How's that stock market?

[minx]

Down 6.9% so far this week

I'm sure the Great Fixer will do something....

[Dave's Not Here Man]

Because of a cold.

[minx]

He has it under control bigly - trust him....

[Dave's Not Here Man]

-1191 Today

Because Democrats.

[k9krap]

I’m ashamed to admit that I am getting a tiny bit of pleasure from this. Only because it is making 45 panic - hopefully a major stroke or coronary isn’t far off.

I hate what he has done to me. I’ve never hated anyone like I hate him. I’ve always strived to NOT hate.

[minx]

I worry bigly about 45s health, because the alternative is Pence. At least with Trump, the crazy is out and visible.

And I do worry that we're on the verge of a complete panic/collapse. While on one hand I think of the Rallys and MFs of the world and say "Serves you right!", I also think of the thousands and thousands of people who's lives are going to be made even more miserable if the economy collapses.

And pretty much all you're hearing from the financial 'experts' is that this is a market 'correction' and we all need to play the long game.

All that says to me is that these guys don't know their rear end from a hole in the ground, and that I could probably tell what's coming as well as or better than they can right now.
And do most of us have any choice but to play the long game? It's not like I can easily grab the money from my 401(k) and make a run for it.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

So a couple things Minxy-

I hope 45 chokes on a burrito bowl and Ivanka can't get her arms around him to heimlich his fat ass. Pence would have to contend with a GOP challenger and Bill Weld already had a pretty good head start in that area.

We all knew how the booming stock market think was going to go eventually. We all knew that Trump's economy is a casino of cards and it will ultimately fall. The higher the Casino, the bigger the implosion. My hope is the ones who benefited the most are the ones that played with house money, and Guido comes to collect. In this case Guido would be the new Attorney General in November, preferably Kamala Harris.

As for the guys like rally and MF, I don't wish anything on them other than public ridicule and humiliation, and being forced to pay a LOT more taxes to pay for a lot more "socialism", except this time around that socialism won't go to their heroes in the 1%. If that happens, please thank them for me. / And maybe throw in "I got yours, Bitchez!"

[bobathon]

Sir, I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

[minx]

See, I don't know that Pence would have a challenger in time, plus all of the party moderates, who are on the fence about going to the polls would flock back because 'sanity' has been restored.

And yeah, anyone with half a brain knew that what goes up must come down. I would love to see some people get more than a hand-slap this time around, but I can't see that happening as the rich will always protect the other rich. It was true in 2008, and it's not changed now.

As to MF, he's simply an ignorant fool - I really don't wish him to be impoverished for stupidity. OTOH, Rally constantly preaches that he 'deserves' all of his riches and actively campaigns and belittles those who struggle IMO. So I wouldn't be upset if he got to see how the other half lives for a bit. However, if the economy goes south what will happen is that decent people will be taken out with it - that's the last thing I want to see.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

-3583 points this week. Is that bad?

Subscribers: 1

[bobathon]

It's fucking with my family's future. Yay.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

I'm the first to admit that my understanding of 401k is about the same as astrophysics, but I've always wondered who came up with the idea of convincing people that having their retirement in a fluid and fickle game of chance was a great idea.

[bobathon]

I had no choice. I could put it in Government fund at like 2%, but instead I diversified. Feds used to have a defined benefit retirement, the deal rally got - a guaranteed income and coverage, no SS. Then it was changed in the mid80s to defined contribution, good luck, enjoy the casino. There's still a smaller pension and SS, but the bulk is the "Thrift" Savings Plan.

[bobathon]

And, I lost about a third of its value once upon some other time market players were given latitudes. Market profiteers are going to kill us all.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

My retirement plan is the Powerball Plan.

[minx]

401(k)s came about back in the Reagan era when the whole "SS is going bankrupt" scam came about - people were panicking of course, and the Republicans came back with 'You could make better investments than the government could!'

And if I'm remembering correctly, there was also a slate of companies reneging on their pension obligations as well. And since 'we' all knew more about investments than the government, why shouldn't 'we' control our retirement money? - Voila! The 401(k) was born.

But there was no obligation for the employer to explain their 401(k) plan or require employees to make contributions. And with people now working for more than one company in their lifetime, no clear instructions on what to do with that money when you are laid off or leave.

Out of the blue three years ago, I received a letter from Fidelity Investments - turned out I had $5K that had been in a 401(k) from a job I worked at before I was married. They were about to roll it over to an IRA, and wanted to let me know. Rep on the phone said she had no idea why I hadn't been receiving statements, but she was also beyond helpful in explaining my options and helped me roll it over into the 401(k) at my current job. It wasn't a lot of money, but I'm sure I'm not the only one with stray accounts out there.

And Bob, the TSP is light-years ahead of what almost all people in the private sector have - much higher employer match (I get 1%), and while it's not large, you will get a pension and can keep your health insurance when you retire. Being able to keep health insurance as long as you want/need to is a huge game-changer for us. There is no way I can afford not to have insurance, and when I retire, my insurance coverage goes away too.

Almost all of my friends say they can't retire early - they need to hang on until Medicare kicks in because otherwise they'll have no insurance. Another way we are 'great'.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

Thanks for minxplaining it to me. Most of that history rings a bell, as I started working full time in the middle of Ray Gun's first term, while I was still in HS. As I moved up into management training program at Kinney Shoes, they had these things called "benefits", which as I recall weren't afforded to most other employees at the time, even the "full time" ones that worked anywhere from 40 to 70 hours a week. Once in the program, they hooked you up with Woolworth's bennies, which don't quote me but IIRC there was some paid vacay time, sick leave, health ins, life ins, and retirement. At the ripe and wisdom filled age of 18, none of that meant squat to me and I was fucking long gone by the time Kinney's went tits up, so there might even be some kind of account with my name on it on the ocean floor with Woolworth. If so, it would probably cost me more to find it that the treasure is worth.

I can only recall one other company I ever worked for that offered retirement and I do believe it was a 401K thing... and sadly the memory being a little fuzzier these days, I'm probably wrong but seem to remember something about the contribution being "company matched". Again, after 2 years, the kid went on to bigger and better things, not even thinking about it. That company went tits up during that bad recession circa 1990-ish. Again, if there's a treasure chest, it probably has a couple hundred bucks in it, assuming the pirates sailed past it.

Once upon a time a wise man told me the safest and surest way to invest your money was in real estate. Speaking of which, does anyone remember that big thing that happened when the government had to buy all of that land that got defaulted on, and wound up selling it off for pennies on the dollar? Might have been early 90s, because that's when the "we build on your land" builders were popping up like used car lots around here.

[minx]

Yeah, in the good old days, companies were forced to be semi-responsible and at least give the appearance that they would take care of their workers.
And they could say that you needed to work for them for xx years before you qualified for that pension (a provision that bit my poor dad in the ass on more than one occasion sadly).

Now it's every man (or woman) for themselves. And up until this year, if you worked for a small company, you were completely screwed, as they usually couldn't afford to offer a 401(k) because of admin fees.

But as you noted John, you're 18 years old and starting your first FT job. Pay is pretty crappy - are you going to whack off 5% of it to go into an account that you can't touch until you're 60? Sheeeeet no! I'll have plenty of time to do that later - plenty!

I am thrilled that you have a solid retirement plan BTW - most of my self-employed friends just intend to work until they drop dead.

[renthal]

You said whack off.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

You cad. (said in my Thurston HOwell III voice)

[minx]

Mar 1, 2020 18:16:37 GMT -5 renthal said:

You said whack off.

And I said 5%, so you'll have to stop early.