I don't agree with this reasoning, and this is why. I'm sure you're familiar with inflation calculators. Here's one:
Inflation Calculator | Find US Dollar's Value From 1913-2024
Easily calculate how the buying power of the U.S. dollar has changed from 1913 to 2024. Get inflation rates and U.S. inflation news.www.usinflationcalculator.com
It's simple to use, simply enter the $ amount and year. It tells you in today's dollars what that equals. Now, when I bought my place in 1980 my 30 year mortgage rate was 14%. At that time I was making $3.50/hr. or $11.60/hr. today. I worked my behind off and paid mortgage off in 3 years.
I just now fooled around with the calculator a bit as well as looking at homes for sale in my area. First I compared what I paid back then to today, comparing similar home+land.
That was easy, and found similar ones for comparison.
Then I tried a different way. Knowing what my payments were then the inflation calculator showed me what that would be today. Taking THAT figure at today's low mortgage rates how much home could I buy for THAT dollar amount.
I was shocked beyond belief. With that same equivalent amount I was paying back then, today I could buy not twice but about three times the place I bought in 1980.
Granted, and this is beside the point, over the years I doubled size of home, had a large garage and horse stable built, bought land, etc.
The point is all things equal, employment opportunities are everywhere. Every business around here has help wanted signs. Right now wife & I are taking horse riding lessons. The instructor comes here, he's in his late 50s, yesterday he said his is a dying breed. Younger generation doesn't want to get in to doing that, so no one to carry on.
Baby boomers (I'm 69 and wife & I are) worked hard. Our parents and grandparents worked even harder (the Greatest Generation). Make no mistake...successful baby boomers had nothing handed to them and like our parents and grandparents worked hard for what we have.
Maybe a new concept would be for every immigrant we take in we emigrant a drug addict. That would improve things.Watching the movie reminded me how it seems that immigrants who come to our county who have nothing, actually realize what it means to work to be paid, work hard, and try to better yourself. Say what you will about immigrants today, but from my own peresonal experience, they seem to work just as hard as most "hardworking Americans" I know.
sobering thoughtThis will kill a retiree's retirement planning pretty quick if interest rates do not follow along...
That's a broad statement. Index funds are 'indexed' to a wide range of specific asset classes and markets and could be dependent on the ups and downs of whatever the fund is indexed to. Conventional wisdom links the term index fund to the S&P 500 which will skew the investor's dollars disproportionately towards the tech sector. Yes, I have that type of index fund, but far, far from exclusively. At this stage of my investment cycle I am equally interested in capital preservation as growth. Even if that were not true an S&P index lacks the true asset class diversity I require. My equity/fixed income tolerance is no more than 65%. The four taxable bond funds I hold in retirement accounts have outperformed any type of cash holding since day one and continue to do so. I believe a successful bond fund management team is key to successful bond investing.Bond values and interest rates work in opposite directions. If interest rates go up, bond values will go down.
In today's world, there is no better place to put money than a low cost index fund.
F'n A right on that...I don't agree with this reasoning, and this is why. I'm sure you're familiar with inflation calculators. Here's one:
Inflation Calculator | Find US Dollar's Value From 1913-2024
Easily calculate how the buying power of the U.S. dollar has changed from 1913 to 2024. Get inflation rates and U.S. inflation news.www.usinflationcalculator.com
It's simple to use, simply enter the $ amount and year. It tells you in today's dollars what that equals. Now, when I bought my place in 1980 my 30 year mortgage rate was 14%. At that time I was making $3.50/hr. or $11.60/hr. today. I worked my behind off and paid mortgage off in 3 years.
I just now fooled around with the calculator a bit as well as looking at homes for sale in my area. First I compared what I paid back then to today, comparing similar home+land.
That was easy, and found similar ones for comparison.
Then I tried a different way. Knowing what my payments were then the inflation calculator showed me what that would be today. Taking THAT figure at today's low mortgage rates how much home could I buy for THAT dollar amount.
I was shocked beyond belief. With that same equivalent amount I was paying back then, today I could buy not twice but about three times the place I bought in 1980.
Granted, and this is beside the point, over the years I doubled size of home, had a large garage and horse stable built, bought land, etc.
The point is all things equal, employment opportunities are everywhere. Every business around here has help wanted signs. Right now wife & I are taking horse riding lessons. The instructor comes here, he's in his late 50s, yesterday he said his is a dying breed. Younger generation doesn't want to get in to doing that, so no one to carry on.
Baby boomers (I'm 69 and wife & I are) worked hard. Our parents and grandparents worked even harder (the Greatest Generation). Make no mistake...successful baby boomers had nothing handed to them and like our parents and grandparents worked hard for what we have.
SMStonypoint???
I say let one immigrant in who wants to work, and deport 2 citizens who don't want to work...Maybe a new concept would be for every immigrant we take in we emigrant a drug addict. That would improve things.
^^ even betterI say let one immigrant in who wants to work, and deport 2 citizens who don't want to work...