No because I've got things setup where I should have good cash flow from my business and will have my son running it by then. But otherwise if given choices with competition I believe I would have much more money than just giving the govt money to do what they please with. The govt certainly doesn't want any competition when it comes to what they decide to do with your money.
Good for you. I hope said business does not depend on imports from China. BTW my question was more of a rhetorical question. An average Joe at 67 depending solely on investments might have to make a change of plans with the current state of the US investment market, which is a very BFD. It is very hard to plan for a well funded retirement and the possibility of volatile investment markets. An average Joe at 67 and a guaranteed SS benefit has a much different calculation to make.
Trump has fired thousands of social security workers and is forcing seniors to apply at offices while making wait times go for months. Older people are getting ****ed in real life outside the stock market as well. He's gutting medicare and cutting payments to doctors who accept medicare which will make it much harder for seniors to get care. Trump is on pace to be the biggest disaster as president by a country mile just by objective facts. Him destroying the economy wasn't enough
Maybe you give taxpayers starting at age 40 options for retirement other than SS. Say like the teacher retirement fund.
If the investments are self directed, they get to choose as they please. This is a problem. SS exists to provide seniors with enough income to not be in poverty.
People have access to IRAs, 401Ks et al to save for retirement, to enhance SS. These are self directed. Left to their own devices, the average investor makes poor investment decisions. Wall Street eats them alive. The government has tried to help by making target date funds the default investment for 401Ks et al. People can still shot themselves in the foot with a little effort.
I hear you. Gen X'ers and millennials are frustrated because many of the retirement accounts have restrictions. Retirement accounts promised massive riches for those who participated in 'compound interest'. 30 years later, that 1 million dollar portfolio is obviously not going to carry a person into the same lifestyle they had while working, so they dump it into riskier assets.
I'm saying let the govt give them 3 choices in which to invest their money, dont let them invest on the totally open market. A totally open market investing would be suicide. Just allow taxpayers to invest in say the same funds as the teachers union or SS if they want too. Give them a couple of safe choices.
Why? Even if you wanted SS to be in the market, why wouldn't the government just make the investment decision for you? Of course that would send the stock market soaring as trillions of dollars are added to private industry. US treasuries would be hurt as SS is entirely invested in those.
Because I want the govt to have a much lesser role in my life. Giving safe choices and not allowing the politicians access to SS seems like a smart move to make. My proposal wouldn't be a total you can invest your retirement however you want. You can either invest your retirement in SS or like various Unions invest. Choice is a good thing.
As per the Fox-owned, conservative-leaning, WSJ, Republican's weak/incompetent trifecta of control of the hous/senate/WH has cued a trifecta meltdown in confidence, the stock market, the bond market and the US dollar got smoked. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wall-street-journal-trump-powell_n_68070546e4b06d0beefd1962
Maybe we should start a new thread about privatizing social security since it's a bit of a tangent. But, I think your suggestion makes government have a larger role in your life, not a smaller one. A small role is where you pay the taxes the government assesses and then you invest the rest of your money in a private market however you want to do it. That's choice. It's a good arrangement where a minimum safety net is provided for all the society's retirees and you can do your own financial planning without any government involvement. If you allow one's social security payments go to investing, then you're accessing the financial markets through the government! And then some future Congress or President can say that they don't like how people are investing and make new rules because, after all, they control the platform and the money. If you're conservative, I can understand wanting to abolish social security so you can keep more of your money and invest how you please (and screw the poor). But, it's not conservative to ask the government to facilitate your investing. That's big government. I think the outlook challenge that conservatives have is that when they pay taxes, they still think it's their money and the government spends it on their behalf. I think conservatives could relax if they could acknowledge that when they pay taxes, that money isn't theirs anymore. It belongs to this weird organization that will use its revenues to pursue its own weird agenda. Like making sure old people don't starve to death. And maybe the conservative wants to say 'they shouldn't do that with my money!' but it's not their money anymore.
While Democrats are busy defending the rights of foreign criminals, the Trump administration is at least attempting to deal with real issues in our country, like dwindling birth rates. In the very least, the first two births and all care should be subsidized by the state....instead of funding endless wars. But Democrats hate family.
Yes, that is why taxes should be eliminated. I don't want that weird organization robbing me and then pursuing their agenda that I largely don't support. I want to keep my money.
