OT: Why is Warren Buffet always ahead of the game?

[itseasyas1-2-3]

Sure the entire spectrum of Americans receive some sort of govt cheese, but for 99% of groups identified, it's a rounding error in the overall financial situation.

I don't have the numbers in front of me but I suspect we could axe most if not all discretionary spending and still be borderline in deficit terroritory. You certainly could entirely axe all the normal "bogeyman" in foreign nation handouts, SNAP/WIC/Welfare, and the like, and still end up in the hole.

That's what's funny about politics, politicians have us fighting about mostly things that don't matter, and the core tens and hundreds of trillions that are set to sink us, are talked about basically not at all. In that regard, Trump has moved conservative America further left than any prior GOP president, having taken the platform that he will protect govt bennies where as the previous 100 years of conservative effort was to reform/remove them. The last time this was seriously debated was nearly 30 years ago in the Dubya Bush/Gore campaign of the late 90's.

So, you're in agreement with me then.

There is no solution to the math issue this country has created, If you think one candidate moved the country left, just wait till you get a dose of his opponent.

Anyone talking about eliminating this or that from this monstrocity of a deficit can be tamed is living in lala land. Having to borrow $1 Trillion dollars every 100 days with an already existing
$ 35 Trillion deficit, not including $ 2 Quadrillion dollars in Derivatives, all pegged to the USD.
Just trying to keep the lights on and the Ponzi Scheme in effect is not a policy that could ever work.

I don't disregard what you said in either post, you and I both know that dreaming about reducing the debt or decreasing the deficit is a non-starter. The only solution is for this country to formally declare bankruptcy since its been in bankruptcy since 1933 anyway.

Please understand, if this country did declare bankruptcy, it would NOT benefit me one penny. As I am 100% debt free, there would nothing for me to "write off." It would benefit those who were unable, and chose to live above their means and give them a chance to get out from under their current liabilities....so of course, they course repeat the same stupid effing financial moves they did to get in trouble in the first place.

There is no viable solution to the financial mess this country has become. Why do you think all except Japan and England have abandoned buying our Treasuries? They don't trust us and they know we are operating with a worthless currency which is soon to go extinct like the
Zimbabwe $ 1 Trillion Dollar bill.

Be happy to further exchange thoughts as long as we can stay away from politics as much as possible.

For the Moderators: This is not a political discussion, this is a financial/philosophical discussion.

 

[61bigredfan]

Oh boy. No we didn’t take the loan for 2m home. I was simply saying that banks are letting people become way over leveraged.

Let me give you an example you can grasp.. Say when you’re frying a basket of fires. A safe level would be to only to fill said basket 2/3rds full. But big fry bank comes along and says nah man.. fill that basket up so fries are coming out the top

You are the one over leveraging yourself. Even a fry cook wouldn’t make that mistake. Though you know a lot about cooking fries.

It’s not news that banks are making loans to people that don’t have the financial resources to pay them back. 2008 ring a bell?

 

[itseasyas1-2-3]

You are the one over leveraging yourself. Even a fry cook wouldn’t make that mistake. Though you know a lot about cooking fries.

It’s not news that banks are making loans to people that don’t have the financial resources to pay them back. 2008 ring a bell?

Boy, you told Tampa, didn't you?

My son got back from Europe 25 years ago and asked me why the ingredient label on McD fries were only 4, but in the US there are 14 ingredients. It's because Big Food is the 2nd largest contributor to the FDA and get approval for ingredients that promote obesity and other illnesses in people. And of course, I was right, so not much for fries in this house.

Of course many of the people remember 2008.
That's when a lot of them got their asses handed to them in the market.

I love when Tampa sets me up like Karch Kiraly so I can slam one right off fryboy's noggin.

 

[itseasyas1-2-3]

Bc he’s an idiot

I would be remiss if I didn't edit my Post # 283 for your viewing pleasure.

 

[BTF69]

This thread just keeps getting better!

 

[TampaBaySkers]

Boy, you told Tampa, didn't you?

My son got back from Europe 25 years ago and asked me why the ingredient label on McD fries were only 4, but in the US there are 14 ingredients. It's because Big Food is the 2nd largest contributor to the FDA and get approval for ingredients that promote obesity and other illnesses in people. And of course, I was right, so not much for fries in this house.

