Up next ladies and gents, your retirement!!!

Makes you wonder if you should keep contributing to your retirement account...........

http://www.seiu.org/2009/03/seiu-coalition-partners-launch-retirement-usa-initiative.php

http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/why_we_need_retirement_usa/

I thought we already had a plan. What's up with Social Security I have been paying into for 33 years?

Oh, It will be gone before I retire in 2030? And we want a new plan?

2025 for me, and I'm not counting on anything.

If you eat just a bit of cat food every day while still working, you will be used to the taste by the time you retire and have to eat it.

Social Security? Contradiction in terms. It won't exist, yet they'll have raised taxes on what's left of the USA to pay off it's debts.

I learned long ago to make my own plans, you can't trust a politician.

Pete, you, Streetwise, Margie, Tim and some others on teh board, y0, are all +/- 3 years of me. We're all screwed. We're the lucky group that got to pay for it all our entire working lives but will get nothing back. W tried to address the problem and got shot down for even discussing it. Now The O with his brownshirts (seiu) are pushing the same thing W was suggesting. The news out this week was that 2010 is the year that SS starts paying out more than it takes in, not 2014 or 2030 or whatever they've projected in the past. Oh, and BTW, that 75 (whatever) year surplus from taking in more than they paid out? Well, sure, it exists. Sort of. It's just that it's not there because our politicians have been spending it all these years on important stuff like kickbacks and bridges to nowhere. You just have to understand (or not) accounting principals to see it all and it's really there. Sure it is.

I've been thinking about SS and when to start drawing (I'll be 62 next Apr) and have decided that 62 makes the most sense .... get as much back as I can before it goes away... thanks to Dr Hess and everyone else that has put in so I can live in the lap of luxury from now on...

Hess, so should those of us in the younger generation go ahead and quit contributing past the company match? Take the rest of the cash??????????

I find the stats of that story amazing. Most people have $20k or less? I've been at current job for 18 months and have managed to already get $7k in my 401k.

Again, why is it my fault you decided to never save for retirement?

Damn this just gets more and more frustrating.

My take is, use the extra to set up your own investments, spread it around between a few styles of long term investment and do not trust the government to look after you in your old age.

Personally I have taken out some stocks (blue chip), some long shot stocks, and some property.

I have also invested in some cars, some of them may be worth something in a few more years.

If I fail it is my fault, but I will not trust in those; greedy, selfish so called leaders.

Steve

I'm burned out on government crap, and don't have the energy to read the articles in detail.

Are they talking now about government takeover of privately held/ invested retirement funds, or reviving SS?

I understand SS is dead, and I won't get a nickel. I'm more concerned about a government takeover of privately held stuff.

In reply to z31maniac:

Contributing to the 401K past the Co. match? Well, that's a bit complicated. IF The O manages to push through what he has proposed (worked so well for the destruction of health care, which is also very closely related to this discussion but in a different way), and as alluded to by SVreX, then what will happen is that our 401K's will be required to "invest" in Federal Government bonds, thus financing more bridges to nowhere for various senators, anchor babies, etc. That will probably suck as an investment for us personally. Great for senators, bridge builders and illegal aliens. But you could probably do better outside the constraints of the 401K.

401K's give you tax advantages in the longer term IF the rules don't change. So, should you put in more than a Co match? Crap shoot there. Personally, I carefully figgered out the amount that maximizes the pain to the company a minimizes my cash flow reduction and that's what my 401K gets. I am considering upping the contribution some right now, but the difference in the long term results of doing that versus investing it outside the 401K is probably minor. Plus, the 401K has limited investment opportunities. I can't, for example, buy SPY Puts with it if I wanted to. I couldn't even buy WalMart stock if I wanted to. (I'm not suggesting either of those right now, only using them as examples, but SPY Puts are probably a good "bet" right now if you can beat the built in additional risk value. I see a high market crash potential before the 3rd week in June.) My 401K, small as it is, has been entirely in a money market at virtually 0% return. Everyone else lost half, I lost nothing.

I don't see the difference between "investing for my retirement" and investing. I consider all investing to be investing for retirement. The only difference (not being very sue-able right now in IT v. MD'ing) being the tax status. And tax status on the go-in side is the same for the 401K v. just sticking it in a brokerage account. I have the self-control to not blow every dime I have without having my money locked away in a "retirement account," so leaving it in a brokerage account and being able to do whatever I want with it, including live off of it should I become unemployed (safety net), is more important to me than a potential tax advantage that may or may not be there in 25 years.

Your situation will be different than mine. Do you have self control? If you have 30 large in an account, do you (or your spouse) think "Woo-Hoo, new car!!" and blow it or do you continue to drive your beater until the wheels fall off for the third time? In other words, if that 401K money was in a brokerage account in the same mutual funds, but you could clear it out anytime you wanted and buy a new BMW , would you? If locking it in a 401K means you don't spend it, then certainly keep plugging away as much as you can in it.

We have an entire society based on "spend it now" regardless of if you have it or not. "Save it now" is actively discouraged and some even blame saving for popping the bubble. Stoopid Americans, started doing the smart thing and paying off debt, not buying new BMW's and teh economy poofed. That's why people have less than 20K in their retirement, and that 20K is probably only there because the 401K was set up for them.

I was actually doing pretty good with my retirement plan until I got stoopid at age 27 and started school. If I could/would have kept sailing, I'd be retired now. Or dead.

