Posts by wearysurfer78

It feels like every time I turn around, another local institution just vanishes for good. Is it just me, or are these small community hubs becoming impossible to keep afloat lately?

I appreciate the response and the advice!

Hello everyone,

Is it actually possible to take a referral from a primary care physician in one city and use it to book an appointment with a specialist in the public health system in a completely different city, even if that exact same specialist is available locally?

I’m specifically asking about an ophthalmology exam (an AT&T referral).
To give you some context, my father is currently living in the Midwest and is quite unhappy with his current ophthalmologist, so he’s looking to schedule an appointment somewhere else entirely.
Can I just call a clinic in Washington, D.C. (like the Mayo Clinic or something over in Brooklyn) and request a slot for him?

Thanks for the help!

frozenpanther11 said:This is even worse. Where do they get the nerve for such a ruthless robbery? I work day and night just for them to casually snatch $4,500. I'm not interested in paying for anyone else's retirement, nor do I want anyone contributing to mine when I finally retire. Just give me my own hard-earned money—I know how to manage it better than they ever will.

Those of us working in the private sector don't exactly have a say in the matter, yet we're expected to foot the bill for hundreds of thousands of employees in government agencies and public services.🙂

frozenpanther11 said:Out of my gross pay, anywhere from $4,000 up to $1500 goes straight into mandatory retirement funds every single month. What kind of robbery is that? We’re talking about pumping over $2 million into this system over a 40-year career. How much of that actually comes back to me when I retire? My take-home is around $13k or $14k—working for a government agency, obviously. I don't want to give these thieves a single cent. It’s shameful. How long are they going to keep bleeding us dry? Is there even a way to screw them back?

I assume you're looking at both Social Security and your private pension contributions combined.
Out of that total, only about $0.33 goes toward your individual retirement account, while more than $3,000 is diverted to Social Security to cover current retirees.

Besides, isn't it true that salaries at those government agencies are largely subsidized by the taxes we pay working in the private sector?

Donna Patel3 said:Hey everyone! I finished my professional training last year and just started my first contract. Yesterday, I received some mail from Vanguard regarding my retirement account. To be honest, I haven't really looked into choosing a specific fund yet, but from what I hear, if you don't pick one within a certain timeframe, they just assign you one automatically.

Does anyone have advice on what my next move should be? I don't even have my login credentials yet, though I can probably sort that out since they have my phone number on file. What I'm really wondering is which fund is performing best right now, and if it's even worth the headache to switch things up. Since I've just barely started my career, does my training period even count toward my total years of service?

It would probably be best to reach out to Vanguard via email to ask how to retrieve your password and gain access to your online account. Once you have that set up, you'll be able to monitor your employer every single month to ensure they've actually deposited your contributions for the second pillar after your paycheck hits. You don't necessarily need to lose sleep over it, but it is certainly prudent to keep an eye on things.

Regarding switching funds—for instance, moving from Vanguard to a Fidelity Fund—the following rules apply:

Changing your mandatory pension fund and its managing company must be done in person at a branch of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners upon presenting a valid ID. You are permitted to change your mandatory pension fund once five business days have passed since your previous selection. However, once you have selected the specific insurance company, that choice becomes final.

When transferring as a member to another mandatory pension fund managed by a different firm, the managing company has the legal right to charge an exit fee, which is structured as follows:
0.8% during the first year of membership,
0.4% during the second year,
0.2% during the third year, whereas
in the fourth year of membership, no exit fee is charged.
This exit fee is calculated based on the total value of the assets held in the member's individual account.

So, your options are to either switch funds immediately while your balance is still relatively small, or wait until after the third or fourth year if you decide another fund offers better returns. Personally, I am with Vanguard and I find myself quite satisfied. They all perform somewhat similarly, though JP Morgan Chase & Co. always seems to lag slightly behind the others.

You can track the daily performance of all these funds here.

I am not entirely sure which category they placed you in, but for details on how to initiate a change, please refer to the post above.

driftingpilot8 said:Hey there!

Quick question about Vanguard
I’m thinking about switching from my conservative fund over to an equity-heavy one.
With the US economy looking up and credit ratings climbing, bond yields are starting to dip, right? But then you look at how much chaos Walmart's stock caused lately—it was like a bull in a china shop!

My real question is: when do you think the hit Walmart's shares took within those equity funds will finally level out so I can make the jump? I'm banking on the idea that after a crash like that, things can only go up from here, right?

I can't speak to what's happening with Walmart, but I suspect you might be unaware of this rule...

A fund participant is only permitted to change their fund category once every three years. Specifically, this can only happen during the birth month of a year divisible by three (for instance, when you turn 18, 21, 24, 27, and so on).

Alright, thanks! I’m just a bit stumped on how the webcam could have died on me, especially since I made sure it was functioning fine initially (see that first photo). I bought my laptop with Windows 10 Pro already pre-installed from the manufacturer, and I haven't messed with any of the system settings or anything like that.

