OT: stocks today

[scaredyclassic]

On Children
Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

[scaredyclassic]

…dup

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=moneymaker]For those seeking meaning in their lives the Dalai Lama will be speaking at UCSD Friday June 16 9 a.m. at RIMAC Field, tickets are required. I’ve never seen him in person so I will be going with an open mind.[/quote]

i have tix. my little one is a big fan. hes also concerned and was the 1st to inform me that this might be the last dalai lama due to China.

the story why Chinas interference is loathsome can be researched on the internet (heres a start from the ny times https://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/magazine/the-last-dalai-lama.html )…

it is likely there will be no more true dalai lamas, due to his exile, the mystical rules concerning new dalai lamas, and chinese repression of tibet.

in the future d.l.s will be appointed by china, just fake chinese copies appointed by china not accepted by tibetans.

but things change. the strong beat down the weak. life goes on, indeed, that is life. even the dalai lama thinks the institution ofhaving a dalai lama may no longer be useful.

[ucodegen]

[quote=scaredyclassic]On Children
Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.[/quote]

I really like the last line of that, something that some parents don’t really understand. Children don’t need their parents to be their friend, though the child may want it. It is better for the parent to be the rock that will weather a child’s storms and be there when the child needs someone to hold tight to when they have their own storms to weather. To be there without prejudice on the child’s decisions, giving honest opinion without derision, honest guidance without seeking control.

The first part almost seems to be similar in message to “The Desiderata”. ie.

You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

And no, I am not referring to “Deteriorata”.

[Coronita]

[quote=moneymaker]For those seeking meaning in their lives the Dalai Lama will be speaking at UCSD Friday June 16 9 a.m. at RIMAC Field, tickets are required. I’ve never seen him in person so I will be going with an open mind.[/quote]

Meh.

I’d rather not sit through hours listening to guy, which can be summed up in a few words.

1. Don’t be a dick 100% of the time.
2. Don’t do dickish things to screw other people over.
3. If you are a dick and do dickish things, bad things may happen to you.

I’ve got other meaningless things I’d rather be spending my time on.

[Coronita]

http://www.pensionrights.org/publications/fact-sheet/retirement-plan-contribution-and-benefit-limits

2017 401k Contribution limits are $18k.

For those of you with the option to contribute to either a traditional 401k or a Roth 401k or split contribution between the two, that’s a no brainer, especially if your employer also does a $5-10k+ match on top of that.

$18k contributions each year with 4% annual return is about $828k after 25 years
$18k contributions each year with 5% annual return is about $963k after 25 years
$18k + 5k employer match each year with 4% annual return is about $1.06m after 25 years
$18k + 5k employer match each year with 5% annual return is about $1.23m after 25 years

Why gamble your entire retirement on a one hit epic guess being correct on the direction of the stock market…when that one hit epic guess could end up turning out to be an epic failure for your retirement?

Let time do it’s work…

[spdrun]

That’s money you can’t touch tax-free till you’re 65. Whereas property gives tax-advantaged income virtually immediately. (Barring drastic tax changes.)

[FlyerInHi]

Better make sure you live a clean life the same way you invest for the long term. It would be too bad to be financially savvy but reckless with your health. When I see people gorging themselves and asking for extra sauce, I think they won’t live to enjoy their savings.

Fixing up property is a good way to stay active and healthy. Kill 2 birds with the same stone so that’s even better return on real estate.

[Coronita]

[quote=spdrun]That’s money you can’t touch tax-free till you’re 65. Whereas property gives tax-advantaged income virtually immediately. (Barring drastic tax changes.)[/quote]

Wrongo… Actually, if you wanted to you could touch it and borrow against it, and pay yourself 4%, up to some of the plan’s conditions. I did just that to bridge all cash property purchase before I could cash out refinance. Now, some financial planners say thats a bad idea because if you borrow all against it, you’re not really putting your money to work for you, so most plans try to limit want can be borrowed. The thing about tax deferred (and in the case of Roth tax exempt), gains compound without taking a tax hit… So if you really wanted to go in and out of a funds, there would be no tax consequences.

Even if you didn’t contribute to a 401k, but tucked $18k into normal index fund account, it would have almost the same results..There is a slight tax hit from capital gains/dividends…But index funds don’t usually churn that much each year wrto cap gains and dividends, so there’s not as much of a tax hit each year (as opposed to actively managed funds).

I’m not disagreeing with the tax advantages of real estate investments, when that option is there. But waiting indefinitely for that one shot hit, well like I said, you are giving (gave?) up a huge opportunity, simply because it seems you just wanted to be right while you wanted the majority of others to be wrong…whether you want to admit it or not.

You aren’t going to really do that much better banking on a one shot hit relative to others who’s been doing the old slow drip/invest/planning thing all along…Rabbits that take power naps in between work always lose to tortoises that’s been working slowly, and more consistently for a lot longer. Everyone knows that.

[FlyerInHi]

America doesn’t like turtoise that plugs along slowly over a lifeltime. There is no good hero story to tell. Except at the end when he lives his whole estate to charity.

America likes rabbits who run races that can be quantified with a score. Winning races is even better. A holistic approach to life that emphasize the totality is boring.

[Coronita]

[quote=FlyerInHi]America doesn’t like turtoise that plugs along slowly over a lifeltime. There is no good hero story to tell. Except at the end when he lives his whole estate to charity.

America likes rabbits who run races that can be quantified with a score. Winning races is even better. A holistic approach to life that emphasize the totality is boring.[/quote]

The problem is that most people think they are all going to end up winning first place….Then reality hits….No plan B.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=flu]

The problem is that most people think they are all going to end up winning first place….Then reality hits….No plan B.[/quote]

That is so true…

I wonder if it’s possible to run simultaneously on 2 tracks, as a rabbit and a turtoise at the same time. As a turtoise, you set a baseline of safety below which you will not fall, so you’re free to pusue your dreams as the rabbit.

It can be argued that in advanced countries, there is a baseline standard of living so people feel free to be creative and take risks. In the aggregate, we all win.

[svelte]

[quote=flu][quote=spdrun]That’s money you can’t touch tax-free till you’re 65. Whereas property gives tax-advantaged income virtually immediately. (Barring drastic tax changes.)[/quote]

Wrongo… Actually, if you wanted to you could touch it and borrow against it, and pay yourself 4%, up to some of the plan’s conditions. [/quote]

There are other ways too.

Many 401Ks have hardship clauses where the money can be accessed penalty free at any age.

If you retire at 55, you can access the money penalty free.

And at age 59.5, you can access the money penalty free whether you retire or not.

[mixxalot]

I bought on the recent dip some AT&T stock. Hopefully it does well over the long run. Wish I had bought more AAPL at 80 last year. Would have made a lot more money!

[Coronita]

So the funny part about today is that in all of my accounts that just does the slow and steady drip drip drip index funds
(401k, IRA, Roth IRA, kid’s 529, and my after tax Vanguard account), they are all up a decent amount.

On the other hand, my brokerage account, which I use to actively trade some stocks thinking it *might* beat the market, is down $1000.. Fortunately, it’s only $170k in that account….I would like to think my stock picking skills can consistently beat the markets, but they can’t….

Sure glad I don’t even try to put all my eggs in that account thinking I’m smarter than the markets all the time.

[Author]

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