The good, bad and the ugly of the new myRA

You’ve probably been hearing about the new “myRA,” a new government-run retirement account that President Obama unveiled at his State of the Union address and plans to create with a stroke of his pen.

Its primary purpose is to offer a savings option to the 50% or so of U.S. workers who have no access to employer-sponsored retirement plans and have little saved for retirement.

The appeal is that it “guarantees a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in,” according to Obama.

Sounds okay so far, right?

I did some digging into the details to understand more about how this program will actually work… and to help you sort through the pros and cons of programs like this.

Below I’ve listed the good, the bad, and the ugly about this new program. But really, most of the bad and the ugly points apply to all government-run retirement accounts, including 401(k)’s, 403(b)’s, IRA’s, etc. So if you have one of these plans, I urge you to read this today.

The good…

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