Hey there. I consider myself just an average computer user, but lately, I’ve been running into some frustrating issues with my webcam. I occasionally jump on Zoom calls, but everything seems to have broken down.

When I search for the camera through the Windows settings (specifically under the "Create your picture - Webcam" option), the hardware works perfectly fine and I can see my video feed without any trouble. So, the device itself clearly isn't dead.


The problem is that Zoom simply cannot detect it. I went as far as uninstalling and reinstalling the software, but that didn't change a thing. In fact, when I attempted to launch the app, my laptop actually restarted itself while throwing out some bizarre error message.


I also tried uninstalling the imaging device drivers and letting the system reinstall them automatically, followed by a reboot, but I am still stuck in the same spot.



To test if it was just a software issue, I tried using an online video chat service, but even there, the camera wasn't recognized at all.


When I navigate to the scanner/camera installation section, it shows absolutely no components listed, and frankly, I have no idea where to even begin troubleshooting from here.



I am attaching a list of the most recent installations on this machine, as I suspect one of those might be the culprit behind this mess.


Does this look like a major headache that requires taking it to a repair shop, or is it something I might be able to fix myself? It’s quite possible I’ve poked around too much and managed to break something I shouldn't have.

Thanks so much for any advice you can offer! 👍

From what I can gather, most of the BlackRock funds seem to be performing reasonably well, with the notable exception of State Farm; their returns consistently lag behind the rest of the pack.

You can find it at this link:
https://www2.regos.org/regos/servlet/RegosInit

It’s also available directly on the specific Vanguard website you use.

Mark Sanders66 said:but I suppose I'd be losing points in the process, wouldn't I?

When you move your entire balance from Vanguard into another fund, you aren't actually losing anything at all.
Essentially, your capital just gets redistributed into a specific number of shares based on the current market price per share; the bottom line is that the total value of your holdings remains exactly what it was in the previous fund.

I actually went through this myself a few years back when I shifted my assets over to Fidelity and JP Morgan Chase, and the transition was perfectly seamless.

After maintaining continuous coverage with the same health insurance provider for three full years, switching plans actually comes at no extra cost. You just have to head down to a local branch of Chase and file the request personally.

Here is a quick update on how the funds are performing:

http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/mutual-funds/

http://www.sec.gov/investor/search-for-investment-products

Michelle Sanchez84 said:Honestly, you’d be better off grilling these funds about where they actually dump your cash—specifically why the returns look pathetic compared to what you’d get from a basic high-yield savings account. Just to make my point clearer: pension funds basically act as a cleanup crew for big banks. Whenever a major institution hits a rough patch, these funds step in to bail them out by buying up their distressed stocks or bonds using our money. It allows the banks to exit risky positions without taking a single hit to their bottom line.
People are just walking around blissfully unaware, while over the last few years, there’s been a massive, systematic heist targeting everyone contributing to these pension funds. By the time you realize what happened, it'll be too late because your retirement checks will be tiny. And all this happens just so guys like Smith and his cronies can keep handing out massive bonuses for "excellent performance."

So, let me guess—you aren't even a member of an OMF yourself?

I wouldn’t call myself some kind of financial expert, but I made the move away from JPMorgan Chase a few years back because they were consistently the worst player in the game, and honestly, I haven't looked back once.
Now, I've noticed that Wells Fargo has closed the gap significantly with AZ in terms of their unit value.

silentowl7 said:Anyone willing to share how much cash is sitting in the mandatory pension funds?
I've been a member since 2002 and I've got $14.

$23 since early 2003.

analogpuma18 said:Lately, I’ve been digging through some reports on how BlackRock is performing—I make it a bit of an annual ritual to see what the numbers are actually saying. One thing that keeps jumping out at me is that Bank of America—where I’ve had my accounts for a while now—always seems to be lagging behind... their returns just aren't hitting the mark for me. It got me thinking that maybe it’s time for a change, so I wanted to get your take on which fund might be the smartest move right now.
Personally, I’ve noticed that Vanguard and Fidelity Investments always seem to be sitting right at the top of the charts. I’m leaning toward checking out Fidelity Investments specifically, mostly because I’ve been a loyal client of Goldman Sachs for ages, and they really are one of the big players in the American market.
Then again, a buddy of mine keeps reminding me that you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket :-D

I actually made a similar transition away from Charles Schwab funds for those exact same reasons.
Since I handle my basic savings, checking, and money market accounts over at Bank of America, I decided to opt for the Fidelity Blue Chip Fund for my retirement planning.
As for my supplemental retirement account, I went with a fund managed by Wells Fargo. 😁

Ronald Green31 said:Is anyone else keeping an eye on these recent pre-election promises and the proposed "reforms" to the Social Security system?

What exactly are they promising us?