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SS benefits will replace at most 40% of one's income. Most of us will receive less than that.
No one is promising us that SS benefits are going to be enough to live on.
How about you either show me where I complained or asked for promises, or leave me and my posts alone? All I did is say she didn't make much because salaries were low then, so her SS is already low. It is all facts, so stop putting words in my mouth I never said.
I'd rather not engage with you anymore, you're making me into a snotty b****h now, too.
I think more of the elderly than the disabled. My Mom worked her entire adult life and is supposed to live on $1100 and change a month SS + a $400 monthly pension. Jobs for women in the 60's and 70's didn't pay much, so her SS isn't much as it is.
It is very telling when people make this sort of remark. Please do yourself a huge favor and learn the basic principles of prudent investing. They are simple and can be used to anyone's advantage. Diversification avoids overexposure to a single company. Staying the course helps one avoid foolish decisions, such as selling at a bottom in a panic then missing out on the recovery.
1. Make a reasonable asset allocation plan. (How much in stocks, bonds, cash. Diversify.)
2. Costs compound against you, so keep them low. Avoid unnecessary fees and use tax law to your advantage.
3. Re-balance on some reasonable schedule.
4. Stay the course.
There it is, the recipe for investing success. Anyone can do it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Petunia 100
Good grief. I'm not an expert, I'm an ordinary person who has taken the time to read up on the subject. Something nearly everyone can do.
Of course. Hence, the reason "diversify" is part of the simple recipe for successful investing. Buy broad market indexes and eliminate overexposure to any particular security or sector. Problem solved.
Buy broad market indexes and eliminate overexposure to any particular security or sector. Problem solved.
Buy broad market indexes and eliminate overexposure to any particular security or sector. Problem solved. As to your broker, stop paying a broker. Costs compound against you.
I don't plan for it. I minimize the risk by investing only in broad market indexes.
Warren Buffett thinks ordinary folks should all be in broad market index funds. Good advice.
So you really don't know much about investing other than "buy indexes".
If you did you'd understand that when a Blue Chip Corporation (too big to fail btw) actually fails those that hold bonds GET PAID BEFORE ANYONE ELSE. Unless of course if the corporation is General Motors and the President wants to give his "UAW buddies" the property of retirees,index funds,hedge funds and other investors who LOANED the corporation money under a legally binding contract. We as bondholders actually were fine with the BK until our dear leader got involved. In a normal world GM would have been liquidated or reorganized with the senior holders either being made whole or had a serious chunk of the new company with back owed dividends being repaid.
Not only should the bond holders gotten most/all of what they were owed those that were owed dividends should have gotten those as well.
Look it up, you'll see that for many,many,many years bonds in AAA rated companies were considered a very safe place to park funds earmarked for retirement then Obama and GM happened which changed the investment world as it showed that laws mean nothing when it comes to money.
Now to bring this all back to the topic, when a chunk of your money is placed somewhere that's "protected" to grow for coming retirement or as a income supplement during retirement and you then totally lose that chunk it means you're probably going to be relying on SSI for the most part. You tried to think ahead, plan ahead and had it pretty much set until some putz decided he wanted what you had.
So, a 20% cut might not have hurt so bad prior to my forced 100% tithing to Obama and company but it sure does now.
I just want to make sure that it's understood there are many who TRIED to do the correct thing so as to not be totally dependent on SSI/SSDI.
So you really don't know much about investing other than "buy indexes".
That's all the vast majority of us need to know. As already stated, successful investing boils down to a few simple principles which anyone can learn.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimj
If you did you'd understand that when a Blue Chip Corporation (too big to fail btw) actually fails those that hold bonds GET PAID BEFORE ANYONE ELSE. Unless of course if the corporation is General Motors and the President wants to give his "UAW buddies" the property of retirees,index funds,hedge funds and other investors who LOANED the corporation money under a legally binding contract. We as bondholders actually were fine with the BK until our dear leader got involved. In a normal world GM would have been liquidated or reorganized with the senior holders either being made whole or had a serious chunk of the new company with back owed dividends being repaid.
Not only should the bond holders gotten most/all of what they were owed those that were owed dividends should have gotten those as well.
Look it up, you'll see that for many,many,many years bonds in AAA rated companies were considered a very safe place to park funds earmarked for retirement then Obama and GM happened which changed the investment world as it showed that laws mean nothing when it comes to money.
This is a great illustration of why choosing individual securities is risky. Individual security risk is avoided by buying the index. For example, Vanguard Total Bond Market Index held 7,576 different bond issues as of 6/30/15. The default of one bond issue is a loss, but not a loss which substantially impacts investors.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimj
Now to bring this all back to the topic, when a chunk of your money is placed somewhere that's "protected" to grow for coming retirement or as a income supplement during retirement and you then totally lose that chunk it means you're probably going to be relying on SSI for the most part. You tried to think ahead, plan ahead and had it pretty much set until some putz decided he wanted what you had.
So, a 20% cut might not have hurt so bad prior to my forced 100% tithing to Obama and company but it sure does now.
Absolutely.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimj
I just want to make sure that it's understood there are many who TRIED to do the correct thing so as to not be totally dependent on SSI/SSDI.
Yes, there are. Further, some rely on unscrupulous/unknowledgeable salespeople. Excessive fees can eat as much as one-third or more of an investor's portfolio over time. It's criminal, in my opinion.
