Retirement plans

[FoodFighter]

I love my Apple, Microsoft, General Mills, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan. I have quite a few others as well, but I am way up on the aforementioned stocks in particular. I have several others that aren't doing so well right now (here's looking at you, Target and Southwest, LOL).

Great long term, buy and hold stocks.

 

[TastyReuben]

I love my Apple, Microsoft, General Mills, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan.

I’m right there with you, baby! Can’t wait to retire and start living off my Sears, Radio Shack, and Blockbuster Video stock!

Matter of fact, let me just go check on those…

Oh , I wonder if Walmart is hiring?

 

[JAS_OH1]

I’m right there with you, baby! Can’t wait to retire and start living off my Sears, Radio Shack, and Blockbuster Video stock!

Matter of fact, let me just go check on those…

Oh , I wonder if Walmart is hiring?

That's funny stuff. Jim Cramer on CNBC told a sad but interesting story about how his dad invested a lot of money in Blockbuster and lost it. The story he tells is to encourage new investors not to put all their eggs in one basket and how important it is to be diversified into various sectors. Oh, and maybe to duck when the sky is falling, LOL.

Walmart is probably hiring, LOL...I know you are just kidding but you could buy some of their stock. They have come a long way with ecommerce and other aspects. In fact, I think Target is a buy too, and I did add to my position on it a few weeks back even though I think it will be some time before it recovers (hopefully by late 2023). If it dips again I will likely buy some more. Oh, also I recently added Salesforce (ticker CRM) and I think that's a really great stock even though it doesn't pay a dividend. Marc Benioff is fantastic!

I of course have some specs out there too and I think that some of them are going to do quite well, Tellurian in particular. I try to avoid spec stocks because of my advancing age, but I made a lot of money on Moderna and Novavax, I bought them at a really great price (under $10 per share) and sold them in the $100's per share. I'd have to take a look back to see exactly what I paid and sold them for, that was 2 years ago, but it was a nice tidy profit.

Are your investment accounts managed by someone else? Do you have money in savings accounts? Not trying to give financial advice or tell anyone what to do with their money (never take financial advice from somebody on the internet, LOL) but there are stocks that are dividend aristocrats that pay waaaaaay more interest than any savings or even money market accounts do.

 

[TastyReuben]

Are your investment accounts managed by someone else? Do you have money in savings accounts?

Yes, we have a financial planner, same guy since…2005, I think.

We have money stashed just about any which way it can be stashed; pension plan, IRAs, 401(k), Roth IRAs, savings accounts for quick access, some other kind of funky account, I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s something that’s available should we need it, without penalty, but it’s a little bit of work to get it out, and you can’t get it same-day (or next-day), it’s a little higher yield, and it’s designed to discourage undisciplined people from having easy access.

But being that MrsT is tighter than a frog’s butt, I didn’t really think it was necessary, and that’s when she told me, “That’s in case something happens to me; I’m protecting you from yourself!”

I actually have nothing to do with our finances, apart from earning money. I don’t like having anything whatsoever to do with money or money management. I don’t like talking about it, thinking about it, or knowing about it. I just want to go out and spend it, within reason.

All I need to know is, “You’re free to spend,” or “You need to put the brakes on.” - I can easily go out and spend all our money or none of it, I don’t care either way, I just need to know, in general terms.

Would you believe, I don’t even know exactly what my salary is, and I have no idea what my take-home pay is. Couldn’t even hazard a guess. I also don’t know what we pay in property taxes, or what our house payment is (though I know the house is four years away from being paid for).

MrsT tries to include me in that stuff, but I just tell her, “If I have to know about the finances, you’re going to have to learn to cook. Let’s both just stay in our lanes.”

Funny story, when we first got married, we were figuring out our roles, and I said I’d do the cooking and she said she wanted to handle the finances, apart from doing the taxes.

“No problem, I can do the taxes,” I said.

Tax time rolled around, I grabbed all the stuff, and went to a tax preparer (free service when I was active duty Air Force), and she was seriously ticked off that she spent all year sticking to a budget, and managing our savings, paying our bills, and the one thing I said I’d do, I just passed off to someone else!

 

[JAS_OH1]

Yes, we have a financial planner, same guy since…2005, I think.

We have money stashed just about any which way it can be stashed; pension plan, IRAs, 401(k), Roth IRAs, savings accounts for quick access, some other kind of funky account, I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s something that’s available should we need it, without penalty, but it’s a little bit of work to get it out, and you can’t get it same-day (or next-day), it’s a little higher yield, and it’s designed to discourage undisciplined people from having easy access.

