In this mortal life, no one ought to care more about your own health or money than you do yourself. If those two inextricably intertwined things are not true, then something is already broken. Good luck just the same.
I grew old watching too many (but not all) family and friends who bought cars they could not afford in their 20s, houses they could not afford in their 30s, sent their kids to colleges and then even took vacations they could not afford in their 40s. A curious thing happened, however when we all approached our 60s. Many of these same foolish people woke up to discover they had accrued frighteningly small amounts of money in their own retirement accounts [Queue up: Aesop’s fable of the ant & the grasshopper].
It is doubtful congress would or even could under the US Constitution ever relinquish any of its future tax making powers to any unelected government agency or department. Alas, taxing is all about politics. You cannot separate the two from one another, and many would say, a good thing too!
I try to imagine how I would react to a “70/10 event”* in which my stock portfolio lost 70% of its value and did not return to its previous high for 10 years. What would I do? How would I feel, not only about the significant paper loss, but also the length of time it would take to become whole again? [*Historical context note: The Great Depression was an “88/25 event.”]
Comments
In this mortal life, no one ought to care more about your own health or money than you do yourself. If those two inextricably intertwined things are not true, then something is already broken. Good luck just the same.
Post: How financially illiterate are Americans?
Link to comment from June 19, 2026
I grew old watching too many (but not all) family and friends who bought cars they could not afford in their 20s, houses they could not afford in their 30s, sent their kids to colleges and then even took vacations they could not afford in their 40s. A curious thing happened, however when we all approached our 60s. Many of these same foolish people woke up to discover they had accrued frighteningly small amounts of money in their own retirement accounts [Queue up: Aesop’s fable of the ant & the grasshopper].
Post: Fixing Social Security is not that hard, here’s how
Link to comment from June 15, 2026
It is doubtful congress would or even could under the US Constitution ever relinquish any of its future tax making powers to any unelected government agency or department. Alas, taxing is all about politics. You cannot separate the two from one another, and many would say, a good thing too!
Post: Fixing Social Security is not that hard, here’s how
Link to comment from June 15, 2026
I try to imagine how I would react to a “70/10 event”* in which my stock portfolio lost 70% of its value and did not return to its previous high for 10 years. What would I do? How would I feel, not only about the significant paper loss, but also the length of time it would take to become whole again? [*Historical context note: The Great Depression was an “88/25 event.”]
Post: A Difficult Choice
Link to comment from November 29, 2021