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> I would figure investing it is better than buying crappy food or holding dollars that are losing purchasing power. Isn’t that more of a class distinction tha

by dahart 4y ago

> I would figure investing it is better than buying crappy food or holding dollars that are losing purchasing power. Isn’t that more of a class distinction than a decision for most people? The rich will invest either way, and the poor won’t. Both will buy food. The economy still runs on consumption (which is kinda required for investment to even work, right?) > it is an easy no brained nowadays I’m a little skittish on making new investments at the moment, and it seems to be going around? You’re saying that’s obviously foolish and people should be investing right now despite potential indicators of a recession?

lotsofpulp 4y ago
> Isn’t that more of a class distinction than a decision for most people? The rich will invest either way, and the poor won’t. Both will buy food. There are more than two classes. The bottom 60% might be running on fumes, but the 60% to 70% might be thinking about foregoing spending $2k on a road trip that they can choose to invest instead, and the 70% to 80% might be thinking about a $4k Hawaii trip that they would forego. And the 80% to 90% might avoid $10k on an international destination. And the 90% to 95% might choose to invest $5k in the market instead of buying first class seats and put an extra $50k in an IRA as opposed to a new car. > You’re saying that’s obviously foolish and people should be investing right now despite potential indicators of a recession? Yes. Buy low, sell high. If you need to sell within a few years, then stick to cash or bonds. Although, what I actually meant by “easy no brainer” is that it is dead simple to invest in all equities at basically no cost due to the availability of extremely low cost broad market ETFs like VOO. Anyone can invest in the whole market for cheap within seconds of logging into their brokerage account. As I wrote in another comment, for money you need within a year or two, stick it in an FDIC insured saving account, for money within a few years, put it in VCSH, and for money you do not need for a long time, put it in VOO or VTI or similar and forget about it.
- dahart 4y ago
  Yes of course there are more than two classes, but usually the line between having enough free cash to invest or not is pretty binary, what’s what I want to say I meant there by ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ ;). I’m sure most of us here are in one of the middle classes, but speaking personally, my investments have really never rested on having excess income, and I very much doubt that it does for most people above the, say, 70% line. Investments and savings are made in advance of tallying play cash. When I forego a vacation, the money gets dispersed among other optional uses, maybe a stay-cation and a PlayStation and dropping a little extra in the kids’ savings accounts. On the flip side, eating at McDonalds in the first place is generally speaking a class indicator. I assumed that was the reason @PaulHoule used McDonalds. Foregoing McDonalds is quite unlikely to result in having enough cash to invest in something else. You still have to eat, and a lot of foods are more expensive than McDonalds even from a typical grocery store.

by dahart 4y ago

lotsofpulp 4y ago

> Isn’t that more of a class distinction than a decision for most people? The rich will invest either way, and the poor won’t. Both will buy food. There are more than two classes. The bottom 60% might be running on fumes, but the 60% to 70% might be thinking about foregoing spending $2k on a road trip that they can choose to invest instead, and the 70% to 80% might be thinking about a $4k Hawaii trip that they would forego. And the 80% to 90% might avoid $10k on an international destination. And the 90% to 95% might choose to invest $5k in the market instead of buying first class seats and put an extra $50k in an IRA as opposed to a new car. > You’re saying that’s obviously foolish and people should be investing right now despite potential indicators of a recession? Yes. Buy low, sell high. If you need to sell within a few years, then stick to cash or bonds. Although, what I actually meant by “easy no brainer” is that it is dead simple to invest in all equities at basically no cost due to the availability of extremely low cost broad market ETFs like VOO. Anyone can invest in the whole market for cheap within seconds of logging into their brokerage account. As I wrote in another comment, for money you need within a year or two, stick it in an FDIC insured saving account, for money within a few years, put it in VCSH, and for money you do not need for a long time, put it in VOO or VTI or similar and forget about it.

dahart 4y ago
Yes of course there are more than two classes, but usually the line between having enough free cash to invest or not is pretty binary, what’s what I want to say I meant there by ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ ;). I’m sure most of us here are in one of the middle classes, but speaking personally, my investments have really never rested on having excess income, and I very much doubt that it does for most people above the, say, 70% line. Investments and savings are made in advance of tallying play cash. When I forego a vacation, the money gets dispersed among other optional uses, maybe a stay-cation and a PlayStation and dropping a little extra in the kids’ savings accounts. On the flip side, eating at McDonalds in the first place is generally speaking a class indicator. I assumed that was the reason @PaulHoule used McDonalds. Foregoing McDonalds is quite unlikely to result in having enough cash to invest in something else. You still have to eat, and a lot of foods are more expensive than McDonalds even from a typical grocery store.