Fuck it! I'm getting out

[PopeyesPappy]

of the stock market.

I've converted my IRA and Roth IRA accounts to cash equivalents yesterday. Today I moved all my stock based funds to bonds in our shitty 401k. I'll be stopping the contributions and rolling it into my IRA as soon as I figure out how. Tonight I'm going to convert my Scottrade and Ameritrade accounts to cash and buy CDs. At 54 next month I'm too fucking old to lose half my principal again (divorce) and from the looks of things the stock market is not looking good for this year.

[Baruch]

Good luck with that ... all I can advise is ... diversify, diversify.  Even if all you had was cash, don't keep it all in one bank, have a least two.  I keep mine in a regular bank and a credit union.  Not two different banks with the same holding company above them.  There are online ratings for all banks and credit unions.  Don't bet on FDIC protecting more than $100,000 per account.  Expect a bank run someday.  But yes, it is likely that withdrawals from 401k and IRA will be further restricted ... so at least you are free of that.  I am going to let it ride a few more years.

Note, if you are under 59.5 ... you pay an IRS penalty for withdrawal.  And even if older, you have to count the cash as income ;-)  You can only roll the whole amount if you can justify a hardship that the IRS allows.

Remember, there are a lot of sociopathic dry drunks who end up running corporations and governments.  Gamblers all ... and the net result is dead people.  Hitler was a classic example of a gambler who would double down until he lost it all.

[stromboli]

I saw the title and thought "closet" was going to be in there, but oh well.

This is why I took the pension and left before getting my GS-11. I lost about 8,000 a year by doing that, but my pension is the most rock solid on the planet. The government converted over from pension to stock market based returns, or whatever they called it. Don't live like a king but I live comfortably enough I can loan my son $1,000 out of pocket for an emergency.

Feel your pain to an extent, Pappy. Hope it comes out well for you. Btw the CDs are a good idea.

[aitm]

I hide my cash in my fireplace…..no one will ever look there..

[Mike Cl]

I hide my cash in my fireplace…..no one will ever look there..

Just don't hire a chimney sweep!

[doorknob]

retirement is a luxury for the rich. I can't even pay just basic bills right now. electric is the bill I like to call flex because I pay just enough that they don't shut me off but have yet to be able to pay in full for months on end now.

My finances are a mess. Not gonna lie!

And I do worry what will happen when retirement rolls around because then I'll get even less money which I didn't realize was possible and I can't even make it now.

actually people are always underestimating just how poor I really am. When I tell people I don't have a smart phone (which I don't even pay for the shitty flip phone I have now my mom pays it) they look at me like I'm an alien. My poor kids are treated the same way at school. They pretty much expect kids to have smart phones where I live. I do live in a well off area. But I have all kinds of assistance to live here. Other wise there's no way I could afford it.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

retirement is a luxury for the rich. I can't even pay just basic bills right now. electric is the bill I like to call flex because I pay just enough that they don't shut me off but have yet to be able to pay in full for months on end now.

My finances are a mess. Not gonna lie!

And I do worry what will happen when retirement rolls around because then I'll get even less money which I didn't realize was possible and I can't even make it now.

actually people are always underestimating just how poor I really am. When I tell people I don't have a smart phone (which I don't even pay for the shitty flip phone I have now my mom pays it) they look at me like I'm an alien. My poor kids are treated the same way at school. They pretty much expect kids to have smart phones where I live. I do live in a well off area. But I have all kinds of assistance to live here. Other wise there's no way I could afford it.

]If it weren't for the fact that Sylvia paid her house off in full a few years ago we would both have to live on about $1300 per month which isn't much, but she also does scoping o  the side with none of it reported to the feds or state. I'm acquiring as many woodworking tools as I can lay my hands on to sell handmade items.  I just made a frame saw from some old pallet wood. The only cost to me to make it was the price of the blade, about $10 and checked the price of frame saws online..$150. It took me about two hours to make so I might not sell a bunch, but the profit margin is pretty sweet.  Of course the $150 models are made of hickory so perhaps I can drop my price a bit being made of either pine or oak or perhaps find a supply of either hickory or beech wood..
A frame saw just about anyone can make in about an hour or so.

There's just something about handmade tools that sell pretty well.
I'm looking at buying a tool that cuts wood screws and bolts. It's basically a tap and die set for wood.

