Posts by dustymarlin10

William Mitchell2 said:Man, you’re lecturing people on things you clearly don't understand.
You want to stash it under a mattress? Or just let it rot in a savings account? ...
With inflation sitting at 3-5%, if it climbs any higher, they'll bleed your account dry long before you ever reach whatever "dream amount" you're aiming for in 20, 30, or 40 years.

You'll have plenty in the bank $100 but you'll only be able to afford a single bag of pepper with it.

Oh, so inflation is gonna "eat" my money, huh? Like it's gonna hit me with 15% annual inflation like these absolute clowns did!

And who actually caused that mess?

Those "brilliant" Wall Street fund managers?

Larry Williams5 said:Which basically means OMF can lend even more cash to the government (by buying up bonds).

A drop in unit value isn't bad news; it’s actually good—you get more units for the same price. It's the exact same logic as a stock market dip; American pension funds are just accumulating assets right now, so it's actually beneficial for them to buy in at lower prices.

Sure, but that doesn't really help me out since I already bought in at the higher price.

shadowscout20 said:At the very least, you have to wonder about pension funds buying into overpriced stocks (Ingra at 60,000, IGH at 15,000, JPMorgan at 12,000...) while certain managers are walking out the door at the same time! Was it just poor investment forecasting? Or is there something else going on?

Or maybe it's just an outright heist...

How else would you label buying into massively overvalued stocks, unless it's a glaring sign of the deep crisis everyone was warning us about months ago?

And oh yeah, they’re even coming up with "solutions" for the losses at OMF—like suggesting we increase the allocation for the second pillar from 5% to 9% of our paychecks!!!

I mean, who actually thinks that's a good idea?

Should we just throw more money into the furnace so they can squander (and lose) even more of it?

William Mitchell2 said:Hey, take a breath and chill out.
You haven't lost a dime.
I could go back and forth with you on investment theory all day, but it's clear you aren't even trying to make a real point—if you were, you'd actually be talking about the economy. Instead, you're just leaning on politics so you can spout nonsense without any real consequences.

Just look at how much the Nasdaq has tanked lately—not to mention the surrounding markets, or the global situation for that matter.
Even OMF managed to scrape by. Though, honestly, they share the blame for this Nasdaq slump since the government incentivized investing in those funds, which eventually triggered those massive sell-offs.

Your money isn't gone unless you actually sell—or in this case, until you start drawing from your retirement—and before that happens, this market will likely swing wildly "100" more times between hitting the moon and crashing into the abyss.

Try telling me nothing was lost—or stolen—when I actually hit retirement age. Then we'll see how much I really lost. Besides, I can't exactly "sell" anything like you're claiming, because this is a mandatory fund that nobody ever bothered to ask if I actually wanted to participate in. And let me repeat: it would have been better if the money just sat in my bank account, but then all these so-called managers wouldn't have a reason to exist, would they?
And yeah, I still think politics belongs in this discussion, just like the stock market belongs in politics, considering policy is what drives everything anyway.

And one last thing, do you even know what investing means to me?
I'm sure it isn't this endless cycle of moving money from one empty pocket to another based on market whims...

Raymond Cruz42 said:http://www.nytimes.com/news/politics/p...1/0437006.html

Look, the article admits the sample size is tiny, but still... it’s like these people live in a total bubble. It’s honestly mind-blowing how someone can grind through sixteen years of American schooling just to end up this clueless 😲

I can't even decide if this person should be fired or just given a massive raise

Maybe they should've just polled for opinions on Elon Musk or Paris Hilton instead? 🤷

They don't know a thing.

It's a total joke.jot.

A perfect snapshot of what happens when you let fund managers play with other people's money without any oversight or actual consequences.

We basically watched them tank an entire year's worth of contributions in a single season.

loneranger88 said:I am curious: will they actually hold that banquet this year where they announce the fund and manager of the year? And more importantly, how exactly do they plan to present them? 🙂

roughly like this:

"Dear valued customers, it is my absolute honor to introduce our Fund Manager of the Year: this time, we have Hrvojko Sposobnić—the man who actually managed to blow through your ENTIRE last year's contribution! Yes, you heard that right—the WHOLE thing!"

