Investment account back up!

[Torvy]

I said 'read'.

Like many in my generation, it was required reading.

FDR pandered to those affected by the confluence of economic and meteorological bad times to saddle people with a system that is much worse than they could have done on their own.

We needed to transition away from this years ago but people fear what they don't know or understand and other people prey upon that fear.

 

[JJT]

The gross value of what I paid plus what my employer matched is close to $3 million.

My benefit is roughly $40000/year.

As someone said, if those monies were placed in a ROTH the value at retirement would be amazing!!!

Don’t get me started on the 1.5% Medicare tax.

Just a small fish story/exaggeration here regarding the $3 million paid into ss....

I max'd out for 40 of my 45 work years and my total employer and individual contribution is under $400K. Not an insignificant number, but nothing close to 3 million.

 

[jyoutz]

It's not an entitlement. It's the ****tiest retirement account you could pay into bar none. When I pay I into it, more than I'll see, it's robbery. Especially considering it's a slush fund for govt spending.

Actually SS is an entitlement by definition. Entitlement programs are those where only people who participate (contribute) are entitled to benefits. SSI is different; it’s a welfare program.

 

[California]

I max'd out for 40 of my 45 work years and my total employer and individual contribution is under $400K. Not an insignificant number, but nothing close to 3 million.

No fair bringing real-world data to this discussion. You're spoiling the vibe!

 

[MoKelly]

Just a small fish story/exaggeration here regarding the $3 million paid into ss....

I max'd out for 40 of my 45 work years and my total employer and individual contribution is under $400K. Not an insignificant number, but nothing close to 3 million.

Sorry - I was trying to say the income I had taxed for SSI was $3 million. Not that I paid $3 million in tax.

I said it wrong.

You are correct.

 

[MossRoad]

Sorry - I was trying to say the income I had taxed for SSI was $3 million. Not that I paid $3 million in tax.

I said it wrong.

You are correct.

Whew! You'd have to work a lot of years to contribute $3M.

 

[MossRoad]

People never survived prior to SS?

Not so much....

 

[California]

Not so much....

View attachment 839608

Well yeah back then you were supposed to die before reaching the age to draw SS. So SS was less burden on the taxpayers back then.

Who could have guessed that having income into the elderly years would extend life expectancy?

Go ahead and cut SS. The burden on taxpayers will go back down again!

 

[ultrarunner]

Interesting.

By never accepting social security does that mean he never applied?

Just think how the USA would be doing today if everyone had the work ethic of your grandfather!

There is a one page Waiver of Benefits form to file if you are eligible but don't want the monthly payment.

My understanding is at a latter date you can change your mind.

My grandfather never did but paying into SS to age 85 resulted in a nicer survivor benefit for my grandmother.

 

[MoKelly]

There is a one page Waiver of Benefits form to file if you are eligible but don't want the monthly payment.

My understanding is at a latter date you can change your mind.

My grandfather never did but paying into SS to age 85 resulted in a nicer survivor benefit for my grandmother.

Thanks. I never knew about the Waiver form.

Interesting.

 

[RSKY]

And the market has gone down the past two days! And I am back to my starting point several months ago.

Easy come, easy go.

RSKY

 

[ultrarunner]

I think a friend retiring and transferring/rolling her 401k took a hit...

She said looks like it's all working out earlier this week but yesterday was distressed.

I'm thinking a 401k sell it order has a built in lag?

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I'm still up 27% for the year. The recent pull back has been minimal. Not that it matters when I still have 20 years to go

Market actually is on its second day of rebounding. I'd sorta like a sell off, say 30% this next year to buy at a discount again. The past two years have been nice to buy things on sale.

 

[RSKY]

I may be wrong, but I think the market usually makes a year end "correction" and this may be it. And yes the yearly trend has been up by quite a bit. My problem is that I stuck a lot of mine in one mutual fund. Actually five different accounts with my name and my wife's name on them but going to our grands at our death. So I am hopefully looking twenty to thirty years in the future. Anyway, this money is invested in a fund that promises the highest gain over time but it can also make some pretty wild swings. I know this and am comfortable with it. Others might not be so comfortable. Over the past ten+ years that I have managed my own funds I have learned to 'laugh' at the downturns. Might as well laugh, can't do anything about it.

