New Tractor Sales Are Declining

[ArlyA]

One of my sisters doubled her take-home pay during COVID and of course, had zero commuting expenses or work-related clothing obligations. Getting her to look for another job almost took divine intervention.

I and my other sister were working our asses off to make ends meet at the end of the month. Watching our other sister do nothing and have more money for it was not really the incentive anyone should have and one I did not want to witness.

One of my work mates signed up for unemployment during covid.. A while later the state of MI sent him a letter stating he had made a mistake and you now owe us the $10,000 paid out. He hadn't made a mistake and it took him months to correct the states error and they dropped the "you owe us $$" suite. He got off unemployment saying "its just not worth the grief".. I'd say the "get rich at home on unemployment" isn't what retired people think it is.

 

[rScotty]

I apparently misread your intent. Apologies for that mistake.

In my case, I don't see the media and a lot of politicians working for the good of the whole, only pandering to a segment of society.

Divisiveness in politics is at a very high level at the moment with almost no meaningful compromise on either side.

Politicians have to power to fix things but, I just don't see any indication of that at the moment.

I have a much dimmer view of media being an unbiased source of information. Social Media is controlled by very biased groups, George Soros and his ilk, are getting politicians in positions of power to carry out their own personal twisted versions of equity and justice.

Traditional media is slightly better but, Tucker Carlson and the former CNN anchors don't inspire confidence for me either.

Misread and apology accepted. Thanks.

Yes, divisiveness is at a fever pitch. I see that as being a much more serious problem than the financial one - and also much harder to mend.
I wish I could do something about it, but it seems to have become more entertaining to be against something than for something.

rScotty

 

[Sid Post]

One of my work mates signed up for unemployment during covid.. A while later the state of MI sent him a letter stating he had made a mistake and you now owe us the $10,000 paid out. He hadn't made a mistake and it took him months to correct the states error and they dropped the "you owe us $$" suite. He got off unemployment saying "its just not worth the grief".. I'd say the "get rich at home on unemployment" isn't what retired people think it is.

Had a friend with a real need from unemployment that was earned after 15 years of hard work. It took him ~2.5 years to go through all the appeals and bureaucracy but, I still remember the day he got a 2 1/2 inch tall stack of bi-weekly unemployment checks.

Regarding your friend, I don't know the rules where he lived but, unemployment rules vary between states with some being very tough and others not so much so.

 

[Williy]

Well hopefully next month I will make my last
tractor payment!
I will not purchase any new vehicle too much
electronics to go wrong

willy

 

[MinnesotaEric]

One of my work mates signed up for unemployment during covid.. A while later the state of MI sent him a letter stating he had made a mistake and you now owe us the $10,000 paid out. He hadn't made a mistake and it took him months to correct the states error and they dropped the "you owe us $$" suite. He got off unemployment saying "its just not worth the grief".. I'd say the "get rich at home on unemployment" isn't what retired people think it is.

That's me every blessed year with taxes and my dead mother. For the record, it takes about two or two-and-a-half hours on hold to make an appointment with the Fargo IRS office. Fine. My mother passed in 2019 (Very sad), but since she passed the IRS has had questions about her taxes thanks to the stupid cupcake checks everybody got if they paid taxes in 2019 (that I'd settled). So she got a cupcake check in 2020, and another cupcake tax rebate in 2021.

Thinking that after three appointment visits with my local IRS agent in Fargo (with a nice lady) everything was done, roll forward 12 months and I just got a letter from the IRS stating, that in 2020 I paid $772 in 2020 on behalf of my mother, but they have no record of her tax return ('cause she is dead, you clowns). My forehead is sloping backward.

Meanwhile, for me personally, I need to make an appointment because I was supposed to get a shedload of money back for last year because of overpaying estimated taxes, but I received a letter from the IRS claiming I made a mistake, and I was only going to get $9.00 back on my estimated taxes. Fargo IRS office and the same nice lady I've met three times before, here I come. Sigh.

 

[jyoutz]

They're not low anymore. I think that era is gone.

Looking at the chart, rates have only been in the 4% plus or minus range for the past 10 years. It you look at the past 50 years, the last ten years were atypically low.

 

[TN8Man]

I'm not a huge T r u m p fan but, it is hard to argue against his actual policies versus the Rhetoric and harsh media bias against him.

The Crimea invasion happened under O b a m a, Syria crossed O b a m a 's "redline" with no repercussions, and B i d e n 's pullout of Afghanistan was an unmitigated disaster for the Afghans, our NATO partners, and our own Servicemen and Servicewomen. Many people argue this is what emboldened P u t i n to invade Ukraine.

The effects on our individual paychecks, taxes, inflation, etc. under T r u m p versus B i d e n are easy to see for each of us. How many of us are taking vacations or replacing worn-out cars?

In terms of retirement, ignoring the devaluation due to inflation, most people have much smaller 401K's today than they did under the prior administration.

If you aren't earning the rate of inflation in your 401K, you will have less spending power in retirement than you do today.

Most people have retreated to safety in their 401K's so, the value of their retirement income has fallen significantly.

For those seriously interested in things like this, I would suggest looking to Greece, Italy, and Spain to see the results of the trajectory we are currently on with Trillions being thrown at failed political boondoggles.

The big elephant in the room.
The 2020 2 trillion dollar stimulus bill known as the CARES act allowed people to dig into their 401K up to 100K without penalty, and many have. At the end of 2021 the average 401(k) balance was under 142K according to Vanguard. Last year and this year so far the stock market is underperforming where many people saw reduction in their 401K. But even if people still had the 2021 average of 280K at age 65+ how long would that money last when the stock market continues to underperform?

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

$280k even with a good market, is not enough to retire on

 

[2manyrocks]

My mother raised funds for the ongoing upkeep of an old community cemetery. She had a deal worked out with the local bank that paid enough interest to cover the cost of mowing. When the Fed went on their interest rate lowering binge, the interest stop being enough to pay for mowing and they started eating into the principal.

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

I know a lot of people took money out of their 401k but put it right back in the same investments. They just wanted to get it out from under the 401k restrictions so they could retire early.

I wish I could start drawing between 50 and 55 from my 401k if I wanted.