The Poor the Wealthy and the Middle Class

by Simon 44 Replies latest social current

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  GrreatTeacher

  Fisherman, you're onto something when you talk about risk.

  When you're 25 and investing for retirement you have plenty of time to make up for it if you lose money, so you make riskier investments in the hopes of greater reward.

  If you're 60 and plan on retiring soon, you have to go much more conservative because you don't have enough time to make up for it if something goes wrong because you'll need it within a few years.

  You should decrease investments in stocks and increase bonds and "cash" investments as you get closer to retirement. You need to be more liquid the shorter the timeline.

  * The above does not constitute actual financial advice. Always consult a financial advisor about your individual circumstances.
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  Simon

  I think times change though. Government bonds that are supposedly "safe" right now seem more like a guaranteed way to lose money.

  Honestly, I know the theory, but nothing beats the massive gains ... even if you lose some when the market falls, you were much further ahead in the first place so still come out ahead.

  I think the 60/40 stock/bond split all all the variations (100 - your age in bonds) are all part of the system that the financial industry uses to make money.
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  solomon

  Government backed bonds based on currency printed up by the federal reserve don’t seem like a great investment plan right now unless the yields go higher. In addition the yields mean nothing if real inflation (not the CPI bs numbers that they feed us) is higher than the yield. You are still going backwards

  The other issue that investors don’t see is taxation. RRSPs (Canada) are tax deductible when you buy them, but tax payable when you redeem them. The government has this all figured out so that when you cash in your investments they can tax you on them and deduct some of the money from your government pension.

  If I had to do it over again I would have bought collectibles (sports cards, ertyl toys, hot wheels , comic books) when I was younger. Also maybe some gold and silver coins. If you keep these in their original package I don’t see this as being riskier than the stock market. The greatest benefit of these kinds of assets is they are out of the monetary system. You can sell them for cash and that money is yours. All of it.
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  road to nowhere

  Solomon

  That selling collectibles is the reason they want to monitor every bank deposit of 600. Watching for laundered money or avoiding capital gains.

  I still maintain that the average person cannot live above average
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  Simon

  That the system is rigged against people wouldn't be so bad, if it applied equally to all. But as we've seen from the numerous data leaks and results of tax fraud units - there are a different set of rules applied to the wealthy and the ruling elites.

  The endless "loopholes" are easily fixable and the fact that they aren't tells you everything you need to know about their intent (and that they prefer a complex, expensive system to a simple, efficient one)

  Everyone with any sense should aim to organize their affairs in such a way that it deprives the government of every tax cent possible.