OT. NO cashiers at Wally World

[thekmanrocks]

_____________ Sounds like an idea. But who's the next 'IBM'?

My college buddy's Dad set him and his siblings up with stocks in things like Coca Cola and Proctor Gamble, plus savings accounts which he strictly forebade any of his offspring to touch, at least until they graduated high school. My buddy now on disabliity due to a nasty car car crash years ago, and those dividends come in handy with basic living expenses, and paying taxes on the inherited house he now lives in.

Problem with a "couple good stocks" is, since January of 2017, domestic and world markets have been anything but stable. So I would not know which stocks I should buy shares of at this point, fifty years into my life.

[Ralph Mowery]

This was Toyota a couple of years ago. I had negoticated the price. I looked at the numbers and the payments did not add up to 0 % but around

2.5 %. I told the salesman that the numbers did not add to 0 % as advertised. He said you mean you want that deal and 0 % financing,.I told him yes, the ad on TV was for 0 % and if I did not get that, I was not going to trade. The car I had was about 10 years old, but only had about 35,000 on it. I could drive it another 10 years if I wanted to. They gave me that 0%. I think by leaving the money in the IRA for 7 years over that period I will be several thousand dollars better off.

I hate to buy/trade cars. Just too many ways to manulipate the numbers for the dealers.

Years ago my uncle set up a deal with one salesman to trade in his car, two days later that salesman was not there and he got to talking to another salesman and jubt buying the new car. Turns out they were going to charge him around $ 300 to take his old car. So he came out $ 300 better on the deal and kept his old car.

[Ed Pawlowski]

My savings account is paying 0.02%. This year my 401k took a hit with the market but still made 2.9% this year and 14% last year.

Savings accounts will lose you money every year. Investing long term will make you money.

[FromTheRafters]

I'm already on it. Do I have to re-apply?

[Ed Pawlowski]

Yes, they are all good. But you can have a better retirement with some simple investments. Put some money in something like a Fidelity IRA and watch it grow.

[Cindy Hamilton]

I'm not in a position to advise you, since I'm only 63 and haven't gone through it yet. That's why I said "study up on it". You can contact Medicare for information.

Cindy Hamilton

[Jim Joyce]

I humorously point out that some big names have compared SS to a Ponzi scheme, most notably among them Rick Perry and Michael Bloomberg. :-)

Rick Perry says Social Security is a "Ponzi scheme" and a "monstrous lie"

Bloomberg once said Social Security is a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff's

[Ralph Mowery]

The way things are going it is. It was fine to start with. I was sort of like an IRA/401k. You put money in and got it out. As the years went on it was raided. Many that never put in any money can get the benefits of it now.

Like a man I know. He put in the money. His wife worked as a nurse for the VA system. She was under the government retirement plan. The man retired and startes SS his wife worked on but was able to collect half he amount the man received. She worked about 5 more years under this and then retired from the government job , so the SS half she was getting stopped. Had she not even worked, she would still be getting half. As I made much more than my wife she has 2 options, either collect around $ 600 from her SS or about $ 800 from my SS. So she takes the larger amount.

[Jim Joyce]

My last vehicle purchase was a Toyota with no 0% incentive. When I made my best deal and it was time to pay, I offered them my credit card. They balked big time, but when I got up to leave (because after all, you can buy a Toyota anywhere, they aren't hard to find) they reluctantly took my card. I got 1.5% (of nearly $30K) cash back from using the card, then I paid the balance in full the next month so there was no interest.

My two vehicle purchases before that were a Hyundai and a Kia. Both had 0% incentives and a $1000 discount if you finance through the automaker. They also both offered a military discount, which was nice.

So in my experience, they don't always add to the cost if you take the 0% financing. Instead, they sometimes give an additional discount. Don't ask me how it makes financial sense for them to do that, but both times I took the deal. My money can do a lot more for me if I leave it invested.

I financed a $9K Tuff Shed through Home Depot because they offered 24 months deferred interest. When I got home, I set up automatic payments so that the shed will be paid off about a month or two before the interest comes tumbling in. In effect, that will be a 24 month 0% interest deal.

[Jim Joyce]

+1

[Jim Joyce]

If individual stocks scare you, take a look at mutual funds. An index fund might be a place to start, or a fund that focuses on a particular sector, such as technology or medical. Watch for fees, but even then you'll almost certainly do better than a savings account. I remember Motley Fool was one of the sites I used for research and recommendations back in the day, but there are plenty of others. The important thing to remember is that a typical savings account is actually costing you money when you factor in inflation, so the sooner you get most of your money away from there, the better.

Lastly, always remember what they say about relying on financial advice from anonymous strangers. :-)

[Jim Joyce]

Them's the rules. My wife will be in a similar situation where half of mine is more than all of hers. The difference in my case is that I'm not planning to take SS until I'm 70, so she'll take hers in full from when she turns 62, then when I turn 70 and start taking mine, she'll switch over, dumping hers and taking half of mine.

There used to be a loophole, which I think is closed now, where you could apply at the earliest opportunity and start receiving checks. Before your next anniversary date, you could give back 100% of what you've received and immediately apply again. For the next year, your checks are bigger, then just repeat that every year until you max out at 70. Use the money to make investments, always making sure you're able to pay it back before your anniversary date. It was free money, which is why I think the door might have closed.

[Cindy Hamilton]

They're not wrong.

Who paid for the benefits of the first cohort of SS recipients?

Cindy Hamilton

[gfretwell]

5x5 good buddy

[gfretwell]

RMD stands for Remind My Dad (You ain't going to live forever, spend some of that money while you can enjoy it)

[gfretwell]

The flaw in all of that is assuming tax rates will be lower in the future. For a person working today, they may be enjoying the lowest tax rates in a century right now and they have nothing to do but go up. Some day someone is going to look at the debt and deficit and say "we got fix this". They will be looking at all of that untaxed money in deferred savings and go after it. The reality is the old people are richer than their kids and somebody will notice that, as soon as kids start voting.

I don't think I would even trust a Roth when they decide the taxes need to go up more. I paid into SS with after tax money and they are taxing that now.

[gfretwell]

If you are under 59.5 there is a penalty beyond the taxes.

[gfretwell]

I suppose you say "the pulse doppler radio detection and ranging" on the news tonight showed rain. We just say RADAR.

[gfretwell]

It is hard to beat any company that makes things people need for the long haul. (P&G, Exxon etc) I have a 5G play (SWKS) that is looking very good but you need to pay attention and keep your finger near the sell button if things change. One of my best stocks over the last decade or so is CVCO a company that makes modular homes. I just doubled down on them during the panicdemic and that is already paying off.

[gfretwell]

It is if you use the circumspect view of what a Ponzi is. SS is certainly a pyramid scheme where the new investors pay the dividends to the early investors and the operation has no ability to actually make money. The SS trust fund is just another line item on the national debt and the only reason it was successful this long is there were far more new "investors" than people who got old enough to seriously deplete the surplus. A realistic age to start collecting, based on life expectancy, would be around 75. Now the surplus is gone, the plan is upside down and going to the tax payers to make the so called "interest payments" that keep it afloat. That won't last much longer and they are going to have to make good on the principal that was pissed away long ago. Medicare is already in that position.