Steven King13 said:Based on how the rules look right now, I’ve still got about 30 years before I can even think about retiring—unless they decide to push the retirement age up to like 85 or 90. Honestly, knowing how things go around here, I wouldn't even be surprised if they did.

And let's be real, I'm fully aware that my mandatory pension fund is most likely just gonnago belly up

Anyway, I can't find my latest statement right now to tell you how the other fund is doing.

Word on the street is the others are even worse—for instance, the Fidelity Investments fund basically swallowed this year's entire contribution plus half of last year's.

Well, looking at today's rules, I have 22 years left to go—but let's be real, it won't stop there.
Think about it: when it stops being about how many years you worked and starts being about how many years you have left to live, does it even make sense to work for 44 years—which is what I'll end up doing—or 47 if you start at 18?
Wouldn't it be better to just stay unemployed, have maybe 5 or 6 kids, and let Jacqueline and the rest of the good people foot the bill for their food and schooling?

Man, I'm just totally over it...

I purposely posted this on the general politics board, even though in a functional country, this would belong in Forbes. But hey, we aren't exactly running a functional country here, are we?

So, what's the deal?

I’m a "proud" member of a mandatory pension fund managed by the Federal Reserve. I fall into that lucky demographic that nobody bothered to ask if they actually wanted to be part of a pension reform where you're forced to subsidize current retirees, and when it's finally my turn to collect... who knows if anyone will give a damn?

I got my account statement the other day.

Back at the start of 2008, my balance was $10967.
During the year, I contributed about $1500.

By the end of the year, my account value sat at $10733.

Basically, I got robbed of $1733, which is nearly an entire month's salary for me.

Robbed—because there isn't any other way to describe what just happened.

Those brilliant fund managers, through their sheer genius in investing, managed to evaporate my entire year's worth of contributions, and then some.

Just beautiful.

If they had just left the cash sitting in the account, it would actually be worth more.
But then there wouldn't be much point in them existing, would there?
All those massive salaries, bonuses, the prestige...

Of course, they made sure to pay themselves their full salaries and bonuses all year long. Every single month. As if they were actually doing a good job.
What a bunch of top-tier economists. People who probably couldn't find Times Square if their lives depended on it.

They estimate that this kind of heist within Vanguard amounted to 3 billion dollars last year. And that's just here in the US.

The routine checkup at Quote : Sunny Flower:

Copied from their email:

THE STANDARD PHYSICAL EXAM COVERS THE FOLLOWING:

1. Internal medicine consultation

2. EKG

3. Abdominal ultrasound

4. Lab work: CBC, glucose, urea, creatinine, bilirubin, urate, CRP, total protein,

cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides, AST, ALT, GGT, ALP, potassium, sodium, calcium, and urinalysis

5. Chest X-ray (if necessary)

6. Gynecological exam + Pap smear + ultrasound

7. Prostate ultrasound and PSA (for men over 40)

8. Breast ultrasound (for women up to 40)

9. Mammogram (for women over 40)

Price for the exam:

Men $333

Women $400

As for the actual vibe there, they’re actually polite, friendly, and willing to answer questions—unlike about 90% of the doctors you run into at our public hospitals—and I managed to breeze through the whole thing in maybe two to two and a half hours.

You have to call ahead to book an appointment.

And if I may just say one more thing, www.google.com is your best friend...😉

Thomas Clark912 said:To make it easier for you guys to count, everyone’s gonna be shut down in two weeks anyway.

Honestly, I'm starting to think they might actually be right.

General Motors

Ashley Ramirez7 said:Look, dustymarlin10, you clearly haven't got a clue what you're talking about. Let's just tear down the government then—it's not like there's any natural gas left anyway, and plenty of people are freezing their tails off at work. As long as the counties have enough supply, production keeps moving, right? Just great. Total garbage.🤣

Trust me, I know exactly what's going on.

