I agree with you. The real plus of bitcoin is takes money from a centralized system to a decentralized system. Just like electric vehicles will take an enormous amount of energy in the form of electricity demand and need to build charging stations bitcoin will grow and problem solutions will be developed. IMHO bitcoin development is moving faster than EV development. Much of bitcoin issues can be solved with education ans software. EVs need a whole materialistic infrastructure to be built. Don't lose site of batteries are doing a pretty good job of consuming some non abundant minerals. Myself I'm rooting for both EVs and bitcoin. Necessity is the motherhood of invention.

Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency and altcoins just stands for all other cryptocurrencies that have been created since. Bitcoin has far more infrastructure in place than the next leading coin. If cryptocurrency becomes the world's reserve standard at this moment in time bitcoin is far in the lead.

Hard to argue with your post, many good ideas won't work in the real world ( avoiding the P word ) the only fly in your ointment Packers ??? Go Bears !!

To hell with the Bears, their losers.........Go Packers ! :thumbup:

Yup. There is a limit on how much you can "gift" a child per year without major tax ramifications...

That is a law that is often misunderstood. Actually, you can give any individual up to $16,000 each every year with no tax consequences. But, even if you exceed that amount, as long as your entire estate does not exceed $12.06 million, you will owe no taxes. If you exceed the $16,000 annual limit in a single year, you just need to file a gift tax form, but you will owe no taxes until you exceed the lifetime $12.06 million amount. Note that the $12.06 million lifetime limit is scheduled to decrease to $6 million in 2026.

I'm screwed if I make till 2026. Calling the kids tonight giving them the bad news.

Does the recipient owe taxes about $ 16,000?

No. A gift is not taxable income. That is another common misconception.

Oh, well now I'm screwed! Gotta' start spending that $6.02 Million now! :1rotfl:

On the thread topic of inflation………

If you are interested in hearing an actual economist give his opinion, take a look at Consuelo Mack’s most recent program “WealthTrack” (PBS). Past episodes can be found at wealthtrack.com

I record “WealthTrack” each week. It is a short show, well-organized, and, at the end of every program, she always asks the professional she interviews to give a “tip” to her viewers.

The guy she talked to last week is known as a Fed Watcher (aren’t we all) who has some interesting comments on how he is viewing globalization now and also talks about behavioral economics.

I am fascinated by the behavioral aspect of economics and, boy oh boy, we sure are in the throes of that right now, especially re. the housing market. He also talks about the effect of the supply chain mess on behavioral econ.

If you watch this episode, don’t let the guy’s haircut distract you. Great hair. Weird style. :)

Boomer

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Thank you for the post, I will certainly watch it.

At first I was afraid the "economist" would be an "expert". ahem... But, I see it is on PBS, and I have confidence in PBS to not air nonsense. I don't always agree with them, but in general they seem to be reliable.

Only if you are not a Florida resident. Rate of tax hike is capped. Do not know the cap rate but it is around 2-3%.

That $6 million won't be worth that the way inflation is going.

Watch out for those sneaky capital gains taxes if you own mutual funds. In my case I do not see the income but it did come up and bite me in the(you know the word)

Every time we sit down with cpa about tax return those things pop up. Very annoying.

With mutual funds, there are two ways you can owe capital gains taxes. One way is for the fund manager to sell individual stocks within the fund and issue a capital gains distribution to the fund shareholders. The other way is if you sell some of your fund shares yourself that have appreciated in value. In either case, you will see the income unless you have directed the fund manager to reinvest the capital gains distributions by buying additional shares of the fund. In that case, you will see the income as additional shares in your fund account.

For the mutual funds that I own, I direct the fund manager to transfer all capital gains distributions and dividends into my money market account. That way, I always have the same number of mutual fund shares in my account, and the income shows up as a deposit into my money market account. But either way, the income is taxable.

We live, we learn, we act

Feel free to give me all of your substantial savings and invested assets. I'll be more than happy to suffer in your place.

You can clip coupons and look for sales at the supermarket to see if you can save a buck on a couple pounds of ground beef. I'm sure you'll have a blast.

People who have lived under their means to save for retirement and want to keep their money safe are being hurt badly by very low interest rates.

Glad to see rates going back up to a more reasonable level.

Interesting post. My point was that some people are savers and some are spenders. I am a saver and always have been. I think that people should have a right to save money. I have accumulated far more money than I will ever spend. Most people want to talk about inflation in terms of their current income and the higher cost of the products that they buy every day. But, to me and other savers, there is a huge deficit between the artificially low interest rates and the inflation rate. The interest rates are artificial because they are not based on the normal supply and demand equation for money. The Federal Reserve is stacking the deck. So, for example, if you have $100K earning a measly 2 percent, and the inflation rate is 8 percent, you are actually losing $6,000 every year in buying power and real wealth regardless of what you spend for food or other essential items. If you have a million dollars or more, the effect is much worse. I am not asking for sympathy, but I think we should encourage and reward savers as a responsible policy.

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Spenders or Savers? That is the only two choices? Seriously? I guess I don't fit in then, just like everything else. Life is seldom black and white, spender and saver, liberal and progressive. Everyone I know has much more complexity than that.

Interesting but a question. If fund is doing well (and you do not need funds for current expenses) why not reinvest capital gains and dividends? Especially since interest rates are pitifully low right now.

Wonder what caused this predicament everything was fine about 14 months ago

Wasn't that during the Covid restrictions and lockdowns with hundreds of thousands out of work, tens of thousands dying each month, and the economy tanking? Is that part of the "everything" that was fine?

now us working stiffs have fixed income as well, its called a salary. . . I don't know about your working days, but I don't get commissions nor a bonus, so its not just retired people who live on fixed income. . .

