Re: Investing through ING Sharebuilder
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 10:13 am
I read the other day that 1 in 3 US households has absolutely zero retirement savings. This is the sad reality our nation faces. Most of them are expecting Social Security and other benefits to take care of them for what could be a 30+ year retirement. The stupidity of the average retail investor knows no bounds. The parallel to the housing crisis is very visible. The people I heard interviewed on NPR, like the school teacher who made $40K/year buying a $1 million condo on an interest only loan in 2006 - when asked if she worried that the value might drop, said "I don't care if there is a bubble, everybody is buying houses and the government will not let us go homeless." These are the same people with zero retirement savings.
So, these people that bought at the height of foolishness - leveraging 0 down interest only loans, they actually ended up just fine. They stopped paying their mortgages and got to live in their houses for 2 years rent free. Sure, their credit is trashed, but many of them had no credit in the first place. The rest of the responsible homeowners got shafted - with falling house values because they actually saved up for a 20% down payment and foolishly thought that building equity was a good idea.
MeDebtFree found out in another thread the same thing is wrong with our education system - those who save are penalized while those who go into debt buying 60" Plasma TVs, Granite Counter Tops, and a couple HumVees pay 1/3rd the price for their kid's college education.
I'm just concerned that the same thing will inevitably happen with our retirement. Those that actually saved and worked hard their entire lives, investing wisely will be penalized through higher taxes. After all, the popular outcry will be "tax the rich" - after all, anyone with a retirement account is most likely a millionaire and therefore subject to populous rage and indignation - "how could they possibly have so much money when I worked my whole life and have nothing?"
Sorry for the rant... this thread just got me thinking about the greediest generation - and apologies to many of you I know who fall into that broad category. I know there are a lot of free thinkers on this board that didn't "go with the flow" and participate in the greed, but the vast majority is dragging the entire system down right now.
So, these people that bought at the height of foolishness - leveraging 0 down interest only loans, they actually ended up just fine. They stopped paying their mortgages and got to live in their houses for 2 years rent free. Sure, their credit is trashed, but many of them had no credit in the first place. The rest of the responsible homeowners got shafted - with falling house values because they actually saved up for a 20% down payment and foolishly thought that building equity was a good idea.
MeDebtFree found out in another thread the same thing is wrong with our education system - those who save are penalized while those who go into debt buying 60" Plasma TVs, Granite Counter Tops, and a couple HumVees pay 1/3rd the price for their kid's college education.
I'm just concerned that the same thing will inevitably happen with our retirement. Those that actually saved and worked hard their entire lives, investing wisely will be penalized through higher taxes. After all, the popular outcry will be "tax the rich" - after all, anyone with a retirement account is most likely a millionaire and therefore subject to populous rage and indignation - "how could they possibly have so much money when I worked my whole life and have nothing?"
Sorry for the rant... this thread just got me thinking about the greediest generation - and apologies to many of you I know who fall into that broad category. I know there are a lot of free thinkers on this board that didn't "go with the flow" and participate in the greed, but the vast majority is dragging the entire system down right now.