John Rekenthaler from Morningstar has thoughts about how to fix Social Security. He details how each side of the political isle would have to compromise on a couple of points as he produced the following list.
It does seem like something will have to give and if that is the case then there will be people who are unhappy with having to give something up. I would suggest not focusing on the right/wrong or fairness of any of it because if it is going to happen, it is going to happen. Instead I would focus on what you will do if you end up getting much less or getting means tested out. You're expecting $4000/mo? What if it's only $3000 and you have to wait a year or two longer? Solving for that problem seems more important than the right/wrong of it.
Famous FIRE advocate Tanja Hester was interviewed by Yahoo Finance. A quick reminder that FIRE stands for financial independence/retire early. Hester "retired" five years ago at 38. I've read a couple of things from her before and can't quite connect the dots for how they accumulated enough that young to retire. She had a couple of good comments about keeping housing expenses and transportation costs low and putting money into Roth accounts. Good stuff ye,s but I still can't figure out how they retired.
Of course they really aren't retired but they are clearly financially independent setting their own schedule having created a robust media business of blogging and there is at least one book that has been written. As a very random coincidence, the 81 year old board president of Walker Fire said to me on Saturday to never stop working, that's when you die. Of course working doesn't have to mean getting paid. My wife has been volunteering as a full time gig for many years. Having financial independence allows for doing whatever you want to do. I don't doubt Hester's financial ability five years ago to go out on her own, with her husband, to this phase of advocating for FIRE. Building up a nest egg at that age that allows for taking a calculated risk is a huge win and they succeeded fantastically on that front but I think many people hear "I retired at 38" from her and get the wrong idea.
Last year, we picked on risk parity a lot. It's supposed to be an all-weather strategy. Last year many of the funds in the space got clocked because of the brutal selloff in bonds. Here's the last six months versus the S&P 500.
What problem are they trying to solve? I still do not think it works in a fund wrapper.
By now you probably know there is a plan to protect depositors at Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB) as well as Signature Bank (SBNY). The Sunday night reaction in the S&P 500 futures market is a move higher by about 1%, a little more at last look. Crisis averted? I have no idea. The big thing though was that a plan was devised before the Asian markets opened for their respective Monday (Sunday night in the US) sessions. Maybe the crisis has been averted but I would be emotionally prepared for more of an adverse reaction to come. Great if it doesn't but don't get blindsided.
I've mentioned the pack test numerous times over the years. This is the annual physical requirement to be able to fight a wildland fire that entails hiking three miles with a 45 pound pack in 45 minutes or less. I'm beyond grateful to still be a no doubter for this in my age 57 fire season. There is a moderate version of two miles in 30 minutes wearing 25 pounds. This allows for operating water trucks (the proper term is water tender) and in some places including Walker, operating an engine panel.
Without getting into why I looked, other than to say I am not moving there, the state of Virginia Department of Forestry appears to allow firefighters to fully engage with just the moderate pack test. They call that a green card as opposed to how we fully qualify with a red card. Their firefighters can get a red card with the right pack test but it appears to not be required. I was flabbergasted. If this makes its way to anyone at VDOF, am I reading your site correctly?
4 comments:
Curious why the SS discussion did not include expanding tax above the wage limit, or for non-wage income. Seems a large possible source for funds.
@dave santo.
I took Rekenthaler to believe that the Dems and GOP wouldn't be able to agree on a way to do that.
My personal strategy has been to use SS payments to cover medicare (which I am required to pay for). So far, the SS payments are around 2x the medicare bills. I figure with healthcare inflation exceeding SS increases, my strategy should hold up for around 20 years. For expenses outside of medicare, a variety of other instruments will do the job.
@unknown just had a convo with a buddy, 69 and still works, not sure if he was taking SS yet. IRMAA kills him on medicare costs, all in he about $1100/mo. The idea that medicare is going up more than SS could lead to a brutal outcome for some folks.
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