Of course many of the people remember 2008.
That's when a lot of them got their asses handedto them in the market.

I love when Tampa sets me up like Karch Kiraly so I can slam one right off that noggin of fryboy.

 

[61bigredfan]

Boy, you told Tampa, didn't you?

My son got back from Europe 25 years ago and asked me why the ingredient label on McD fries were only 4, but in the US there are 14 ingredients. It's because Big Food is the 2nd largest contributor to the FDA and get approval for ingredients that promote obesity and other illnesses in people. And of course, I was right, so not much for fries in this house.

Of course many of the people remember 2008.
That's when a lot of them got their asses handed to them in the market.

I love when Tampa sets me up like Karch Kiraly so I can slam one right off fryboy's noggin.

You had a point?

 

[dacred]

Have you sold? Unrealized gains don’t mean anything.

Nope...great dividend stock and my apologies...I'm up 50%

 

[dacred]

Good. When you actually have the physical stock certificate in your hand you'll own it, not til then.

Don't be butt hurt over someone making 50 points on a great dividend stock just because you don't "own" any. 🤣😂

 

[itseasyas1-2-3]

Don't be butt hurt over someone making 50 points on a great dividend stock just because you don't "own" any. 🤣😂

I'm devastated. My physical gold and silver are up 40% on the year and I actually OWN it.

Year to date, all my bitcoin are up $ 30,254.00 each.

Don't trip on dollars picking up pennies.

Don't expect me to be in the bread line anytime soon.

 

[BTF69]

Don't go hungry man...you gotta OWN IT

 

[TampaBaySkers]

Nope...great dividend stock and my apologies...I'm up 50%

Ok I’m just pointing that unless you sell you really don’t have sheet. Bitcoin & Solana have been insanely good to me this year and I’m selling here and there to realize some gains.

 

[itseasyas1-2-3]

Ok I’m just pointing that unless you sell you really don’t have sheet. Bitcoin & Solana have been insanely good to me this year and I’m selling here and there to realize some gains.

We all know there are many ways that guys can go to have it work for them. I'm just glad when others win at this game, given all the obstacles out there.

I'm sure he was trying to rub it in since I don't partake, other than a minor gold mining stock, in the stock market. I haven't seen him come back and explain how "butt hurt" I am.

Dividend stock? BFD.

 

[RBigredMax]

I don’t think we need to make it a pissing match. If anything I’m excited for people who are actually saving and investing as opposed to not doing that.

We can get into semantics of whatever - but ultimately people saving should be applauded. Having a good year of returns is exciting for anyone. Making 10%, 50% etc is all good.

 

[Baxter48]

A couple reasons are he's a smart guy and secondly he is the insider of all insiders. When you know what's coming ahead of time, it's a lot easier to get out of the way. Example: I've been saying for quite some time that the banking system is in trouble, even the big banks. Let me give you my latest example...

There is absolute3 weeks ago Buffet sold over $ 7 BILLION dollars of Bank of American stocks. Then last week he sold another $ 3+ BILLION dollars worth of BOA stocks. At that point, he became less than a 10% holder of the stock and was no longer required to publicly posts his trades/sales of that stock. There's no chance he owns even a single BOA stock as of today. Why do I say that? Since 2022 Buffet has sold a lot of bank stocks.

He now owns ZERO BOA stock.
He now owns ZERO Wells Fargo stock.
He now owns ZERO USB Bank stock.
He now owns ZERO JP Morgan stock.
He now owns ZERO Goldman Sachs stock.
The volume of shares among these companies vary from 12 million to 346 millions shares.

Ray Dalio, another wealthy billionaire, and the owner of the largest hedge fun in the USA now owns ZERO bank stock. You have to ask yourself, what do these two incredibly successful businessmen know that you or I don't know?

Stocks aside, and you don't own your stocks either, unless you've spoken to your broker and ordered him to send a request to the transfer agent and have that entity physically send you the paper certificate.

I've said via the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 any money you have in the bank is not yours, its the banks and you are an unsecured creditor. In subsequent legislation, the word "fraud" is used and allowed to be used in financial transactions.

Some of my fanboys on here like Walleye, Stone Temple Husker, huskerfan123456, et al can now begin to whoop and holler because I have 2 more posts I'm going to make regarding the BRICS+ countries meeting in Kavan for the next 3 days as well as a post on physical gold and silver..

