You live in a University town and you can't see the greed that is right in front of you. Student Loan debt equals $1.6 Trillion which exceeds Auto Loans ($1.55T), and Credit Cards ($0.99T). If you are in search of "greed" and "jacked up prices" and "price gouging", look no further than your local university President who lives in a mansion. College Tuition has been increasing at twice the rate of inflation for more than 30+ years. That is more of a problem for home ownership among young people than rents.
If you are getting your financial "news" from CBS's 60 minutes, you are going to be highly misinformed. You seem to have a strong bias against landlords just because a left wing news outlet told you they are bad people. You use phrases like "jacked up rent", "outrageous prices", you "blame builders" for building the type of houses people want, and claim that a "company that buys your house will gouge others".
Rents are going up because housing prices are going up. Housing prices are going up because of inflation caused by bad government policy (too much spending by the Federal Government and too much stimulus by the Federal Reserve Bank). As late as Feb of 2022, the Federal Reserve Bank kept interest rates at zero and was buy $75B (approx) of month of US Treasuries and MBS even though inflation was running at 8%. The federal government is still running $1 trillion dollar plus deficits to stimulate the economy while the Federal Reserve Bank is raising rates to try to slow the economy to reduce inflation.
Are you planning to sell your house at a below market price or are you going to "gouge someone" and take a "jacked up price"? The economic literacy of the latest batch of Humble Dollar writers is really poor. Humble Dollar used to be a place where intellegent personal finance advice was provided.
While I agree with the point that most people get more out of SS than they put in, you analysis is too simplistic. You can't compare 1959 dollars with 2023 dollars. You need to adjust for present value. Also, by definition in order for a pension plan to be solvent it needs to collect contributions equal to the amount of promised payouts adjusted for present value with a discount rate equal to the expected return on the portfolio. I am supportive of SS because people need a guaranteed income, especially less well-off people. But there is no real money set aside for SS. It is an usecured liability of the government. They will print money to pay their obligations or increase taxes or reduce benefits depending upon whichever is politically easier. Think conceptually, the government takes money from workers/companies and then spends it. They write a promissory note (Bond) to themselves and call it a trust fund. That is an economic farce.
I paid a significant amount of medicare insurance surcharges during my working years and will now have to pay higher insurance premiums for the same service. This hardly seems fair but the government trying to grab as much money as it can in the most politically sneaky way is hardly new. Anything above the base premius is definitely tax policy in disguise. About 50% of Americans don't pay any income taxes. While the super-rich don't pay much in taxes, the average high income wage earner in a Blue state pays 40% -50% of their income in taxes. The politicians protect the super-rich who fund their political campaigns with plenty of tax loopholes.
Great Article. I consider retiring early as meaning 55 or 60. Anything before that seems like dropping out of life, especially if you have to give up much of the pleasurable things in life like a wife, dog, vacations, nice house, nice car, restaurants.
Comments:
You live in a University town and you can't see the greed that is right in front of you. Student Loan debt equals $1.6 Trillion which exceeds Auto Loans ($1.55T), and Credit Cards ($0.99T). If you are in search of "greed" and "jacked up prices" and "price gouging", look no further than your local university President who lives in a mansion. College Tuition has been increasing at twice the rate of inflation for more than 30+ years. That is more of a problem for home ownership among young people than rents.
Post: Through the Roof
Link to comment from February 25, 2023
If you are getting your financial "news" from CBS's 60 minutes, you are going to be highly misinformed. You seem to have a strong bias against landlords just because a left wing news outlet told you they are bad people. You use phrases like "jacked up rent", "outrageous prices", you "blame builders" for building the type of houses people want, and claim that a "company that buys your house will gouge others". Rents are going up because housing prices are going up. Housing prices are going up because of inflation caused by bad government policy (too much spending by the Federal Government and too much stimulus by the Federal Reserve Bank). As late as Feb of 2022, the Federal Reserve Bank kept interest rates at zero and was buy $75B (approx) of month of US Treasuries and MBS even though inflation was running at 8%. The federal government is still running $1 trillion dollar plus deficits to stimulate the economy while the Federal Reserve Bank is raising rates to try to slow the economy to reduce inflation. Are you planning to sell your house at a below market price or are you going to "gouge someone" and take a "jacked up price"? The economic literacy of the latest batch of Humble Dollar writers is really poor. Humble Dollar used to be a place where intellegent personal finance advice was provided.
Post: Through the Roof
Link to comment from February 25, 2023
While I agree with the point that most people get more out of SS than they put in, you analysis is too simplistic. You can't compare 1959 dollars with 2023 dollars. You need to adjust for present value. Also, by definition in order for a pension plan to be solvent it needs to collect contributions equal to the amount of promised payouts adjusted for present value with a discount rate equal to the expected return on the portfolio. I am supportive of SS because people need a guaranteed income, especially less well-off people. But there is no real money set aside for SS. It is an usecured liability of the government. They will print money to pay their obligations or increase taxes or reduce benefits depending upon whichever is politically easier. Think conceptually, the government takes money from workers/companies and then spends it. They write a promissory note (Bond) to themselves and call it a trust fund. That is an economic farce.
Post: Myths That Won’t Die
Link to comment from February 18, 2023
I paid a significant amount of medicare insurance surcharges during my working years and will now have to pay higher insurance premiums for the same service. This hardly seems fair but the government trying to grab as much money as it can in the most politically sneaky way is hardly new. Anything above the base premius is definitely tax policy in disguise. About 50% of Americans don't pay any income taxes. While the super-rich don't pay much in taxes, the average high income wage earner in a Blue state pays 40% -50% of their income in taxes. The politicians protect the super-rich who fund their political campaigns with plenty of tax loopholes.
Post: Angry at IRMAA
Link to comment from February 8, 2023
Great Article. I consider retiring early as meaning 55 or 60. Anything before that seems like dropping out of life, especially if you have to give up much of the pleasurable things in life like a wife, dog, vacations, nice house, nice car, restaurants.
Post: How to Retire at 38
Link to comment from February 4, 2023
Great article. I work part time but enjoy calling myself retired.
Post: What Is Retirement?
Link to comment from February 1, 2023