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Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

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Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#151

Post by ProAm »

thesimpsons1022 wrote: post #133
ProAm wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Popular vote has never meant anything in America in all it's existence. But the point is a person with zero political experience, completely outside the political echo chamber/insiders club just won the most powerful office on earth. Whether you are for him or against him I believe it does show that people can absolutely start a change.

nothing changed. instead of a racist white old billionaire buying a candidate, they just decided to run themselves.

Im not making this a political argument, just stating the fact that people absolutely had a hand in this election.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#152

Post by wang_li »

thraway2016 wrote: post #87
wang_li wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Social Security Trust fund generally runs a surplus (as recently as 2014 it added $25 billion.) However it's projected that around 2030-2034 the number of recipients will be drawing more than is being paid in. At that point your statement will become more correct than it currently is.

...the SSTF holds exclusively US Treasury notes and bonds as assets. You're describing a distinction without a difference, as other parts of the USG have already spent the surplus.

I'm not sure I understand where you're coming from as it assumes that the US won't be paying back its debts. Do you also consider that money you deposit into your checking and savings accounts as having disappeared into a black hole?

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#153

Post by School-Cotton »

lucidguppy wrote: post #34

If they take away my social security... I want my payments back.

If they cancel some welfare program (like free lunch for poor school kids), do you want your money back that you paid into the program while it existed?

What sense does this make?

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#154

Post by saryant »

thesimpsons1022 wrote: post #141

obviously alabama and wisconsin need their votes to count much more than california or new york. rednecks deserve their voice to be heard 10x more than well educated tolerant people on the coasts.

I grew up in California. Bay Area.

There's plenty of intolerance there too. Anyone who thinks it's a utopia is deluding themselves.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#155

Post by jimmyk »

guelo wrote: post #144
jimmyk wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is going to be paying the taxes needed to pay off those bonds?

Ideally the same people whose taxes Reagan lowered https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Historic...

Do they not count as "our children" if they're rich?

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#156

Post by ProAm »

brewdad wrote: post #132
adventured wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump easily won the popular vote for the 48 states that aren't California and New York. Popular vote indeed. There's a very good reason the electoral college exists.

CA would be the 7th largest economy in the world if it were its own country. NY would be 11th. But yes, let's just pretend like they don't matter when it comes to the US as a whole.

Not when it comes to an election. It is what it is but the electoral college is the rules to the game. The popular vote does not mean one thing in America when it comes to an election.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#157

Post by thesimpsons1022 »

adventured wrote: post #136
thraway2016 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if "crash" is the problem. Crashes happen in markets, it's part of the business cycle. OP is discussing a 30+ year time horizon, though. I can think of a few potential things that would precipitate not just a crash, but a long-term economic malaise: - Climate change - Political/social unrest (extrapolate Brexit, Trump, etc) - Mass unemployment caused by automation (you can't "retrain" 5MM 50yo truck driv…

> Empire collapse (has happened with every single empire in history - what makes the U.S. exempt?) The US isn't anything like traditional historical empires for one. It hasn't built its prosperity on invading other nations to annex them and plunder their national wealth, which is traditionally how empires temporarily sustain themselves. The US built its immense wealth today (just under half of all private wealth on e…

The US has always been built on the plunder of its nonwhite inhabitants. One can wax poetic about the free market or educated work force but that is the truth. The roman republic didn't fall because of issues with resource extraction or plunder. It fell when a powerful enough demagogue named Ceasar took power and undermined it on a wave of populism. A Nero like dictator (trump) is all we really need to crash and burn into the annals of history.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#158

Post by [deleted] »

DoodleBuggy wrote: post #47
callinyouin wrote: post #4

I'm not planning on Social Security being around by the time I'm old enough to tap into it, and I'm also not planning on having any kids to bail me out when I go senile, so yeah I'm putting a lot into my 401k. I think a lot of people my age (turning 30 next week) are feeling the same way, so I wonder if it's younger workers driving this trend.

> "I'm not planning on Social Security being around by the time I'm old enough to tap into it" You need to change that attitude or your complacency will allow politicians to take it from you. The fact is you pay ~16% of your paycheck into social security and medicare, it is designed to be like a pension. It is not an entitlement, it's your money.

[deleted]

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#159

Post by etjossem »

ProAm wrote: post #110
etjossem wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not what we mean when we talk about basic income. Basic income means "everyone gets a check for $1000 a month, regardless of how old or young they are, or whether or not they work." Social Security means "everyone gets a check for $X a month, once they are old enough, variable based on how much they earned when they worked."

The OP said, "I'm counting on basic income being a thing when I retire." -- He is counting on Social Security.

He's counting on something that definitely won't be there if there's the political will to cancel Social Security. ;)

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#160

Post by sigstoat »

crdoconnor wrote: post #100
DoodleBuggy wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "I'm not planning on Social Security being around by the time I'm old enough to tap into it" You need to change that attitude or your complacency will allow politicians to take it from you. The fact is you pay ~16% of your paycheck into social security and medicare, it is designed to be like a pension. It is not an entitlement, it's your money.

It's called social security for a reason. The politicians are itching to hand the pot of money over to Wall Street who will extract fees from it.

as though the social security administration has no costs associated with its operation?

i'd put my vanguard expense ratios up against the ssa's effective expense ratios any day of the week.

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