Financial Independence / Retire Early

[DavisModerator]

Crashes and sellouts are merely interruptions to a lifetime investor.

People never learn.

[_Robert_Participant]

People never learn.

Exactly. That’s why so many live paycheck to paycheck. The don’t even know that their pensions, bank accounts, mortgages, insurance policies and employers are all invested the stock and bond markets anyway….otherwise inflation would erode those funds.

You can always get out for the really big dips just by paying attention, I figure we are headed for a recession or at least a slowdown in 2020. Lots of mixed indicators and bleak talk if you listen in, Germany is already there. The latest number I heard was a 40% chance of a US recession. With a couple of mouse clicks I transferred into brokered CDs that yield a fixed 3.25% return. Not as good as the 10% I was getting year after year from the index ETFs. After the smoke clears (impeachment, elections, trade wars, bad farm weather) and companies once again feel confident and things are stabilized-I will be all in again.

It is human nature to obsess on relatively meaningless daily challenges like video games , Facebook likes, football scores and cell phone apps and just blow off their own big financial picture for the gods to manage.

[jakelafortParticipant]

Robert you may be hip to the economic cycles which adumbrate the market’s movement and to the notion that economic cycles are inevitable and are reflected in the market. (BTW you put in a stop/loss order so that you don’t even need to pay close attention)

But you are either oblivious or willful in failing to appreciate the risk of the market. Also your confidence in those institutions that invest is misplaced. We need only look back to the bank bailout to know that is true. I was involved in those subprime loans as an attorney. Greedy mutha fuckers sticking it up the asses of those who could least afford it. The terms were unconscionable. The fees outrageous. It was utterly irresponsible. And it was not just a few big institutions that were doing it. But the government came to the rescue the way they will not for the little guy or gal.

Do you remember the world trade center? Do you recall what the market’s response was? Now lets say ISIS or one of the other friendly terrorists decide they are going do it right? Do you think we have a shot in hell of preventing terror on a massive scale? How will the markets respond when there is no stability and the economic indicators are shitting the bed? That is just one possibility. There are so many. You fail to appreciate the risk inherent in investing.

[_Robert_Participant]

And you fail to see the risk of not responsibly investing in the market. The market is simply an expression of the future viability of our public corporations to make a profit. Did the 9/11 attack kill corporate America? Hell no. Even if it takes years for the stock/ bond “values” to recover, you are buying shares at bargain basement prices during a recession. For long term investors; the market is a hedge as the economy resets and rebalances. The general public does not understand this. It is well understood and used by the financial ass clowns who try their best to cause crashes. As soon as the values rebound-BOOM: you are in the big money. The market is a short term risky way to loose money if you choose to use it incorrectly. Since I came from a military family with very little money, I elected to listen and learn from mentors who were on track to become financially independent and retire early. Very glad I did 😉

PS: If Sanders or Warren win the election, the market will crash and then recover as companies figure out new ways to skirt the high taxes. And nothing scares Wall street moguls more than a wealth tax. This will be SO very interesting, I can hardly wait.

[jakelafortParticipant]

The merry-go-round is going round and round. So for now i will step off like George in Seinfeld.

[DavisModerator]

Robert the title of this discussion is “financial independence / retire early.” It is not “wait 30 years for your crashed investment to hopefully rebound”.

[_Robert_Participant]

I am financial independent and I retired 7 years early because a small portion of my monthly paycheck was automatically invested into index funds on the bet that a typical company will make money for their owners (me). My coworkers who did not do the same are kicking themselves and will have to work till they drop dead, taking orders from a 30-something manager.

[Jody LeeParticipant]

“…taking orders from a 30-something manager”

And what’s wrong with that? I’m a 35yr old female Executive Director who deals with that shit everyday. Why can’t people respect a leader younger than themselves?

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by  Jody Lee.

[jakelafortParticipant]

Taking orders from younger and female?

That is pretty obvious. Humans like many mammals are HIGHLY SOCIAL and keenly aware of their place in the pecking order. Now superimpose a cultural/religious overlay of the notion that women are inferior to men and you have in essence an untenable situation for a 40 or 50 or 60 year old male.  RESENTMENT!

But the men will rationalize that they are more experienced and wiser and more qualified to be in that position. In some cases that may be true. But i betya anything in a social psychology experiment that in those instances in which it is true that the resentment is greater when the younger manager is a filly.

 

[_Robert_Participant]

Oh it bothers many of the older folks (men and women) terribly. As young leader in my company I understood this sentiment and made certain I treated the older but very valuable employees (many were simply “Passed over” for political reasons) with dignity. I have seen many bosses do the opposite and make these experienced folks miserable. And those managers were the ones who ended up being phucked in the end.

[_Robert_Participant]

A little story…

As a manger of highly intelligent engineers …I was walking the hallways and I would peek into the offices of the people on my team. I noticed an older engineer looking a bit like he had just had a good cry. I went in his office and asked if something was wrong. He said he felt useless because his specialty was becoming less and less important and he felt like he was not earning his paycheck. That he was not involved in any new product development. I told him to hang on. I came back with the sales and profit data for the products he was cognizant over. The numbers were HUGE !!! That was my failure as a boss to let him know how important he was.

 

[_Robert_Participant]

@Jodi Lee

I know how hard it is to be a manger. You can’t win most of the time. Do you feel like you are caught between two different worlds? That’s how I felt most of the time. This grinding machine just looking at results and charts on one side…and the other side you have real people with bad backs, sick kids, anxiety issues, mean streaks, jealousies, ad nauseam. The team is unhappy, the boss is unhappy and well it’s just another day.

[Jody LeeParticipant]

Perhaps I am still young and naive, but I put a lot of effort into earning respect from everyone I supervise. My philosophy is to lead by example and keep ALL my customers (employees, patients, families, vendors) happy by being fair and following procedures. Every person who has shown resentment towards me has been an old man. It’s not logical to resent someone for what they have worked hard for. My position didn’t come easy for me. I got my degree while working fulltime and raising my son.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 1 month ago by  Jody Lee.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

My position didn’t come easy for me. I got my degree while working fulltime and raising my son.

I would suggest that experience makes you better at time and people management that anything you studied about the “Theory of Management” in college.

I was recently asked why I was complaining about the attitude of some of the older workers in a client’s office. I took that as a compliment when I realized that I was older than one of them!

A grumpy old man is a sad sight in any country. If only they would dare disturb the Universe every Friday evening.

[jakelafortParticipant]

And those same older men probably think Greta Thunberg is a bit too big for her britches. Easier said than done, Jody, but ya gotta try to not be offended or upset by em.

 

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