Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Rich Retirees Are Hoarding Cash Out of Fear

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 316 posts

Re: Rich Retirees Are Hoarding Cash Out of Fear

#181

Post by jamie_ca »

kasey_junk wrote: post #164
incompatible wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me it seems that getting a decent return was a lot easier prior to 2007. Banks would pay interest rates of 6% or so and inflation was low. The stock market only gradually became overvalued.

Citation needed. In 2007 a 1 year cd was paying about half of that. Savings account rates have not kept up with inflation in my adult life time and I'm middle aged.

Gotta go back further than that.

ING Direct (Canada) peaked at 5% on a savings account in mid 2000, and was above 4% from when they opened up in '97 to April '01.

https://www.tangerine.ca/en/rates/historical-rates/index.htm...

3.5% in 2007 matches your bank's 1 year CD pretty well.

It's now under 1% since mid 2015, but my RRSP account is up 40% since September... go figure.

Re: Rich Retirees Are Hoarding Cash Out of Fear

#182

Post by refurb »

drblast wrote: post #85

This is a really good argument for subsidized medical care. This fear of not having enough for medical expenses is perfectly reasonable, and I wouldn't fault sometime for hoarding cash for a second. Solve the inherited inequality problem with inheritance taxes or guarantee medical care. Otherwise of course people will save for medical expenses. And they should, it's prudent.

This is a really good argument for subsidized medical care.

You mean like Medicare? The US already has that for retires. You mean retires that have no money? The US already has that, it's called Medicaid.

Re: Rich Retirees Are Hoarding Cash Out of Fear

#183

Post by [deleted] »

imgabe wrote: post #168
reustle wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trick is to move to a country with proper healthcare

Or just die when you're old? Maybe that sounds harsh, but being bedridden for 12 years doesn't sound like any idea of a good life to me. The old die to make way and free up resources for the young. That's the way it's supposed to work.

[deleted]

Re: Rich Retirees Are Hoarding Cash Out of Fear

#185

Post by nwatson »

meddlepal wrote: post #112
blhack wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is tough, man. Some things I did when I was younger that helped me with this: 1) Go for a period of time (I did a month) living off of rice and beans (as far as I can find, the cheapest way to get close to a complete meal)[1] 2) Pare down everything in your life that isn't absolutely necessary. I put my bed in storage and lived in a hammock for a year. Cut out hot water for a period, stuff like that. Once you do…

Question... how did your back feel sleeping on a hammock for a year?

In hammocks from Brazil you sleep diagonal to the "axis" of the hammock and your body is almost rod-straight. Your back will feel just fine after a night sleeping like this.

Re: Rich Retirees Are Hoarding Cash Out of Fear

#186

Post by icedchai »

kasey_junk wrote: post #164
incompatible wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me it seems that getting a decent return was a lot easier prior to 2007. Banks would pay interest rates of 6% or so and inflation was low. The stock market only gradually became overvalued.

Citation needed. In 2007 a 1 year cd was paying about half of that. Savings account rates have not kept up with inflation in my adult life time and I'm middle aged.

I remember having a savings account at Emigrant Direct that was paying somewhere around 5%, back in 2006 or so.

See https://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/579954

Re: Rich Retirees Are Hoarding Cash Out of Fear

#188

Post by graedus »

anigbrowl wrote: post #78
acover wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a strawman. Most of the article is written with the assumption that not spending all your money is sub-optimal. From the article: > After a lifetime of saving, it requires some psychological gymnastics to start spending your nest egg. Browning’s suggestion is that financial planners urge their thriftiest clients to make big purchases–like a second home or a fancy car–before they retire, out of their pot of s…

If you saved it with the intention of enjoying it as well as relying on it for financial security and you don't let yourself enjoy any of it, then a lot of the work you did was wasted.

> then a lot of the work you did was wasted.

Unless you get enjoyment on some level from the financial security of having a bunch of money saved (i.e. you sleep better at night because of it). It's like purchasing insurance - if you never end up using the insurance, that doesn't imply you made a poor decision (wasted money) in purchasing it.

Likewise, knowing that an expensive medical emergency could come up means that having considerable savings is an appropriate response.

Or you could take the opposite view and arrive at the same conclusion - if you have a healthy lifestyle and expect to remain healthy, you might predict that you'll have a long lifespan, making it prudent to conserve your retirement savings by spending it at a very slow rate.

Re: Rich Retirees Are Hoarding Cash Out of Fear

#189

Post by astrodust »

imgabe wrote: post #168
reustle wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trick is to move to a country with proper healthcare

Or just die when you're old? Maybe that sounds harsh, but being bedridden for 12 years doesn't sound like any idea of a good life to me. The old die to make way and free up resources for the young. That's the way it's supposed to work.

Someone's a fan of Logan's Run.

Enjoy your manadatory execution when you're forty you old bastard.

Re: Rich Retirees Are Hoarding Cash Out of Fear

#190

Post by emodendroket »

imgabe wrote: post #168
reustle wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trick is to move to a country with proper healthcare

Or just die when you're old? Maybe that sounds harsh, but being bedridden for 12 years doesn't sound like any idea of a good life to me. The old die to make way and free up resources for the young. That's the way it's supposed to work.

Remember when this scenario was trotted out as an argument against reforms? Hell, why not establish death squads?
Post reply on HN