Again, this will be long winded, and since I'm not being charged by the word, I guess I'll make my posts as long as I want.

It’s called insider trading

 

[itseasyas1-2-3]

I don’t think we need to make it a pissing match. If anything I’m excited for people who are actually saving and investing as opposed to not doing that.

We can get into semantics of whatever - but ultimately people saving should be applauded. Having a good year of returns is exciting for anyone. Making 10%, 50% etc is all good.

It's not a pissing match. He's the one who thought what little bit he owns in a little dividend stock would move the needle in my world. It wouldn't.

 

[RBigredMax]

It's not a pissing match. He's the one who thought what little bit he owns in a little dividend stock would move the needle in my world. It wouldn't.

 

[redli]

I was just driving around in my Aston Martin today thinking how glad I am that my grandson showed me Apple computers back in the 90's. I thought it was just a cute little competitor to IBM but he knew better. He helped me get that position figured out and boy oh boy, am I glad I did. I know other people get it too, but sometimes you just have to get out of your Aspen home and spend some time near the ocean on your yacht (I'm leaving these to my kids though). Good luck to all longs!

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

People who know way more about this stuff than I do believe the market has already told us who won....which is kid of exciting. Be nice to see my 401 work as hard as I do, again.

 

[Huskers123456]

People who know way more about this stuff than I do believe the market has already told us who won....which is kid of exciting. Be nice to see my 401 work as hard as I do, again.

Your 401k hasn't been working for you lately? Mine has been straight crushing. I'm up 23% for the year, after 26% last year.

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

Your 401k hasn't been working for you lately? Mine has been straight crushing. I'm up 23% for the year, after 26% last year.

I am not up 23 for the year...and it did not return 26 last year either. Congrats.

 

[TampaBaySkers]

I am not up 23 for the year...and it did not return 26 last year either. Congrats.

If he was that high he must of gotten crushed in ‘22.

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

If he was that high he must of gotten crushed in ‘22.

My wife works in administration at Methodist...pretty good 401 plan. Hers did not reach those returns either. Our plans returned about the same in '23...15%..same for '24 so far.

Kudos to amyone who got the 401 return 123456 did, but I'm certain most did not. Reminds me of when I talk about the price of something and how its gone up...and the other side tells me i'm crazy. Its like they shop at different stores, use different banks, and all have an "in" at the car dealership so they all get bro deals. Must be nice.

 

[Huskers123456]

If he was that high he must of gotten crushed in ‘22.

Correct. I'm almost all S&P 500. I can tolerate the down years. I just don't check as often, lol.

 

[TampaBaySkers]

My wife works in administration at Methodist...pretty good 401 plan. Hers did not reach those returns either. Our plans returned about the same in '23...15%..same for '24 so far.

Kudos to amyone who got the 401 return 123456 did, but I'm certain most did not. Reminds me of when I talk about the price of something and how its gone up...and the other side tells me i'm crazy. Its like they shop at different stores, use different banks, and all have an "in" at the car dealership so they all get bro deals. Must be nice.

Yes but what I’m saying is you may not have gotten crushed in ‘22. Look at my returns. Yeah the 1 year return looks amazing, but the 3 year return sucks bc I got crushed in 22.

 

[Huskers123456]

My wife works in administration at Methodist...pretty good 401 plan. Hers did not reach those returns either. Our plans returned about the same in '23...15%..same for '24 so far.

Kudos to amyone who got the 401 return 123456 did, but I'm certain most did not. Reminds me of when I talk about the price of something and how its gone up...and the other side tells me i'm crazy. Its like they shop at different stores, use different banks, and all have an "in" at the car dealership so they all get bro deals. Must be nice.

A lot of it is risk tolerance. I'm fine with the swings right now. Someday not so much.

 

[Huskers123456]

My wife works in administration at Methodist...pretty good 401 plan. Hers did not reach those returns either. Our plans returned about the same in '23...15%..same for '24 so far.

Kudos to amyone who got the 401 return 123456 did, but I'm certain most did not. Reminds me of when I talk about the price of something and how its gone up...and the other side tells me i'm crazy. Its like they shop at different stores, use different banks, and all have an "in" at the car dealership so they all get bro deals. Must be nice.

15% is a good return, especially if you don't have the major crashes. These last 15 years have given people a false sense of expectation.

