Can ' t possibly have anything to do with the fact that the DNC ' s chosen candidate is unable to generate any sort of enthusiasm at all even when the alternative to not votingnot voting for her is a Trump presidency . <| sep |> Have they fixed the oil consumption issues , and cold start ? Not likely . <| sep |> I really hope your not Taiwanese or Hongkongese , because calling Chinese being brain washed sounds so Taiwanese . <| sep |> The name 401 k refers to the section of the tax code that allows them to exist . I ' m guessing that accountants and such referred to them that way probably as part of a longer phrase before they got popular , and then the name stuck . It ' s not just ordinary stocks . An employer that wants to provide a 401 k benefit for employees will pick a company that offers these services , which then administers the plan , much like you would need to pick a brokerage firm for ordinary investments . You , as an individual , can ' t open a 401 k account on your own , although there are some other alternatives for the selfemployed or for those whose employers don ' t offer this benefit . You ' re limited to the options that this firm offers , which is almost always a selection of mutual funds . The tax difference between this and ordinary stocks is that you don ' t pay taxes right away on the money you put into the account , and it can grow taxfree over the years . With an ordinary , taxable account , you have to pay taxes on your profits when you sell an investment , but with a taxadvantaged retirement account , you don ' t , and you can move your money between the mutual funds that the plan administrator offers at will without it being a taxable event . You can ' t put off the tax bill forever , though , so when you withdraw the money in retirement and there are required minimum distributions withdrawals , since the gov ' t won ' t put off the taxation forever , it ' s considered income and taxed that way .