Market Skeptics: *****401(k)s Hit by Withdrawal Freezes*****

401(k)s Hit by Withdrawal Freezes

The Wall Street Journal reports that 401(k)s Hit by Withdrawal Freezes.

(emphasis mine) [my comment]

MAY 5, 2009
401(k)s Hit by Withdrawal Freezes
Investors Cry Foul as Some Funds Close Exits; Perils of Distressed Markets
By ELEANOR LAISE

Some investors in 401(k) retirement funds who are moving to grab their money are finding they can't.

Even with recent gains in stocks such as Monday's, the months of market turmoil have delivered a blow to some 401(k) participants: freezing their investments in certain plans. In some cases, individual investors can't withdraw money from certain retirement-plan options. In other cases, employers are having trouble getting rid of risky investments in 401(k) plans.

When Ed Dursky was laid off from his job at a manufacturing company in March, he couldn't withdraw $40,000 from his 401(k) retirement account invested in the Principal U.S. Property Separate Account.

That fund, which invests directly in office buildings and other properties, had stopped allowing most investors to make withdrawals last fall as many of its holdings became hard to sell.

Now Mr. Dursky, of Ottumwa, Iowa, is looking for work and losing patience. All he wants, he said, is his money.

"I hate to be whiny, but it is my money," Mr. Dursky said.

The withdrawal restrictions are limiting investment options for plan participants and employers at a key time in the markets. The timing is inconvenient for the number of workers like Mr. Dursky who are laid off and find their savings inaccessible. [More than “inconvenient”, considering the imminent collapse of the dollar. By the time workers can access their savings again, they will have lost all value.]

Though 401(k) plans revolutionized the retirement-savings landscape [financial sector] by putting investment decisions in the hands of individuals [profit hungry financial institutions], the restrictions show that plan participants aren't always in the driver's seat.

Individual investors mightn't even be aware of some behind-the-scenes maneuvers causing liquidity problems in their retirement plans. Many funds offered in 401(k) plans lend their portfolio holdings to other investors, receiving in exchange collateral that they invest in normally safe, liquid holdings. [Key point]

The aim is often to generate a small but relatively reliable [insanely risky] return that can help offset fund expenses [ie: big bonuses for those gabling away America’s retirement savings]. But in recent months, many of the collateral investments have gone haywire [AAA subprime CDOs squared aren’t worth anything? Who knew (heavy sarcasm)], prompting money managers to restrict retirement plans' withdrawals from the lending funds. [Overleveraged hedge funds which borrowed stocks have gone bankrupt and the AAA/toxic collateral they provided is worthless. There is no money, so “money managers” are restricting withdrawals and hoping subprime borrowers start making their mortgage payments again.]

Some stable-value funds also are blocking the exits. These funds, available only in tax-deferred savings plans such as 401(k)s, typically invest in bonds and use bank or insurance-company contracts to help smooth returns. But in cases of employer bankruptcy and other events that can cause withdrawals, these funds can lock up investor money for months at a time.

Investors in the Principal U.S. Property Separate Account said they understood the risk of losses, but didn't think their money could be locked up for months or years. Most participants in the 15,000 plans holding the fund haven't been able to make any withdrawals or transfers since late September.

"To sell property at inappropriately low prices in order to generate cash for a few would hurt the majority of investors and violate our fiduciary obligations," said Terri Hale, spokeswoman for Principal Financial Group Inc., the parent of the fund's manager. The fund, which had $4.3 billion in net assets at the end of April, still is making distributions for death, disability, hardship and retirement at normal retirement age.

As of April 28, redemption requests that had yet to be honored totaled nearly $1.1 billion, or roughly 26% of the fund's net assets [That is a lot of money]. Principal doesn't anticipate that it will make any distributions to investors who have requested redemptions until late 2009 or beyond [Dollar won’t be worth anything by then…], Ms. Hale said. Meanwhile, the fund continues to fall, declining 25% in the 12 months ending April 30.

Some investors have lost hope of recovering their money [because it is gone, thanks to “money managers” (ie: those who “manage” to make your “money” disappear)]. Judith Sterner, a 69-year-old part-time nurse, had more than $12,000 in the fund when she tried to transfer that balance to a money market last fall. But her transfer was denied, and her stake has since declined to less than $10,000.

"This $12,000 represents a year of my retirement money that I don't have," said Ms. Sterner, of Morton Grove, Ill.

Principal still allows new investors into the fund [they need this money to continue paying those “money managers”]. It categorizes the U.S. Property account as a fixed-income investment, alongside much stodgier funds holding high-quality bonds. New investors are warned of potential withdrawal delays, Ms. Hale said. As for the fixed-income categorization, she said, "a substantial portion of the account return is based on income streams from rents, and its returns have been comparable to fixed-income funds."

