America’s Oldest Gun Maker Went Bankrupt: A Financial Engineering Mystery

Post by rhizome » Fri, May 03, 2019, 8:55 PM UTC

aksss wrote: post #80

paganel wrote: post #36

> Because private-equity firms appear frequently as villains in the press, many people assume that they cater mostly to the superrich, earning high returns on investments for billionaire clients. They do. But by far the most important piece of their business — 48 percent, according to the data-analytics firm Preqin — is investing capital for American pension funds. This doesn't get mentioned often enough when talking…

Having been gainfully employed in corporate IT since I was 19 - and doing max contribution to my 401k every year since - I'm not "in touch" with the predicament of today's kids. Are they alright? Record employment numbers today. Wage growth up. We still have a talent shortage. Being (now) a business owner, my biggest complaint on the talent front isn't a lack of education in candidates, it's a lack of customer focus…

Post by mwfunk » Fri, May 03, 2019, 9:01 PM UTC

nickelcitymario wrote: post #147

UweSchmidt wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well then our intuition is wrong. If your finances throughout your life are not in order, if you have high debt, regardless if it's because of medical bills, student loans or too big a car and house, you are in a weak position. What good does a nice car do if you worry about bills and if you try to avoid to look at the balance in your banking app? You don't always know how rich some folks are, but for the most part i…

Well, thought experiment: John lives in extreme poverty. He's debt free, but is unable to adequately feed himself or his family. Several of his children have died from malnutrition. Marc lives in a nice suburban home, has 3 square meals a day, so does everyone in his family. However, his debts (including his mortgage, car payments, student loans) exceed his savings. If our intuition is wrong, then John is winning. He…

Post by yeahitslikethat » Fri, May 03, 2019, 9:09 PM UTC

ahupp wrote: post #118

dractori wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The top 1% own 40% of the wealth and have realized 95% of the increase in wealth over the past decade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_Unite... "More recently, in 2017, an Oxfam study found that eight rich people, six of them Americans, own as much combined wealth as half the human race."

Both of these things can be true: that the top 1% own a large fraction of wealth, and that an even larger fraction is owned by the pensions and retirement plans of the non-wealthy. Wealth comparisons are tricky, e.g they'll show that Americans are some of the poorest people in the world because there's a large fraction with debt (e.g homes, credit cards, student loans). While technically true, that doesn't really mat…

Post by stale2002 » Fri, May 03, 2019, 9:11 PM UTC

parrellel wrote: post #164

WillPostForFood wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a huge disservice to take a cheap shot at 401ks. There is almost no case where someone who has the opportunity to contribute shouldn't do so.

Eh, after fees most standard 401Ks are only marginally better than a bank account at this point.

Post by SketchySeaBeast » Fri, May 03, 2019, 9:19 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #185

UweSchmidt wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well then our intuition is wrong. If your finances throughout your life are not in order, if you have high debt, regardless if it's because of medical bills, student loans or too big a car and house, you are in a weak position. What good does a nice car do if you worry about bills and if you try to avoid to look at the balance in your banking app? You don't always know how rich some folks are, but for the most part i…

If you die deep in dept you managed to cheat at life: your cost of living was higher than input. If you die rich you got cheated: you put more effort into life than you got out of it.