Loaning Money From Your 401K Results In Double Taxation!
Almost nobody needs any of these 401k options for their retirement. Even so, a lot of people are convinced that these things are not tax traps and that somehow everything will work out OK.
If you are the type of person who is convinced that their 401k plan is doing good things for you (and will continue to do so), you might as well get the most out of it. You can do that by just leaving it alone. Don't loan money out of it. Don't even think about borrowing from it for any reason.
The reason for this is that if you cash out your 401K, you will pay taxes, and a penalty, and that won't be fun, but it's a one time hit. When you take a loan against your 401K, that's the penalty that keeps on giving. First, you give up the earning potential of the money inside the plan, because these "so called" loans are actually a withdrawal of funds out of the plan (on a tax-free basis).
Normally, all fixed investments are a loan. You are lending money to the government (T-bills or T-bonds) or a corporation (corporate bonds). Although stocks and mutual funds are not loans and [stocks] are instead partial ownership in a company, you still earn interest from the appreciation of the stock. The return (or interest) generated from fixed interest investments, of course, comes from a borrowing party.
Loaning money to yourself is basically replacing the interest you get from one source with another. That's unfortunate in some respects because the money is not in your account. While this may be good during a market downturn, it essentially represents a higher savings rate with 0% return from investments.
Unfortunately, the consequence of withdrawing funds from your 401k plan as a "loan" means that the interest you pay is after-tax. The more loans you make, the more money will be subject to double taxation later when you withdraw the money during retirement.
Since this happens every time you take a loan against your employer 401k, you are really setting yourself up for a larger tax bite than you otherwise would have been subjected to.
If you are the type of person who is convinced that their 401k plan is doing good things for you (and will continue to do so), you might as well get the most out of it. You can do that by just leaving it alone. Don't loan money out of it. Don't even think about borrowing from it for any reason.
The reason for this is that if you cash out your 401K, you will pay taxes, and a penalty, and that won't be fun, but it's a one time hit. When you take a loan against your 401K, that's the penalty that keeps on giving. First, you give up the earning potential of the money inside the plan, because these "so called" loans are actually a withdrawal of funds out of the plan (on a tax-free basis).
Normally, all fixed investments are a loan. You are lending money to the government (T-bills or T-bonds) or a corporation (corporate bonds). Although stocks and mutual funds are not loans and [stocks] are instead partial ownership in a company, you still earn interest from the appreciation of the stock. The return (or interest) generated from fixed interest investments, of course, comes from a borrowing party.
Loaning money to yourself is basically replacing the interest you get from one source with another. That's unfortunate in some respects because the money is not in your account. While this may be good during a market downturn, it essentially represents a higher savings rate with 0% return from investments.
Unfortunately, the consequence of withdrawing funds from your 401k plan as a "loan" means that the interest you pay is after-tax. The more loans you make, the more money will be subject to double taxation later when you withdraw the money during retirement.
Since this happens every time you take a loan against your employer 401k, you are really setting yourself up for a larger tax bite than you otherwise would have been subjected to.
About the Author:
Author: Only so much information can be covered in one article. If you want more information about any aspect of personal financial planning, please visit David's website.
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4:14 PM
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