Quote:
Originally Posted by Rim05
Have you checked the interest earned? I found out that on a CD of about $17,000 Chase is paying .25%. I also know of at least 2 banks that pay less than 1% on what we used to call a pass book account. The only time I use a card anymore is if I order plants or bulbs and that is not often.
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You are also taxed on that money while it loses value.
I'm not sure what the current true cost of living shift is now or where it's going, but way back when I saw the way it's stacked against us.
Let's say that you deposited $25,000.00 into a checking account and the interest rate is 3%. Inflation rate is 7%. Your money loses value, yet you are taxed on the "income" the bank pays you.
We can look at Social Security as well.
Not only has Congress pilferred Social Security, I believe the money in our accounts are listed in the dollar amounts for when they were collected. Take the dollar figure of the total for each year you and your employer contributed to Social Security, use an inflation calculator to find what those dollars were worth when they were contributed, and check that against your current account statement total. That will be an eye opener.
I believe that the game is rigged so that if you are responsible and live within your means, you are punished because the fat cats don't have as much leverage to milk you. As well as all those mayonnaise jars of green backs buried in the back yard becoming worthless.
However, if you live your life up to the eyeballs in debt while making the right investments, writing off all the right tax avoidances, and deftly stepping between corporate financial traps, you can retire comfortably.
Unless the greed driven bubble pops before you are ready.
There's the old joke about a person spending all his free time studying the stock market and invested $1,000.00 in a popular telecommunications stock of a decade or two ago, which went belly up. He lost all his money.
His neighbor and coworker bought $1,000.00 of canned beer and spent all his spare time watching sports on Tv. When he swilled his last can of beer, he was out the $1,000.00 as well, but at least had the cans to to turn in for their recycling value.