They're keeping a lot of us tied down by controlling retirement savings. I know the market is shit right now, but it would send a big message if a bunch of Americans pulled money out of 401K-type retirement plans. My wife and I cashed in my 401K a couple months ago and paid off our home loan 8 years early. Obviously there will be a penalty for the early withdrawal but we're also going to save tens of thousands on interest payments on our home loan so I'm hoping we're close to breaking even on the transaction. We've begun to invest our monthly mortgage payment into ethical investments that we choose, which feels great.
It's possible they're tanking markets on purpose to keep people from cashing out of the system. They're hoping they can pull their Great Reset shenanigans and nobody will touch their money because we've been conditioned to ride out the lows. These 401K plans give big wads of our cash to the people who don't give a damn about us. Think about taking some of that control away from them.
My understanding is you have to pay the taxes when you take it out during retirement so you don't actually lose as much as they want you to think by taking it out early. Pay the taxes now or pay them later. I think there is a 10% early penalty and it is likely to push us into a higher tax bracket for this year too. We figured it would save us around $50K interest on our mortgage over the next 8 years so I think it made sense for us.
If you have a substantial sum in your retirement the graduated income tax will put the highest burden on a large portion of that money. I haven't kept up to date but the highest income percentage used to be 38%. That is a lot of money to lose. For most people it would be devastating to lose that much of their retirement.
The folks, even those with enough money to retire early, are screwed by the IRS rules for an extra 10% if they try to take their money before 59 1/2. This system is set up to lock down working people. The rich don't rely on 401Ks.
The IRS and (((their))) system should be scrapped. If you could get the monkey off the back of the US citizens, and teach something worth while in our education systems and bring back decent paying jobs you might be able to gradually eliminate Social Security in the future. Social Security is just another means to control the people by doling out small portions of the money you stole from them.
I'm with you on defunding the IRS and I agree that Social Security is a joke system. When has the federal government ever put together a program that actually works? Social Security, medicare, 401K. They ruin everything they touch.