Retirement savings ....Yikes !

[dave1949]

Don't sell raisins short until you have tried this: Trockenbeerenauslese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Tompet]

Anyone follow this retirement savings plan....Yikes? That is the approach of the W.C. Fields attributed quote. "I spent half my money on gambling, alcohol and wild women. I wasted the other half.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've had to bring back more than a few bottles from Austria

 

[KTurner]

This is one reason investing in farmland could be appealing at least until they can figure out how to tax it away from you. This wealth grab seems to know no limits.

Let's see.. If you do nothing with it, they will tax it via property tax. Real estate typically gains in value, so the tax is going to increase over time both due to tax rate hikes but also due to the value of the real estate going up. This may be so much that you can't afford the property tax, which could lead you into the next thing, selling. If you decide to sell it, they tax the gains. If the gains are above a certain amount, obamacare throws an additional sales tax on top of the gains tax. If you manage to keep paying the property tax on it until you die, then they tax your estate. If enough is left in the estate so that your heirs get to keep the land, your heirs get to start paying property tax and the cycle repeats.

And, oh yea, by the way, this is after they taxed the income you used to buy the land in the first place.

Keith

 

[JDgreen227]

What KTurner says about taxes...you know, sometimes I feel envious of those who are so poor they cannot afford to own anything of value that might be taxable. Guess that is the only real way one can beat the system...let others support you, instead of you supporting the have-nots. S**KS.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

What KTurner says about taxes...you know, sometimes I feel envious of those who are so poor they cannot afford to own anything of value that might be taxable. Guess that is the only real way one can beat the system...let others support you, instead of you supporting the have-nots. S**KS.

Ignorance is bliss starts to make sense at some point after all perhaps.

Still would not want to ignorant but I swear I see some that are very happy it seems.

 

[Travelover]

You can buy municipal bonds at Fidelity.com once you have an account set up there. Actually, you can do all your banking at Fidelity if you wish, including debit cards, auto deposits, etc.........

It is true that there are more sophisticated ways of buying both bonds and stocks than a simple mutual fund.

My experience has been that in trying to talk investing and retirement to most people, there is about a 60 second window before their eyes glaze over and the weather report gets much more interesting. :laughing:

So my 59 second spiel is: Go to Vanguard, set up an account, have 10% of your pay automatically invested from your checking account into a Roth containing a target fund for the age of your expected retirement. Now go watch Kim Kardashian's latest TV caper.

 

[MacLawn]

Travel, I think you nailed it. It does have to be simplified for people who don't know much about investing, which includes me. We just lived within our means, have a very affordable house that has been paid off since I was 47, drive old vehicles, etc. In other words, we just lived by basic old fashioned economic values taught to us by our parents who were married during the depression.

But, raisins, eh? Hmmm, have to go buy a box today! Is that mess really true about raisins??!!?? Wow!!

Me, I'm investing in trucks! Trucks, I tell ye, that's where it's at:licking:

 

[schoolsout]

Just to stray a bit off-topic...

Anyone seen what's going on in the student loan realm? Not good...Our entire society has been brainwashed into thinking debt is necessary and good.

 

[schoolsout]

Oh, and if you are counting on your tax-deferred retirement account to be your main source of income, be aware that the gov't has talked about (and it is highly speculated by those I read) that they will take over them (after all, they are tax-deferred and the gov't considers them "touchable") and force investments into government debt such as treasuries....

If this does happen, more than likely, the money invested will be gobbled up by inflation and your once "ample" amount of money will only be able to buy half the goods it once could.

Just a hunch....stay on your toes and be nimble (if possible). I'm 30 and have stopped contributing to a tax-deferred retirement plan. I have even come a gnat's azz away from cashing it out and eating the penalty just to get "out of the system" so to say. What is going on in Cyprus and the EU will come to the shores of the USA in some form or another....This ain't your granddaddy's world/USA any longer.