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401Ks

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by rpmmutant, Dec 29, 2008.

  1. rpmmutant

    rpmmutant Member

    http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2008/12/media_news_drops_401k_con.php
    Sorry if this is a db, but has anyone seen this? Anyone care? Matching 401K contributions was about the only thing newspapers did right by their employees. Now MediaNews anyway is going to stop doing it. What will this do to the stock market? What will it do to retirement accounts? Seems to me like another nail in the coffin.
     
  2. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    Least of their worries.

    Lots of shops don't match. Especially now, but even before all the economic gloom and doom.

    There is a growing sense nationally, across industries, that 401k program has been a "failure," because so few workers made real use of it. I don't agree, but Media News -- rat bastards that I understand them to be -- has tons of company in this move.
     
  3. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    What he said.

    401ks are great. But it's hard to get 20 somethings to think of anything beyond that next six pack.
     
  4. Screwball

    Screwball Active Member

    Zell had Singleton beat on this one, by many months.
     
  5. Lollygaggers

    Lollygaggers Member

    I'm a 20 something, and I LOVE my 401k with the company match. Maybe I'm the exception, who knows? But you're foolish, no matter how old you are, if you don't take advantage of the free money from that match.

    What my paper is starting to do in 2009, though, is give half of their match as company stock. Needless to say, with it being NYT stock, I'll sell it as soon as I have the chance, and I'm glad we have the option to do that. Doesn't make sense to me for the company to do that, though, because they have to know most employees will dump the stock at the first chance they get, hurting its value.
     
  6. SF_Express

    SF_Express Active Member

    Interestingly, in an effort to start gnawing away at my debt, I just dropped my contribution to the amount of the company match, as opposed to the tax-exempt limit.

    If they suspended the match for a year or two, I'd probably go to zero. (Those of you who know who I am: There's nothing out there that the company might do that. I'm just saying if the did.)

    I'm 53 and have very little saved for retirement. But the debt is killing me. And college/support runs through 2010.

    At that point, I'm going to have to try to catch up best I can. But I figure -- well, hope -- I'm going to be working well past what has traditionally been retirement anyway.

    And Lollygaggers: May be you meant the distinction, but I don't know that you'll be able to sell that NYT stock, except within the 401k, to move it into something else.

    And I'm not sure I wouldn't hold onto that anyway. You'll be buying that company stock low in a bad market. I might think about holding that as a diversifying part of your account and hoping for an eventual rebound as media companies reinvent themselves. Especially at your age.
     
  7. Bump_Wills

    Bump_Wills Member

    A simple illustration of why I wish I had cared about my 401(k) before my 30s:

    Let's say, starting at age 22, you put away $3,000 annually and it grows at an 8 percent clip (probably not this year, but a reasonable figure most years). In 20 years, you have about $150,000 socked away. Not bad.

    Here's why it's hard to play catch-up: Let's say that at age 32, you put away $6,000 annually. At 8 percent interest, in 10 years you'll be nearly $60,000 behind the guy who started 10 years earlier and puts away half as much.

    When I think of all the stupid shit I spent $3,000 and more a year on for the first 10 years of my working life, I want to lay down and have a good cry.
     
  8. micropolitan guy

    micropolitan guy Well-Known Member

    Lee cut their company match in half several months ago.
     
  9. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    There's a school of thought that suggests that 401(k)s WERE the market bubble that burst. All these people kept funneling money into the market, expecting that it would grow, and artificially inflating the value of the entire market.
     
  10. Shaggy

    Shaggy Guest

    I started my 401k at 22. With Social Security drying up, I'd be a fool not to.
     
  11. STLIrish

    STLIrish Active Member

    I believe Lee wiped out matches entirely for many employees recently. They're hardly alone on that front.
    On the other hand, who can blame them, or the 20-somethings who don't contribute.
    I put 10 percent of every paycheck into my 401(k) and I have less money in it today than I did a year ago. True, I'm a long way from retirement, so plenty of time to earn it back and more, but I sympathize with those who think it's not exactly the best use of funds.
     
  12. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    This makes me glad I started my 401k early. Even though I could have made more money this year putting my cash on the money line against the Lions.
     
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