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Cammer Michael

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    • I bonds look like a very attractive side investment. But what will they be worth if we cannot log in to the account, the ledgers are compromised, or something else happens to access? Perhaps the interest rates they are pegged to will be very different than real inflation. Or the rules will be changed. You could dismiss me as crazy, but what's happened in DC in the last two weeks?

      Post: Limiting Risk of Rising Rates

      Link to comment from February 8, 2025

    • I find the tax code fascinating and useful to know, but we also need to look at how the IRS and other gov't agencies operate. For instance, the last time I sent estimated payment checks to the IRS, it took weeks for them to clear. After three weeks of not seeing the checks clear, I shot off an email to my accountant asking him if I should worry that the mail got stolen. His reply was, they're understaffed and working remote, so wait another week or two. My point: tax code is important, but a functional or dysfunctional IRS may play a role in how we behave. We are in uncharted territory here. Things are changing fast. We should be very troubled by recent access given to the Social Security computer system to the newly appointed efficiency experts. This indicates how government is rapidly changing. Can we responsibly continue to have the discussions we have here, which assume stability, while the systems themselves are being radically altered?

      Post: Whither Taxes?

      Link to comment from February 1, 2025

    • I greatly enjoyed this article, especially the point that "I also suspect almost all of us feel better when we end the day with a sense of accomplishment and devote at least part of the day to activities that help the wider community."

      Post: Taking Center Stage

      Link to comment from January 26, 2025

    • There's a lifeguard shortage now. Why?

      Post: Making money – out of touch with the good old days. Maybe just a little rant by RDQ

      Link to comment from January 26, 2025

    • It's much more difficult for kids to get jobs now than when my parents and I were kids. The youth employment service has fewer listings. There weren't complex onboarding procedures like now. There's less local retail. This is real and a serious problem. My kids both found a retail job and their friends cooked up schemes, such as illegally selling home baked cookies at school, but the kids who weren't working in their family's business or helping their family with whatever side hustle they had going on had problems finding jobs. Definitely easier when I was a kid.

      Post: Making money – out of touch with the good old days. Maybe just a little rant by RDQ

      Link to comment from January 26, 2025

    • When I was 25 my boss called me to his office. He asked me if I was in the 403(b) plan. I said no. He said that the school matched up to 7% of contributions, so even if I couldn't afford to put away 10%, I should at least enroll for 7%. He called it free money. He was right, and at the next enrollment period I maxed it out. I also opened a post tax IRA and maxed it out. I was underpaid, the lowest tier of non tenure track faculty. I was really lucky to have the job; my alternative plan was temping. The only reason I could afford to save for retirement was I had no debt and I had no rent payments. If I weren't living at my parents' or I had student loans, saving for retirement would have been impossible. My character is compulsive saver. But putting away money in the 403(b) and IRA would have been impossible if I had to pay for my own housing (and car, my parents were liberal with letting me use theirs). I agree with your pointing out how many people can't save because of their behaviors. This is true for many. But we're also too quick to blame people who simple didn't start with a firm foundation, made a youthful error of taking on too much debt, or had bad luck, like medical bills.

      Post: The Que sera, sera retirement planning strategy. 

      Link to comment from January 18, 2025

    • I loved visiting New Orleans before Katrina and have gone back since. Every time, looking up at the water, I thought that it was ridiculous. After Katrina, I did not support rebuilding. Pacific Palisades along the water, no. Make it a public beach until the ocean claims it. Altadena, maybe. Go read the recent article in this newsletter about the benefits of renting. Every time I think about natural disasters or war, I think of the benefits of renting.

      Post: Would You Rebuild?

      Link to comment from January 18, 2025

    • I didn't like Bush on cultural issues and he started a forever war which his father wisely avoided, but he and all presidents of my lifetime honored the rules of preserving the economic system. I never worried for basic economics. The primacy of the American Dollar was safe with both parties. What we have now is unprecedented, at least since the mid-1930s.

      Post: Limits of Power by Jonathan Clements

      Link to comment from January 18, 2025

    • I've posted similar comments in other articles. In brief, we've never had federal control intent on breaking the rules. We don't know what is coming, but we know that the new gov't is racist and intolerant of dissent, supports shifting wealth to the wealthiest, is willing to shut down the gov't and even default on its debt, and is dedicated to increasing debt while reducing revenues to cover it. We are in new territory. Regarding dissent, from the early 20th C through the 1950s, white people, many who were striving to be middle class, were stripped of their assets &/or imprisoned because of their political views (or just their perceived associations). Is this coming back too? Also, I've been wondering about tax free bonds issued in blue states. Will the states be punished, thus putting pressure on the ability to honor these instruments?

      Post: Limits of Power by Jonathan Clements

      Link to comment from January 18, 2025

    • If you own and terrible neighbors move it, what do you do?

      Post: Home Free

      Link to comment from January 18, 2025

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