Reply #38: more Enronization in action

[UpInArms]

http://www.freep.com/money/business/enron19_20011219.htm

Enron retirees tell how they got wiped out

Senators introduce bill to limit 401(k) plans

December 19, 2001

BY KEN MORITSUGU
FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

WASHINGTON -- Retired employees and an elderly investor told a Senate panel Tuesday how they lost their life savings in the recent collapse of Enron Corp., as lawmakers began exploring ways to protect individual investors and employees who hold company stock in their 401(k) retirement accounts.

The plainspoken retirees explained to the Commerce Committee how their retirement funds had been devastated by the collapse of Enron's stock. From a peak of $90 a share, Enron closed Tuesday at 50 cents on the New York Stock Exchange.

"It may be too late for you to help me," said Janice Farmer, 61, a retired Enron employee in Orlando who said the worth of her Enron stock holdings shrank from $700,000 to $20,418. "It is not too late for you to take some action to make sure this does not happen to anyone else again."

Some retirement experts agree that many 401(k) holders have invested too heavily in their company's stock. Employees at firms that offer company stock as part of their retirement plans on average invest about 30 percent of their 401(k) savings in their company's stock, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based research group.

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