Americans say strong economy only helping the rich

[BuffNiag]

S&P is up over 27% for the year. It only takes a simple index fund to get a piece of that.

 

[spat]

Anyone who complains that the rich are getting richer needs to be asked one question "are the poor better off now or 50 years ago ?"

Most of them are dumb and their initial reaction will be "50 years ago because they made more money compared to the CEO" or some such drivel. But I'd you explain it properly even they can understand.

The bottom line is that even the bottom 25% have a standard of living today what is well above what royalty had 100 years ago.

Today's poor are richer than yesterday's rich. Do you really hate the rich so much that you are willing to sacrifice your own quality of living just to knock theirs down ?

 

[Blimey]

as far as I can tell, the true secrete to retirement is not a lump sum of money sitting a IRA or retirement account, it the ability to have a constant stream of income without having to work.

whether that be income from rental property, dividends from investments, or online business that requires an internet connection. AFA im concerned, staying busy and still make a few bucks is the key to a happy retirement ~~~ but thats just me, YMMV

You're absolutely right. it doesn't matter if you have $1M when you retire, or you have a pension that pays out $40k/year. Something called the trinity study found that historically if you withdraw, for 30 years, 4% of what you have when you start retirement, there is a 95% chance of it lasting 30 years. So this 4% rule means if you retire with $1M in 401k you can very safely pull $40k/year out. Throw that on top of social security, and probably by then a paid off house, kids gone, etc. you'll be fine. And over a 40 year career saving $1M is really not difficult to do, but you absolutely have to start early if you want the easy path of letting compound interest do the work.

A person who retires with a pretty healthy pension may not think themselves a millionaire, but for all practical purposes they are.

S&P is up over 27% for the year. It only takes a simple index fund to get a piece of that.

Yep it's that simple. And also being sure to not be a total moron about it. I found a guy on youtube who posted a video last Christmas eve (go look what the market did then) telling all his subs to get out of the market and into precious metals. The S&P 500 is up 35% since last christmas eve! I've been sure to point this out to him but he just gets pissy. Most investors don't even match the market because they keep dicking around with their portfolios, reading tea leaves and trying to get ahead of the curve. Fairly large parts of the stock market's historical gain happen over just a small number of ultra-green trading days. It's critical to be in for them and not on the sidelines.

 

[BuffNiag]

You're absolutely right. it doesn't matter if you have $1M when you retire, or you have a pension that pays out $40k/year. Something called the trinity study found that historically if you withdraw, for 30 years, 4% of what you have when you start retirement, there is a 95% chance of it lasting 30 years. So this 4% rule means if you retire with $1M in 401k you can very safely pull $40k/year out. Throw that on top of social security, and probably by then a paid off house, kids gone, etc. you'll be fine. And over a 40 year career saving $1M is really not difficult to do, but you absolutely have to start early if you want the easy path of letting compound interest do the work.

A person who retires with a pretty healthy pension may not think themselves a millionaire, but for all practical purposes they are.
Yep it's that simple. And also being sure to not be a total moron about it. I found a guy on youtube who posted a video last Christmas eve (go look what the market did then) telling all his subs to get out of the market and into precious metals. The S&P 500 is up 35% since last christmas eve! I've been sure to point this out to him but he just gets pissy. Most investors don't even match the market because they keep dicking around with their portfolios, reading tea leaves and trying to get ahead of the curve. Fairly large parts of the stock market's historical gain happen over just a small number of ultra-green trading days. It's critical to be in for them and not on the sidelines.

Yup, if the past 12 months isn’t proof that you need to stay the course, I don’t know what is. Other than rebalancing to meet meet my allocation targets, I just keep piling in money.