Hurricane Harvey IRS Exemption for Retirement Plan Withdrawals

Would be horrible to lose my house. My sister was videoing the flooding around her house. Hers stayed dry.

Wish there were some statistics on how taking 401k loans worked/didn't work out for past natural disaster survivors.

I would think it would just make the struggle longer & more painful festering wound vs. ripping a band aid off a fairly nasty cut. Much easier to get immediate help from gov/red cross whoever as opposed to 4 months down road when everyone has forgot about Harvey.

I agree, and am very glad to hear your sister did not lose her house!

Im not sure if there are any stats or not. It would be hard to track or even quantify from a "success rate" standpoint. If they dont pay it back, but have a home/car/clothes/job .... is that a failure or success in this circumstance?


I do see your point. People would be behind on retirement savings, thus forcing them to delay retirement or maybe not be able to retire at all. When you have tens of thousands doing this in the same city, one can only imagine what negative affects it will have long term on the work force. On the flip side... you cant have a work force at all unless those workers have homes to live in and clothes on their back.
 
I'm not the best student of history... but I wonder what would've happened if Harvey happened in the 60's - before 401(k) plans? (They were introduced with ERISA in the early 70's, if I remember correctly.)

It's not like pensions are liquid.
 
Define "affected by the hurricane" ..

I'm in MA . .I know people in TX .. does that count. I would love to make use of my 401k money right now.
 
I'm not the best student of history... but I wonder what would've happened if Harvey happened in the 60's - before 401(k) plans? (They were introduced with ERISA in the early 70's, if I remember correctly.)

It's not like pensions are liquid.

Most people had money in the bank or under the mattress. Savings wasn't just a catchy phrase.

As a banker, you should have seen that your Depression Era clients generally kept much more liquid or near liquid savings than any other group.

If we are going to go all negative here, let's lay it all out. If it wasn't for legislation and IRS rules restricted access to 401ks and IRAs, most people wouldn't have even the small balance they do.

I will never forget the agent I worked with at Mass when I first started. His father was the branch manager. We were having lunch with a prospect and when the guy brought up savings and liquidity, he just said he'd borrow from his home equity. This was back in 2009 or so.

When life goes bad, banks are not going to be standing in line to loan you money, having some savings is a good thing.

The IRS restricting access to retirement savings is a good thing, and loosening access after a major disaster is also a good thing.
 
Most people had money in the bank or under the mattress. Savings wasn't just a catchy phrase.

As a banker, you should have seen that your Depression Era clients generally kept much more liquid or near liquid savings than any other group.

Not really. For SoCal (especially South OC with lots of "affluence"), those that had more liquidity and larger balances were entrepreneurs and those who had businesses with more liquidity & cash flow needs. We rarely had "Depression Era" clients.

Some of those people did have their homes paid off - and were brought in with their adult children to sign home equity papers for their baby boomer children to borrow (those weren't fun). But they relied heavily on social security income and pension income, and a small bit of savings - perhaps $25,000 or less. Not really that much.

SoCal has earthquakes and fires, but not much else for weather patterns. And the more favorable weather contributes to the higher cost of living here.
 
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