Back to the topic, I'm absolutely freezing at work. It’s fine for now since we can switch over to fuel oil as a backup, but that's only good for another two days. And after that? We'll probably all just be forced into mandatory vacation.

It actually just crossed my mind that back in the day during those old communist regimes, you really had to have some kind of alternative way to stay warm.

But honestly, something else caught my eye. Yesterday on the news, they showed the PG&E headquarters.
And there, wide open windows...

Joshua Johnson11 said:Nobody's stopping you from starting your own LLC. You'll see how much fun it is once you're in that position.😂😂

So what, I should just start buying kids' shoes at Walmart?

No thanks. I don't have the stomach for that kind of mess.

Joshua Johnson11 said:We can play around with this topic all we want, but just look at the reality on the ground right now. Gas supplies are being cut off to industry, and they're threatening everyone with massive fines—manufacturing, retail, you name it. Think about the damage this does during a brutal winter. What happens if the plants freeze over or the pipes burst? Who's going to foot the bill for that disaster?... Now, compare that to delaying school for a week. The cost? Basically zero. Kids can catch up on lessons easily enough, and honestly, they’d probably be happier for the break. We have plenty of schools running on natural gas that don't have to pinch pennies because you can't have kids sitting in the cold. But industry? They're getting squeezed dry... 🤣

Not really how it works.
According to Department of Education data, only about 20% of schools actually use gas for heating. On top of that, the total amount of gas consumed by all those schools combined accounts for a measly 0.3% of overall gas consumption.

So, we're talking negligible amounts that wouldn't make a dent in industrial usage if they tried.

As for those people reporting their home utility bills or personal car expenses as business write-offs—you know, treating family trips like corporate travel—maybe give it some thought before you start pointing fingers...

And then there's the government, just sitting there letting it happen...

granitemarlin77 said:So today, Jurčić and Slinić basically promised they'd cover your ConEd bill if you could somehow topple the administration. Go ahead—crank that thermostat up to ninety and see what happens.😁😂

😂🤣

Look, I’m not exactly a huge fan of this administration either, but thinking you can take down the government by burning through a mountain of gas...🤣 🤣

is really just a great way to bankrupt yourself.

Jeremy Wilson3 said:Look, man, everything needs a bit of moderation.

And for those complaining about the cost, this crisis hasn't bumped the price by a single cent. 😛

I'm not complaining about the price, not by a long shot—if anything, gas is still dirt cheap.

It’s just that you're picking some pretty weird ways to try and take down the administration...🤷

Jeremy Wilson3 said:The title says it all.

I have a suggestion for everyone who hates the current administration: crank your thermostats up to the max. I know for a fact I'll be doing it. 😈

If we all do this, we'll trigger a shortage that’ll fuel massive public outcry against Prime Minister Ivo and his cabinet. People get incredibly restless when their homes drop below freezing. No amount of political spin can fix that kind of discontent.

No more waiting. Let's get to work!

Nah.

All you're gonna do is end up with a massive utility bill that looks like a phone number. Plus, you'll probably get sick from the constant back-and-forth between your boiling house and the freezing air outside.

Every private clinic operates the same way—just go see an internist.
Usually you have to book an appointment, but honestly, you can usually get in pretty fast.
It’ll run you about $100.
The test itself is quick, though you're stuck waiting for the results for, what, ten days?
They just mail them straight to your house.

stormyheron4 said:I'm with you on this one.

Honestly, looking at how he was messing around with his eggs, it’s pretty obvious the kid is still young enough to not realize what's actually normal, so I guess it makes sense why he’s posting such nonsense about worms in eggs. He probably just felt his anatomy and convinced himself a tapeworm had somehow migrated into his scrotum. 😂

😂😂🤣🤣🙏🙏

brightridge59 said:...

I feel you.

I’ve dealt with plenty of rude medical staff myself, though it was usually just some grumpy nurse...

What else can I say?

Just try not to let their attitude get under your skin too much.