Not so fast, Jane

A copy of Jane Bryant Quinn's new book, Smart and Simple Financial Strategies for Busy People showed up in the mail while I was in the Midwest for Christmas. You have to give these media relations folks credit for recognizing the power of blogging. They send a bunch of advance copies to bloggers for review and the resulting exposure a few blogs can give a new book is priceless.

Along with the book were several pages of press material prepared by Meryl L. Moss Media Relations including a list of "Six Automatic Savings Ideas" presumably from Quinn's book. The very first of these ideas is:

• An Employer Retirement Plan. Diverting a percentage of your pay into a personal retirement account (e.g., a 401(k), 403(b), 457, Federal Thrift Savings Plan, etc.) has two advantages: first, there's no income or Social Security tax on your contribution and second, most employers match at least part of the money you put up.

Hold on just a minute. There is Social Security tax on your contributions to retirement plans. I wonder if Jane's book is full of such fallacies.