Search found 1959 matches

by sophie
Fri Apr 14, 2023 2:04 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: How much to save for retirement
Replies: 101
Views: 74726

Re: How much to save for retirement

Yes that's part of the problem. Which children are you going to count on to take care of you in old age, when they're part of a generation that currently can't take care of themselves? Back in the day, children did indeed help take care of elderly parents, but it wasn't something that could go on fo...
by sophie
Thu Apr 13, 2023 3:38 pm
Forum: Bonds
Topic: What happens to I-bonds if rates plummet again
Replies: 46
Views: 41378

Re: What happens to I-bonds if rates plummet again

I've got a big slug of cash in I Bonds, built up slowly over the years. I just bought them automatically each year, and then this past year - jackpot. The returns are still way better than anything else right now, including stocks. And....tax deferred! You don't buy these for their current interest ...
by sophie
Thu Apr 13, 2023 8:57 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: How much to save for retirement
Replies: 101
Views: 74726

Re: How much to save for retirement

Some of those 15k/month places will take your estate, then keep you after you've burned through it at 15k/month rate, so it works out to less 15k/month. Also avg life span in nursing home is 2 years. Once you burn through your savings, you get put on Medicaid. If you had a private room you'll be mo...
by sophie
Wed Apr 12, 2023 5:38 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: How much to save for retirement
Replies: 101
Views: 74726

Re: How much to save for retirement

Sorry I've been away for a bit, indulging in some Mom care.... As per usual, Maddy asks some really good questions. My answers below. The tenor of this discussion is revealing that it is not saving for retirement that is the problem; it's saving for medical care. <== TRUE!!! The retirement savings a...
by sophie
Fri Apr 07, 2023 2:37 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: How much to save for retirement
Replies: 101
Views: 74726

Re: How much to save for retirement

All any of us can do is to do our best and we’re going to end up with whatever we end up with. People have been retiring that way forever. That they have. But several things are different now. First, people are living longer while getting substantially less healthy. That means far more time spent n...
by sophie
Thu Apr 06, 2023 12:39 pm
Forum: Bonds
Topic: When is it time to load up on bonds.
Replies: 40
Views: 33729

Re: When is it time to load up on bonds.

Here's a big reason why I've been having a really hard time with the PP's bond allocation: That is the one asset that truly is dependent on the US dollar being the world's reserve currency. Long bond rates are lower than the Fed would like because they are the universal flight from the stock market ...
by sophie
Thu Apr 06, 2023 12:09 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: How much to save for retirement
Replies: 101
Views: 74726

Re: How much to save for retirement

Thanks @boglerdude! I found something similar in northern NJ, where my mother lives: Fox Trails. They have similar houses in the community and they specialize in dementia care for small groups. Cost was about $7-8K/month but they had a much better staffing ratio (3 aides to about 20-30 residents) th...
by sophie
Wed Apr 05, 2023 1:03 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: How much to save for retirement
Replies: 101
Views: 74726

Re: How much to save for retirement

CCRC's are a response to an almost intolerable situation that is guaranteed to get much worse over the next 20-30 years. I agree that a CCRC could be a risk if it suddenly implodes or gets mismanaged, but that's true of just about any arrangement you might make. You can move on from other arrangeme...
by sophie
Wed Apr 05, 2023 1:00 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: How much to save for retirement
Replies: 101
Views: 74726

Re: How much to save for retirement

Hiring privately means finding aides who aren't employed by an company providing formal home care that is registered with the state. They may be entirely independent, but more often I've found that they work in organized groups with usually one person acting as a matchmaker. This gives them many of ...
by sophie
Wed Apr 05, 2023 11:19 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: How much to save for retirement
Replies: 101
Views: 74726

Re: How much to save for retirement

Did your friend catch anything on tape? Yes, apparently quite a bit. Great idea about the tape recorder. Of course, the nursing home could claim that the tape is inadmissible because I'm sure they have a rule against unapproved listening devices. And they'd probably win. I think you have to get per...
by sophie
Tue Apr 04, 2023 12:47 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: How much to save for retirement
Replies: 101
Views: 74726

Re: How much to save for retirement

I did have a great offer some months back for a live-in aide, but sadly Mother wouldn't have anything to do with that. Same for carers - refusal as 'get out - my son will do all of that'. Oh how I relate to this too!!!! It took my mother falling and breaking her pelvis to get an aide into the house...
by sophie
Tue Apr 04, 2023 12:31 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: How much to save for retirement
Replies: 101
Views: 74726

Re: How much to save for retirement

The existence of those commercials indicates to me that this is a serious and ongoing problem, rather than that bad stuff doesn't happen because of the threat of lawsuits. The fact that terrible nursing homes exist would seem to indicate that the mechanism of state penalties / governor embarrassmen...
by sophie
Tue Apr 04, 2023 12:20 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: How much to save for retirement
Replies: 101
Views: 74726

Re: How much to save for retirement

CCRC's are a response to an almost intolerable situation that is guaranteed to get much worse over the next 20-30 years. I agree that a CCRC could be a risk if it suddenly implodes or gets mismanaged, but that's true of just about any arrangement you might make. My mother picked me to manage her car...
by sophie
Sun Apr 02, 2023 10:36 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: How much to save for retirement
Replies: 101
Views: 74726

