Page 2 - The Great 401k Rip-Off

“It’s easier to fool someone than to convince them

they’ve been fooled.” -Anonymous

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you in trouble; it’s
what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”‐ Mark Twain

Who is this paper for?

It’s actually quite easy to fool people. They are fooled all the time. Moreover, when fooled, it
sometimes seems their prime directive in life is to remain fooled. Somehow, people seem to think
admitting they were fooled makes them foolish. It doesn’t. It makes them human.

We run into this constantly in our daily lives, and it often causes me to wonder about people and the
way they make decisions. We see it daily: people who buy into conspiracy theories, no matter how
far‐fetched. I don’t want to get political, but “Pizzagate”? Really? Others refuse to evacuate during
hurricanes, fire storms, etc. A perfect example of this occurred in the early ‘80s when several
hundred houses burned down in San Bernardino, CA. I was a freelance photojournalist located in
Orange County at the time, and I photographed the devastation.

It turns out there was a running theme. Every house that burned had a wooden shingle‐shake roof.
Not one with ceramic tile was destroyed; most were completely unscathed. However, for every
ceramic tile roof in the area, there were 10 to 15 wood shake.

What’s my point? That area of San Bernardino and Big Bear has been a major fire zone for decades.
In fact, most of California is. Yet for decades, people would build and buy stick‐built homes with
shake roofs that were tinder‐dry firetraps. When fires would begin to rage through, the homeowners
would soak their roofs in vain, and then watch as their homes were devoured anyway. The county
had to finally step in and restrict the use of shake roofs in the area (although some have yet to be
replaced). However, when you could, people did, in spite of the very well‐known hazards, until the
county said no more!

I never did get that. Why do people continue to make decisions they know do not work out?
Someone once said (it’s been attributed to Ben Franklin, Mark Twain, and Einstein), “The definition of
insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”

If this is you, if you find yourself often repeating past mistakes; if you are looking at your retirement
accounts at record highs, and know you should get it all to safety, but are concerned about missing
the next bull run, you are who this is for. If you are vaguely unsettled about your retirement
accounts, this paper is for you. If you are concerned about running out of money, or not having
enough, read this paper. Or, if you just want to secure double, or even triple, the income you expect
for the rest of your life, this paper is definitely for you.

2 www.TheGreat401kRipoff.com