Is Your 401(k) Obsolete?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2013/02/is_your_401k_obsolete042859.php

thank republican deregulation of wall street for helping us into the whoa's of American households, then they have proceeded to block the fix by the Pres. while blaming him for the whole thing, think 2014.

New research by the firm HelloWallet finds that more than a quarter of Americans who have an employer-sponsored retirement plan are raiding these accounts for other uses.

According to HelloWallet’s report, Americans are withdrawing more than $70 billion a year from their retirement savings—and often paying big penalties to do so. On top of regular income taxes, early withdrawals are subject to a 10 percent additional tax penalty, which depending on the bracket, could eat up nearly half of a person’s withdrawal.

For many people, employer-sponsored retirement plans are the only mechanism “forcing” them to save. Yet the retirement-only focus of the current system isn’t versatile enough to meet people’s real needs—especially to cope with emergencies such as a job loss or a horrifically expensive car repair.

The depth and breadth of this ”leakage” from Americans’ retirement accounts means it’s time to rethink the kinds of savings accounts that all Americans should own. In particular, new ways to encourage emergency savings could help ensure that 401(k)s don’t continue to be an expensive, last-resort piggybank for so many Americans. 

 According to new data from CFED, 44 percent of American households don't have the cash to survive three months at the federal poverty level if they suffer a loss of income. Among 401(k) accountholders who lack this cash cushion, HelloWallet found that nearly 1 in 3 have "breached" their retirement savings, versus just 3 percent of accountholders who have enough emergency savings put away.

While it's easy to dismiss emergency savings as something every American "should" do—the same way people "should" get more exercise and skip the buffalo wings on Super Bowl Sunday—the reality is that too many Americans either don't make enough money to save or lack the tools and capability to manage their resources optimally.

According to the FDIC, nearly 30 percent of Americans don't own a savings account, while nearly a quarter of households rely on check cashers, pawn shops or other high-cost financial services that eat up people's money and provide no avenues to save.

those who support the object of their demise IMO are no friend to this economy, they continue to vote those persons that support the present  agenda of the right wing.

"together we stand, divided we fall", not hard to figure out which party is for the latter.