Comments on: Wacky Wednesday: Time Travel Investing http://www.theamateurfinancier.com/blog/wacky-wednesday-time-travel-investing/ Thoughts on Money, Investing and Life Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:45:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Roger http://www.theamateurfinancier.com/blog/wacky-wednesday-time-travel-investing/#comment-948 Roger Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:23:34 +0000 http://www.theamateurfinancier.com/blog/?p=1578#comment-948 @Monevator: Glad you got a kick out of it; it was my attempt to be have a little fun, parody some of the common plot lines in science fiction involving money, and provide some food for thought at the same time. Yes, diversification would hopefully help to alleviate the risk of this type of situation. The larger point was that you need to keep an eye on inflation (and taxes, while we're on the subject), when you're investing; an 8% return is pretty, at least until you find out that inflation is running at 15%... @David: I'll have to do my best to keep this story going. The time machine gimmick (besides being incredibly fun to play around with) allowed me to skip ahead; hopefully, if you were actually watching the market during the next two centuries, you'd shift your investments so you keep ahead of inflation. As for Social Security, living longer, and needing to support ourselves, here's my (completely off the top of my head) view. I can't imagine politicians having the will to make any huge changes; too many seniors vote, and too many of said voters would have their hides if there was a sudden decrease in benefits. Instead, there will probably be a bunch of little patches over the next several decades; raising the age limits here, bumping up the income ceiling there, 'means testing' out the highest earners. Eventually, I think the benefits will be lowered (probably just in time for me to start collecting, although that might just be my pessimism talking), but I don't think it's going to go bankrupt anytime during my lifetime. I'm still assuming that I won't get anything when I plan how much I need to save and invest, but that's more about being cautious than genuinely thinking that Social Security will be gone. Glad you liked the mention; it's always fun to reference some classic sci-fi, something I don't get to do nearly enough around here. Hopefully, by the time that I need to worry about saving for a rejuvenation procedure, I'll have a large supply of Reagans built up ;) @Monevator: Glad you got a kick out of it; it was my attempt to be have a little fun, parody some of the common plot lines in science fiction involving money, and provide some food for thought at the same time. Yes, diversification would hopefully help to alleviate the risk of this type of situation. The larger point was that you need to keep an eye on inflation (and taxes, while we’re on the subject), when you’re investing; an 8% return is pretty, at least until you find out that inflation is running at 15%…

@David: I’ll have to do my best to keep this story going. The time machine gimmick (besides being incredibly fun to play around with) allowed me to skip ahead; hopefully, if you were actually watching the market during the next two centuries, you’d shift your investments so you keep ahead of inflation.

As for Social Security, living longer, and needing to support ourselves, here’s my (completely off the top of my head) view. I can’t imagine politicians having the will to make any huge changes; too many seniors vote, and too many of said voters would have their hides if there was a sudden decrease in benefits. Instead, there will probably be a bunch of little patches over the next several decades; raising the age limits here, bumping up the income ceiling there, ‘means testing’ out the highest earners. Eventually, I think the benefits will be lowered (probably just in time for me to start collecting, although that might just be my pessimism talking), but I don’t think it’s going to go bankrupt anytime during my lifetime. I’m still assuming that I won’t get anything when I plan how much I need to save and invest, but that’s more about being cautious than genuinely thinking that Social Security will be gone.

Glad you liked the mention; it’s always fun to reference some classic sci-fi, something I don’t get to do nearly enough around here. Hopefully, by the time that I need to worry about saving for a rejuvenation procedure, I’ll have a large supply of Reagans built up ;)

]]> By: David @ MBA briefs http://www.theamateurfinancier.com/blog/wacky-wednesday-time-travel-investing/#comment-930 David @ MBA briefs Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:46:17 +0000 http://www.theamateurfinancier.com/blog/?p=1578#comment-930 Great story - I'm looking forward to next Wednesday. I don't think we need a time machine though, with people living longer and longer (my great-grandmother passed away at 100, my grandparents were in their 90's) the whole concept of saving for retirement is going to have to change. I imagine we'll need to work longer and save more in order to support ourselves in our old age. And the government is going to have to do something about Social Security or you and I won't be getting a thin dime when we reach retirement. That's awesome you mentioned Lazarus Long - I read all those books when I was a teenager and hadn't thought about them in years. Who knows, medical science may develop a rejuvenation process one of these days giving us a new lease on life. Wonder how many Reagans that will set us back? .-= David @ MBA briefs´s last blog ..<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MBAbriefs/~3/PzxP3qcEaQU/" rel="nofollow">The 5 worst Super Bowl ads of 2010</a> =-. Great story – I’m looking forward to next Wednesday. I don’t think we need a time machine though, with people living longer and longer (my great-grandmother passed away at 100, my grandparents were in their 90′s) the whole concept of saving for retirement is going to have to change. I imagine we’ll need to work longer and save more in order to support ourselves in our old age. And the government is going to have to do something about Social Security or you and I won’t be getting a thin dime when we reach retirement.

That’s awesome you mentioned Lazarus Long – I read all those books when I was a teenager and hadn’t thought about them in years. Who knows, medical science may develop a rejuvenation process one of these days giving us a new lease on life. Wonder how many Reagans that will set us back?
.-= David @ MBA briefs´s last blog ..The 5 worst Super Bowl ads of 2010 =-.

]]> By: uberVU - social comments http://www.theamateurfinancier.com/blog/wacky-wednesday-time-travel-investing/#comment-929 uberVU - social comments Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:38:37 +0000 http://www.theamateurfinancier.com/blog/?p=1578#comment-929 <strong>Social comments and analytics for this post...</strong> This post was mentioned on Twitter by karinjg: Wacky Wednesday: Time Travel Investing http://bte.tc/azgG #RTW... Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by karinjg: Wacky Wednesday: Time Travel Investing http://bte.tc/azgG #RTW…

]]> By: Monevator http://www.theamateurfinancier.com/blog/wacky-wednesday-time-travel-investing/#comment-928 Monevator Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:05:57 +0000 http://www.theamateurfinancier.com/blog/?p=1578#comment-928 Chortle! A great advert for diversification. Don't just invest in cash - put money into stocks, gold, property and maybe commodities. Something should go up to keep up with inflation (perhaps invest in a money printing firm such as De La Rue! ;) ) Chortle! A great advert for diversification. Don’t just invest in cash – put money into stocks, gold, property and maybe commodities. Something should go up to keep up with inflation (perhaps invest in a money printing firm such as De La Rue! ;) )

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