Retirement thoughts Past Present Future

[Bocephous]

A book I'm reading at the present. Might provide an "aha" moment for some of the individuals reading and contributing to this thread.

 

[riptides]

A book I'm reading at the present. Might provide an "aha" moment for some of the individuals reading and contributing to this thread.

View attachment 787719

Link and/or summary please. Or opinion on what makes this book tick.

 

[Straightgrain3016]

For the younger readers who haven't decided where to retire yet and haven't been convinced that taxes matter; big time.

Clean Air
Clean Water
Security (ROL)
Safety
Recreation
Hospital
Church perhaps
3+ bars on the phone...
Reasonable Taxes
Fair elections
No HOA rules
Lots of ham radio, fishing, & reloading supplies

 

[NoTrespassing]

In 2008 we dropped about 30%. Within 2 years we were back to even, and by 2012 we'd doubled our investments from pre 2008 drop. So if I'd have gotten out when things tanked in 2008, I'd have gotten out too late and locked in the losses, and if I'd have waited until things started looking better, we'd have gotten back in too late to take advantage of the low prices of shares 2008-2010.

It's very hard to time the market, hind sight is 20/20, etc...

My only advice would be to consult with someone you trust, stay in it for the long haul, but be cautious if you're going to need the money towards retirement. I'd think one would want less risky investments the closer you are to retirement. There are funds set up to lower risk as you age. Thinks like that.

Also, a guaranteed 4% is a guaranteed -3% if you factor in inflation at 7%.

Of course, -3% is better than -20%. Just pointing that out.

Good luck, as they say.

Markets are off about 7% since I went to cash, just sayin, I avoided a bigger loss (so far) Everybody gets lucky once in a while. Time will Tell.

 

[goeduck]

At some point lawmakers will kill the goose that lays the golden egg every day so they can get all of the gold inside the goose. Then what?

 

[California]

At some point lawmakers will kill the goose that lays the golden egg every day so they can get all of the gold inside the goose. Then what?

That was the model for Venezuela's 'Bolivarian Socialism' which in reality just meant steal and privatize everything owned by the government. Likewise, Putin's crony 'privatization' too. Now we're seeing the economic consequences of both.

 

[California]

Keep an eye on the market.

Today a small bank failed because rising interest rates devalued their bond portfolio. That wasn't the only bank that has their reserves parked in government bonds.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Keep an eye on the market.

Today a small bank failed because rising interest rates devalued their bond portfolio. That wasn't the only bank that has their reserves parked in government bonds.

I read about the panic in Silicon Valley because SVB might go insolvent. Is that the one that shut down? It just goes to show that even in boom times a bank can run into trouble. It may take weeks for entrepreneurs to access millions of dollars in venture capital. On a personal level, it could be extremely inconvenient. It's one of the reasons my wife and I keep our accounts at separate banks. Of course the good old socialist FDIC would be there to bail us out, but not being able to access my direct deposit pension and SS for a month or so would be really inconvenient.

 

[ponytug]

Yes, it was Silicon Valley Bank, SVB. They are a very specialized bank. Basically, they focus strongly on startups. The fact the economy is off meant that more startups were deferring raising funds (and therefore depositing them in SVB) and the startups were drawing their deposits down, so SVB had to sell more of its bond portfolio than it had planned and lock in losses. SVB had planned a stock sale this week to raise funds, but that did not pan out. FDIC has moved in, but it won't cover the deposits of most of the customers who are companies with millions on deposit. (FDIC insurance doesn't cover that much).

I wouldn't describe the view in Silicon valley as "panic". Most folks know that this is a special case.

TL;DR they were caught without enough ready cash on hand.

All the best,

Peter

 

[California]

I read about the panic in Silicon Valley because SVB might go insolvent. Is that the one that shut down? ... It's one of the reasons my wife and I keep our accounts at separate banks.

Yes SVB. Their specialized lending to startups is more risky than most banks' operations. Their need to liquidate what should be their capital, might worst case, predict failure of similar banks that can't afford to see their reserve capital (bonds) marked down. I was wondering if this, the consequence of raising interest rates, might be what has spooked the market recently.

As for local small banks - I had to laugh when the third successor bank where I had business checking, shut down. My own credit rating was more solid, than where I deposited the rental income we earned.