The Way Of The World

[mountaintosea]

I am somewhat amused that I am choosing to retire when the dollar is at a 30 year low (or so I think I heard), gold is at around $800 an oz., the market is sliding daily, gas is around $3.19/gallon for regular. Oil is over $100. Now my figures may not be accurate today but they are somewhere in the vicinity! It seems like Bernanke was doing a tap dance today. It's kind of like when I take a long position in a stock and the first thing it does is take a dive. It's the way of the world!
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[RetireeRobert]

Keep that sense of amusement you have. It will serve you well.

It also tells me you likely have your ducks in a row for retiring now and find that stuff amusing. Good for you.

 

[audreyh1]

Hey, some of us retired in 1999!

Audrey

 

[TexasGal]

Join the club. I retired not quite 3 months ago, and I find myself shaking my head a lot. We are all going to need a sense of humor, but I need to work on mine some. Thanks for the reminder!

TG

 

[waltwill8]

Hey Audrey,

I toured Europe in '99. I think the Euro was about 80 cents.

 

[audreyh1]

Hey - good time to tour Europe! And a good time to sell your tech stocks if you had a bunch of it!

But if you retired in late 1999, you got to watch your portfolio (and sanity) survive 2000-2002. Three bear market years in a row!

Audrey

 

[megacorp-firee]

But if you retired in late 1999, you got to watch your portfolio (and sanity) survive 2000-2002. Three bear market years in a row!
Audrey

I hope we are not going to have a repeat ... doesn't look, walk, or quack like it yet. but it sure is nerve racking .
This would test my willpower in retirement. I got thru 2000 without panicking. But I was still w*rking and accumulating during that time.

 

[mountaintosea]

It helps to know come December 28 I will receive my first local government pension check! I have put quite a bit of money aside also. The other day a colleague of mine came running into my office and asked me if I thought it was possible for us to loose the pension. I told him that is why I also put money in stocks,CDs, mutual funds etc. He had just finished reading an article about a megacorp reducing it's retiree's pensions.Of course it's been happening for the last several years but I guess he wasn't paying attention!

All the people at work who spend, spend, spend looked at me in bewilderment as I, this past week, made a "rash" decision to retire by Friday.

 

[ladelfina]

mountaintosea.. good for you! Are your colleague's fears well-founded? I'd imagine local governments have different attitudes and responsibilities towards pensions than do megacorps. Gov.s have non-market-based ways of raising funds, and no obligation to stockholders. Is there a history of state/local gov.s re-neging on pensions?

Sadly, I don't have a pension and was never in a position to have one, but .. you're right! The Italians have a saying: fidarsi e' bene; non fidarsi e' meglio (trusting is good; not trusting is better!).

mountaintosea, imagine my non-pensioned angst at having blithely chatted here about a possible runup in gold just a few months ago.. but did I act on it? Nooooo. At the beginning of the year my stash looked a whole lot more promising than it does now! Still up 8-9% annualized (was in the 20% range!) but I'm even less sanguine about the future. I refuse to succumb to panic (nor do I want to bail and pay all those cap gains).. but I see belt-tightening ahead, esp. for poor us who are spending dollars to buy in euros.

 

[haha]

).. but I see belt-tightening ahead, esp. for poor us who are spending dollars to buy in euros.

L-D, just remember what Bernanke said, this is not a problem. You can always come back to Kansas!

Ha

 

[mountaintosea]

ladelfina,
I think the pension will be ok, but like you said, I feel like anything can and does happen these days. Actually our gov. here, at one point, tried to go after a really big pension fund called PERS. He was shot down real quick. I think I'm really lucky to have a pension in today's climate.

It must be really difficult for expats living in Europe! Italy is wonderful. I loved it, BUT expensive. What about migrating to the old eastern bloc? I wish you luck !

 

[ladelfina]

You can always come back to Kansas!

err. would that be one of those 'hedonistic adjustments'?