Your Family is $510,678 Deeper in Debt Than You Thought

Well, your ideas are better than mine, because I wouldnt know where to start. Adding more people to a failed system would probably not work. Also, for those near retirement (say 50+), there is not much that can be done.

 

Markets go up. Markets go down. That's why an investor needs to diversify, diversify, diversify; keep a balanced portfolio; and not look for a quick buck in a week's time. Always remember the story of the tortoise and the hare. Investing with a decently long time horizon is superior to looking for a quick killing in the market.

 

Ken,
I think the subject came up of near retirement age. For instance, like the 401K I explained to you, if you have one or two years left, you have to be very careful about market down swings. Sometimes market swings last longer than a person has left to retirement. If you have 5 or more years left, its much better. Scott got onto the idea of investing in place of social security, which would be a good idea for those not near retirement, say 50 and below. Even government treasury rates of 5% are better than social security. For those about to collect it, it will never change.

 

Someone near retirement should not have anywhere near most of his retirements funds in riskier investments such as stocks, commodities, etc. - unless he has proven to be well skilled in investments and has plenty of assets to fall back on in case an
investment(s) goes bad.

By the way, I am 50 years old and I would love to be able to invest some or all of my social security tax and have my social security check that I receive when I retire, the Lord willing, in 17 years and 5 days reduced by the amount of the tax I invested.

 

17 years (and 5 days?) is plenty of time to invest. With less than two years to go (with the US govt), mine is a conservative mix. I plan to work about as long as you do, just not there. Right now the mix is 48% government securities (about 5% return), 7% bond fund mix, 24% fund that reflects the S and P 500, (not doing so hot),6% small caps fund (wilshire 4500), and 15% international stock fund (EFA). These are set by a firm hired to give the best return for the least risk dependent on age. As you said before, they get more conservative as time goes on.

 

Five days? Yes, five days. Upon graduation from college I started work on June 1, 1978. The Lord willing, come June 1, 2023 I plan on being retired. Thus, my last day of work would be May 31, 2023.

I mainly invest in Fidelity mutual funds using analysis from a newsletter that specializes in Fidelity Funds.