Who is voting our 401K money

[Jose Diablo]

Has anyone here EVER recieved a proxy voting form from companies invested by their 401K mutual funds?

Think about this. Our money goes to a 401K mutual fund. This fund then invests our money in companies. Yet do we have ANY say as to how that company operates?

Nope, the mutual fund manager calls the shots.

I think someone is using our own money against us.:wtf:

[terryg11]

1. that's what they are paid to do

manage your funds. Usually they try to do a good job and get you the best returns possible.

If you don't like it you can always pull your money out and try your luck somewhere else or in an IRA

[Jose Diablo]

2. Pull it out?

Have you looked at what the penalty is on removing money from 401K. Not only that, but I have to leave the company I work at before I roll the 401K to a IRA.

The point I am try say is this, shareholder ownership of corporations is diluted when ownership of that corporation passes through a 3rd party (the fund manager).

CEO's are not accountable to the real owners when it is set-up like this. They are accountable ONLY for profit of that corporation. The fund manager is primarily concerned with profit, that is all.

On top of this, the IRS, makes it difficult to move money invested in this way.

[terryg11]

3. I suppose it is diluted

the fund manager is responsible for your retirement accounts which shouldn't affect the company's stock (or does it? is a company's 401K still vulnerable when bought out by another company?) but yes, i think I see your point.

as far as pulling money out of an IRA I know there is a penalty but remember a few people I worked with doing this to pay for some major purchases and being ok with the penalty. Yeah, you would have to quit your job to get that money out as far as I know, sorry about that

[Generic Other]

5. I borrowed my own money to make my house down payment

Screw it. I spent it all before the stock market took it.

I am paying it back in smaller increments than I saved it.

[Julien Sorel]

4. You have to trust the fund manager to do what is best

for the money. If you have social issues, there are several socially-conscious mutual funds out there you can try to have included in your 401k plan choices. But it's a side-issue for the vast majority of people. One other alternative for you is to see if your company has a provision where you can invest at least some of your 401k plan directly in the stock market yourself; such plans are becoming more common.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

6. I trust the fund managers to do what's best for them

I sure as hell don't trust them to do what's best for me.

[Julien Sorel]

7. Shrug.

Do your homework on the funds. One thing to look for is a fund in which the manager parks a lot of his or her own money; some fund companies make this a requirement. And then there are always index funds, which allow the managers very little freedom with the money; most 401k plans offer them.

[Kolesar]

8. I think you can rollover to an IRA without a federal tax penalty

If you do that at my company, you are suspended from contributing for 3 or 6 months, which is not a horribly bad penalty.
Call or check at www.fidelity.com

[ArkDem]

9. It's all a conspiracy . The corporations are taking over.

.:mad: