Thoughts to one’s self or economic disobedience out loud (this is going to be long)
Their is a point, this isn’t bitch’n to bitch.
I’m becoming more agitated with regards to my wife and my future retirement years, being born in 1969, I did my part. I worked, saved, made a life for my family without being a burden on others. With the advent of 401K savings, and the demise of pensions, I was for it (didn’t have a choice) as I liked being in control of my future.
So I have a forced retirement plan called social security, you know, the tax that you get back with interest, said no one. Plus my generation, if lucky enough gets to save money tax deferred in a 401k retirement plan. So I have social security, any 401k savings and any assets I’ve acquired over the years. I’ve done okay at 56 with this system but I’m not giddy with joy of being forced into early retirement. Technical jobs are being replaced with low cost offshore workers and this thing they think will save them called AI.
I’ve known that I won’t get my full social security benefits, this was due to the incompetence of congress to not spend my money on social programs, well fair and foreign war. This coupled with the facts that my generation made sure we worked our asses off paying into the system to support the baby boomers, even though my generation is tiny in comparison, gen-x did our part and we pulled it off. Now we have this millennial generation, okay, they do their part and I’ll get my forced retirement tax back. Not seeing full employment with these guys, getting worried and down right fearful when you add the gen-z into the mix. College to get a fast food job doesn’t pay into the system, it crushes it.
Okay, so I know I won’t receive 100% of what is due, I hear its maybe 70%… This to start in 2035 when I become eligible for social security. So this forced tax, I’ll only see about 70% of the planned benefit. This is due to Tweedledum and Tweedledee (congress) spending my retirement.
Lets dive a little deeper, lets talk about the other taxes my generation has paid. I make decent money but after Income, State, property, sales, DMV, grocery bag tax, mattress recycle fee (tax), and any sin taxes, I’m not feeling very wealthy.
Precept number one: saving for retirement is for the top 20%, the bottom 80% hasn’t done a good job.
Arguably, my generation has been setup. For me it started with the dot com bust, rode that one down along with everyone else as it was only a “small” correction. Lost most of my fledgling retirement here. Next up was the global financial crises, I sold all stocks the morning it started because I was paying attention. I know the vast majority was not and got creamed. Personally, wife one took my first house equity and losings any equity I was able to claw from her in my second house during the global financial crises. I crawled my ass out of all of that and I’m okay.
Precept number two: the government doesn’t give a shit as long as you pay your taxes.
I think that the government has broken the social contract with my generation, it’s toast and we’ve been setup to take it in the ass, without lube. Its not going to be pleasant… I still have obligation beyond myself so I have to plan of those as well. Parents, children, the moron down the street that needs welfare.
Precept number three: we are not victims or the point of this post
I’ve taken steps and I think we need to discuss this in the open as everyone can do this. Any money you have in a 401k is at risk; the market is at a high… I made the decision to remove my assets from the government control, technically I still own taxes on this money and I’ll be happy to pay this tax if the government doesn’t continue to erode the dollar, they pay out on they obligations and they don’t drive the economy off the cliff.
I researched and opened a self directed IRA, I pay a custodian but they really do nothing but report the value of my assets to the government. You open a LLC in your state, open a checking account in your LLC name and tax ID, you transfer your existing 401K balances to the LLC checking account and you invest it from here. An important IRS tax law is that you must not benefit from these investments in any way what so ever (until you withdraw), you can invest this money in your own beefiness (you do that with ROBS). I decided when and where to invest, I have control of this money. I invested in precious metals. The reason why is that these assets are in my possession, I store them in multiple places – some with legit, some off the books. I don’t need anybodies permission to access my assets. If I stored it all in a safe deposit box, the government can and has forced banks to audit the contents of these boxes. The government doesn’t know what I have invested in, they just know the total stated value.
If this social contract degrades any further, the government simply will not receive what I have promised them. I have a very hard time paying any more then I already have, my wife and I will simply disappear.
My point is that my generation needs to grab the government by the balls and show the younger generation who has control. The younger generations have time to right their ship but its going to take time and will.
