Written By: Andrew Eide
Where I worked from 1997 to 2003 we were told we needed to deposit money into the 403(b), which is a non-profit organization comparable Retirement Plan as a 401(k). I was the only person to stand up and complain that I didn't want my money tied up in the Stock Market. The Investment Company representative, from Franklin-Templeton, told us that they invest in about 100 companies for our account and in Mutual Funds. We were told that Mutual Funds have a very low risk and even if 50 of the 100 companies failed overnight they would replace them with another 50 and everything would be fine.
Every payday they withheld money from my paycheck and placed it into the retirement account with our company matching 2 percent up to a certain amount. After every payday we received a statement in the mail from Franklin-Templeton that gave the following information:
Amount of money deposited into the Retirement Account
Number of shares of stocks held
Total amount of money deposited into the Retirement Account to date
Market Value of the shares in that account
At that time I had a FUND A and and FUND B account so I received two statements every payday. Fund B received less money so for every 5 shares that went into Fund A, maybe 3 or 4 went into Fund B.
I noticed for almost two years that the Market Value of the Shares held only equaled or exceeded the amount of money deposited into the account maybe two times. All other times the value was less than the deposits into the account.
One day I came home from work and got the mail from the mailbox. I opened one of the envelopes from Franklin-Templeton and it was for my Fund B. The statement said the following: Amount of money in account = $0 Number of Shares held = 0 Market Value of Shares held = $0
When I called Franklin-Templeton and told them that last statement I had about $1,000 in my account and this statement I have $0 so where the hell is my money. After 15 minutes of checking their reply was GEE, MISTER EIDE, WE HAVE NO CLUE WHERE YOUR MONEY IS! I went off on them big time. I demanded to know where my money is. I asked if someone at Franklin-Templeton took my money and took a vacation or what?
Finally I got a call from the Representative for our company. He said that all the money and shares from Fund B were transferred over to Fund A. He asked me if I opened the other envelope and I told him that I was so upset at seeing a $0 balance on Fund B that I didn't open the other envelope. When I did sure enough my money and Shares were there.
But why did Franklin-Templeton do that without confirming the change with me? To this date nobody knows but for sure I didn't authorize it. I was so upset I told them I refuse to work with Franklin-Templeton as they are incompetent fools. I demanded my money be returned to me and they said I would suffer a 10 percent penalty for early withdrawal. I reminded them that I already suffered a 30 percent loss of value of my money in the Retirement Account due to their incompetency!
Therefore I will never contribute into a Retirement Account again even if my employer will match 2 percent or more or what I put into it.
For damn sure my money would have had more value had I been putting it into a coffee can and burying it in my backyard.
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