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I suspect that the survey did not define "paycheck to paycheck". So the responders defined it as they chose. I don't know for sure because the survey detail is behind a "free sign-up" wall.

Good to know, thanks.

I think Edward Jones would like it to be that simple. "Just sign here, we'll set up an account for you. Then you can do what you like." One problem I've got is the statement over my signature that says I " have read, understand, and agree to" all the terms in a 7 page document, with 21...

Did they create the account without your signature? I don't want to sign their agreement which has a mandatory arbitration clause. So, I'd consider it progress if they set up the account without a signature.

Just adding one more data point to an old thread. Note the $300. I have a similar problem. One of my sisters died in February. My other sister and I are "beneficiaries" on an EJ account. The EJ rep told me that we have to open new accounts to get the money because "company policy". I've...

I'm interested. A new law allows companies to use the name "hearing aid" on non-custom devices. So I'm expecting a blitz of new products. Bose sounded interesting -- a brand name that already makes something that could be modified to a hearing aid.

In 2019, we spent $47,230 on the two of us (couple, ages 71 and 72). Our medical spending was $16,070, or 34%. (We also gave money away and paid taxes, those dollars are not in the total above.

Well, mostly we haven't been pre-paying. Social Security is not primarily pre-funded. It is mostly pay-as-you-go. The taxes I paid were used to pay the benefits of people who were retired when I was working. (For some of us, those retired people were our parents or grandparents. Since SS was...

The 25% benefit cut means that taxes would be 75% of the current benefit formula. Increasing the payroll tax rate to fill the gap would use the ratio 25/75 = .333 . So the current 12.4% (combined employee and employer) would go to 16.5%. IMO, that's wouldn't be a disaster if SS were the only...

The decreases in benefits when the trust fund runs out, about 2035, are for all benefits payable then and later, regardless of when you started. That's the current law, congress can change it. The recession caused by the coronavirus will decrease SS revenue this year, and probably for a...

They've done temporary cuts in SS taxes before (the 2009 stimulus package). In that case, the general fund paid the SS trust fund the lost revenue. Of course, the general fund got the money by borrowing from the public, but that doesn't show up on this intergovernmental transaction stuff. So...

I won't comment on what it was intended to accomplish, that would be political. But, the prez does have the authority to defer taxes. We've already seen that this year with moving the deadline for FIT filing. He doesn't have the authority to forgive them. So payroll taxes not paid in four...

Has anybody here read "This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly"? by Reinhart and Rogoff ? Sovereign defaults are the rule, not the exception, if you look across long periods. What I remember from the book was that borrowing is easy. Investors believe a gov't will always...

And then, the article immediately contradicts the paragraph you quote. US debt was $26 trillion. All intergovernment debt was $5.9 trillion or 26% of the total. The Social Security Trust Fund portion of that was $2.9 trillion, or about 11% of total reported debt.

+1 Remember, also, that most of the individual tax reductions in the TCJA expire in 2025. If Congress wants to raise taxes on individuals, it can simply do nothing.

We are a couple living in Iowa. Our 2019 expenses were ... 3,252 ----- Medicare for both 1,135 ----- High deductible med supp for 71 year old 1,753 ----- No deductible med supp for 70 year old .. 926 ----- Prescription drug coverage for both .. 820 ----- Prescription drugs for both .. 845...

Nobody has mentioned the Happier Camper. https://happiercamper.com/pages/hc1-travel-trailer It's fiberglass, but unlike the others I've seen, it is double hulled like a fiberglass boat. That provides a smooth, shiny, washable fiberglass interior. The space between the inside and outside...

How do we know when every person is employed? We always have frictional unemployment -- I lose my job but I'm confident I can find another. I may delay looking, I don't take the first offer because I'm holding out for something better, I've accepted an offer but don't start work until the...

This reminds me that I have a SONY amplifier and speakers in my living room, I use the amplifier every day. It is 44 years old. It is attached to an HDTV. I run the sound through the old amplifier so I can plug in earphones. On rare occasions, I use the speakers.

MMM book/pamphlet is available free at https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Modern_Money_Mechanics/Introduction#What_Makes_Money_Valuable? It may be good background for MMT, but it is not the same.

+1

The notion that the gov't should spend money during a depression/recession to get idle workers back to work is as old as Keynes. The idea is to break a vicious cycle where loss of confidence => businesses and individuals spend less => lower sales for businesses and layoffs for workers => loss...

If we're sticking to electronics, my wife has a 15 inch TV that is probably 15 years old. She uses it every day. I had a 19 inch color TV that I bought in 1977 and used every day until 2005, that's 18 years for a TV. But, it's gone now. Our kitchen stove, that we use every day, was...

I immediately think of an indexed, single premium deferred annuity. Nothing wrong with the concept, but the loads are too high. (A CD has "loads" too, they are included in the price.) So I would look very hard at the numbers. There is also nothing wrong with putting most of your money into...

I had a similar experience, but for me it was just six months. I told my boss I wanted to retire, but I could stay and finish a project. I did, and it was relaxing to know I didn't have to worry about my next performance appraisal.