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People confuse the two all the time and the truth is unto itself volatility is not risk.
Volatility just means the markets cycle as they always have for the last 146 years and you just need at least 15 years to just about have a 100% guarantee to make money.
The risk comes when you don't allow yourself time. Long term money should always have planned around time other wise it is operator error.
I added risk to my own plan when i cut my safe money buckets from about 7 to 2-3 years as i felt i didn't want to carry so much cash.
I will be increasing equities through retirement so the rising glide path should increase my success if the early years are not so good.
To be fair, seven or eight decades of poor communication has resulted in that misunderstanding. I'm not sure if the fault lies with those who had the knowledge and didn't share it, or those who needed the knowledge but had no patience to deal with the nuance of two concepts instead of just one. But even here in this thread we see the resistance to internalizing the nuanced understanding of the situation, the simplistic two-sided view winning out for some folks rather than the complex three-sided view.
Honestly I think the misunderstanding came from "democratizing" investing, and pushing a good majority of the workforce into the stock market for their retirement as opposed to the old pension system (which granted has it's flaws from the providers perspective).
But when the benefit reps are coming to your job getting you to sign up and flush their mutual funds full of cash they definitely aren't driving home any kind of real investment education with it. They are just making the sale and getting as much buy-in as possible.
Breaks arm patting himself on his back for having better luck than the guy next to him .
Yes, luck.
You could have been born in Bangladesh to parents with leprosy.Or perhaps that infant failed to plan having healthier, better educated parents?
Be thankful for what you have or have earned, but no need to hate on those who have not had your advantages, which includes 90% of the world.
I used to work at the airport in Katmandu where a beggar kid hung out asking to run any small errand for a few paisa. He always reliably carried out those tasks and was given a regular job as a peon where he became known for being punctual and reliable. He worked for me later and was indispensable dealing with customs, flight ops and refueling. He knew everyone there and could get just about anything done. He also caddied at the golf club, became a good player himself, became a golf instructor, and eventually club manager. He sent all of his children to top Indian schools and got them good starts in life. He is retired in a beautiful home today and has no material worries. I had every advantage starting out in life (just being born an American is a huge head start). He started with nothing, but caught and passed me over the years through hard work, integrity, and determination. I am rightly humbled, and thankful that I knew such a man and can call him friend.
Even more alarming: 19% of those very close to retirement age, between the ages of 55 and 64, said they had no savings.
I retired last year at age 50, and do not plan on taking a job working for someone else at all. I prefer working with my daughters on the land we all own and plan on staying here til I die.
I retired last year at age 50, and do not plan on taking a job working for someone else at all. I prefer working with my daughters on the land we all own and plan on staying here til I die.
Sounds good. I wish I had been in such a position at 50!
Of course!!! That's it! It has to be a failure on the part of the person or corporation that owns the property. It can't be the parasitic druggies, antisocial thugs and gangstas at fault. And even if they are the problem, let's give them a pass cause to do otherwise would suggest that all the social re-engineering the federal government has been engaged in for the last 50 has been for naught.
Tell all this to granny who is over run by her crackhead grandkids in her subsidized apartment. I am sure she will be comforted to know that even tho her gangsta wannbe grandkid is stealing her money, it is really all the landlord's fault.
Ask yourself, if the tenant problems you describe are as bad and real as you suggest, why do some landlords CHOOSE to rent to parasitic druggies, antisociial thugs and gangsters...instead of renting to drug-free, crime-free. and timely rent-paying tenants?
Seriously. Millions of rent-burdened (paying more than half of income for shelter), drug-free, crime-free, and timely rent-paying tenants want to know.
What do I think? I think I paid my way through college and then went on to pay for the bulk of the education costs and living expenses for 5 children.
I think you have a helluva lotta nerve to think your college degree should have been handed to you no charge. And I think you were foolish if you subsidized your education that heavily with loans when you could have gotten a two year degree for pennies on the dollar at your community college and then transferred to a university for two years. Or, gotten a two year degree, landed a job, and then finished your degree online. Or, you could have joined the military after you finished your degree and gotten most or all of your student loans paid for as part of your sign up agreement. Or, you could have gotten loans that are forgiven if you agree to work in underserved areas.
That's what I think. Since you asked.
??? Where did you get that idea? I graduated in the top 5 percent of my class (grades and scores.My combined SAT scores were 98th percentile. All I was "handed" was a New York State scholarship - which 15 percent of my graduating class and practically everyone in my homeroom got - which amounted to a measly $100 per year for books (because my dysfunctional family situation rendered me "not needy".
Financial aid includes employment - hardly a handout - under the Work-Study program. I couldn't get Work-Study, so I had to clean toilets to pay for school, and was beaten out for an entry-level IT job by someone with "related" Work-Study experience - who might or might not have had greater financial need than I.
Yes, I could have gotten a two-year degree if I had been willing to stay with the dysfunctional family that made me ineligible for financial aid in the first place.
TX, UT, the Dakotas, MN, NE, and IA are all doing very well. With the exception of TX, most are relatively homogeneous, well-educated states with a low population, and are often booming from resources. MN and IA have been buoyed by proximity to the Dakotas as well as high agricultural prices. These states are not normal.
Btw, "homogenous" = white, male and mormon here. No kidding they are not normal - they are lacking diversity.
Also? Willing to work for low wages. Willing to not question corporate or religious overlords. Oh - and "da wimmins" know their "place" - at home.
I, myself, do not have a degree. Not for lack of trying. But I figured out early on that if I did go to school - it would have to be in a professional program (nursing, law, etc.) where I would come out the otherside with job offers galore.
It wasn't in the cards - I couldn't afford it. But I did make my way as an administrative assistant with records training. Worked my way up to a $55K per year gov't job.
Only when a 20% fee is charged every time you make a payment; the principal and interest have been paid off and the fees I have paid exceed the original principal; what I owe today is a collection of fees.
My student loan payments leave me at poverty level, while borrowers with 50% more income than I are getting monthly payments of zero.
I bet you think the financial aid system is fair as well. If it's fair, why did I have to clean toilets and deliver pizzas to pay for school?
Why have you spent 30 years not taking advantage of the college degree that you have?
I also had student loan payments, and never finished college. I managed to pay mine off fairly quickly, while saving for and attending a trade school.
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