401(k)aos

by Andy Tanner

How our Dream of Retirement Became a Nightmare of Chaos

A shocking look at Wall Street's greed and deception
and how you can win the battle to restore
your dream of abundance in retirement.

Genres: Finance, Business

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Seth · Rating 1 out of 5]

The best description for this type of book is that it's like cotton candy: there are a few useful points (grains of sugar) that you could consume and digest in about 30 minutes, but instead they are blown out into a 200 page book of mostly fluff. I skimmed it in less than a day and still felt like I took too much time.

Tanner simply confirms what I already knew from reading more serious, dense works: namely, that the 401k "investment" system is a terrible place to place your hopes for retirement. Not only is there way too much risk, the vast majority of one's compounding growth potential is eroded by taxes and fees. The whole system brings benefits to employers, the government, and especially the management companies. Naturally, Tanner spends 90% of his time bashing 401ks (and rightfully so), but I kept waiting for him to recommend an alternative. I'll cut to the chase: he's got nothing concrete.

The most specific Tanner gets is "self education and effort." Seriously. His solution is to be "solution centered" instead of "problem centered" (162), to have an "entrepreneurial spirit" (169) and to develop better "financial education" (176). The closest he gets to naming any specifics is when he recommends possible routes for investment: small businesses, real estate, and stocks/options.

Here is the most vapid paragraph in the entire book: "Make a list of things that you enjoy. Make a list of people you know. Make a list of talents that you have. If you were to list six activities you enjoy, six successful people that you know and respect, and six talents that you have, it's likely that there's a million dollar business idea somewhere on that list."

Gee, thanks for that advice! It's a good thing I paid $0 for this book, because I just saved the 10 cents that it's worth for the bashing of 401ks.

[Noah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Throughout the book Andy emphasizes the importance of a financial education. I agree with that which is why I read the book. Unfortunately, the book provides very little education to all but the most uninformed. He spends most of the time repeating the fact that the 401(k) system has issues with fees and hidden fees. He doesn't help you discover the hidden fees. He doesn't given suggestions for dealing with a 401(k). He even says people ask him what they should do and he tells them to get a financial education. It is annoying to seek education and waste your time reading a book like this. It is mostly a long winded sails pitch pointing you to his other content.

[Adam Hauze · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. As a millennial, I had no idea what a pension was and why it was slowly replaced by the 401(k) account. I never knew our 401(k)s were never meant to support 100% of our retirement.

I learned about mutual funds and how terrible they are for the investor. I learned how to identify hidden fees and the compounding power they have to steal your money and pass it to mutual fund owners.

I wish Andy left us with more practical steps to take after laying out the problem. He points to needing more financial education and links his training program instead.

[Maria Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

saying the quiet part loud

Book is an easy read, albeit highly redundant, but that redundancy is helpful to reinforce the message. The assumptions in his mathematical examples are taken to extremes in order to illustrate his points to lay people. Nevertheless, this is one of the most important books in personal finance I have ever read. I can’t believe more people don’t see 401ks for the sleight of hand they are.

Powerful stuff in this book.

[Mike Parsons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uncovering the hidden truth

This book will open your eyes to big corporations hiding the fees attached to your investments! Just think if they taught this in school,we would be so much farther in our financial education and would keep more of our money. I would recommend this book 100 percent to gain knowledge of the hidden truths.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is what I think about 401k too and that's why I do not participate but rather invest on my own.

[Cathal Connolly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some useful information but very repetitive. Talks a lot about the problems of the 401(k) without offering much by means of solutions other than to get a financial education.

[Shrimp · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thought-provoking book that challenged me to rethink my investment strategy and become more financially educated. The author talked about how the landscape has moved from a defined benefit era (e.g. pension plans) to contribution plans (e.g. 401(k), and slams the 401(k)/mutual fund industry as (not an exhaustive list)

1) not being effective (i.e., high percentage of funds do not even beat out the stock market),
2) the investor takes on all the risk and the mutual fund reaps all the benefits through fees,
3) still being susceptible to systemic risk (i.e., market crash)
4) you lose control of your funds since they penalize you to withdrawal
5) the tax benefits marketed in many cases aren't any better than if you invested yourself.

I would have liked the author to have spent a greater amount of time actually providing solutions/alternatives to moving money away from the 401(k) market. He does briefly mention avenues such as building a business, purchasing real estate, becoming savvy with stocks and options, with no real substance.

[Dan Korth · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, easy to understand summary of why the 401(k) has been a complete failure in terms of preparing people for retirement. I wish everybody prepping for retirement would understand the info presented in this book about the lack of transparency and impact of the fees charged in a 401k and the fact that the folks who run the funds in 401ks have absolutely no motivation to do right by the investors in their funds. They get paid either way and the vast majority of people don't have enough financial education to recognize the poor the performance of their mutual funds. I also really like that Andy Tanner tries so hard to help people recognize that they are smart enough to understand finance and investing. It doesn't have to be something so nebulous that they have to pay other people to (mis)manage their money their whole lives.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this book was pretty good as it exposed me to the mechanisms of concepts that I was not fully aware of, but it started to go downhill somewhere from the middle onwards. The brilliant solution I anticipated considering the wonderful hype the author built up didn't come. Instead, what the reader gets towards the tail end was just a sales pitch.

[Mikaela McConville · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who has a 401(k) for retirement! Read this before it is too late!

[Hamed Taghvaei · Rating 4 out of 5]

make you familiar with Supper annunciation and 401(k) lows and how you should be careful about replying on it.

[Erika Molyneux · Rating 5 out of 5]

An eye opener and has me inspired to learn more on personal investing. I recommend it to anyone with the desire to learn how to take control of their money.

[Gaurav Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice book on mutual funds and its lies....