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20 new of 96 responses total.
mcnally
response 77 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 3 18:07 UTC 2006

 re #76:  I'm imagining that as the House Grosse family motto,
 inscribed on your coat of arms in Latin.

 "Ego infero ut vos es non professor. Tamen ego sum."

 (Horrible Latin translation provided courtesy of the first
 English-to-Latin web translator I came across..  Apologies
 to Mr. Kaiser, whose high school Latin instruction I've
 more or less completely forgotten..)
slynne
response 78 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 3 18:11 UTC 2006

I just got my 401(k) statement and I have calculated that if I were to 
retire RIGHT NOW, I have enough money to last me 6 months. I guess I 
better start putting a bit more into the account. 

tod
response 79 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 3 18:26 UTC 2006

re #78
What if you retire in El Salvador?
slynne
response 80 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 3 19:44 UTC 2006

I dont know about El Salvador but I once was bored and figured out how 
much it would cost to live in Malawi at a cheapo resort by the big lake 
there. By my calculations, I could live off my 401(k) for 15 years if I 
lived in some sort of camper. Hmmm that 15 years doesnt include the 
cost of the camper or the airfare though. The problem with retiring to 
the third world is that it is all well and good until a person gets 
sick. Then what? I guess you just die. 
tod
response 81 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 3 20:04 UTC 2006

That's the trade off with 3rd world vs Industrial Super Power:
You either live like a cog under the Horatio Alger delusion but knowing that
you can probably survive a bad scrape up or ailment; or, you can live within
your means comfortably so long as you keep yourself out of harm's way and in
reasonably good health.

Most folks wouldn't entertain expatriation simply for the fact that we're 
very spoiled with our bountiful resources.  Plus, learning a 2nd language
would mean less tv time.  From an experienced standpoint, most 3rd world
places tend to also operate openly on bribery and thats often too 
offensive a hurdle for most Americans to adapt to.

klg
response 82 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 3 20:16 UTC 2006

One good story about savings is that the sooner you start, the better.  
If Person A begins to save at age 20 and socks away $1k/yr for ten 
years and stops, and Person B begins saving at $1k/yr and continues 
doing so for 30 years, they will both end up with the same account 
balance.  (Don't quote me on the exact #s.  You can probably find it on 
Motley Fool.)
tod
response 83 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 3 20:33 UTC 2006

Motley Fool is great.  They duped every middle class sucker into joining the
stock market.  "Just buy the top 10 best performers every year and you can
someday be a Rockefeller!"  Lo & Behold, the big dot com crash and Enron
scandal rolled around and anybody with a yacht that goes to Atlantis had
already pulled out.  It was a conspiracy from the word go.  All the Motley
Fool suckers were living high on themself because they TOO now had their own
brokers and charts and software to watch their mediocre fortunes plummet into
obscurity.  That's ok.  GW will help us.  He'll give us $300 back from our
income taxes and at the same time give billions to his Atlantis yachting
pals.

Dude, the whole "save now and retire wealthy" thing is old hat.
Healthcare will be TOO EXPENSIVE and most likely so will heating your home,
paying the water bill, and buying basic produce at the grocer.
China and India are going to be the next paradise and the USA will quickly
sink into pre-Soviet Russia peasantry thanks to the big corporate coup
by GW and friends.
slynne
response 84 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 3 20:37 UTC 2006

Geez tod, stop sugar coating it
tod
response 85 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 3 20:53 UTC 2006

Sorry.  I got on a lil rant after reading Scooter Libby gets his trial not
until Jan of 2007..probably perfect timing for a Presidential pardon when GW
leaves office.  
nharmon
response 86 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 3 21:06 UTC 2006

Re 82: The power of compound interest is something I never fully
realized until I worked at a bank. The earlier you start the better is
god damn right. I'm planning on providing for the retirements of all of
my children. Here is how: $6,000 deposited into a Roth IRA at age 10, if
left untouched, will become $1,107,388.96 by the time the kid is 60
years old(1). Thats with zero contributions after the initial $6k.