But being that MrsT is tighter than a frog’s butt, I didn’t really think it was necessary, and that’s when she told me, “That’s in case something happens to me; I’m protecting you from yourself!”

I actually have nothing to do with our finances, apart from earning money. I don’t like having anything whatsoever to do with money or money management. I don’t like talking about it, thinking about it, or knowing about it. I just want to go out and spend it, within reason.

All I need to know is, “You’re free to spend,” or “You need to put the brakes on.” - I can easily go out and spend all our money or none of it, I don’t care either way, I just need to know, in general terms.

Would you believe, I don’t even know exactly what my salary is, and I have no idea what my take-home pay is. Couldn’t even hazard a guess. I also don’t know what we pay in property taxes, or what our house payment is (though I know the house is four years away from being paid for).

MrsT tries to include me in that stuff, but I just tell her, “If I have to know about the finances, you’re going to have to learn to cook. Let’s both just stay in our lanes.”

Funny story, when we first got married, we were figuring out our roles, and I said I’d do the cooking and she said she wanted to handle the finances, apart from doing the taxes.

“No problem, I can do the taxes,” I said.

Tax time rolled around, I grabbed all the stuff, and went to a tax preparer (free service when I was active duty Air Force), and she was seriously ticked off that she spent all year sticking to a budget, and managing our savings, paying our bills, and the one thing I said I’d do, I just passed off to someone else!

That's fantastic! You married your money manager

I'm with you on a few things, I have no idea what our property taxes are, how much the utility bills are, etc. I do know that hubby had the house paid off before we got together. He too doesn't cook (much). I do like playing with the stock market, however. I am not crazy about money but it is a necessity, and it wasn't until I got into my early 50s that I started thinking I needed to have a little extra cushion for myself when I get older, so I started investing. And now I find it fun, except for recently with the inflation/Ukraine-Russia war and other factors that have cost me money. But I am still way ahead overall, much more than if I had put my money in just a money market account or even if I let someone else manage it for me.

Where we differ is that my husband and I have separate finances, and it works for us. We have our own separate checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, and investment accounts and do not have any financial products or services together.

 

[karadekoolaid]

I actually have nothing to do with our finances, apart from earning money. I don’t like having anything whatsoever to do with money or money management. I don’t like talking about it, thinking about it, or knowing about it. I just want to go out and spend it, within reason.

All I need to know is, “You’re free to spend,” or “You need to put the brakes on.” - I can easily go out and spend all our money or none of it, I don’t care either way, I just need to know, in general terms.

Would you believe, I don’t even know exactly what my salary is, and I have no idea what my take-home pay is. Couldn’t even hazard a guess. I also don’t know what we pay in property taxes, or what our house payment is (though I know the house is four years away from being paid for).

MrsT tries to include me in that stuff, but I just tell her, “If I have to know about the finances, you’re going to have to learn to cook. Let’s both just stay in our lanes.”

I am seriously impressed.
I wish I had had someone like that,who knows how to manage money and finances, who knows how to administrate. I am absolutely hopeless with money. Never to the point of being profligate; simply NABC.

 

[JAS_OH1]

I am seriously impressed.
I wish I had had someone like that,who knows how to manage money and finances, who knows how to administrate. I am absolutely hopeless with money. Never to the point of being profligate; simply NABC.

But I think you must be seriously good at making it!! How did you run your chutney business, did someone else manage it and you were just the creative genius?

 

[TastyReuben]

That's fantastic! You married your money manager

I wish I had had someone like that,who knows how to manage money and finances

I’m extremely fortunate that way, and it’s funny how it worked out.

Both my dad and his dad were very responsible with money, and very adept at turning a little into a little bit more, and so on, and my dad preached fiscal responsibility day-in and day-out, but it never really took with any of us except one.

MrsT was raised in a fairly comfortably-off family, I was raised dirt-poor (well, I should say dust-poor, as we couldn’t quite afford dirt, that would have been a step up ), but to see us, you’d think it was the other way around, because I’ll spend it if I have it, and I’ll spend it on me, and you, and the homeless guy on the corner, whereas she’s so miserly, she can squeeze 30 cents out of a quarter.

We do ok, and every bit of it is down to her. Two of my brothers are like me, and they both married women who can’t manage money at all…and turned everything over to them, and they’ve lived in poverty ever since. Everyone it my family thinks I’m Mr. Moneybags and I make a million dollars a month, and I always tell them, “I’ll bet you make more money than I do, but I made two smart financial decisions that you didn’t: I married the right woman and we didn’t have kids!”

 

[JAS_OH1]

I’m not extremely fortunate that way, and it’s funny how it worked out.

