Magic numbers: retirement/investment coffers

From the link:







Hmm, I recall a discussion a few years ago...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2008 06:54PM by tliet.

Islamic finance is riding the storm. Interesting article.

Amusing discussion, more than 2 years ago.

Yep. Not enough production. I've never been a fan of service industry over manufacturing.
Schiff was pretty sure of himself and dead-on.
Dead-on with the two people working comments, too.


I LOVE THAT SCHIFF guy!!!

Oh, that was good. The guy who knows he's right doesn't have to be a blowhard, does he? Nice cut right at the end.

That's the guy who came up with the infamous "laffer curve", right?

What an asshat.

Sacked my financial planner friend the other day. He actually seemed relieved, I think the role was stressing him out as much as it was me.

So, time to consolidate and rebalance portfolios, from now on it's a 100% asset-class based "passive" approach (30% cash/fixed interest, 10% property trusts, 60% equities). From personal experience, I now know that no active fund manager (over time and after fees) can outperform the market. (my "active" portfolio underperformed the "passive" portfolio by 4% p.a.)

I'm a bit overweight in cash (no surprise there really, given the markets) so I'll be buying some equities in a few months time.

For anyone interested in learning about "passive" investing, I highly recommend this book that I read two yrs ago and this one I'm about to read.

The premise behind the Laffer curve is solid. It's just that Laffer & Co. shifted the apex way far to the right (Irony!) of what it actually was.

Remember, kids, taxes buy something: civilization. If you want to opt out, move to Somalia or the Congo. Otherwise, you will pay more of your income each year than Joe Sixpack in taxes, and this is a good and just thing.

Under Obama's plan, I will pay more of a percentage of my income to Taxes than some poor lady working the register at Wal*Mart (The Savings Place!) You know what? This is a Good Thing. You know what else? The reddest of the red states =all= benefit from pork barrel spending. Wyoming's rugged and independent lifestyle is subsidized entirely by New Jersey taxpayers.

Well said Soup, the trouble is that the public has been brainwashed for so long that taxes and anything remotely resembing solidarity are bad things that the foundation of society has started to crumble.

Meanwhile, the next phase of this crisis is starting to form, the credit card meltdown.

I don't think people mind paying taxes, as long as a whole lot of 'us' don't fund 'them' that NEVER pay taxes or try to contribute. That is, the people that CAN contribute.

And as long as we don't build a new football stadium every 5 years, but never get around to helping out the little people.

China is now where it's at...

Once US consumer spending plummets, let's see how China does.

This is a documentary made 3 years ago, called 'The day the dollar collapses', by Dutch public TV organisation VPRO. It was updated late last year when most parameters that were used in the script turned into reality, albeit at a slower pace.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/2008 08:29PM by tliet.

Remember, kids, this is all down to the first wave of ARM resets. We've got two more waves, one in 2010 and again in 2011. This is where the really, really sketchy stuff that was floating about comes into play, the NINJA/Liar Loans sold to befuddled immigrants and confused old ladies.

Also, if you rent? You're still fucked. A third of all foreclosures are on rental properties. If your landlord decides not to tell you the property's been foreclosed, you could come back from work to find the Sheriff's dept. has put all of your stuff on the curb. In the rain.

Or not:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-sheriff-evictionsoct10,0,455732.story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve

I never took courses in any of this or sat around reading economics texts. Lot's of mixed thoughts on supply-side economics and a lot of it seems to be tied to actual GDP.

----

For me it's about income redistribution. But probably a better place to start instead is a cap on highest salary as a percentage of lowest or average. That's a lot of socialism in my laissez-faire...

I don't know enough to make an informed suggestion but just know something is awry in this system that rewards greed and immorality and values less and less a good day's work.

Market's up almost 1000 points. Happy days are here again! Yeah, right. In lolcatese: Volatile Market is Volatile.

There are no miracle cures. I may be a withered old prune, but any recovery that isn't a long, slow march (if you consider a time horizon of a few months "slow." Or even a few weeks) is probably just an indicator that we're about to tip over another precipice. To be honest, this is probably a reaction to the insane volatility in LIBOR overnight rates, which plummeted something like 50% on Friday based mostly on wishful thinking. It might also be a reaction to the decrease in oil prices. Either way, I wouldn't get too comfortable with the idea that it's over.

It ain't over, but it's a good example of why you hold your nerve and don't try to time markets. If you sold out last Friday you'd have missed todays dead cat bounce.

2-3 years of very flat growth is my prediction. However, the tide will start to turn if Obama wins the election.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2008 02:19PM by Tony Leggett.

Congratulations, Mr Krugman. (Luci would be pleased).

I would think that at least ONE criterium of getting most awards is if the person/people take the opposite stance as does the 'Bush Administration'.

:)

Yes, an intelligent stance helps.