Good long term safe haven investment: TIPS. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities. There are several decent no-load TIPS funds. TIPS are bonds sold by the Feds that pay a return over inflation. If a regular bond pays 3%, a TIPS might pay 2%, but that's 2% over inflation. If inflation is 0 or deflation, they pay 2%. If inflation is 25% (THANKS JIMMAH fer the preview) then they will pay 27%. The inflation numbers are rigged (THANKS RONNIE), but still, they can only hide so much and it is better than getting a negative real return rate (10% return in a 25% inflation, for example). Do you really think you can spend an extra 50% of your income every year, "printing" (E-Printing, today) the difference and there will never be an inflation to set it all right? Think about it. Then remember that a Motel 6 used to cost $6 a night, and a Super 8 was $8/night, in my lifetime. How much are they today? That's inflation. I recently top-of-my-head (no envelope handy, so did the math in my head) calculated that to be about 5% annualized since the early 70's.

There needs to be government subsidized tobacco and bacon. If people didn't live for thirty years past retirement age, this wouldn't be a problem.

I thought I read an article recently that said SS funds were put into some sort of general fund when the income exceeded the outgo so shouldn't we be able to dip into that general fund when the reverse is true?

carguy123, that's what they tell you. The reality is bean counting tricks. They take the SS money in and blow any surplus on coke, young male pages and bridges, leaving a big IOU. Now the IOU comes due (this year instead of 30 years from now) and, well, let's talk about the IOU a bit... What we really need is "Reform."

And "Reform" translates into "Let's screw Dr.Hess, Pete, Streetwise, Margie, Tim and the rest of them suckers that paid into this for the last 33 years." That's what DC calls "Reform."

In reply to carguy123:

Congress has been "borrowing" money from the SS till for decades. That IOU left in place of the cash, well it's only as fiscally sound as who wrote it. Considering the burgeoning debt level and escalating deficit spending, how valid is that IOU?

Yes, the Treasury can print more money to pay the IOU. But with the resulting inflation, whatever money is received is drastically reduced in vale; it just isn't worth much anymore.

Now, the SEIU wants to offer a "responsibly managed" fund so members can get some kind of ROI. Of course, in order to join the club one (almost certainly) has to become a union member. Considering how unions have managed and spent union contributions (aka, dues) in the past, this doesn't bode well.

Those evil, profit-mongering, misery-spreading businesses that employ union workers are going to be the first target. That tactic has worked quite well in other parts of the world, if you ignore the stagnant economies, higher unemployment than in the US, and work-stoppages because business cannot sustain the financial demands of its' workers.

i just cant understand where large numbers of people get this notion that govt is the default answer for issues of personal responsibility, especially when it's devoid of any fiscal responsibility itself.

what I can't understand is why people think SS is suppose to be their one and only income producer in later life.... it was never intended to be anything other than a "supplement" to what ever other retirement plans you have

Dr. Hess, don't forget one very important aspect of TIPS. The government tells you what the official inflation rate is...

In reply to eastsidemav:

Yeah, I said: "The inflation numbers are rigged (THANKS RONNIE), but still, they can only hide so much and it is better than getting a negative real return rate (10% return in a 25% inflation, for example)." Reagan was the one that changed it like that, thus my "THANKS RONNIE." Maybe I wasn't clear. It can (and probably would) still be a negative real return rate, but it won't be as bad as a non inflation adjusted rate. Unfortunately, it's about the safest investment I see right now. Safer than cash, gold (other issues including Soros planning on crashing it), the stock market, regular T bills, etc.

i know i will never see a penny of SS, and I've been doing OK, not great but OK, in my retirement saving via 401k. i'm 43, currently have about $170k in 401k, no debt other than mortgage, $30k cash reserve, and I'm going to work another 16 - 20 years.

My 401 and the soon to be ex's were rollin' along pretty good until the recent unpleasantness around the Jensen household. Now it's going to be split; I'll still have half but big whoop. I haven't paid a dime into it in ~ a year now thanks to the employment change due to that same unpleasantness.

I've got to get reemployed with a company where I can hope to receive a 401 with some sort of match and start building it again. Man, many's the time I wish I'd started a 401 back when I was 25, when it was first offered to me. Dumbass.

What brand of cat food makes the best burger?

our money grubbing owners stop their match every few yrs and eventually will restart then stop again... the advantage that Dr Hess fails to mention is the deferment of taxes on what is put into a qualified retirement account

right now I'm putting in 15% + $5500/yr into a Roth IRA .... (no wonder I don't have any pocket change )

This post by Carlos on the SEIU website SCARES The CRAP OUT OF ME!

Carlos | March 27, 2010 3:29 PM | Reply

I don't know who all these idiots are posting on here. I am a worker and I deserve to have a good retirement. There is no reason I should have to work my butt off even more to save for my own retirement. A comfortable retirement is a RIGHT... get that through your head!... you can't take that away.

We are an army and we are winning one battle at a time... Give us what we want or we will take it from you... either through elections or by whatever means necessary. We did it with other civil rights... more recently with health care rights... and now it's going to be worker and retirement rights.

Idiot owners and businessmen and corporations need to sit down, shut up, and get out of the way. You have ruined the world and we are going to fix it in a more fair way.

Workers of the world have united under Our Obama... it is our turn now.

nocones wrote: This post by Carlos on the SEIU website SCARES The CRAP OUT OF ME! Carlos | March 27, 2010 3:29 PM | Reply I don't know who all these idiots are posting on here. I am a worker and I deserve to have a good retirement. There is no reason I should have to work my butt off even more to save for my own retirement. A comfortable retirement is a RIGHT... get that through your head!... you can't take that away. We are an army and we are winning one battle at a time... Give us what we want or we will take it from you... either through elections or by whatever means necessary. We did it with other civil rights... more recently with health care rights... and now it's going to be worker and retirement rights. Idiot owners and businessmen and corporations need to sit down, shut up, and get out of the way. You have ruined the world and we are going to fix it in a more fair way. Workers of the world have united under Our Obama... it is our turn now.

I hope that was someone's idea of a joke.

OMG, people really believe the world owes them.