Both my dad and his dad were very responsible with money, and very adept at turning a little into a little bit more, and so on, and my dad preached fiscal responsibility day-in and day-out, but it never really took with any of us except one.

MrsT was raised in a fairly comfortably-off family, I was raised dirt-poor (well, I should say dust-poor, as we couldn’t quite afford dirt, that would have been a step up ), but to see us, you’d think it was the other way around, because I’ll spend it if I have it, and I’ll spend it on me, and you, and the homeless guy on the corner, whereas she’s so miserly, she can squeeze 30 cents out of a quarter.

We do ok, and every bit of it is down to her. Two of my brothers are like me, and they both married women who manage money at all…and turned everything over to them, and they’ve lived in poverty ever since. Everyone it my family thinks I’m Mr. Moneybags and I make a million dollars a month, and I always tell them, “I’ll bet you make more money than I do, but I made two smart financial decisions that you didn’t: I married the right woman and we didn’t have kids!”

Yeah, those kids. They stay expensive even after they become adults. Ours have good jobs and know how to make money, but only one of them is fiscally smart--she is the youngest and happens to be the one who makes the most money out of them all. She is good at spending it too, but she manages to save a lot as well and has investment accounts. The others spend it as quick as they make it and still manage to hit their dad up for money, loans that will never be repaid. Which brings to mind that when I was a young adult, I borrowed money a few times from my dad, but I always paid him back within the year without him having to ask for it. Asking to borrow money does not mean that if it's your parent you don't have to pay it back. Hubby will never ask them for it and he will never see it.

 

[karadekoolaid]

But I think you must be seriously good at making it!! How did you run your chutney business, did someone else manage it and you were just the creative genius?

I was surprised that I had absolutely no fears about facing a huge supermarket and telling them, to their face, that my product was the best on the market. I was surprised I could rub shoulders with top chefs in the country and convince them I was making something really worthwhile and of high quality. I was not surprised I could face the public, on radio, TV and in events, and convince them I had something they needed.
Neither was I surprised I had no idea how to manage the money. Artist, rather than Scientist!

 

[TastyReuben]

Yeah, those kids. They stay expensive even after they become adults.

With my siblings, my folks have helped two of them out of the occasional tight spot, no questions asked, and that’s fine. I’m pleased we never had to do that.

My sis, though, is the worst offender, and it’s the root of what estranges her from much of our family.

Like I said, we grew up cash-poor, like didn’t have money for shoes poor. Dad, through being frugal, disciplined, and smart, managed to save enough for a comfortable retirement at 59. That’s pretty good for a guy who didn’t graduate high school.

They were really looking forward to a comfortable but moderate retirement. Go see the Grand Canyon, go south for the winter, that sort of thing.

Then my sister oops’d her boyfriend (and as someone who is voluntarily childfree, that is one of the most unforgivable things I can think of, forcing parenthood on someone) as a last-ditch effort to get him to marry her (that failed miserably), and a couple of years after that, she was nearly killed in a car wreck, which put her out of work for a few years.

She refused to go on “welfare” (disability that she’d paid into all her working life), too proud, and instead let my folks support her, and even after she got back to work, she could never earn more than just above the poverty line, and she leaks money like sieve, and doesn’t even understand the concept of money management.

I know my dad let slip, in a moment of anger, that they were floating her $25K-$30K a year, in addition to her own small salary, and after 25 years or so of that, in their last years, they’re essentially living on their Social Security check (Medicaid pays for my dad’s nursing home).

She’s a bottomless pit of spending, and where some people have a gambling addiction, or a food addiction, she has a shopping addiction. She can’t help it, and she has a house full of stuff, then she gives it away or throws it out…and buys more stuff. Never-ending cycle.

With my siblings kids, I can look at them and see that the ones who have financially-irresponsible parents are themselves financially irresponsible. It’s like the cycle is doomed to repeat itself.

What I see with them, same as with their parents is, “I want this, I want that, they have this, I should have that,” and if they don’t have the money, they buy it on credit. Doomed to poverty, living like that.

 

[JAS_OH1]

With my siblings, my folks have helped two of them out of the occasional tight spot, no questions asked, and that’s fine. I’m pleased we never had to do that.

My sis, though, is the worst offender, and it’s the root of what estranges her from much of our family.

Like I said, we grew up cash-poor, like didn’t have money for shoes poor. Dad, through being frugal, disciplined, and smart, managed to save enough for a comfortable retirement at 59. That’s pretty good for a guy who didn’t graduate high school.

They were really looking forward to a comfortable but moderate retirement. Go see the Grand Canyon, go south for the winter, that sort of thing.

