Posted on 11/13/2023 3:27:53 PM PST by george76
yes we have paid off cars and yes our cars are older....
yes we have some retirement savings and yes if the markets collapse, yes we will loose everything...
I worked for a non profit with no defined pension....most hospitals are like that....so whatever I saved, and what little they threw in, that's it...
husband's company which would have paid a nice pension of course went bankrupt so he exists on the little Pension guarantee money..
luckily he has a pension from his Nat guard but it ain't much....
I feel very poor now that I am not working at age 70 and I feel that its only going to get worse....
with all these huge wage increases our income looks poor and is poor....
$20 gold eagles are close to $2000
Get rid of stuff.
I am doing ok financially, but I am at the point where I don’t want new stuff, I’d rather get rid of all the stuff I don’t need, and simplify.
Money should buy freedom, not stuff.
So, yes, "millionaire" isn't what it used to be. Now, you have to be a billionaire before you talk about real money.
How many millionaires have 1 million dollars in total assets and no more, and nothing more coming in, no income, no SS, no nothing?
Bingo! Damn few people understand this.
An ounce of gold is always worth an ounce of gold. It never loses its value.
“Roughly 60% of investors with $1 million or more of investable assets said they are more likely upper middle class,”
Thanks to the government and the effect of inflation a million isn’t what it used to be anymore obviously.
If one wants to retire and continue with even a modest standard of living for 20-30 years you will need to save a lot of money.
Lots of jobs out there for lawyers at $22 - 25 an hour.
Don't forget the $24-30,000 a year (gross from social security. So while you won't feel rich, you can maintain a middle class lifestyle if you've paid off your mortgage and don't need a new car every 4 years.
Assuming you get an average 4% return on assets, yes you can spend $40,000/yr without reducing the principal, with a million in assets.
Doing it the hard way there. Just add a couple of zeros to the original number and you end up the same place.
When I started working in 1980 a million was a lot of money. You could park it in a boring, old fashioned passbook savings account at 5-1/4% and live nicely off the interest. $52,000 was a very, very, very nice income at that time.
Now? What does such an account (withdrawals on demand) pay? You’d be lucky to get 2 or 3 percent. Say 2-1/2, about half. You would need a bit over $2-million to generate the same income. But you need $150,000 min to have the equivalent purchasing power of the 52. So you would need $6-million.
What was gold in 1980? $600? So 86 ounces of gold was about $52K.
86 ounces of gold at $1,950 gives you $167,000.
The currency is being destroyed.
Same here. If you just have $1M in a 401k, you will need to be frugal in your retirement.
Phony definitions.
Misleading use of words.
What do you call a person with a paid-off home mortgage in California, if they have no other assets?
A MILLIONAIRE.
Having a million dollars of investable assets is not much for people who worked to full retirement age.
My wife and I are millionaires. We don't feel rich, just living a middle class existence. We always spend far less than what comes in, always have lived within our means. Neighbors saw me last weekend duct-taping the roof on my 23-year-old truck, because of rust holes that leak, a ritual I do every 6 months. Keep it patched until it no longer runs. No new cars, I get at least 15 years from daily drivers before considering getting a newer one. House long paid off, no debts, and we do most repairs ourselves. With our excess funds we help our adult kids and their families.
The true riches are being around our families and helping them.
Actually, you need to earn about 7% per year to spend 4% of assets. 2% has to go back into the kitty to cover inflation and at least 1% for taxes....
Correct. My nieces, early 20’s, didn’t at first understand it when I explained that it wasn’t just that the cost of things was going up, but they were also getting a cut in wages-— that their time/energy/life were being devalued. My house is paid for. I have a very strong pension and almost a million in some ‘safe’ investments. Five years ago, I felt OK/well-off. No more. The future indeed looks bleak, with fewer and fewer people being able to afford a decent standard of living.
Sure it does. The value changes quite a bit...and when the value goes down, value has been lost.
Gold is worth something because people agree that it is worth something. Like any object of value.
The gold coin in question may be worth more than its value in gold simply because it is an old coin no longer in print. Same with old versions of paper currency - they can go for many thousands of dollars. However, if they were spent as normal, they have their face value. Same with the gold coin.
I had a good paying job for 35 years. Paid off my house and have no debt. But I am shocked at the prices of everyday items. I had a talk with my grown kids about inflation when Biden got selected and told them that it would be brutal.
They are becoming economic conservatives.
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