I'm not sure how your stuff works over there, but it probably depends on who you're with..
It's helpful to read the terms and conditions of a site, for example: in my country, vanguard state that you are the owner of the assets you hold with them so it doesn't become their property and can't be deemed as such in legal terms.
If banks are bailed out, you're going to do a lot better holding stocks than you are holding cash (normally). Everything takes a hit in a crisis but most stuff bounces back. If you're trying to live of a rothira or a 401k you'll see your stock price change quite a bit and your entire net worth, dividends may change but ceos are discouraged from doing that as it makes the company look unstable so unless it's really necessary they won't.
So if the Stock itself poops the bed and loses 90% of its value , then you are losing 90% of your value that you hold in that stock due to holding the 401K or ROTH IRA? Do you get to choose your stock or asset that you want your 401K or ROTH IRA to hold or it isn't up to you to choose?
From what I know the U.S. Treasury owns money to several agencies of their own and that is including your own Department of Labor which I think handles the 401(k) accounts. The government itself cannot borrow your benefits, pension, and other plans for you when a financial crisis happens since those benefits are solely allocated to you, they can only borrow the allocated budget the agency have or if they have any excess or unused budget left lying around. Not unless there is a law where it clearly states that the US government has the power to legally steal your own retirement benefits when times like this happen there is no way I see that the government will be taking your money.
I wouldn't trust them not to take my money realistically...They've robbed the citizens during the period of the gold standard where they took the gold of the citizens.
So lets assume that the financial crisis of 2008 happens again. Would 401Ks / ROTH IRA account holders be at risk of losing everything?
Who else might be at risk to lose everything if the Government bails out the biggest banks again due to the ineptitude?
No, they would not be safe. BUT...it depends on what your investments are in within those accounts. For example, in the 2008 market crash (in the US) Citigroup went from $50 per share to $3 per share. If your 401k was invested in Citigroup at that time then the balance of your 401k account went down just as significantly as the value of those investments.
Now, if your 401k investments are in a cash investment only, which is covered by FDIC (Federal Depositor's Insurance Corporation) AND the bank with which your 401k account fails, then your FDIC insured investments would be reimbursed up to $250,000 per account.
The accounts you name are tax-sheltered accounts, that is they protect you from how your are taxed on the investments or the gains. They don't inherently protect you from anything else.
I share your contempt for government bailouts, but the bailouts are offered primarily to save investors from the fall out of poor business management.
But if the value of the dollar itself shits the bed and a Venezuela situation happens where inflation happens that even if you had the 250k , it would mean less because of the fact that the dollar itself is pretty much worthless. Right?
But what about the people who lost their homes during the subprime mortgage crisis? Those people weren't investors , they were ordinary people who lost their homes because they were foreclosed by the banks because of their ineptitude and they literally lost their money because they lent money out to people who couldn't afford it in the first place.
