Wither Retirement - Part II

Commentary By Ron Beasley

This is a personal followup to Fester's post below.  I am in that 55 to 64 age group that is discussed below.  My "net worth" has taken a significant hit the last couple of years - or so it would seem.  But has it really? 

Housing

My house has dropped in value about 25% over the last year but I own my house - no mortgage - and it's still worth three time more than I paid for it 18 years ago.  In spite of almost daily phone calls and mailings I didn't take any cash out on my house.  I didn't try to buy a more expensive house during the bubble, I was happy to sit on what I had.  As of today my house is a net plus.

Investments

My investments have lost about 50% from the peak of the 14,000 Dow.  I knew at the time that stock prices were in a bubble.  When they were at 14,000 they should at the most been at 9,000 to 10,000.  Like oil last summer the inflated stock prices were the result of a speculative bubble and couldn't be sustained.  I didn't count on that money for my retirement because I knew it wasn't real money.  A drop in value from 9,000 to 7,000 does not look nearly as bad as the drop from 14,000 to 7,000.  My IR A's are still worth more than I put into them.  As of today my investments remain a net plus.

The problem for most is that they tried to get rich quick and get something for nothing.  The talking heads at CNBC and the people on Wall Street were more than happy to help them. My retirement will be about as I planned because I never planned on more than I could have. 

Comments

[FTC]

In spite of almost daily phone calls ...

you should sign up on the National DO NOT CALL Registry

https://www.donotcall.gov/