled want to end IRAs and 401Ks. And 40% of people believe lottery winnings will be a significant source of income after retirement.

At last – America’s dubious public education system has caught up with us. Per the link below, an astonishing 85% of Americans were willing to kill off retirement accounts if it would mean a few extra bucks in their paychecks. This is a semi-legitimate poll. It was a collaboration between the Cato Institute - which has cred - and YouGov, the email spam/online survey organization that pays anyone 10 cents (in loyalty points) whenever they tale a poll. Those opinions are clearly worth about . . . 10 cents.

There are a million reasons why these survey results are BS. I’ll just recap the most obvious ones:

1. Only half of Americans even have an IRA or 401K.

2. The other half are too ignorant about taxes to understand that you wouldn’t get more take home pay in a post-IRA world unless you were actually having 401K/IRA deductions from that paycheck in the first place.

3. 80% of Americans report living paycheck to paycheck.

4. A lot of those living paycheck to paycheck are retirees. Their struggling with inadequate monthly social security checks. They could care less what happens to people who HAVENT retired yet. They don’t realize that killing IRAs won’t mean higher monthly checks.

5. Also among the 80% living paycheck to paycheck: welfare recipients; single moms dependent on alimony and child support; waitstaff and gig workers like door-dash and uber drivers, who don’t report their cash tips as income anyway.

6. Federal workers who legally CANNOT have 401K accounts. This includes millions of clerks, postal workers, uniformed service members, etc. None of them can have a 401K under the current rules.

7. Teachers are excluded too, even though they are state/local government workers. Most of them are in TIAA/Cref retirement plans.

8. 40% of soon-to-be-retirees expect “lottery winnings” to be a significant source of retirement income. The survey did not disclose how many of these are public school teachers.

I was part of a team which organized a similar survey, more than a decade ago. Actually, I was the only team member who objected to the focus group and tried to stop it. It was a series of panel discussions to discover why airline frequent fliers were sitting on hundreds of thousands of air-miles but never seem to cash them in for free flights. My objection was that anyone who would drive all the way over, then waste couple of hours just for a free sandwich, chips, and Pepsi wasn’t a reliable source of information. This really happened.

No one expected the US Department of Education to do financial education competently. The DOE is a subsidiary of the same Federal Government which racked up $37 trillion national debt - $300,000 for each American family. The government that spends twice each year what it collects in taxes. Public schools can’t even teach kids how to balance a checkbook or make change from a $20 at the cash register. One nearby high school instead has a vocational course in how to operate a credit card swipe terminal. Parents no doubt insisted on modernizing the curriculum with “relevant skills”.

But I don’t know how many of these parents expect lottery winnings to be a significant source of their own retirement income.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Survey: majority of Americans favor repealing IRA to extend Trump tax cuts

Retirement Account Statistics 2024 - NerdWallet

BrandNewMan · M

OMFG .. 🤦🏻

Federal employees are covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), which includes a Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), similar to a 401(k), and a Basic Benefit Plan. They can also have personally funded IRAs if they choose.

There are 403(b) plans that are primarily offered to employees of public schools, certain tax-exempt organizations, and some ministers. These people can also have an IRA account.

Anyone with the sense and money to do it can have and invest in an IRA.

We have a serious issue in this country with people not preparing themselves to have employable skills or the ability to handle money. It is not the responsibility of schools or the government to do that for you .. or the rest of us to support you if you don't.

People who have kids need to get off their duffs and be responsible adults/parents. Teach kids the value of an education or entering the skilled trades. Practice and teach financial management to kids.

We have far too many people in modern society who have completely abdicated the responsibilities of being an adult on every level.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@BrandNewMan its a good thing the creators of this survey didn't include "federal employee thrift savings plans" as part of the question about whether these should be made illegal.

the poll results might have been reversed, at least among government workers.