AND this is a BIG “BUT”:

The 10% penalty isn't suspended for annuities. I'm referring to variable annuities with Fidelity or Vanguard, where investments are made in mutual and money market funds.

I've found verification of penalty waivers for 401(k) and IRA accounts. I can find NO verification that such waivers apply to variable annuities.

At the time I withdrew the money, I was told by Fidelity that I could roll over any funds I didn't have to spend (due to hardship) within a certain time period, and avoid all penalties and taxes.

With Fidelity's (wrong) advice, I withdrew most of the funds and parked them in my checking account until I could get organized. Even my banker said, “Of course you can take some of this withdrawal and roll it over to an IRA account, either in our bank or wherever.”

BUT– I got a call from her a week later saying she was wrong, and Fidelity was wrong, and that annuities weren't included in ARRA.

In other words, there IS no “hardship” withdrawal in a retirement annuity, the way there are for other qualified retirement accounts. I believe that IRAs and 401(ks) have different ways of 'cutting you slack' for buying a home, investing in college tuition, and/or simple hardship issues. With 401(ks), its transacted as a loan. As long as you adhere to repayment terms, you pay no penalties. With ARRA, further protections apply to the 401(k).

It upsets me that variable annuities (which has the same options for underlying investments, and almost the same “qualified” tax treatment, was LEFT OUT, IGNORED, by Obama's stimulus plan.

Of course, I did a lot of research after my banker advised me that I'd have to pay a 10% penalty, even though I was on unemployment, had a leaky roof, had to sell my car, and..and..and.. you get the picture.

I've been doubly pissed because I didn't CAUSE the economic collapse that landed me bad straits at the age of 58 (soon to be 59). Too old to ever recoup all my investment losses, or bootstrap out of other financial pitholes like unemployment with NO notice, no severance, and blah blah. And the f*cking government wants me to hand over 10% penalties? For what? For errors made by government leaders at the highest echelons of office? For being in bed with banksters? For all that, I have to pay 10%? Some deal!

Anyway, I'm still hoping I will someday discover that annuities ARE covered by ARRA penalty waivers, and I just didn't know it. I've been looking for 9 months, and haven't found anything in writing, or any consultant anywhere, with good news.

If you ever hear anything to save me from paying 10% on an early withdrawal I would never had made without economic collapse–and only 1.5 years before it was no longer an “early withdrawal,” I'd be much obliged. I lost 47% of my retirement savings during the first month of the crisis. By the time I found myself able to liberate a portion of my withdrawal, and could reinvest, the stock market had recovered so much that I'd have almost been “made whole” if not for the economic crisis. I'm not interested in buying “high,” after being forced to sell low by conditions I didn't create.

I feel trapped in an unjust situation, having to pay penalties for the privilege of being beaten up by rogue bankers and their governmental cohorts.

Sorry for the lengthy rant! I guess I needed to vent… Thanks, Karoli.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by Karoli: RT @karoli New myth: Your retirement belongs to Wall Street http://bit.ly/9XEvOm...

I fear future Washington revenue needs and the growing treasury debt load may ultimately require government mandates directing retirement plans to purchase government bonds. In addition, Washington will likely force trillions of private plan benefits into new proposed “universal” government Guaranteed Retirement Annuities managed by the Social Security System.

This threat of stealth nationalization and confiscation and how it could happen is outlined in the 20 page special report, “Are You Ready for the Coming Obama Retirement Trap?”

See http://www.lewrockwell.com/holland/holland12.1.html .