While the problems selling real-estate investments are relatively straightforward, withdrawal restrictions related to securities lending stem from far more obscure practices [ie: the wonders of securities lending].

Funds often lend out portfolio holdings, through a lending agent, to other investors. These borrowers give the lender collateral, often amounting to about 102% of the value of the securities borrowed. Some of the collateral pools in which funds invest this collateral held Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. debt and other investments that plummeted in value or became hard [impossible] to trade in the credit crunch.

Though agents who coordinate funds' lending programs share in profits from securities lending [notice how every level of the financial system profited enormously by taking risk with the savings of others], the risk of such collateral-pool losses falls entirely on the funds that have lent the securities and, ultimately, retirement plans and other investors holding those funds.

The problems have limited retirement plans' ability to get out of securities-lending programs [if the entity which borrowed securities went under, these lent securities will never be returned], though participants' withdrawals generally haven't [yet] been affected.

Retirement plans offered to employees of energy company BP PLC last fall tried to withdraw entirely from four Northern Trust Corp. index funds engaged in securities lending. Certain holdings in Northern's collateral pools had defaulted, been marked down, or become so illiquid that they could only be sold at low values, according to a BP complaint filed in a lawsuit against Northern Trust.

The BP plans halted new participant investments in the funds and asked to withdraw their cash so it could be reinvested in funds that don't lend out securities [BTW. Securities lending is the counterpart to short selling. One can’t exist without the other].

But under restrictions imposed by Northern Trust in September, investors wishing to withdraw entirely from securities-lending activities would have to take their share of both liquid assets and illiquid collateral-pool holdings, according to a Northern Trust court filing. BP rejected that option, and the companies still are trying to resolve the matter in court.

Northern Trust's collateral pools are "conservatively managed" and focus on liquidity over yield [How can they say that with a straight face?], the company said.

State Street Corp. in March notified investors of new withdrawal restrictions in its securities-lending funds. Until at least the end of the year, plans can make monthly withdrawals of only 2% to 4% of their account balance, the notice said.

Plans wishing to withdraw entirely from lending funds will have to take a slice of beaten-down collateral-pool holdings.

"Given the current state of the fixed-income market, we felt it was prudent to put some well-defined withdrawal parameters in place," said State Street spokeswoman Arlene Roberts.

My reaction: 401k funds are blocking cash withdrawals.

1) Some investors can’t access the money in their 401k accounts because their investments in certain plans has been frozen.

2) Most funds offered in 401(k) plans lend their portfolio holdings to other investors, receiving in exchange collateral that they invest in toxic/worthless assets rated as AAA.

3) As expected, the toxic/worthless collateral pools have defaulted, been marked down, or become so illiquid that they could only be sold for pennies on the dollar.

Conclusion: It would be a VERY good idea to get out of your 401k. Securities lending has been a near universal practice, which means virtually no 401k retirement fund is safe from withdrawal freezes.
pencil icon, that\

Posted by Eric deCarbonnel at 5:13 PM

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Corralito usano....

Muchos más están jodidos pues no les llega para poderse retirar...

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Corralito de planes de pensiones 401k americanos.
Resumen
Los gerentes de planes de pensiones 401k invirtieron el dinero de estos fondos en inversiones financieras en los últimos años y muchas han resultado los activos tóxicos derivados de las hipotecas basura de los pepitos ninjas americanos. Y ahora estos pepitos no pagan sus hipotecas con lo que estos fondos no tienen liquidez y los trabajadores no pueden sacar su dinero.

PD: Monsterspeculator me has adelantado con lo de corralito.

Pues he conocido hoy un par de casos que han ido al banco a por 2000€ y les han dicho que avisaran con dos días de antelación, vamos que hasta el Lunes nada de nada.

Quiero pensar que se querían ahorrar los 300 euros de prosegur, pero aun así es inquietante que dispongan de tan poco efectivo a mano.Y no necesariamente lo querían en billete grande, que es el que suele escasear.

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Será este otoño, Hugo. Te hice caso y tengo la casa blindada... de latunes.

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¿de donde sacaste lo de usano? yo solo se lo había leido al usano renegado J. Ott

Lo leí aquí en el foro.

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Ya se comento que el ostiazo se lo iban a llevar los fondos de pensiones! es que el dinero para hipotecas venia de algun sitio!

Alguien invirtion 4billones de dolares en basura... por ahora sabemos cual es la basura y empezamos a ver a quien pertenece

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Pues que te diria, hasta les pega

Euano? Me gusta, es una gran idea. A partir de ahora lo usaré.

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