Wall Street Wally

Hi everybody. This morning I received my first comment on the November 10th post: Democrats Targeting Private Retirement Accounts! Rather than post a lengthy reply there, I thought it deserved its own post.

Here's the comment:

"Before you attack someone's plan I suggest you read it in entirety. In point of fact, Ghilarducci's plan does NOT do away with 401Ks. Anyone who chooses a 401K can still have one. Her plan would be a supplement. I suggest you read her book. You do everyone a disservice by posting misinformation on your blog" - "WallStreetWally"

With about 2 minutes of research, I realized I had been visited by none other than the subject of that post - Teresa Ghilarducci herself!



Do I know without a doubt it was her? Nope. But here's my reasoning, take a peek inside my mind and follow along with the links. FEEDJIT showed a site visit from someone at Notre Dame that was doing a Google blog search for "Teresa Ghilarducci" just one minute before the comment was made. Interesting, no? Guess whose blog comes up in the number 3 spot on that search?

A Google search for Teresa shows her at Notre Dame, (http://teresaghilarducci.org/contact), her political contributions (http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/teresa-ghilarducci.asp?cycle=08) show her at South Bend, Indiana. Anyone wanna guess where Notre Dame is?

Folks, people by and large just don't create accounts to make one comment to a month old post in an obscure new blog unless they felt so passionate about the subject or a sincere need to defend a certain position. Now you tell me who WallStreetWally is?

So that said, Hi Teresa! Um, I mean "WallStreetWally" (wink-wink). Sorry, but I'm not interested in buying your book and making you richer (that was a dead give-away too). You may be great with numbers, but I'm great with human behavior, people and motives (OK and with the Internet - I love being a geek!)

Well "Wally" (lol)... first off, I didn't "attack" as your plan say so you can stop playing the victim against the big bad Catholic Conservative. I merely offered my uneducated opinion on my meager, readerless blog.

Me? I'm a nobody. Just a schmo that spent 20 years in the Navy defending what I though was America and a devout Catholic. I'm no economist, no mathematician, no Professor and no politician but I do know that if it smells bad, I'm not buying it. Anyone that has taken a basic investment class or done over 2 hours of simple research knows that it is uneducated investors that do NOT manage their own money that lose it and create huge windfalls for the Wall Street Profiteers and fund managers. In all actuality, 401K's are a horrible investment, but the financial industry wants you to think otherwise.

Fact: Nearly all corporate 401K's match funds are tied to MONEY MARKETS.

Fact: according to John C. Bogle, the founder of Vanguard (http://tinyurl.com/njc2y) $1000 invested over 65 years at 8% will yield approx $140,000. But in a Money Market or a corporate retirement 401K tied to a money market, that same $1000 invested for 65 years will yield you just $30K!!

What? How can that be? Simple. Fund managers take a seemingly modest 2.5% (approx) for their mismanagement OUT OF YOUR RETURN leaving you just 5.5%. (Check your statements)

Not that much you say? 2.5% seems reasonable for "all the work they do" (that's a joke, folks). Fact is that they don't do ANYTHING and only move that money market when they absolutely have to to make it look as though their actually earning their fees.

So the financial industry puts up ZERO capital, takes ZERO risk and with the absolute minimum effort earns 4.3 times more money that YOU with YOUR OWN MONEY! WTH?

All that profiteering looks like a fantastic source of money that the government can now get their fingers into and THAT seems to be what this plan is all about. That and eliminating the tax breaks for individual investors.

I do not trust the government with my money. Never have and never will and my answer to this is quite simple..you'll never get my money as I will not invest in 401K's or IRA's. There are many other ways to securely invest and protect assets that I will not get into.

Regarding your last sentence "You do everyone a disservice by posting misinformation on your blog". I didn't post any disinformation, I merely expressed an opinion on a news article as is my right as an American. You know, that whole "unpopular speech" thingy.

Are you now assuming to speak for "everyone"?

Everyone but me.

Thanks for stopping by Teresa and may God Bless you and give you everything you deserve according to His will.