by Simian_Stacker
via nytimes:
More Americans are raiding their retirement accounts as the cost of living climbs, and experts predict that the number of workers drawing on their 401(k)s to pay for financial emergencies may increase due to a confluence of factors, like new provisions that make withdrawals easier and high inflation that is straining household budgets.
“It’s just more expensive to live these days, and that’s what’s putting the pinch on participants,” said Craig Reid, national retirement practice leader at Marsh McLennan Agency, a workplace benefits company. “Some of it is still spillover from the Covid pandemic. A lot of it is inflation — just the grind of daily life.”
Mark Scharf, an information technology worker in New York City, has taken money out of retirement accounts three times since the 2008 recession. He withdrew more than $50,000 to pay credit card debts, tuition for his six children to attend a religious school and, most recently, an overdue mortgage.
“It was really a choice of saving the present versus securing the future,” he said. “My situation wasn’t someone who’s frivolous. Expenses were just more than I was making.”
The Fed and Wall Street’s Republicrat duopoly puppet show could never have gotten by with their epic intergenerational swindles if Millennials & Gen-Zs hadn’t been so emasculated and docile when it came to bending over on demand
US Politicians and the Federal Reserve have been literally spitting in young people's faces for 40 years counting.
Why would ANY young person stay here? pic.twitter.com/RSDR5hovlj
— Darth Powell 🦈🇺🇲🇺🇦🇵🇱🇫🇮 (@GRomePow) May 28, 2023