Although the money would be intended mainly for retirement,
she said people should also be able to use the savings to buy a
house or pay for college and the government should consider
letting workers use a portion for hard times like an illness or
accident.
I'm struggling for words. This is like when some moron walks into a room and everyone else gets dumber because of it.
There are two types of people who withdraw money from their 401K. First are people who legitimate fall into a desperate situation and have to use the
money to prevent foreclosure or bankruptcy. These are the minority. Second are people who fail to properly manage their money and through their
financial irresponsibility make hardship withdrawals, get slapped with the income tax and penalties (usually almost 40%), and don't change their
habits that brought about the withdrawal in the first place.
So by permitting people with withdraw money from a
retirement account for use on a house or schooling she is encouraging and enabling financial
misbehavior for the participants. There will be even more people working into their 80s who own their home free and clear, and are college educated,
but have zilch in savings.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.