conceding defeat

[Anonymous]

[quote=flyer]–it’s crystal clear than far more than one particular demographic have some major life and financial challenges ahead.[/quote]

They won’t even be able to afford a golf club membership!

[flyer]

If only it were that simple that would be great, but these indicators point to bigger problems like a retirement crisis across all generations, and other more serious concerns.

[no_such_reality]

[quote=flyer]Understand your thoughts, but whether people are educated or uneducated, dwell in the rustbelt or Silicon Valley, in the final analysis, imo, the survival of individuals and families boils down to net worth–regardless of political affiliation.

To that point, when you see stats that indicate only 9 percent of ALL US households have a net worth greater than $1M, and that the median net worth for ALL families in the US went from $102,500 in 1998 to $81,200 in 2014–and I won’t even get into the retirement savings stats–it’s crystal clear than far more than one particular demographic have some major life and financial challenges ahead.[/quote]

It gets even worse, Millenials are better educated, carry far more debt (in the form of student loans), work more hours and make 20% less than their baby boomer counterparts at the same point in their lives.

The last hundred years have been an anomaly of subdued might makes right. The robber barrons of the gilded age wielded their dollars like clubs, in the case of the Carnegie, Frick & Pinkerton, likely actual clubs and guns in the Homestead strike breaking.

[Anonymous]

[quote=flyer]To that point, when you see stats that indicate only 9 percent of ALL US households have a net worth greater than $1M, and that the median net worth for ALL families in the US went from $102,500 in 1998 to $81,200 in 2014–and I won’t even get into the retirement savings stats–it’s crystal clear than far more than one particular demographic have some major life and financial challenges ahead.[/quote]

About one in ten households are millionaires. And that’s a problem?

Net worth stats over the long term don’t tell us much. Sure, middle class net worth has plateaued as measured in dollars, but that’s to be expected in a developed country. Arguments that we are “poorer” than we were 20 or 50 years ago are ridiculous. Our homes are bigger, our cars are better, we enjoy so many things that didn’t even exist back then, and nobody – except the elderly – is any more wanting for basic necessities.

Which brings us to core problem on this subject: the demographics of aging. Life expectancy now far exceeds our productive working years. One solution for individuals is to amass wealth throughout one’s early life and retire with a big pile of money. But that’s never going to happen for everyone, or even a majority of the population. There are too many forces working against universal individual financial independence.

We can, and eventually will, have government-provided basic income for the elderly. It’s already happening; it started in the 1930s with social security, in the 1960s with medicare, and the trend is continuing despite the vocal political protests of a minority. It’s the only pragmatic and humane solution. There will be minor “first-world” hardships for some during the transition, but ultimately old people are going to vote themselves more and more wealth distribution.

So don’t fret about the retirement saving stats and enjoy the big pile of money that you claim to have. Everyone is going to be fine.

[flyer]

Agree many of us don’t have to worry about a retirement crisis, and, hope that will be true for everyone, but the stats cited by experts concerning this issue are thought provoking. Guess only time will tell how it all plays out.

[kev374]

I think I still did not get an answer to the question – if you had $300,000 sitting in the bank in CASH, what you would do with it now???

How would you diversify? What type of funds would you buy?

I want to get neutral advice from regular people without vested interests because I DO NOT TRUST financial advisers, I think they are scam artists.

[plm]

Well, what I did was put a lot of money in the stock market last year which is working out very well. Putting some money in this year as well but not as much.

I’ve been following a different stock strategy (buy stocks that are trending up than what I did in the past which is working out well. Tried diversifying by buying stocks in sectors other than semis and internet but those stocks aren’t doing as well. I’m not going to worry about diversifying going forward.

But really I’d suggest you make your own decisions. I’m not experienced in the stock market at all, making mistakes all the time. As long as the market keeps going up, more than likely the stock you pick will go up as well. So its kind of hard not to make money.

[millennial]

[quote=kev374]I think I still did not get an answer to the question – if you had $300,000 sitting in the bank in CASH, what you would do with it now???

How would you diversify? What type of funds would you buy?

I want to get neutral advice from regular people without vested interests because I DO NOT TRUST financial advisers, I think they are scam artists.[/quote]

If you are putting it all in the market it would probably depend a lot on your personal financial situation (age/personal liquidity etc.) and what you are planning on using it for (extra income/retirement/day to day living expenses/gamble).

I’m not a professional, but my strategy is to put it into low fee index funds that are based on the S&P 500. Personally I would put in about 5% or so a week (dollar cost avg) until I reach the amount that I feel comfortable with. Again depending on your age, you will want to diversify you funds with more/less in bonds, international, small cap/large cap etc.. For investment firms, I personally like Vanguard funds. They have a lot of no load options.

[Coronita]

Investing is not a one night stand… As I mentioned before, if you don’t trust your timing, then slowly buy no frills index funds every month 2-3k/month. In fact if you have been doing this for the past decade, you would have done ok.

Never too late to start, and less risk than deciding to move one huge chunk into the market all at once…

It’s no different than an regular 401k plan or any other time based plan….

small cap, mid cap, large cap, and international index.

My 2 cents.

[Author]

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