1: Assumes an average return rate of 11%, compounded annually. This is a
healthy assumption based on the history of the stock market.
jep
response 87 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 3 21:27 UTC 2006

I didn't know there was any such thing as a "Roth 401(k)".  I've heard 
of "Roth IRAs", but I proved last year I don't know how IRAs work.

My on-line 401(k) site lets me change my allocations.  I can designate 
up to 75% of my income pre-tax, according to the site, and 10% after 
tax, according to the site.  Does that make the 10% part a "Roth 401
(k)"?

Just today, there's a new option to automatically increase my 
contribution percent by 1% annually until I reach a pre-set limit.  
I'll have to think about that.
tod
response 88 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 3 21:36 UTC 2006

re #86
After 60 years, what is $1,107,388.96 with inflation, etc worth?
marcvh
response 89 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 3 21:57 UTC 2006

Assuming an average inflation rate of 3.5%, about $140,566 if my math
is correct.  Considerably less impressive but still not exactly chump
change.

Re #87:  I can't think what else it might be, but only your accounting
department can say for certain.
tod
response 90 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 3 21:59 UTC 2006

11% is highly optimistic, imo
slynne
response 91 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 4 00:28 UTC 2006

Still, the point is that investments tend to do well over time. Motley
Fool had an article about it recently. One can put money in trust for
one's great grandkids and give them a nice little nest egg
marcvh
response 92 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 4 00:48 UTC 2006

The 11% figure is on the optimistic side, particularly when you consider
that the portfolio should become less aggressive as retirement age nears,
and so on.

Once your great-grandkids become adults there are limits to how long you
can keep the money out of their ungrateful little hands. There's also
the risk that a bunch of unearned money will spoil them and deprive them
of the opportunity to succeed on their own merits.

Also missing from this analysis is opportunity costs.  Given a teenager,
funding for a college education is likely to provide a greater return on
investment than a deposit to a retirement account.
nharmon
response 93 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 4 01:40 UTC 2006

"In creating your allocation, you will have to balance the risks
inherent in each investment against their respective returns. From 1925
through today, cash investments generated average returns of 3 percent a
year, bonds averaged a little over 5 percent and stocks averaged about
11 percent."
             --http://www.401khelpcenter.com/mpower/feature_100901.html



Stock or equity mutual funds: Such funds are pooled amounts of money
that are invested in stocks. Stocks represent part ownership, or equity,
in corporations, and the goal of stock ownership is to see the value of
the companies increase over time.

* Risk: Stocks can and do lose 10-30% of their value in a matter of 
        days. However, if you stick with big U.S. companies, you should 
        be fine over the long term.

* Return: 10.7% average, with years as bad as -43.59% and as good as 
          +52.83%.
                           -- http://www.fool.com/money/401k/401k02.htm
klg
response 94 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 4 01:42 UTC 2006

A Roth 401(k), if your employer makes it available, allows an employee
to put up to the annual IRS 401(k) (in 2006, that's $15k - or $20k if
you were born before 1957) limit into the plan.  Combined employee
contributions to a regular 401(k) acct and a Roth 401(k) acct cannot
exceed the annual limit.  What's good for a lot of people is that unlike
a Roth IRA, the Roth 401(k) can be used regardless of how much you earn
annually.

If the after-tax plan you had last year, though, is the same as the
after-tax plan you have this year, then it's not a Roth 401(k).  Your
employer would have told you if it is making a Roth 401(k) available. 
Chances are, it's not.  Very few employers are making them available due
to  (1) the admin cost and hassle, (2) the expected low employee use
rate and (3) as it now stands, they won't be allowed after 2010.
gull
response 95 of 96: Mark Unseen   Feb 4 06:26 UTC 2006

I'm not rich enough to play with the market the way Motley Fool and 
similar sites suggest.  My stock investments are all in mutual funds, 
mostly index funds.  Individual stock picking is an entertaining way to 
gamble, but it's not my thing.  I don't play the lotto, either. 
wilt
response 96 of 96: Mark Unseen   May 16 23:52 UTC 2006

HACKED BY GNAA LOL JEWS DID WTC LOL
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