65 % of americans not preparing for retirement.
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Ashful
Minister of Fire
Inflation is exactly how they’re going to manage those trillion-dollar debts you were discussing two pages back. De-value it. You will recoup some of that loss in equity, if you own property.
My post was not in reference to anything you posted...it was just below it.
Agree. Nothing is bulletproof. Other than bullets. They always have value. LOL
If the DOW crashes and doesn’t recover you need bullets, salt, seed and a source of water. You are fooling yourself if you think anything else will be what matters. At that point the world as we know will have ended.
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Check out Elliot Coleman. He has a market farm in Maine and grows all year long. He's really big into 4 season gardening. I'm trying to copy some of what he does to extend my growing season here in NY.
Madison Maine is the biggest supplier of greenhouse tomatoes in New England. https://www.backyardfarms.com/
With a competing greenhouse complex being built in Berlin NH this year.
With a competing greenhouse complex being built in Berlin NH this year.
That's an impressive operation!
I have Hannaford here. I wonder if I have their tomatoes in the store.
Its a shame we are so dependent on that(DOW). Suddenly solar power and roof top water collection are looking good along with some dry bean storage.
That how i see it. If the dollars value drops 50%, your property is suddenly worth twice as much in dollars but actually still the same. If you only have dollars and paper assets you have lost 50% of its value.
I wish I could agree with you on solar but you need to replace batteries every seven years or so. Manufacturing batteries is a very dangerous business. I agree it is the future of power generation as a whole, just not for off grid.
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If i ever get into solar it would be with grid tie. The power companies are not going away,just be nice not to have a larger bill every month , just another bill to not have to pay.
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Nickel Iron Batteries (AKA Edison Cells) have no real lifespan if treated properly and if they are abused, they usually can be salvaged, there are some still in operation that are 100 years old. The reasons why folks don't use them is they really are only good for "end of the world" solutions, otherwise they are expensive, heavy, inefficient and thirsty for distilled water. Only certain charge controllers can be set up for them. Worse case is stock the right chemicals away and change the electrolyte every 15 years and the batteries will be around long after most folks have died of all the things they don't die of today due to their being a functional health care system.
On one of the many Alaska based cable shows had one of the featured folks swapping out his batteries and I noticed he had installed Iron Edison Nickel Iron Batteries. I expect the batteries will be around long after he is out of the bush.
sportbikerider78
Minister of Fire
In my mind, a guarantee from the government is worth about as much as a superbowl ticket printed on a cracker.
This is the same government that has to raise the debt ceiling and has run itself down a ski slope of debt with entitlement programs, corporate welfare, and endless war.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Plenty of room for criticism, but as one who has traveled quite a bit and deals with folks from all over the world, it’s still the best one in the majors.
The odds are good that the SS check will always come in the mail,its just the value of those dollars that are in question. That average check of $1200 a month may just be worth only a few hundred dropping in value quickly as hyper inflation kicks in. Those of us with rentals wont fare much better as people stop paying rents and house pmts as soon as they lose their jobs. As you know, so many live paycheck to paycheck . Think Venezuela on a much bigger scale.
mass_burner
Minister of Fire
SS is capped : Workers will contribute 6.2 percent of their earnings to Social Security until their income exceeds $128,700 in 2018. So higher wage earners aren't significantly encouraged to opt out. You can make the argument that if you make 125k, 100% of your income is subjected; if you make 10 million only 1% is...fair?
You collect based on what you contribute, so yes, it is fair.
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Its not that simple, the SS system is intentionally biased to support lower income workers compared to the higher income workers under the cap. Someone on the low end of the scale gets a higher SS check compared to what they put in the system then a higher wage earner. Politicians like to call it a savings account but its far more ten that, its a social safety net. SS was never intended to be a primary retirement check it was to be enough to keep someone from living with no income. Folks forget before SS there was nothing, anyone lucky to have lived to retirement age long had to depend on whatever resources they might have, their family or charity. This was at the end of the depression and many folks had little or nothing.
Lots of variables have changed which will gut the program ,the 2 most drastic ones are:
1.People living much longer.
2.Only a few contributors per retired person as boomers retire.
Another drain is people that never paid anything in such such as immigrants immigrating after retirement age ,though im not sure where that money comes out of, but it adds to the debt no doubt. I know of a few people(immigrants) who brought their parents after they became citizens. The govt makes them(citizens)sign an affidavit of support but certainly dont enforce it at all, so its meaningless.
1.People living much longer.
2.Only a few contributors per retired person as boomers retire.
Another drain is people that never paid anything in such such as immigrants immigrating after retirement age ,though im not sure where that money comes out of, but it adds to the debt no doubt. I know of a few people(immigrants) who brought their parents after they became citizens. The govt makes them(citizens)sign an affidavit of support but certainly dont enforce it at all, so its meaningless.
sportbikerider78
Minister of Fire
If that is the case then I guess all taxation is unfair. For instance, is collecting taxes to pay for police and fire protection optional or forced?
Would be nice to find a way to make those using the majority of police services pay the majority of the cost.
sportbikerider78
Minister of Fire
Fire is a service that you will use if you should need it. One of the may reasons each area doesn't have a big fire department and they rely on mostly donations and volunteers.
I think you misunderstand what police are for. They are not a protection agency, but rather a law enforcement agency.
Aren't there many, many, many people who do not pay for either fire or police already? Many departments get their funding through citations, fines and of course, town/city taxes.
If the government mandates that everyone have x,000k/per month in retirement, that doesn't mean it is all of a sudden needed and justified.
If it was a good program, you'd have people wanting in, not out. Make it voluntary, not forced.
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Ashful
Minister of Fire
Meh... this got boring. Back to the predictable same old arguments.
Me? Unless something dramatically changes in my life, I’ll never need social security. But that’s the thing, you can never predict what might dramatically change in your life. In four short decades I’ve been wealthy, so poor I had to choose between buying heating oil or groceries, and everything between. Despite living conservatively within my means, who knows where I’ll be when the chips are down? Those who complain about a safety net can sometimes be humbled by events they did not see coming.
Note, the wealthy do pay less for SS, but they also need it less. Folks earning under $127k pay 6.2%, but one earning $500k will pay only 1.5%, due to the salary cap at $127k. So, you have your solution, sportbikerider78, just learn to earn more.
Edit: I just saw that @mass_burner posted almost the same, above, but with the 2018 numbers. I’m using 2017 numbers.
Me? Unless something dramatically changes in my life, I’ll never need social security. But that’s the thing, you can never predict what might dramatically change in your life. In four short decades I’ve been wealthy, so poor I had to choose between buying heating oil or groceries, and everything between. Despite living conservatively within my means, who knows where I’ll be when the chips are down? Those who complain about a safety net can sometimes be humbled by events they did not see coming.
Note, the wealthy do pay less for SS, but they also need it less. Folks earning under $127k pay 6.2%, but one earning $500k will pay only 1.5%, due to the salary cap at $127k. So, you have your solution, sportbikerider78, just learn to earn more.
Edit: I just saw that @mass_burner posted almost the same, above, but with the 2018 numbers. I’m using 2017 numbers.
You always have to factor in those that have to be forced to save ,which is a huge % considering 65% are not saving enough and approx 30% saving nothing at all. You can say " well then dont support them in retirement" but you know that will never happen. So it has to be somewhat forced.
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