Fasten your financial seat belts
 

Looks like inflation is heating up, prices including food and insurance are going through the roof, and no real assurances that entitlements like social security won't be negatively impacted in the medium to long term.

Where to go from here? Hopefully we all have a backup plan for falling equities including a cash cushion - if not I'd suggest getting this setup asap.

This is going to be a bumpy ride for the next few years.

The clouds are parting and the sun is starting to shine after a long time of failed decisions or no decisions for that matter. It always takes time to rebuild after destruction, but my financials are looking bright at least for the next four years.

I have rarely been more positive about the future and happier. Things are looking good!

Why would you call SS an entitlement. We paid for it all those years and now even pay taxes on the payouts

Like return of formerly withheld earned income. It's the return of your government "retirement" plan/investment. We paid in. We deserve to get the benefit we already paid for.

Because we're entitled to it. That makes it an entitlement, by definition. Here's the definition from Merriam-Webster:

You are entitled to a monthly SS check if you qualify by contributing for enough quarters while you are employed.

If the checks stopped when you recovered the amount you contributed then I might agree with not calling it an entitlement. (Without COLAs, age 67-70 for me)

I might even agree if the checks stopped after reaching the total contribution of you and your employer. (Without COLAs, age 73-75 for me)

However, the checks don't stop at either of those points, they keep on coming until you die. And even then, if you have a spouse who did not work they can continue collecting until they die. (With COLAs, hopefully age 85+ for me)

SS is not paying you back for the money you put in, SS is providing a life-long entitlement.

As for the "if we invested it ourselves" line: 401Ks are examples of where we can invest it ourselves. I can't find the stats for how many actually contribute the maximum but looking at the median balances of retirees, it doesn't appear that many do. When we have the opportunity to invest it ourselves, we don't.

Abolishing IRMAA would be wonderful. It is confiscatory.

Solid
 

It looks like we at least can count on the Fed to keep things steady. “The Federal Reserve is prepared to keep its key interest rate unchanged for now as inflation remains elevated and the job market is solid,” Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday on the first of a two-day appearance before Congress.

The inflation trend just hasn’t seemed to abate. It will be an unchanged Spring and Summer of “steady as she goes!” The only real concerns may be the tightening of labor due to immigration controls which could cause the Fed to raise lending rates.

Please do not call social security "an entitlement." It's my money that our government is happy to use and pay me < 1% per year when I withdrawal. An entitlement is, i.e. welfare or food stamps for which a person never paid into the system.

Looks like? Where have been for last 4 years? My SS in NOT entitlement cause the took money out of my pay check for 48 years. IMO once pieces go up they rarely go back down. IMO Why they keep refiguring it’s every so many months. You know like inflation has only risen 1.4 precent but last time it was up 80%. But the new 80% now the standard.

SSI sends checks to the disabled, to spouses of retired wage earners and to minor children of retired wage earners. And probably other groups that I don't know about. It also sends checks that are higher relative to contributions to low wage earners and lower to high wage earners.

But I think everybody knows that. Its not a return of withholding.

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Being subject to IRMAA penalties is annoying, but I think it means we won the game of life. It’s how t seems to me anyway.

The one asset that is sure to go down in value over time is cash.