I used https://digitaltrust.com/ (at the time it was called Kingdom Trust)
I’m becoming more agitated with regards to my wife and my future retirement years, being born in 1969, I did my part. I worked, saved, made a life for my family without being a burden on others. With the advent of 401K savings, and the demise of pensions, I was for it (didn’t have a choice) as I liked being in control of my future.
So I have a forced retirement plan called social security, you know, the tax that you get back with interest, said no one. Plus my generation, if lucky enough gets to save money tax deferred in a 401k retirement plan. So I have social security, any 401k savings and any assets I’ve acquired over the years. I’ve done okay at 56 with this system but I’m not giddy with joy of being forced into early retirement. Technical jobs are being replaced with low cost offshore workers and this thing they think will save them called AI.
I’ve known that I won’t get my full social security benefits, this was due to the incompetence of congress to not spend my money on social programs, well fair and foreign war. This coupled with the facts that my generation made sure we worked our asses off paying into the system to support the baby boomers, even though my generation is tiny in comparison, gen-x did our part and we pulled it off. Now we have this millennial generation, okay, they do their part and I’ll get my forced retirement tax back. Not seeing full employment with these guys, getting worried and down right fearful when you add the gen-z into the mix. College to get a fast food job doesn’t pay into the system, it crushes it.
Okay, so I know I won’t receive 100% of what is due, I hear its maybe 70%… This to start in 2035 when I become eligible for social security. So this forced tax, I’ll only see about 70% of the planned benefit. This is due to Tweedledum and Tweedledee (congress) spending my retirement.
Lets dive a little deeper, lets talk about the other taxes my generation has paid. I make decent money but after Income, State, property, sales, DMV, grocery bag tax, mattress recycle fee (tax), and any sin taxes, I’m not feeling very wealthy.
Precept number one: saving for retirement is for the top 20%, the bottom 80% hasn’t done a good job.
Arguably, my generation has been setup. For me it started with the dot com bust, rode that one down along with everyone else as it was only a “small” correction. Lost most of my fledgling retirement here. Next up was the global financial crises, I sold all stocks the morning it started because I was paying attention. I know the vast majority was not and got creamed. Personally, wife one took my first house equity and losings any equity I was able to claw from her in my second house during the global financial crises. I crawled my ass out of all of that and I’m okay.
Precept number two: the government doesn’t give a shit as long as you pay your taxes.
I think that the government has broken the social contract with my generation, it’s toast and we’ve been setup to take it in the ass, without lube. Its not going to be pleasant… I still have obligation beyond myself so I have to plan of those as well. Parents, children, the moron down the street that needs welfare.
Precept number three: we are not victims or the point of this post
I’ve taken steps and I think we need to discuss this in the open as everyone can do this. Any money you have in a 401k is at risk; the market is at a high… I made the decision to remove my assets from the government control, technically I still own taxes on this money and I’ll be happy to pay this tax if the government doesn’t continue to erode the dollar, they pay out on they obligations and they don’t drive the economy off the cliff.
I researched and opened a self directed IRA, I pay a custodian but they really do nothing but report the value of my assets to the government. You open a LLC in your state, open a checking account in your LLC name and tax ID, you transfer your existing 401K balances to the LLC checking account and you invest it from here. An important IRS tax law is that you must not benefit from these investments in any way what so ever (until you withdraw), you can invest this money in your own beefiness (you do that with ROBS). I decided when and where to invest, I have control of this money. I invested in precious metals. The reason why is that these assets are in my possession, I store them in multiple places – some with legit, some off the books. I don’t need anybodies permission to access my assets. If I stored it all in a safe deposit box, the government can and has forced banks to audit the contents of these boxes. The government doesn’t know what I have invested in, they just know the total stated value.
If this social contract degrades any further, the government simply will not receive what I have promised them. I have a very hard time paying any more then I already have, my wife and I will simply disappear.
My point is that my generation needs to grab the government by the balls and show the younger generation who has control. The younger generations have time to right their ship but its going to take time and will.
I used https://digitaltrust.com/ (at the time it was called Kingdom Trust)
In 1971, when Tricky Dick pulled the rug out from under us with the dollar/gold incontrovertibly, a decade long recession greeted us right out of school.
