Reply #21: Millions of people have less than $20,000 in a little 401K [View All]

[jtuck004]

which puts them in much the same boat as others. I have been doing tax return after tax return in which people have held onto those until they no longer could.

I did one for a woman who is homeless. She still has a 401K with about $8,000, near as I remember. Spent a month in her car last summer rather than cash it and move in somewhere, now in a shelter. Said she won't cash it until the very last thing because when she loses that she knows there is nothing else.

I know it seems like having a litte bit to fall back on puts people in a better place, but after taxes that money won't last most people a year. 10,000 people a day are turning 65, and over a third of them have nothing except social security, while another 15% or so appear to have these little 401K's. One good medical bill or a couple years of medications and it could be all gone.

If the economy is so bad that people who are not retired are having to cash those in, and with no real job creation on the horizon, that means we, as a whole, are probably all screwed.