How the hell are we supposed to retire?
- Thread starter rlb
- Start date
rick81721
Lothar
Cliffs notes: if you want to actually retire while you can still enjoy it, don't listen to clowns pandering "get rich quick" schemes. Invest consistently in traditional vehicles, hopefully with company match - more aggressively as you are younger and transition to somewhat more conservative as you get closer.
StayHydrated
Swedish Chef
Double digit percentage point contributions, employer match, and index funds doesn't mean you can't have some play money in crypto on the side.
It's hard to get the same adrenaline rush from a Vanguard fund's candlestick chart that you get from Ethereum
StayHydrated
Swedish Chef
Example rollercoaster ride:
rick81721
Lothar
Double digit percentage point contributions, employer match, and index funds doesn't mean you can't have some play money in crypto on the side.
It's hard to get the same adrenaline rush from a Vanguard fund's candlestick chart that you get from Ethereum
Yes nothing wrong with a little speculation in new stocks, precious metals, etc.
And obviously the other half of the equation is to live within your means.
Double digit percentage point contributions, employer match, and index funds doesn't mean you can't have some play money in crypto on the side.
It's hard to get the same adrenaline rush from a Vanguard fund's candlestick chart that you get from Ethereum
or
i'm planning on being cash flow positive in retirement, with no change of habits.
(there might be a change during tanking periods, but i doubt it)
so i dismiss the 'have to live on a retiree's budget line of reasoning.
it has been an endurance race, and will continue to be.
besides, never know when you'll get paid for rendering your opinion. now that is a job for a retiree!!!
and 5.5% is not an investment return, that is income, with safe equity.
so the math is easy - equity&.055 + social security+RMDs = income stream.
(RMD is a required minimum distribution of holdings in a retirement account if you are over 70 or hold some other types of accounts.)
(there might be a change during tanking periods, but i doubt it)
so i dismiss the 'have to live on a retiree's budget line of reasoning.
it has been an endurance race, and will continue to be.
besides, never know when you'll get paid for rendering your opinion. now that is a job for a retiree!!!
and 5.5% is not an investment return, that is income, with safe equity.
so the math is easy - equity&.055 + social security+RMDs = income stream.
(RMD is a required minimum distribution of holdings in a retirement account if you are over 70 or hold some other types of accounts.)
thegock
Well-Known Member
Rick,
Please move to FLA and stop posting. Then I can achieve my lifelong ambition and be the "most negative poster on this board". Unless I can get a "posting vacation", my other ambition...
Sincerely,
#wingman
rick81721
Lothar
Back to the real world of retirement planning. Here's an important factor that is often glossed over or put into the "won't happen to me" category:
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/12/this-hidden-expense-could-derail-those-retirement-plans.html
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/12/this-hidden-expense-could-derail-those-retirement-plans.html
ReverendNewman
Active Member
So, so true. I'll work until they throw the dirt on me. And I dont have a problem with that! Its being without a job that would scare me. I dont see how these young kids aren't seeing it. Times were flush back in the 80's. I dont think kids today will ever see that. Coming outta college 100, 200 large in debt and a job for 40k waiting for them if they're really lucky. Luckily, I have a good job/salary with a healthy pension, if I make it there. I'm debt free, condo is paid off, no weddings or college tuitions to worry about. I worked hard, suffered and sacrificed through my 20's, 30's and 40's, most of my life working 2 jobs. I'm just on cruise control now.
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StayHydrated
Swedish Chef
This is a big part of it. A lot of times, in Ethereum, you hear people referring to contracts or various verification operations ("mining blocks") as costing "gas". Basically, it comes down to these calculations needing to cost someone some sort of fee. More explanation here: https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/questions/3/what-is-meant-by-the-term-gas
**Note: If you've never visited StackExchange or StackOverflow, be prepared to potentially enter the biggest clusterf**k on the internet. Where everyone is smarter than you and lets you know it. And they're not wrong most of the time.
I think this is what frustrates @gtluke when these discussions happen. I don't know how he views it (and don't want to speak for him), but based on reading what he writes I think we feel similarly; that the underlying infrastructure is very exciting. Putting money into the currency is more of an infrastructure investment, as fees for "gas" are paid using the actual ether token. It's less akin to currency trading and more like commodities or durable goods from that perspective. One day, the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine, on which all of this code executes) could be huge and require lots of Ethereum in fee to continue running. In a few years time, 1ETH could be very valuable as a fee for transaction processing.
Disclaimer: I did make some money in ETH in a relatively short period of time, but I set a hard limit on myself to close some positions at a certain level, and I didn't get greedy. This is key with any short-term play. HOWEVER, I don't think either myself or Luke are claiming it to be a get-rich-quick scheme. It's a fairly long view, from where I sit. No doubt is it a fairly risky one, as well. Like @soundz said above, regulators could swoop in and strangle the system to the point where it's no longer viable and suddenly your ETH is worth nothing. We're already getting there - the IRS has released literature regarding how to claim capital gains from crypto. Personally, 90ish% of my investments are in the methods that others have espoused elsewhere in other threads. Traditional tax-advantaged vehicles, index funds, yadda yadda. But this is fun for me, and there's a certain risk-reward relationship that you need to be both able and willing to accept. Or, as my generation likes to say....HASHTAG YOLO
People generally assume that crypto fans are crazy (I'll fess up, I'm pretty nuts) and are just trying to pump and dump (some do). I'm just very excited that there's a new way of doing things that may or may not be better than the status quo, and it looks like it's on the fast track to upset the apple cart. I find pleasure in upsetting apple carts of many flavors. But more than that, people more broadly could really benefit from it, and I think that's pretty cool.
I think this is called "fanboy"-ing. See also: fatbikes.
What you just said made my brain hurt.
Which is why I just nowadays stick with boring Vanguard index funds method of investing and stick with that. I can sleep at night and I have better more stable positive changes in investments compared to spending time trying to beat the general market. It's not just a matter of when to get in, it's even more important when to get OUT.
Which is why I just nowadays stick with boring Vanguard index funds method of investing and stick with that. I can sleep at night and I have better more stable positive changes in investments compared to spending time trying to beat the general market. It's not just a matter of when to get in, it's even more important when to get OUT.
rlb
Well-Known Member
@StayHydrated thanks for the perspective. For a while I've been thinking about the viability of the current retirement savings path (401k, IRA, etc.), and have been looking for another basket so to speak (though I haven't been looking too hard). I think tossing a few bucks in this direction (nothing crazy) is a worthwhile experiment, just to see what it does. However I think I might wait for the price to tank a little bit again.