Please don't do that, I highly value your viewpoint on all of the topics that you've commented on. You help provide great balance to these discussions!
Same thing happened to me, and I lost $18,000 of early IRA investment money. I think I was about 40 and now I'm 80, so that was half of my lifetime ago.
It was a horrible time and experience, in 2008 I was 2 years from retirement and my 65/35 stock/bond retirement savings dropped by 40%.
I committed the investment sin by selling my investments when they had re-risen by 2/3. My overall net loss by mid-2009 was about 13%.
But the most damage it did was turn me into a skeptical investor who was afraid to invest in equities that could drop by 50% at any time due to another unforeseen financial crisis or world event (like nuclear war). Consequently I have largely missed out on the huge equity market gains of the past 15 years.
Both!
My financial spreadsheets give me GREAT comfort.... using modest IRA earnings forecasts with my spreadsheet workbook that has a yearly spreadsheets for 2011-2044 (the end of our retirement planning period), I can essentially see the future with reasonable accuracy!
Dave
Thanks mom & dad, both yours for the help they gave you, an mine for the $12,000 (20%) down payment on my family of 5's first house in Concord, CA in 1975!
Article in today's NY times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/realestate/property-tax-second-homes-massachusetts.html?unlocked_article_code=1.IVA.NgUk.xDuEl8w4Tv5Q&smid=url-share
"...those towns that have lakes and ocean front vacation properties have the lowest real estate taxes": In California, property taxes are proportional to the assessed value of the property, hence more expensive properties automatically pay higher property taxes. Isn't that the logical (and fair) way to address the revenue needs of the expensive real estate vacation towns discussed in this article?
Your last sentence screams for a single national health care system which covers all U.S. citizens and eliminates the expensive middlemen (insurance companies)!
If the non-resident property owners do not represent any extra cost burden to the city above those of the full-time residents (of course the opposite is true), then it would be blatantly unfair to charge them a higher property tax rate.
Comments
Please don't do that, I highly value your viewpoint on all of the topics that you've commented on. You help provide great balance to these discussions!
Post: If you have done well, be proud.
Link to comment from February 17, 2026
Same thing happened to me, and I lost $18,000 of early IRA investment money. I think I was about 40 and now I'm 80, so that was half of my lifetime ago.
Post: Keep it Simpler
Link to comment from February 16, 2026
It was a horrible time and experience, in 2008 I was 2 years from retirement and my 65/35 stock/bond retirement savings dropped by 40%. I committed the investment sin by selling my investments when they had re-risen by 2/3. My overall net loss by mid-2009 was about 13%. But the most damage it did was turn me into a skeptical investor who was afraid to invest in equities that could drop by 50% at any time due to another unforeseen financial crisis or world event (like nuclear war). Consequently I have largely missed out on the huge equity market gains of the past 15 years.
Post: Financial Trauma
Link to comment from February 14, 2026
Both! My financial spreadsheets give me GREAT comfort.... using modest IRA earnings forecasts with my spreadsheet workbook that has a yearly spreadsheets for 2011-2044 (the end of our retirement planning period), I can essentially see the future with reasonable accuracy! Dave
Post: Yes, I am a NIIT wit
Link to comment from February 11, 2026
Thanks mom & dad, both yours for the help they gave you, an mine for the $12,000 (20%) down payment on my family of 5's first house in Concord, CA in 1975!
Post: A Message to Young Readers: Your Crisis Is Coming.
Link to comment from February 9, 2026
I completely concur with your statements!
Post: Investments Tax
Link to comment from January 31, 2026
Article in today's NY times: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/realestate/property-tax-second-homes-massachusetts.html?unlocked_article_code=1.IVA.NgUk.xDuEl8w4Tv5Q&smid=url-share
Post: Decoupled From Reality
Link to comment from January 30, 2026
"...those towns that have lakes and ocean front vacation properties have the lowest real estate taxes": In California, property taxes are proportional to the assessed value of the property, hence more expensive properties automatically pay higher property taxes. Isn't that the logical (and fair) way to address the revenue needs of the expensive real estate vacation towns discussed in this article?
Post: Decoupled From Reality
Link to comment from January 30, 2026
Your last sentence screams for a single national health care system which covers all U.S. citizens and eliminates the expensive middlemen (insurance companies)!
Post: Medicare Advantage- heads up‼️
Link to comment from January 30, 2026
If the non-resident property owners do not represent any extra cost burden to the city above those of the full-time residents (of course the opposite is true), then it would be blatantly unfair to charge them a higher property tax rate.
Post: Decoupled From Reality
Link to comment from January 29, 2026