What's backing bitcoin? Just the fact that there's a limited number of them? Gold is a real physical thing, a valuable thing. It will never tarnish or rust, it has good electrical properties, it can't be created out of thin air. A limited amount is mined each year. Because of that, currency backed by gold (what we used to have) is hard to inflate, therefore it holds it's value over time.
I've found over the years that the higher your income, the less important a budget is, but the lower, the more important. The higher the income, the bigger the safety margin of not coming up short.
The lower a persons income is, the more important it is to have a budget. Every penny counts, and its easy to go over the edge into debt. A budget also gives a person with low income peace of mind that they can make their bills each month.
Having too much stuff can be like a boat anchor, I know, I have several. Now in retirement, one of my goals is to reduce the size and how many I have. Having less stuff is also less for other people to steal. Last year my garage was broken into and I loss over $2000 in cordless power tools and batteries.
I sent check thru the mail to missionary group down south who had an urgent need. I sent it certified with a return receipt. Over the years it was my experience that certified mail received special handling and usually arrived before first class. This time tracking showed it arrived at a post office close to the missionary offices and was just sitting there. I finally went down to the main post office here in Milwaukee and asked what was going on. The counter people gave me a local customer service number to contact. I talked to a very nice lady who said she would call down to the post office and ask them to send it along. It was delivered the next day. I was thinking, why couldn't they do that themselves? I've also given up sending magazine subscription renewal checks to anywhere in the New York/New Jersey area. They never arrive and are never cashed. It's like they disappear into a black hole.
I retired three years ago. A couple of years before retiring I thought about how much I needed to retire. I came to conclusion I needed to replace my take home pay, not my gross. By taking a pension instead of a lump sum and waiting until my full social security age I was able to replace 95% of my take home pay which is what you really live on. It worked because when retired you're no longer paying SS taxes, my state, Wisconsin, doesn't tax SS benefits, and federal taxes are lower also. I was lucky to have a pension option but for people who don't things are different.
Those big drops are the time to buy (stocks on sale). Portfolio diversity is the way to plan for large drops. It's very rare that everything is down at the same time. Even with index funds you need to diversify to funds that cover different market sectors and countries.
100%, it really wasn't that hard, pretty basic stuff. To figure the compound interest just keep multiplying by 1.02 five separate times. It's sad that the average is only 29%. Those questions are something everyone should know the correct answers to by the time they graduate from high school Everyone should be required to take a course in basic finical concepts. They should know how to by a car with a loan, a house with a mortgage, setting up a budget (the less you make the more important it is to have a budget), the difference between a collage loan and a grant, etc....
It's been my experience that when you can't find new aftermarket parts and start resorting to salvage yards that's the time to make a change. I have a 96 Chevy Lumina minivan with 318K miles that I like a lot but it needs a new windshield. All the windshields that windshield replacement companies said they had all turned out to be bad, now my only source is a windshield from a salvage yard. The catch is that none of the windshield replacement shops will install an owner supplied windshield (beats me why not). I'm left to replacing it myself (youtube video's). I'm still keeping the van but went out and paid cash for a new 2025 Honda Ridgeline truck. The plan is to have a shop do a partial restoral on the van to have frame rust (Which is causing the body to twist and flex) fixed before I try the windshield replacement.
Stock valuations are high because they've been artificially boosted by the massive increase of the money supply by the Federal Reserve. This was started during the 2008 finical crisis and expanded during the pandemic.
After doing a lot of research before retiring in 2022, almost all the finical advisors advised to wait until 70 if possible to get that extra 8% increase per year. There were a few that said only do that if you're married because your wife will get benefits from your account. If single, don't wait longer than your full benefit age because if you die, your SS money goes right back into the SS money pool. Since I never married I retired at my full retirement age, 66 and seven months. When I did the math, waiting until 70 wouldn't have made that much difference anyway. An extra 15 or 20 dollars per month.
Comments
What's backing bitcoin? Just the fact that there's a limited number of them? Gold is a real physical thing, a valuable thing. It will never tarnish or rust, it has good electrical properties, it can't be created out of thin air. A limited amount is mined each year. Because of that, currency backed by gold (what we used to have) is hard to inflate, therefore it holds it's value over time.
Post: Why Bitcoin?
