I read a fascinating book by Allen W. Smith about the Social Security Trust fund. Scares me to death.

If you are expecting Social Security to be there when you are ready to retire, check this out: http://www.allenwsmith.com/

"The Social Security Trust Fund is empty! Every cent of the approximately $1.5 trillion of Social Security surplus generated by the 1983 Social Security tax increase--money specifically earmarked for funding the retirement of the Baby Boom generation--has been embezzled and spent by the federal government.

Presidents George Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush have all been willing participants in this, the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on the American people. Most members of the United States Congress have also participated in the scam, but a select few members have vigorusly fought this fraud from the very beginning. Among them are Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (SC) and Senator Harry Reid (NV). They have fought on behalf of the American people in the long battle against the continuing embezzlement of Social Security funds. The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (NY), who was probably the best friend that Social Security ever had, battled four presidents in his efforts to protect the money contributed to Social Security by working Americans."


It may be a lot of hype, but I'm glad I have an alternative retirement plan already started.

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quote:

Originally posted by cammie It may be a lot of hype, but I'm glad I have an alternative retirement plan already started.

ya me too... its called Tax evasion

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Don't count on the government to support you at your times of old age! I'm 22, realized really young that it's up to me to secure my future, so I decided to get into real estate - one of the safest investments available! I not only own a condo that’s currently being built at 18 Yonge (@ Front St.), but also own a 4 bedroom house that I have been renting out for the past 5 years now, a 4 story apartment building that I am also the property manager of and other houses that come and go as we buy them fairly cheap due to many problems they may have (water damage ect.). I have my people fix these properties up, and I sell them for a nice profit of a few thousand each. I use the money I make from my Building which houses 47 families to invest into other markets, 2 short term; 2 long term.

Today, I can safely say that just last year’s income has let me SAVE more money then my ex-girlfriends father MADE.

Whatever it is you're planning on doing, keep this in mind -- The wealthiest people in the world will be the first to admit, connections are everything! There is not one millionaire in the world who would say otherwise (...well you know what I mean). You should all also consider more then 2 sources of income, when one source slows down or perhaps even stops, you can reply on your other sources to keep the cash flow coming in while you get it back up and running. Invest wisely!

PS. I have run in circles of people with great wealth and some with the power to match it... I'd say only about 10% or less achieved it for their Academic achievements... most are aggressive socialites - like myself. None of these people learned their people/business skills; they are born with these traits.

***BOTTOM LINE***
-Have Multiple Sources of Income!!
-Cross Promotions work great!
-Treat everyone the way you want to be treated both as a business person, as well as a friend - that will get you the furthest - trust me!!

Good luck and start thinking about your retirement now!

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When i reach retirement, i'm going to be rich, so that's not much of a problem

Something does need to be done. Numerous Republicans have proposed alternative systems, but no one ever seems interested, and as long as Democrats accuse Republicans of trying to "gut the system," nothing will ever get done. In the state of the union, the President talked about an "ownership society." This is precisely the problem to which that comment is directed.

It's absolutely disgusting that our paychecks are automatically taxed to fund a system that will return 2% of the investment. If we wanted to be absolutely safe in our own investing, and invested the money in a money market account, we could do about twice that percentage. We just need to save on our own at this point. Open up an IRA, or use your company's 401(k) system, and put as much in as possible. Safe investing, even with major dips in the stock market, will return a great deal of money over time.

quote:

Originally posted by imokruok ..blah blah i hate democrate rant... ( me too! ) It's absolutely disgusting that our paychecks are automatically taxed to fund a system that will return 2% of the investment. If we wanted to be absolutely safe in our own investing, and invested the money in a money market account, we could do about twice that percentage. We just need to save on our own at this point. Open up an IRA, or use your company's 401(k) system, and put as much in as possible. Safe investing, even with major dips in the stock market, will return a great deal of money over time.

Or you could just buy government bonds and get annual returns much higher then 2%! I think the 30 year treasury bond is around 5%. But banks will offer you better and safer bet for a closed-long term deposit.

