Rich Retirees Are Hoarding Cash Out of Fear

Post by parsnips » Wed, May 17, 2017, 3:08 AM UTC

Spooky23 wrote: post #225

parsnips wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why did he not use his medicare policy? At 72 he would have been fully covered pre-Bush and would be covered in Medicare Part A & B post-Bush depending on the services.

Medicare is hospital and medical coverage. When you get old, if you need skilled nursing care at home or in a nursing home, that's your dime. Typically, you get admitted to a nursing home, spend all of your money, and when you run out go to Medicaid. Your county DSS will liquidate your home and remaining assets and you'll be paid for by that until you die. If you have a surviving spouse, they get to keep some allowan…

Post by droidist2 » Wed, May 17, 2017, 3:20 AM UTC

MisterBastahrd wrote: post #111

Have you watched television or listened to radio aimed at older viewers / listeners? If it isn't about the upcoming apocalypse and how you need all the gold in the world that you haven't spent on supplies for your armageddon shelter, it's about Fred Thompson selling you reverse mortgages. Nobody's easier to scare than people who feel their vitality slipping away from them day by day.

Post by msabalau » Wed, May 17, 2017, 4:03 AM UTC

Spooky23 wrote: post #227

msabalau wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, if we had high interest rates and inflation, people with fixed incomes and savers would be feeling horrible too. The idea that there would be safe investments with decent returns is inherently ridiculous. The closest one can come is oligarchs buying tax policy, or baby boomers making sure that housing stock is inadequate so the prioe of the their home goes up artificially at the expense of the young and poor.

No, it ridiculous now in the bizarre fiscal policy environment that we were in. You can look at historical bank interest rates from the onset of FDIC insurance. As recently as 2005 you could obtain meaningful returns on zero risk investments as a retail investor. I had a 10 year, 5% CD mature in 2015, for example.

Post by dxhdr » Wed, May 17, 2017, 4:22 AM UTC

Post by Spooky23 » Wed, May 17, 2017, 4:38 AM UTC

msabalau wrote: post #245

Spooky23 wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it ridiculous now in the bizarre fiscal policy environment that we were in. You can look at historical bank interest rates from the onset of FDIC insurance. As recently as 2005 you could obtain meaningful returns on zero risk investments as a retail investor. I had a 10 year, 5% CD mature in 2015, for example.

$100 in January 2005 had the purchasing power of $122.55 in 2015. Having $105 instead ain't great. Your "zero risk" investment tied up money for a decade, and you had less purchasing power at the end of it. Interest rates incorporate inflation expectations. What's bizarre now is the way we are playing footsie with deflation.