It's a personal choice. I like to know exactly how many shares I have all the time, and my cost basis. It makes monitoring my investments more structured. I can always go online and purchase additional shares by just doing an online transfer from my money market account back to the mutual fund. With the automatic reinvestment feature, you get no advanced warning about how many shares they are buying for you or the amount. So, you may be automatically buying shares in one mutual fund, when it may make more sense to buy shares in a different fund. The reinvestment purchase option is too automatic. I prefer to do it manually and control the timing of share purchases.

Understand. As long as the fund is doing well I have no problem reinvesting. If funds stops doing well for a period of time, than it is time for that fund to go away.

Why you own etfs. Mutual funds not tax efficient

A little segue into the psychology of “savers and spenders”…….
 

rg123, I think it goes beyond just your “savers and spenders” b&w categories. I think it’s more of a spectrum because there are extremes at either end.

The psychology of money is fascinatingly complex.

There are savers who are quietly careful with their money because they need to be. That makes good sense.

And there are savers who are sensible savers because they are planners and that makes sense to me, too.

But then there are other types of “savers” whose personalities go beyond need or just that “rainy day” routine.

Sometimes certain types of “savers” go overboard because they are control freaks and that trait carries over into other parts of their lives, too. That is just their nature. Control freaks are toxic to relationships.

Then we have the “savers” who make a game out of being just plain cheap — you know, like those who conceal-carry their individual packets of Crystal Light into TV restaurants and then order water — and if they are really tacky, they order water with lemon. (I don’t care if somebody needs to order just water with their restaurant meal, but to whip out those little make-your-own packets is ill-mannered, to say the least.)

If I may, I will add my interpretation of your statement that you have more money saved than you will ever spend………

I am not going to go all judgey on you and say you are bragging……..

I think what you mean could be the same thing as what a very wise woman (who taught me some things I know about money) told me when she was a few years into a comfortable, no money worries, retirement………

She said, “Ya know, by the time you can buy anything you want, you don’t want it anymore.”

Boomer

This thread is about inflation. My only point was that, if you have no assets saved, the only effect inflation has on you is the day to day cost of the things you buy. But, if you have savings, and the available interest rate on savings is lower than the inflation rate, your saved money is affected as well as your daily expenses. In the past, the interest rate was much higher on savings, so you were not affected as much by inflation.

A sassin’ back and history remembered……
 

Uh oh, I guess that was to try to put me in my place. But. But. But. Thinking outside the box and coloring outside the lines and reading between the lines is where my place has always been. So I like to take a little side trip with topics now and then. You know — on topic, but expanded. (sigh)

About what you are saying about the Fed stacking the deck against us regular people who are planners — I agree. We planners have every right to be pizzed off. I think the last time I bought 5% CDs was in 2005. (I did catch a briefly open window at 2% a few years ago, but that window slammed shut fast.)

I feel like the 1980s made the Fed fear inflation to the point of paranoia. In 1979 we bought a nice brick 3/2 ranch for somewhere in the $65,000 range with a 20% downpayment and a locked in mortgage rate of 10% — that we were thrilled to get. Not long after that, rates got even worse.

And then, CD rates went to crazytown. I was basically still a kid at the time but I knew enough to put my daughter’s tuition money in 17% CDs — and I think those rates got even higher. Young though I was, I knew those CD rates were out of whack, but I also knew to grab them while I could. (Volker-time)

The Fed has been screwing around with us for a long time. Fearing inflation led to too-cheap money and now we are in the throes of needing those bushel baskets of money to buy houses that are really not worth even near the price.

But banking and builder and real estate lobbyists are a lot more powerful than us little people.

Besides all that, savers have been forced into staying in the stock market to get any return at all. We can keep our moat of cash around stocks, but have to face no returns on that safety.

If CD rates go up to even 5 or 6% — and I don’t think they will — older, more risk-averse investors will pull money out of this really old bull market because they might have made enough on those stocks to just relax a little and break up with their advisors. Remember a lot of older investors still have pensions. Younger people will not even know what a pension is. Corporations have lobbyists. Pensions are costly to corporations. And don’t get me started on healthcare costs — older boomers did not have to deal much with those through most of our careers and we did not have student loans out the wazoo. Tuition costs were manageable. (And, btw, re. advisors — ever noticed the rise of financial advisors in the past 30 years? Especially this century, more and more? Everybody and their dog is getting into that field now. That group probably has their lobbyists, too.)

Who knows what the Fed will do now. In my Ohio home city, houses are still selling faster than ever before. It takes guerilla tactics to get one. And younger people are having a really hard time getting starter houses because of downsizing boomers and nimble flippers with cash.

Lots to think about these days. And lots of reasons to recognize that older boomers often had things easier financially, in spite of that rough inflation ride that got us 40 years ago for a while. Now, powerful money has its fingers in everything.

But, now, I must be off. :)

Boomer

Not trying to put anyone in their place. Just doing the math. I like math. My original retirement plan years ago was to sell all stocks and live off the interest from CDs. But, now I am 40 percent invested in stocks because CD rates are too low.

I am seriously curious about something…..if you do not mind my asking…….

Do you have any thoughts on where you think CD rates might go?

I would love to see something from CDs, but I do not have my hopes up.

Boomer

Some Reading.

Will CD Rates Rise in 2022? Here's What Experts Are Saying.

In my opinion, interest rates, including CDs, will remain very low for a long period of time. The goal is to stimulate the economy and encourage borrowing, at the expense of people who are frugal and just want to preserve their savings. But, I have still done extremely well by being frugal and avoiding all debt, including mortgage debt. To me, the worst advice you can give to a young person is that they need to "establish credit". My advice is to pay cash for everything and never go into debt.

Thinking prime will go to 3-4% but suspect banks will stay at around 2%.

Bingo.