Link to comment from September 27, 2025
I've found over the years that the higher your income, the less important a budget is, but the lower, the more important. The higher the income, the bigger the safety margin of not coming up short. The lower a persons income is, the more important it is to have a budget. Every penny counts, and its easy to go over the edge into debt. A budget also gives a person with low income peace of mind that they can make their bills each month.
Post: Budget, What Budget? (Know Thyself)
Link to comment from September 20, 2025
Having too much stuff can be like a boat anchor, I know, I have several. Now in retirement, one of my goals is to reduce the size and how many I have. Having less stuff is also less for other people to steal. Last year my garage was broken into and I loss over $2000 in cordless power tools and batteries.
Post: Frugality, Minimalism, and Aligning Values
Link to comment from August 30, 2025
I sent check thru the mail to missionary group down south who had an urgent need. I sent it certified with a return receipt. Over the years it was my experience that certified mail received special handling and usually arrived before first class. This time tracking showed it arrived at a post office close to the missionary offices and was just sitting there. I finally went down to the main post office here in Milwaukee and asked what was going on. The counter people gave me a local customer service number to contact. I talked to a very nice lady who said she would call down to the post office and ask them to send it along. It was delivered the next day. I was thinking, why couldn't they do that themselves? I've also given up sending magazine subscription renewal checks to anywhere in the New York/New Jersey area. They never arrive and are never cashed. It's like they disappear into a black hole.
Post: A Record Journey
Link to comment from August 23, 2025
I retired three years ago. A couple of years before retiring I thought about how much I needed to retire. I came to conclusion I needed to replace my take home pay, not my gross. By taking a pension instead of a lump sum and waiting until my full social security age I was able to replace 95% of my take home pay which is what you really live on. It worked because when retired you're no longer paying SS taxes, my state, Wisconsin, doesn't tax SS benefits, and federal taxes are lower also. I was lucky to have a pension option but for people who don't things are different.
Post: 100% Base Pay Replacement: What Does It Mean?
Link to comment from July 26, 2025
Those big drops are the time to buy (stocks on sale). Portfolio diversity is the way to plan for large drops. It's very rare that everything is down at the same time. Even with index funds you need to diversify to funds that cover different market sectors and countries.
Post: Going to Extremes
Link to comment from July 26, 2025
100%, it really wasn't that hard, pretty basic stuff. To figure the compound interest just keep multiplying by 1.02 five separate times. It's sad that the average is only 29%. Those questions are something everyone should know the correct answers to by the time they graduate from high school Everyone should be required to take a course in basic finical concepts. They should know how to by a car with a loan, a house with a mortgage, setting up a budget (the less you make the more important it is to have a budget), the difference between a collage loan and a grant, etc....
Post: I’m Guessing Most HD Readers Will Score 100%
Link to comment from May 31, 2025
It's been my experience that when you can't find new aftermarket parts and start resorting to salvage yards that's the time to make a change. I have a 96 Chevy Lumina minivan with 318K miles that I like a lot but it needs a new windshield. All the windshields that windshield replacement companies said they had all turned out to be bad, now my only source is a windshield from a salvage yard. The catch is that none of the windshield replacement shops will install an owner supplied windshield (beats me why not). I'm left to replacing it myself (youtube video's). I'm still keeping the van but went out and paid cash for a new 2025 Honda Ridgeline truck. The plan is to have a shop do a partial restoral on the van to have frame rust (Which is causing the body to twist and flex) fixed before I try the windshield replacement.
Post: How have you decided when it’s worth it to fix an old car?
Link to comment from May 24, 2025
Stock valuations are high because they've been artificially boosted by the massive increase of the money supply by the Federal Reserve. This was started during the 2008 finical crisis and expanded during the pandemic.
Post: Ignore Valuations?
Link to comment from May 24, 2025
After doing a lot of research before retiring in 2022, almost all the finical advisors advised to wait until 70 if possible to get that extra 8% increase per year. There were a few that said only do that if you're married because your wife will get benefits from your account. If single, don't wait longer than your full benefit age because if you die, your SS money goes right back into the SS money pool. Since I never married I retired at my full retirement age, 66 and seven months. When I did the math, waiting until 70 wouldn't have made that much difference anyway. An extra 15 or 20 dollars per month.
Post: Breaking even? Why should anyone care? I don’t
Link to comment from May 18, 2025