RSKY

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I don’t know that there are trends that can be easily tracked based on time of year. Perhaps in general terms, but with terrorism in shipping channels creating energy and goods uncertainties, multiple wars, and an election coming… there are too many moving pieces to attribute gains and losses to one specific vector. In the end, investments rest heavily on how investors feel… humans.

 

[MoKelly]

I’ve heard about the so called “Santa Clause” rally in late December.

There are only a few trading days left for ole St Nick.

 

[milkman636]

CDs are almost always a loss. Here's some unbiased info.

CDs vs. Inflation: Are They Keeping Up?

Learn how to determine whether the money invested in certificates of deposit (CDs) can keep pace with the rate of inflation and how you measure inflation.

www.investopedia.com

CDs have been attractive last few months with yields over 5%. I have taken advantage of this spike and locked in a three year spread of CDs that will mature around my ideal retirement year. I figure that will give me a guaranteed amount of funds that I can either draw from or reinvest. I’ll have access to that money without any concern for whatever the stock market is doing at that time. In the meantime that money is growing at 5% per year, which is higher than the historical rate of inflation. I did this with about 10% of the funds inside my Roth IRA and opted for CDs with a monthly coupon so I can see regular growth happening. I think it’s a good plan.

 

[California]

I don’t know that there are trends that can be easily tracked based on time of year. ... In the end, investments rest heavily on how investors feel… humans.

Guessing where the market might go was possible before the internet. A good sense of the public's wishes could help reveal the next opportunity.

Now - betting against computer and AI aided investment strategy, isn't a reasonable strategy. The big investment houses will always be a step ahead of you.

I read something recently that just might be the key to the puzzle. (Or tin-hat imagination, I don't know):

All of the big gains in the investment world, is the big guys betting against one another. The retail investor is sucked into 'investing' to earn a 'reasonable return' only because his money is needed to fund these large scale bets. In other words we're the sheep. While the giants go toe to toe using the funds we've provided them, to play with. True? I don't know.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Guessing where the market might go was possible before the internet. A good sense of the public's wishes could help reveal the next opportunity.

Now - betting against computer and AI aided investment strategy, isn't a reasonable strategy. The big investment houses will always be a step ahead of you.

I read something recently that just might be the key to the puzzle. (Or tin-hat imagination, I don't know):

All of the big gains in the investment world, is the big guys betting against one another. The retail investor is sucked into 'investing' to earn a 'reasonable return' only because his money is needed to fund these large scale bets. In other words we're the sheep. While the giants go toe to toe using the funds we've provided them, to play with. True? I don't know.

Either way, half of our seven figure retirement, isn't money I invested... It's the pennies they passed on to me. Scraps, maybe. But I'll live off those scraps for decades.

 

[ericm979]

I read something recently that just might be the key to the puzzle. (Or tin-hat imagination, I don't know):

All of the big gains in the investment world, is the big guys betting against one another. The retail investor is sucked into 'investing' to earn a 'reasonable return' only because his money is needed to fund these large scale bets. In other words we're the sheep. While the giants go toe to toe using the funds we've provided them, to play with. True? I don't know.

Pretty much. The vast bulk of trading is machine generated. I won't call it ai because it's not all that intelligent. The big traders all have news feeds running straight into their trading engines so they can execute trades on trending news. It's not guys with cigars in back rooms yelling "sell! buy!" into phones any more.

Those traders pay big bucks to locate their data centers close to the exchanges because the length of the wires between the exchange's computers and the trader's computers slows down their trades. If they can get a few milliseconds on the other big traders they can beat them to trades.

They're also front running the trades of retail investors like us. Stock brokers sell the deal flow to a trader so they can front run the trades. That nets them a tiny profit on all the trades they front run. Profit that should have gone to the retail investor. All the brokers do this. It shouldn't be legal but it is.