So you really don't know much about investing other than "buy indexes".
If you did you'd understand that when a Blue Chip Corporation (too big to fail btw) actually fails those that hold bonds GET PAID BEFORE ANYONE ELSE. Unless of course if the corporation is General Motors and the President wants to give his "UAW buddies" the property of retirees,index funds,hedge funds and other investors who LOANED the corporation money under a legally binding contract. We as bondholders actually were fine with the BK until our dear leader got involved. In a normal world GM would have been liquidated or reorganized with the senior holders either being made whole or had a serious chunk of the new company with back owed dividends being repaid.
Not only should the bond holders gotten most/all of what they were owed those that were owed dividends should have gotten those as well.
Look it up, you'll see that for many,many,many years bonds in AAA rated companies were considered a very safe place to park funds earmarked for retirement then Obama and GM happened which changed the investment world as it showed that laws mean nothing when it comes to money.
Now to bring this all back to the topic, when a chunk of your money is placed somewhere that's "protected" to grow for coming retirement or as a income supplement during retirement and you then totally lose that chunk it means you're probably going to be relying on SSI for the most part. You tried to think ahead, plan ahead and had it pretty much set until some putz decided he wanted what you had.
So, a 20% cut might not have hurt so bad prior to my forced 100% tithing to Obama and company but it sure does now.
I just want to make sure that it's understood there are many who TRIED to do the correct thing so as to not be totally dependent on SSI/SSDI.
What happened with GM is an anomaly. The government got involved and bailed out the union and broke all the rules of stock/bond securities. But they are the government and can do whatever the hell they want when they want to do it.
The government chose to bail out the union at all cost and threw preferred shareholders and bond holders and others under the bus.
What do you think? If this happens, I feel bad for those who truly need it to survive.
I feel terrible about it, but the way I heard it a couple of weeks go, they were going to run out of money completely.
Honestly, I don't know how the Soc. Sec. admin is able to do everything it does. People pay in, but the amt. of services it provides far exceeds what it takes in from people's contributions. It must operate on some kind of tax base too, right?
It seems to me that the root of the problem lies in the of the 'law of unintended consequences' working in conjunction with the 'law of insurance' which states:
"Insurance always increases the incidence of that which it insures against."
So life insurance will increase death, very minimally, to be sure, but increase it it will.
And fire insurance will increase fires, most certainly, as unemployment insurance increases unemployment, ceteris paribus.
Clearly, different levels of inducement operate, depending on the costs (risks) vs the benefits or rewards.
We can either reduce the 'rewards', raise the 'costs', or do both to achieve a different outcome. But we cannot do nothing and expect a change in human behaviour.
That's all the vast majority of us need to know. As already stated, successful investing boils down to a few simple principles which anyone can learn.
This is a great illustration of why choosing individual securities is risky. Individual security risk is avoided by buying the index. For example, Vanguard Total Bond Market Index held 7,576 different bond issues as of 6/30/15. The default of one bond issue is a loss, but not a loss which substantially impacts investors.
Absolutely.
Yes, there are. Further, some rely on unscrupulous/unknowledgeable salespeople. Excessive fees can eat as much as one-third or more of an investor's portfolio over time. It's criminal, in my opinion.
And at this time I don't disagree that ETF's can be a good way to go BUT back when all this was going on ETF's weren't the real big thing they are now for the average investor. They were big for institutional investors but at that time AAA rated bonds were considered one of the safest places to put money albeit slower growing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyTexan
What happened with GM is an anomaly. The government got involved and bailed out the union and broke all the rules of stock/bond securities. But they are the government and can do whatever the hell they want when they want to do it.
The government chose to bail out the union at all cost and threw preferred shareholders and bond holders and others under the bus.
And the point I'm trying to make is while what you say is true those that were tossed under the bus are still under that bus due to no fault of our own.
This is why when someone says "well, it's their own fault, they should've saved or invested money to help them through retirement so too bad for them" it gets my dander up.
For some like my father/mother in law they didn't prepare at all and certainly are getting exactly what they deserve.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth
I feel terrible about it, but the way I heard it a couple of weeks go, they were going to run out of money completely.
Honestly, I don't know how the Soc. Sec. admin is able to do everything it does. People pay in, but the amt. of services it provides far exceeds what it takes in from people's contributions. It must operate on some kind of tax base too, right?
The reason they keep running out of money is our dear leaders (several administrations) keep robbing the fund to pay other things putting in the same IOU's they're giving China and Japan.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tjarado
I personally know 4 people on SSDI.
Two are frauds.
If you know for a fact then why not turn 'em in? If you are surmising or guessing then I'd say stay quiet but if they've actually admitted they're scamming the system I'd think it's a civic duty to stop it.
And at this time I don't disagree that ETF's can be a good way to go BUT back when all this was going on ETF's weren't the real big thing they are now for the average investor. They were big for institutional investors but at that time AAA rated bonds were considered one of the safest places to put money albeit slower growing.
Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (a mutual fund) has been around since Dec 11, 1986.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimj
And the point I'm trying to make is while what you say is true those that were tossed under the bus are still under that bus due to no fault of our own.
This is why when someone says "well, it's their own fault, they should've saved or invested money to help them through retirement so too bad for them" it gets my dander up.
No one has said that.
So, who advised you to buy those bonds? How much did you pay for that advice? Did they share the loss with you?
That is what should have your dander up.
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