 

[RBigredMax]

Does anyone track their Net Worth by year? I use Net Worth as my target retirement number, as such it’s the performance metric I track regularly …

2018 - +7.7%
2019 - +27.6%
2020 - +24.2%
2021 - +29.2%
2022 - -4.7%
2023 - +21.1%
2024 - +31.3% through Q3

Net Worth helps understand the whole picture as you get immediate results from saving and paying down debt.

 

[RBigredMax]

Correct. I'm almost all S&P 500. I can tolerate the down years. I just don't check as often, lol.

I’m 50-60% S&P as well. Not sexy or great conversation at dinner parties, but I’m boring so it fits well

 

[c3o]

Buffet's advisor > your NW Mutual guy

 

[TampaBaySkers]

Does anyone track their Net Worth by year? I use Net Worth as my target retirement number, as such it’s the performance metric I track regularly …

2018 - +7.7%
2019 - +27.6%
2020 - +24.2%
2021 - +29.2%
2022 - -4.7%
2023 - +21.1%
2024 - +31.3% through Q3

Net Worth helps understand the whole picture as you get immediate results from saving and paying down debt.

Foolish endeavor if you’re using the house you’re living in as part of this equation. Very overvalued asset imo that is costly to liquidate and maintain

 

[RBigredMax]

Foolish endeavor if you’re using the house you’re living in as part of this equation. Very overvalued asset imo that is costly to liquidate and maintain

Of course the house is considered into the net worth equation. When I sold in 2022 it was legitimate cash flow and while it may be overvalued - one could argue the same with stock market. No different than any other asset which varies in price. My house makes up approximately 30% of my net worth.

Edit: maintenance fees are minimal and are more voluntary due to aesthetic upgrades (landscaping etc). Taxes are the biggest hitter.

 

[TampaBaySkers]

Of course the house is considered into the net worth equation. When I sold in 2022 it was legitimate cash flow and while it may be overvalued - one could argue the same with stock market. No different than any other asset which varies in price. My house makes up approximately 30% of my net worth.

Did you use your cash flow to purchase your next house all cash or did you take out a mortgage?

Yes but stocks don’t have maintenance, interest, insurance & property taxes as holding costs.

 

[RBigredMax]

Did you use your cash flow to purchase your next house all cash or did you take out a mortgage?

Yes but stocks don’t have maintenance, interest, insurance & property taxes as holding costs.

Somewhat of a mixture. I cash flowed the lot and the first draw of the build process. Took a construction loan for the rest and paid it off when we moved into the new house with the funds from selling our previous house.

 

[Streamer15]

Does anyone track their Net Worth by year? I use Net Worth as my target retirement number, as such it’s the performance metric I track regularly …

2018 - +7.7%
2019 - +27.6%
2020 - +24.2%
2021 - +29.2%
2022 - -4.7%
2023 - +21.1%
2024 - +31.3% through Q3

Net Worth helps understand the whole picture as you get immediate results from saving and paying down debt.

I think of net worth as something fun to watch, if things are going well. Are you not more concerned with cash flow in retirement?

 

[RBigredMax]

I think of net worth as something fun to watch, if things are going well. Are you not more concerned with cash flow in retirement?

With the number I’m looking for in retirement the net worth number will result in plenty of cash flow. With that said, the number will include a house (likely two) later - which I anticipate will make up less around 20% of my net worth at retirement.

I don’t have any farm land so the remaining 80% of net worth will be liquid investments and retirement accounts.

 

[Streamer15]

With the number I’m looking for in retirement the net worth number will result in plenty of cash flow. With that said, the number will include a house (likely two) later - which I anticipate will make up less around 20% of my net worth at retirement.

I don’t have any farm land so the remaining 80% of net worth will be liquid investments and retirement accounts.

Alright, spill it. What's the magic number and at what age are you checking out of the workforce?

 

[c3o]

Alright, spill it. What's the magic number and at what age are you checking out of the workforce?

86

 

[61bigredfan]

I think of net worth as something fun to watch, if things are going well. Are you not more concerned with cash flow in retirement?

I guess it depends on what you estimate you will need to live on, if you have a pension, when you will take social security.

 

[RBigredMax]

I guess it depends on what you estimate you will need to live on, if you have a pension, when you will take social security.

Is there anyone in their mid-40’s factoring social security into their retirement equation? I think of it as a nice to have bonus.