Then again Grand Cayman is looking so nice this time of year, don't you think?
No!? Surely you wouldn't mind the fresh winter snow on the Swiss alpes?

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When I get out of school and have a career, then yeah I do plan on having one. I think SS should be there for everyone though as a fall back plan. Redundancy

You left out this part:

quote:

Wednesday, January 21, 2004 Bush Has the Worst Job Creation Record Since The Great Depression During President George W. Bush's State of the Union address last night, he boasted that the economy was strong and that his tax cuts were resulting in job growth. In view of the continuing high unemployment in America, one must wonder whether the President was trying to make a lemon taste like lemonade or whether this was just one more attempt to deceive the public. The president's portrayal of the state of the economy and the employment situation bear little resemblance to the facts. Not since Herbert Hoover, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, has any president had such a dismal record on job creation. There are 2.3 million fewer jobs in America today than when President George W. Bush took office. With a growing population, the economy must create additional jobs each and every year. If it fails to do so, unemployment will rise and the standard of living will decline. With the kind of record Bush has on job creation, it is a wonder that he even raised the subject during an election year, let alone boasting about it. When Bill Clinton took office in January 1993, 109.7 million Americans were employed. By the end of Clinton's first term that number had risen by more than 11 million to a total employment of 121.0 million. During Clinton's second term, an additional 11 million jobs were created. Thus, Bill Clinton added more than 22 million jobs to the American economy and during his last year in office the average annual unemployment rate was 3.9 percent--the lowest in 30 years. Thus the number of Americans employed increased by more than 22 million during the Clinton presidency and has declined by 2.3 million during the George W. Bush presidency. The American people and the American economy have suffered miserably under President George W. Bush. Yet he managed to keep a straight face when he gave his own erroneous appraisal of the state of the economy last night. 5:05 pm est

I miss those days of prosperity.

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Well I haven't read the book, but from my economics studies, the problem with social security is that since its conversion from a fully funded system to a pay-as-you-go system in 1939, it's always been an inherentely flawed system whereby current retirees payments are covered by current generation workers instead of drawing down from an accumulated fund. This is rather silly since the pay-as-you-go system was developed for the explicit purpose of aiding the elderly who's saving had been wiped out by the great depression. The system was only changed in 1983 to a partially funded system whereby surpluses were saved in the ss trust fund.

However, what goes up must come down and as we went from many workers supporting few depression era elderlies, we are now rapidly approaching a situation of few workers supporting many elderly. To assign blame to Bush, Clinton, Reagan, or any other recent President is quite silly since the entire system was inherentely flawed to shift costs towards ANY rescent president. The surplus is expected to continue until 2010 at which point we'll be forced to make reforms. Unfortunately the only method to keep ss alive is some form of privatization ... to force the individual to make a vested interest in their own retirement. So while we may have been spoiled into thinking of ss as some kind of ultimate saviour in times of old age, we are the generation that is going to have to take responsibility into our own hands and save for our future.

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Retro ...

As Occ put it, SS will either need massive reform or privatization down the road. It was created long ago when the average retiree only lasted a couple of years and then kicked the bucket...that is if they even made it to retirement. Now with people easily living past 80, they are looking at over 20 years of benefits. The math simply doesn't work out.

I started my retirement plan(s) 4 years ago...I'm 26 now. I have 401K, IRA's, as well as cash savings (that will eventually diversify to most likey real estate). Also, when I make the move up, the sister company still has a pension plan...but again those may disappear as pension payouts were also established for retirees to live a couple years then die. People just don't die fast enough anymore. That's the plain truth.

Working for only four years and already with enough savings to "theorhetically" retire for 2 years, I think I'm doing ok, especially if I can keep up the 2:1 ratio.

For anyone who hasn't started, and is blaming anyone in politics for their job/retirement planning whoas, I have no respect for them, as they are just looking for a scapegoat for either being lazy, or simply not smart with their money. I'm sorry if some of you will have to work after age 60. There will be no one to blame but yourself Or you could just do the job I do and be required by law to retire then

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