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I actively called my retirement plan manager and spent several hours on the phone, just trying to make sure they didn't spend a bunch of my money on the space X IPO. They did, and I lost about 4000 dollars in one day.
If I pull it out, I lose 30% instantly. Not to mention it's retirement value goes away entirely. Switching to another manager is pointless because they did exactly the same thing.
That was MY money, that I OWN. If I have absolutely no say in how that's being spent, how in the holy name of fuck do you expect us to influence elected representatives, that are being bought and paid for with those dollars by someone else?
The game is over, they've won. It's time for crime.
I have some basic understanding of finance (and I mean basic), so take this as an observation rather than investment advice. If your retirement plan allows you to change your asset allocation, and you have a high-conviction thesis that a significant market event is about to occur, it may be worth temporarily rotating from a growth-oriented allocation into a more conservative allocation to reduce downside exposure.
Under normal circumstances, attempting to time the market is a bad idea, and financial advisors or plan managers will usually push you away from doing so. However, there are rare situations where it's clear as crystal what's happening. In those cases, reducing equity exposure and increasing allocations to lower-volatility assets for a short period may be a reasonable risk-management decision.
Using the recent SpaceX-related market activity as an example, I find it difficult to believe that any fund with a genuinely conservative mandate would have maintained meaningful exposure to assets directly affected by that event. A conservative portfolio, by definition, should prioritize capital preservation over aggressive growth and generally avoid concentrated exposure to higher-risk investments.
You generally can't tell them, "I don't want this stock," when dealing with index funds, but you can get yourself out of the fund entirely while it's poisoned. Unfortunately, my company was changing providers right when the SpaceX shit was happening, and I couldn't make the change myself.
I haven't been keeping up with the bond market but last I heard it was it's own shit show so I'm not really sure anything is 'safe' these days.
Retirement accounts are a scam. It’s important for people to learn this, and stop contributing to them. It’s not a “benefit” to give all your money to corrupt Wall Street shit heads…
I opened this expecting to ask where to put the money instead, fully expecting to be told to buy gold.
I'm glad to see that conversation has already happened.
There are far better commodities to invest in. Gold is probably one of the worst. But good luck with that
I didn’t say anything about gold. You just wanted to straw man that.
I mean, it's not a straw man. it's genuinely a weak investment. But no, other people exist and they had that conversation before you or I could her here.
A tax-advantaged account that (typically) grows faster than inflation and includes additional compensation that my employer would not otherwise give me is a scam? So where should I be putting my money instead?
It grows faster until they use it as a bailout for rich fucks. You should make your own investments; it’s your money and you should have full control of it. Any system that doesn’t allow that is wall steet holding your money hostage, and a scam.
On gold
Gold has lost nearly 12% of its value in the last six months. There's no reason to think that trend will spontaneously turn around.
Not entirely a scam in theory. Though we are currently in a period of unprecedented corruption that is so complicated and complete that it might as well be. Even 5 years ago, I would have attributed certain actions to protect the market as an attempt to protect everyone. The systems in place are such that if a ~~stock~~ company fails, it creates far-reaching market upsets across industries worldwide. Essentially, if something fails, it takes everyone down with them.
The fix would be the state taking control of those industries to allow them to stabilize. Unfortunately, most state actors are also tied economically to those systems. That is, they're corrupt as fuck and don't care about people, but their own money and status.
So retirement funds and entitlements weren't entirely a scam, but they are mostly so now. I doubt I will see a dime of mine if I don't use it soon for school, expating, or buying a house. I certainly won't see it when I retire.