Thursday - January 20, 2005

A $1000 Financial Class For Free

Unless you’ve been living in a cave or refuse to acknowledge it, social security is big news right now.

We’ve had quite a spirited discussion on this blog about it and even trapped us a moonbat in the process.

Socialists and their fawning butt-boys, the media and AARP, are dead set against privatization.  Their reasons are many and varied and all wrong because they pre-suppose all Americans are as stupid as they are and do not know how to invest in the stock market or know how to manage their money.  They need a Mommy Government to take care of them.  Larry Elder nails it well in this piece.

No matter how you slice and dice it, it all boils down to theft of MY money from the government under the ruse that when I retire I will get some sort of “supplement” to help me out in my elder years.

Not a day passes by where I do not read some letter to the editor or some editorial where the authors wail and gnash their collective teeth and say, “But what if the stock market crashes like it did a few years ago just as you retire?  What about those poor people who lose everything?”

Well, let me tell you something, Boopsie. If you are fully invested in the stock market by the time you retire, you DESERVE to be wiped out for being stupid.  Because that’s exactly what you are: S-T-U-P-I-D!  And Larry Elder has ID’d your ass.  Not only that, you are GREEDY!
There’s a great saying on the Street: bulls make money, bears make money, PIGS get slaughtered.  And if you are a pig, we will feast on your bacon.

So, does anyone believe that we would embark on such a task as privatization without some sort of education effort first?  And the effort is as simple as a risk test associated with some percentage charts which track where you should have your money and in what percentages.  Just like you get that little notice from the SSA telling you what you’ve paid in and what you will probably get, so the government or the companies that handle your PSAs will send you annual statements advising you of what you should be doing and what you should avoid.

Allow me to give you what I use for my own financial well-being.  Remember, I retired at 45.  I do not have a lot of money but I am comfortable, not extravagant.  Granted, some of that is a military pension but most of it goes to an ex-spouse and the federal government in taxes.  The balance is investments. 

The information I am about to impart to you is worth millions but I give it to you for free.  That’s what the “benevolent” in Benevolent Dictator means.  However, if you feel like contributing towards the BMEWS fund (renewals are due this month and all contributions gladly accepted!!) then use our paypal link.  We appreciate it.

First off, take a risk assessment test. Many are available.  Fidelity has a good one as I believe so does Vanguard.

Assuming you can have moderate risk taking ability, between the ages of 18 and 40 a person should be fully invested in stocks.  A good all-inclusive index fund is sufficient.  The more risk you want to take, the more you should seek riskier investment instruments--individual stocks, market sectors, global stocks, margins, puts, calls, etc.

At the age of 40, the individual should then pare his stock holdings down from 100% to about 75% with the balance in a good bond fund.  More risk averse investors may decide to leave everything ride or invest their bond portion into riskier corporate bonds or junk bonds.

This 75/25 mix is good for about 10 years.  At age 50, the investor should do some more re-balancing.  The stock portion of the portfolio should then go to around 65% with 35% in bonds.

At age 55, the percentage should change again.  This time to a 50/50 mix.

By age 60, the percentages should be 25% stocks and 75% bonds.  At age 62, that mix goes to 20/80.

By 65, it should be 10/90.  This way, should the stock market collapse and knowing that it usually recovers within 5 years, you are never really hurt.  You can draw checks from your account because your bond portfolio side will stay safer and is not subject to such wild fluctuations.  Meanwhile, as the market recovers, THAT portion of your portfolio will continue to grow and make your losses disappear.

Remember, the market works in nothing else but cycles.  Time will pull you out of a bad one.

Again, this is for the “social security” portion of your investment holdings.  You do not want to screw with these monies too much.  For your “regular” retirement portfolio and other investments, the percentages are almost similar but accept more risk since you now have one portfolio holding up the other.

Also, your percentages will vary based on whether or not you collect a retirement check which is pretty much guaranteed (teacher, military, GS employee, etc.) You can take more risk since now your retirement table has three legs (the SS leg, your retirement portfolio leg, and your pension check leg.)

It’s that simple.  Lesson over.  Come on, fork over some money! 

Posted by Ranting Right Wing Howler     on 01/20/2005 at 07:49 AM   
Filed Under: • Economics • Social-Security •  
• Comments (12) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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