[stromboli]

I slaved for 32 years with jobs, some of which I hated, for the sake of my family. I feel pain when I see folks older than me still working. I count myself lucky I'm comfortable enough to do what I want (mostly) with my time, and be of use to myself, my wife and my children.

To the young people on here lesson I hope learned. Put money away for retirement and plan for it, you'll live more than a third of your life afterward.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

There's no shame to be poor. It's not a great honor either..~Fiddler on the Roof

[Baruch]

There's no shame to be poor. It's not a great honor either..~Fiddler on the Roof

If you have a house, you must pay it off before you retire.  Provided your property tax isn't sky high, in which case you need to move.  State/county/city is always growing taxes.  Rental has to be cheap, if you are renting and retired ... of course the landlord/trailer park has to pay property tax too ... that gets passed onto you.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Nobody really owns their home.  Actually the state owns it and will take it if you fall to far behind in property taxes.

In case anyone missed it the Royal Bank of Scotland is predicting some really tough times ahead...

Sell everything ahead of stock market crash, say RBS economists

http://gu.com/p/4fm2y?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

[stromboli]

After going through bankruptcy in the 90s and seeing how things were going career wise and with my wife's health, I became a very money conscious person. I own my mobile home, my vehicle is paid for, both my wife and I have a solid retirement and we have enough money to put up to $10,000 a year aside for vacations or other pursuits.

The biggest fuck job for American workers is getting rid of pensions from companies. There should be classes given in school and even on the work site towards how to invest money towards retirement and taking care of future problems that will arise like getting your kids into college and other issues. The DOD and GSA transferred over from FERS to the new system and after studying it, saw the handwriting on the wall. FERS is a straight out pension and about as stable as it gets, because the money is guaranteed and invested before you get it, so it is always there. Likewise the same with health care. I have the best health care I can afford and everything the wife has trouble with is covered.

Been lucky not to go through a divorce or other marital trauma, so that plays a part.

[PopeyesPappy]

Real estate is hopefully what is going to allow me to retire one of these days. I own a house outright in Huntsville. I rented it out 4 years ago when I left for Texas. When I got back I bought a condo that isn't paid for yet. Karen also has a condo in Madison that she stills owes on the mortgage. It is also rented out now. We hope to pay off her condo in the next 3 years then mine 6 years after that. At that point the plan is to live in house and rent both condos out. Karen works for the school system so unless things go to hell she'll be getting a small pension and have good insurance after she retires. I've been saving since the late 80s but had to split that with the ex in 09. If I can manage to keep working until both condos are are paid for we'll be good. If I can hang on to the principle in my retirement accounts we'll be better. If I can make a decent return between now and then we'll be better off than most but not rich by any means.

[stromboli]

Real estate is hopefully what is going to allow me to retire one of these days. I own a house outright in Huntsville. I rented it out 4 years ago when I left for Texas. When I got back I bought a condo that isn't paid for yet. Karen also has a condo in Madison that she stills owes on the mortgage. It is also rented out now. We hope to pay off her condo in the next 3 years then mine 6 years after that. At that point the plan is to live in house and rent both condos out. Karen works for the school system so unless things go to hell she'll be getting a small pension and have good insurance after she retires. I've been saving since the late 80s but had to split that with the ex in 09. If I can manage to keep working until both condos are are paid for we'll be good. If I can hang on to the principle in my retirement accounts we'll be better. If I can make a decent return between now and then we'll be better off than most but not rich by any means.

not trying to throw a wrench in your plans, but my gay friend had over a million dollars in real estate in the San Diego area and lost his ass during a market crash back in the 90s. Same thing happened to my nephew in Northern California. He worked as a paint contractor and had a very successful business, and then the real estate collapse devalued all his ownings and also killed the building market, where his paint sales were. He had a house very similar to mine, a bi-level on a half acre lot. Mine in Utah was valued at $63,000 in 1990, his at twice that in California. the bottom literally dropped out and his went from twice mine to half mine like overnight. I don't understand anything about how that works or how it happens, but you can never be too careful.

Like Baruch said, diversify.

[PopeyesPappy]

I'm not that worried about it. The house is paid for, and that is where we plan to live. The plan for the condos is rental property. If things get so bad that we can't rent them out we are probably going to have bigger things to worry about.