Posted on 03/06/2006 4:40:30 AM PST by Flavius
It's very simple: People will just continue to work. the VAST majority of retirement aged people are very capable of working.
Hmm...yep, Ben Stein makes a lot more than I do and has different expectations too. If I go to Walmart I expect Walmart service...if I go the Che' Louis I expect Louis level service.
But really folks he does offer some good advice, still sounds like a bit over the top investment hyper silliness, but good advice.
By the time I retire I don't want a big house to deal with; I'll take a one bedroom condo. I don't want to be trying to keep up with the Jones; I'd rather just have them as good friends I can borrow a cup of sugar from. As far as living on 1/2 of what I spend now, well I started doing that 3 yrs ago when the house got paid off. Life already is being simplified. I'd propose Ben Stein come live a week at my level...and then he might have a reason to worry or may be not?
Things that worry me about retirement don't seem to be on Ben Stein's radar, but they are on mine. Medical will be a big deal. A few years ago when my parents passed away it cost on average $45,000 to die. That's not the funeral...that's the cost from diagnosis to death medical treatment even with insurance.
From the business section of yesterday's Washington Post, a truly frightening picture. If our finances looked like this, I would just jump off a bridge, but it's the way people live, apparently. I know that I will be retiring - and they will not. :
"Meet the typical American family.
It has about $3,800 in the bank. No one has a retirement account, and the neighbors who do only have about $35,000 in theirs. Mutual funds? Stocks? Bonds? Nope. The house is worth $160,000, but the family owes $95,000 on it to the bank. The breadwinners make more than $43,000 a year but can't manage to pay off a $2,200 credit card balance.
That is the portrait of the median American household as painted by the Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Consumer Finances. The survey, which does not distinguish between sizes of families, nevertheless offers the most detailed look available of the balance sheet of U.S. households."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/04/AR2006030400238.html
...and, IMHO, the all-American way of looking at it anyway. I commend you for that, and a big thanks to you from myself and my family for your service.
Good point. I'll point out that as a country, both Republicans and Democrats have gone on a spending spree the last few years, even more so than they normally have.
But we do have some signs that are a cause for concern. Healthcare costs are going up by double digits the last several years and you wonder how so many Baby Boomers are going to fare given the increase in healthcare costs. Second, I believe that the great temptation for politicians will be to mess with some sort of very high taxation on IRA and 401(k) dollars when they are pulled out of plans upon retirement.
Of course, many variables are regional/local in nature. For example, the school district south of where I live has a tax rate of ~$32.50 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. And that is for a district that had a budget that included funding for now Winter or Spring sports, no field trips, etc. Retirees find it hard to pay those sorts of tax bills.
Folks need to have a savings/investment plan and stick to it. Even something as little as $50 a month helps set something aside and also build the discipline to save.
Yeah, but I think the point Ben is making here is that time is slipping away, and saving it isn't enough, people need to grow it.
The only useful fact that I ever got out of college economics is that there are two ways to make money.
One is to earn money through working.
The other is to put your savings to work, so that your money earns money for you.
BTW, that is one great tag line you have there!
If Ben thinks it's going to be bad being retired in years to come, imagine what it's going to be like working and paying for all those retireries getting poor service on United.
Heck, I'm not old enough to even remember when United had good service!
Yep.
What are you going to do with it, put it under your matress? Stein mentioned both stock and bond funds. It is the only way to keep up with inflation.
Its funny , but those people who were screaming Globalism last week are now having a hissy fit over the UAE working our ports.
Just goes to show what hypocrits they are.
I would like to think there are some left in Gov who see this globalism for what it is..and the effects it has had and will have on our economy and way of life..but they are all bought off by the idea we can pay bribes to the world to keep peace..Perhaps we need a new party that reflects the fears and hope of those in America who remembered that we were a free country that protected our citizens first.
Try this today, and the airline will have you locked up, claiming "TSA rules".
If a clerk treats you rudely, get management involved!!! If there is no managment available, take down the address, do business elsewhere, and fire off a letter to the owners of the business!!!
When was the last time you wrote a letter to a business and received an actual reply, let alone resolution of your problem?
Bingo!
"...putting it in the Fidelity Fund (FFIDX) or the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX) until you're 55, then putting half of it into the Fidelity Total Bond Fund (FTBFX) or Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (VBMFX)."
"When you get to 65, put half of it into a fixed or variable annuity -- chosen so you know what every dime in expenses goes for and without buying anything you don't need or understand -- and then know you won't totally run out of money ever (see "A Retirement Portfolio With Staying Power"). Or do something else with a reputable financial planner. "
That is not very speculative. You have a diversified portfolio that increasingly becomes invested in conservative vehicles like a fixed or variable annuity and investment grade, high rated bonds. It is very conservative, perhaps too conservative.
If I don't get the service I'm entitled to, I always ask to speak to a supervisor. It may take a while but my goal gets accomplished.
I, for one, find services in certain regards better than in days of yore. For instance, banks in New York City are open from 9 to 6 when they used to close at 3. Since ATMs have come into prominence, lines for tellers are much shorter (I remember waiting in 30 minute lines to cash checks in the old days!). Tellers at my bank are very polite and ask me what denomination I would like the money.
I can get any type of food I want delivered to my door. Not just the usual pizza, Chinese food, diner stuff, etc. I can order groceries online through a new vendor in New York named "Fresh Direct."
I can order shoes online from Zappos, which offers the best customer service ever. (When a heel separated from a shoe after 3 months of wear they sent me a brand new pair before I even sent the old pair back!)
Order from Overstock.com and shipping (even for bulk items like TVs) is $2.00 or less.
Order from the home shopping networks and utilize their 30 day return policies.
Ben Stein has never heard of the Internet!
And vice versa doggone it!
You don't pay SS taxes on dividends.
I save a large percentage and should be fine later on.
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