4 ms·

Let me tell you a story. I earned $1 in 2018. That dollar had the buying power of $1.21 today. Now imagine, I worked hard to save $30K. That $30K is now worth

Let me tell you a story. I earned $1 in 2018. That dollar had the buying power of $1.21 today. Now imagine, I worked hard to save $30K. That $30K is now worth just under $24K now because I didn’t spend it immediately. Tell me - why would I save my $30K? There’s a 4% wealth tax per year on unspent money. I paid over $6,000 in unofficial taxes for the crime of saving money - I could literally have been reinstated from a DUI almost 8 times for the crime of trying to save for a mortgage down payment. I don’t think you want to know what happened to housing affordability since 2018, making a $30K down payment feel more like $10K-$15K in usefulness. Saving money is quite literally for people who like seeing money lit on fire.

throw1234651234 3y ago
You are not supposed to keep it in the bank, unless you are keeping it in a high-yield account (NOT even a CD, an account you can still use), which will get you 4% on $25,000+ such as US Bank. You could also have it in the market. Neither will dramatically beat inflation, but they will beat it. The debatable part here is the merits of pretty much having to understand finance to not lose money all the time is a separate topic. I am in IT and always thought my finance/stats degrees were a complete joke, but it helps to have an intuitive understanding of this stuff not to get **ed by the basics.
- gjsman-1000 3y ago
  > which will get you 4% on $25,000+ such as US Bank Now it will. During the pandemic and earlier? Getting a 1% CD was tough. There was almost no insured way to protect yourself before it happened. My 4.15% high yield bank account was paying about 0.4% until last year. > You could also have it in the market. Neither will dramatically beat inflation, but they will beat it. Yay, invest myself to the stock market which, to me, reeks of overinvestment and too much money in it. Do you actually believe Apple is worth $3 trillion?
  - throw1234651234 3y ago
    No, but that's the game, right? Index funds or adjust for the times, e.g. dividend mining stocks for income and value preservation were undervalued at the time. That's the part I am talking about with there being standard strategies depending on the stage of the economy. It's almost a job on top of your job though, which is the issue I am calling out.
  - maroonblazer 3y ago
    Apple isn't the stock market. Take a look at historical long-term returns. On average the market is a good investment.
voisin 3y ago
This is why the populace should have been rioting in the streets against ZIRP and endless QE.
PurpleRamen 3y ago
How is it the system's fault if you handle your money wrong? Saving does not mean to let it sit around on your table (or bank), doing nothing. The problem is more that the system is build for smart and educated, those who know how to handle money and life. Bringing everyone on this same side is the crucial part of a fair society, and most societies today seem to fail to some degree with this.
- gjsman-1000 3y ago
  > How is it the system's fault if you handle your money wrong? For 90% of people that is code for: Put it in the stock market you idiot. Maybe I’m a rebel, but I don’t think a sane society should all but require investing for people who want to do something as basic as getting a mortgage down payment without exposing themselves to risk. The stock market has been the solution to most people’s inflation problems, and in my mind, it’s a central point of failure. Central points of failure have Black Swans. A sane society would have inflation low enough that people wouldn’t feel like idiots for saving money and wouldn’t feel the need to rush into a centralized failure method.
  - PurpleRamen 3y ago
    It seems not very sane to do it wrong, and then complain that the others are at fault. Money always has risk, be it stock market or just let it sitting on the table, there is no perfect security. Knowing the risks and prices of each method is always relevant. The only fault with society I see, is not teaching their citizen well enough about those risks.
  - antisthenes 3y ago
    > getting a mortgage down payment without exposing themselves to risk. You can't live life without risk. Your parents try to make your life relatively risk free until you are 18, but then hopefully you've learned enough life lessons to be able to see which risks are worth taking and which ones aren't. But there's never going to be a risk-free or tradeoff-free way to live through 60+ years of your adult life, including something like getting a mortgage. It's amazing how many Gen Zs and Millenials are struggling with this concept. > A sane society would have inflation low enough that people wouldn’t feel like idiots for saving money We already do.
jjav 3y ago
> I paid over $6,000 in unofficial taxes for the crime of saving money Not really. You paid the effective 6K for the "crime" of keeping that money under the mattress. Put your savings in an investment instead.

throw1234651234 3y ago

You are not supposed to keep it in the bank, unless you are keeping it in a high-yield account (NOT even a CD, an account you can still use), which will get you 4% on $25,000+ such as US Bank. You could also have it in the market. Neither will dramatically beat inflation, but they will beat it. The debatable part here is the merits of pretty much having to understand finance to not lose money all the time is a separate topic. I am in IT and always thought my finance/stats degrees were a complete joke, but it helps to have an intuitive understanding of this stuff not to get **ed by the basics.

gjsman-1000 3y ago
> which will get you 4% on $25,000+ such as US Bank Now it will. During the pandemic and earlier? Getting a 1% CD was tough. There was almost no insured way to protect yourself before it happened. My 4.15% high yield bank account was paying about 0.4% until last year. > You could also have it in the market. Neither will dramatically beat inflation, but they will beat it. Yay, invest myself to the stock market which, to me, reeks of overinvestment and too much money in it. Do you actually believe Apple is worth $3 trillion?
- throw1234651234 3y ago
  No, but that's the game, right? Index funds or adjust for the times, e.g. dividend mining stocks for income and value preservation were undervalued at the time. That's the part I am talking about with there being standard strategies depending on the stage of the economy. It's almost a job on top of your job though, which is the issue I am calling out.
- maroonblazer 3y ago
  Apple isn't the stock market. Take a look at historical long-term returns. On average the market is a good investment.

voisin 3y ago

This is why the populace should have been rioting in the streets against ZIRP and endless QE.

PurpleRamen 3y ago

How is it the system's fault if you handle your money wrong? Saving does not mean to let it sit around on your table (or bank), doing nothing. The problem is more that the system is build for smart and educated, those who know how to handle money and life. Bringing everyone on this same side is the crucial part of a fair society, and most societies today seem to fail to some degree with this.

gjsman-1000 3y ago
> How is it the system's fault if you handle your money wrong? For 90% of people that is code for: Put it in the stock market you idiot. Maybe I’m a rebel, but I don’t think a sane society should all but require investing for people who want to do something as basic as getting a mortgage down payment without exposing themselves to risk. The stock market has been the solution to most people’s inflation problems, and in my mind, it’s a central point of failure. Central points of failure have Black Swans. A sane society would have inflation low enough that people wouldn’t feel like idiots for saving money and wouldn’t feel the need to rush into a centralized failure method.
- PurpleRamen 3y ago
  It seems not very sane to do it wrong, and then complain that the others are at fault. Money always has risk, be it stock market or just let it sitting on the table, there is no perfect security. Knowing the risks and prices of each method is always relevant. The only fault with society I see, is not teaching their citizen well enough about those risks.
- antisthenes 3y ago
  > getting a mortgage down payment without exposing themselves to risk. You can't live life without risk. Your parents try to make your life relatively risk free until you are 18, but then hopefully you've learned enough life lessons to be able to see which risks are worth taking and which ones aren't. But there's never going to be a risk-free or tradeoff-free way to live through 60+ years of your adult life, including something like getting a mortgage. It's amazing how many Gen Zs and Millenials are struggling with this concept. > A sane society would have inflation low enough that people wouldn’t feel like idiots for saving money We already do.

jjav 3y ago

> I paid over $6,000 in unofficial taxes for the crime of saving money Not really. You paid the effective 6K for the "crime" of keeping that money under the mattress. Put your savings in an investment instead.