Comments on: Will Uncle Sam squeeze retirement contributions? What Benefits pros need to know

By: Holly

Holly — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:54:26 +0000

Janice,

It is up to the employer as to what age limit is placed on the 401k plan. We amended our 401k plan in 2000 to include employees age 18 & over so they could participate in the plan. You may want to speak with your plan administrator to see about having it amended to include employees 18 yrs & older who otherwise would be eligible to participate based on other eligibility criteria.

By: martin

martin — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:22:14 +0000

Is there still pending legislation from Congressman George Miller of California where the government will convert (the language used in the bill says “confiscate” – but no one reads the bills anyway as we all know) your 401K to a public pension fund returning a fixed rate…

Should we still contribute at all? Another money pool to tap and support free health care?

By: Janice

Janice — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:45:57 +0000

I work for doctors – they all max out, but that is not the point. We ask people to take personal responsibility for their retirement and yet, I have an 18 year old employee who can’t participate in our 401K (although he could fight in Iraq) and now I have to tell the doctors that their contributions for their 401K will be LOWER for 2010. How is this allowing people to take personal responsibility? And truly, no Dave, inflation coming in 24 months to make up the difference does not comfort me. We have to stop handicapping people who are trying to step up to the plate. That’s all I’m saying

By: Mindy

Mindy — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:06:03 +0000

None of our employees can afford to put the maximum in anyway. Do you get a lot of people who max out?

By: Matt Haake

Matt Haake — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:51:42 +0000

Where is the surprise, next the Dems are coming after the medical contributions. Stay tuned.

By: Dave Fletcher

Dave Fletcher — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:36:51 +0000

Janice:
It may well be ridiculous. However, keep in mind most of these things are embedded in legislation passed sometime previously. It is not that easy to say ‘we’re going to wave this’ when the law defines what needs to be done. With the other critical issues before Congress, they are probably not that interested in $500 in a retirement plan. The bright side is there will definitely be inflation within 24 months so what is lost can be made up quickly with the advent of said inflation. Not sure that is really a bright side, though.

By: Janice

Janice — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:27:06 +0000

This is ridiculous. Social Security is running out of money, so by all means, let’s make more people dependent on it by cutting how much they can put in their retirement accounts. Sometimes I seriously wonder if anyone in Washington has a brain!