Re: How much to save for retirement

$5600/month ($1400/week x 4) is already miraculously low cost compared to prices around here. And yeah, I doubt that "better" means anything anymore, because all the nursing homes (including euphemisms such as "memory care") are understaffed, or staffed with "quiet quitters", and that's what's drivi...
by sophie
Sat Apr 01, 2023 6:51 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: How much to save for retirement
Replies: 101
Views: 74726

Re: How much to save for retirement

Thanks for posting that Tyler! I took a peek through the report you linked to, and it still cites figures by account balance, not total of all accounts per person. For example see this sentence: "The average account balance of those families owning IA plans increased from $79,262 in 1992 to $258,453...
by sophie
Sat Apr 01, 2023 1:25 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: How much to save for retirement
Replies: 101
Views: 74726

How much to save for retirement

Everyone's favorite topic! A recent WSJ article put this onto my radar - claiming that most Americans have such small retirement savings (median is $266K/person) that we are headed for a disaster. Especially with Social Security set to run out of money in 2033, forcing 25% cuts if Congress does noth...
by sophie
Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:00 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: I'M OUT!
Replies: 64
Views: 60354

Re: I'M OUT!

Take heart, Maddy, all is not lost! In one of his books, Harry Browne made it very clear that he designed the Permanent Portfolio to deal with exactly the disruptions to the market & economy caused by the Fed and other central bank "planners" that you describe. If it weren't for them, a simple cash ...
by sophie
Sun Feb 19, 2023 8:50 am
Forum: Bonds
Topic: What happens to I-bonds if rates plummet again
Replies: 46
Views: 41378

Re: What happens to I-bonds if rates plummet again

Maddy, a few more corrections to your understanding of Series I bonds.... First, they are 30 year bonds in which all interest is tax-deferred until either you cash in the bond, or the bond matures (at 30 years). That itself is incredibly useful, as it's effectively an extension of a traditional IRA ...
by sophie
Sun Feb 19, 2023 8:20 am
Forum: Cash
Topic: Best place for cash
Replies: 7
Views: 3098

Best place for cash

Hey all, greetings! A rare post from me today....still way too busy to do much more than check in occasoinally to read posts, but I do have a topic for the group to ruminate on. For the past decade, I've focused on building up cash reserves in my taxable investment account. Cash was ideal for taxabl...
by sophie
Sun Dec 18, 2022 11:43 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: Deep-State Lies
Replies: 25
Views: 2648

Re: Deep-State Lies

Yes and no. I'd like to see this forum back to what it was a few years ago before saying my piece on such a topic. Not to mention, the evidence that has emerged about the FBI directly involving itself in moderating/censoring online speech at Twitter indicates that excessive caution is probably a goo...
by sophie
Sun Dec 18, 2022 8:07 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: Deep-State Lies
Replies: 25
Views: 2648

Re: Deep-State Lies

Slightly related, with the twitter unbannings/revelations, weren't there a few conservatives people on this forum who should have been banned for a month instead of forever? This forum used to welcome conservative views, but that stopped being the case some time back. Even if the bans are reversed,...
by sophie
Sat Oct 15, 2022 10:17 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Are most people here sticking with Treasuries?
Replies: 341
Views: 141446

Re: Are most people here sticking with Treasuries?

The PP/GB that I hold is certainly performing no worse than the Boglehead 60/40 in my retirement account. Of course cash is getting walloped by inflation. So is everything else that portfolios are composed of, it's just that cash has been the best performing asset this year. The real question is wha...
by sophie
Sat Oct 15, 2022 10:04 am
Forum: Cash
Topic: I-bonds from tax refund
Replies: 37
Views: 9428

Re: I-bonds from tax refund

I bought my full aliquot of online I Bonds in January, and also got paper bonds with my tax refund in March. I filed in February as per usual, to reduce the chance that an identity thief will beat me to it - under the theory that he who files first, files best. I wonder if the problem is the timing ...
by sophie
Tue Oct 04, 2022 6:20 pm
Forum: Bonds
Topic: TBills as "the best horse at the glue factory?"
Replies: 93
Views: 11917

Re: TBills as "the best horse at the glue factory?"

I did what dualstow did: 3 month autorolled T bills in my Fidelity investment account, in 3 aliquots roughly 1 month apart. Figuring I'll add to it as new cash comes in. Sophie, it's good to hear from you! I hope you don't mind a question: do you buy T bills on the secondary market or at the auctio...
by sophie
Sun Oct 02, 2022 4:39 pm
Forum: Bonds
Topic: TBills as "the best horse at the glue factory?"
Replies: 93
Views: 11917

Re: TBills as "the best horse at the glue factory?"

I did what dualstow did: 3 month autorolled T bills in my Fidelity investment account, in 3 aliquots roughly 1 month apart. Figuring I'll add to it as new cash comes in. Also, I'm psychologically unable to review my accounts quarterly as I used to...the drop in value is too painful to look at. I'll ...