Then my sister oops’d her boyfriend (and as someone who is voluntarily childfree, that is one of the most unforgivable things I can think of, forcing parenthood on someone) as a last-ditch effort to get him to marry her (that failed miserably), and a couple of years after that, she was nearly killed in a car wreck, which put her out of work for a few years.

She refused to go on “welfare” (disability that she’d paid into all her working life), too proud, and instead let my folks support her, and even after she got back to work, she could never earn more than just above the poverty line, and she leaks money like sieve, and doesn’t even understand the concept of money management.

I know my dad let slip, in a moment of anger, that they were floating her $25K-$30K a year, in addition to her own small salary, and after 25 years or so of that, in their last years, they’re essentially living on their Social Security check (Medicaid pays for my dad’s nursing home).

She’s a bottomless pit of spending, and where some people have a gambling addiction, or a food addiction, she has a shopping addiction. She can’t help it, and she has a house full of stuff, then she gives it away or throws it out…and buys more stuff. Never-ending cycle.

With my siblings kids, I can look at them and see that the ones who have financially-irresponsible parents are themselves financially irresponsible. It’s like the cycle is doomed to repeat itself.

What I see with them, same as with their parents is, “I want this, I want that, they have this, I should have that,” and if they don’t have the money, they buy it on credit. Doomed to poverty, living like that.

I remember you saying that about your sister, that and a whole bunch more that makes me sad about how she treats the people in her family.

I don't know if necessarily your siblings kids are taking after their parents, because to me it seems that a lot of younger people are just so materialistic and self-serving these days that it just blows my mind. There are exceptions of course, but too many of the younger generations in the US these days can't name the Supreme Court Justices (even with all the recent press) or other relevant news. However, they can name all the Kardashians, their significant others, and their kids. And so forth.

 

[Morning Glory]

I know my dad let slip, in a moment of anger, that they were floating her $25K-$30K a year, in addition to her own small salary, and after 25 years or so of that, in their last years, they’re essentially living on their Social Security check (Medicaid pays for my dad’s nursing home).

Blimey - thats a big amount to be paying to one child for 25 years. We help my kids with rent which is expensive here, but its nowhere near that amount that we give them. We help them mainly because otherwise at leat one of them might move back here!

 

[TastyReuben]

Blimey - thats a big amount to be paying to one child for 25 years.

Here’s the thing - Year after year, my parents would complain and complain about my sister…but continue to give her whatever she demanded, which was a pattern with them, whether it was money or their relationship overall.

I used to feel bad for my parents, but in 2005, after a rash of them complaining, all us brothers got together, sat down with my parents, and offered to confront our sis, intervention-style, over what she was taking from our parents, and the way she treated them as well (the money was just the tip of the iceberg).

We had it all worked out, we’d all worked up our strategy, and the morning of, our folks called it off. After that, I realized it takes two: one to take the money, but one to give the money, and it was in their power to say no, yet continually, again and again, they’d fork it over with no protest whatsoever.

My mom would call me and say, “Well, Rachael was out here again, said she needed $20 for gas, so I had to give her $20.”

“Why don’t you just tell her no?”
“She’s got to get to work somehow!”

Can’t help people who won’t help themselves, and one of my other brothers feels exactly the same way. They did it to themselves as much as she did it to them.

 

[JAS_OH1]

Here’s the thing - Year after year, my parents would complain and complain about my sister…but continue to give her whatever she demanded, which was a pattern with them, whether it was money or their relationship overall.

I used to feel bad for my parents, but in 2005, after a rash of them complaining, all us brothers got together, sat down with my parents, and offered to confront our sis, intervention-style, over what she was taking from our parents, and the way she treated them as well (the money was just the tip of the iceberg).

We had it all worked out, we’d all worked up our strategy, and the morning of, our folks called it off. After that, I realized it takes two: one to take the money, but one to give the money, and it was in their power to say no, yet continually, again and again, they’d fork it over with no protest whatsoever.

My mom would call me and say, “Well, Rachael was out here again, said she needed $20 for gas, so I had to give her $20.”

“Why don’t you just tell her no?”
“She’s got to get to work somehow!”

Can’t help people who won’t help themselves, and one of my other brothers feels exactly the same way. They did it to themselves as much as she did it to them.

Yup. Middle stepdaughter eked out toll money to travel to her sister's house who lives almost 2 hours away, money for milk for the baby because her husband wasn't there at the time, etc. And nevermind the 2k that hubby shelled out for some reason before they left town.

Edited to add that yes, they are young people but they are adults (late 20s) and for crying out loud, it's just not going to stop unless someone puts their foot down and quits giving it to them!