Two oil embargoes ensued resulting in a 3X increase in energy & food prices and everything that went with it.
Jimah Cahta in a desperate attempt to cook the books before his failed re-election attempt, recalculated inflation numbers removing the most damaging numbers: Food and energy! A lie that persists to this day.
Manufacturing jobs left this country at a rate never seen before, or after.
PHD were pumping gas, if they even got that job.
By the early 1980's mortgage rates hit 18%!
And let's not forget how badly the new cars sucked out loud.
The last generation to see true prosperity and societal gains was my parents, who grew up during the Great Depression!
Not to say your generation doesn't have even more burdens placed upon you. You do. But blaming the people who proceeded you is like blaming the weather for your misfortunes.
"Boomers" did not make your bed.
The FED made your bed, put the blame where it belongs.
I never said boomers had a free ride. We all of our challenges. I think Gen-X have a challenge the boomers don't have, the future generations are not able to pay into the social security in the same way as Gen-X has done for the boomers. This is a fact. I have been told not to expect 100% of the social security I was promised. This has not happened to the boomers.
You are simply wrong... You might have arguments with children or family on this topic, I'm not one of them. The point is a way for us to correct this situation and take back control from the federal government.
"This coupled with the facts that my generation made sure we worked our asses off paying into the system to support the baby boomers, even though my generation is tiny in comparison, gen-x did our part and we pulled it off."
I'm saying my generation made good on the social contract, while being a much smaller generation. I think you're sensitive.
If anything, I think you should say Thank You.
There is an illusion of that, but power has been centralized since 1860
and the banking cartel took control in 1913.
What's best for the People has been just an annoyance.
You are not wrong. But Soc Sec was not just malinvested. It was overspent.
Disability payments? Payments to children of Dead parents? Outright Fraud with people collecting on dead parents whose death never gets reported.
Then we "taxed" this as income.
This is NOT Financial Advice. But a few things I learned. I mentioned STRC in another post, as an investment.
It is paying ~10% dividends as RoC (Return of Capital). No income tax due until your cost basis hits zero. After that, it is LTCG. I bought some this week b/c it was "on sale". It is DRIP Eligible. With DRIP, 7 years for a doubling?
Next up. Since this does not count as ordinary income. You can earn a lot of this at 0% LTCG tax rate in retirement. (All things are subject to change). I can pull enough of this to LIVE w/o triggering a taxable event.
After that, it's 15%
Finally. Once you can DROP your income, BEFORE taking SocSec... You have a WINDOW of NO income.
This is the time to move your 401(k) or IRA into a ROTH Conversion. I forget the actual numbers, but you can do like $60K/yr of conversion at about a 13% tax rate, avoiding penalties.
Conversion is based on the CURRENT value of the stocks, and in many cases, you can transfer the actual stock.
So, let's say you owned IBIT at $64/share, and it's now trading at $38/share, but you want to hold it.
This would be one of the assets to transfer to the ROTH as SHARES.
Now, this takes a bit longer to do it this way. But this is the basis for my approach. As my income will slowly decline as I turn off the business/work. I will survive on my STRC dividends. As my income drops, I will calculate what I can pull out of the Retirement Accounts into a ROTH IRA. Driving my living expenses out of the ROTH IRA and the Dividends, avoiding as much tax as I can. Cycle that from 62 to either 65 or 67. My normal IRA will be depleted. My dependency on the SocSec will be diminished, but there to fallback on to.
But this is heavily optimized to reduce income taxes into my retirement.
I have a friend who has MILLIONS in a 401(k), and he just realized when he gets to RMDs, he will be pretty much taxed to death. Worse, he has a huge exposure if our "crooked government" decides to RENEG on not taxing that money, or not letting wall street bail him "in"...
He is now looking at the same type of system to extricate his funds.
Yep, the government is INSOLVENT and needs to PRINT it's way out. I have metals as well.
But isn't it sad that there is no "basic" investment to make, so that as you get to retirement, you can draw an income from it. Decades ago, retired people owned stocks with dividends, and CDs which were paying okay rates. Those days are long gone. (Although, in hindsight, considering the TRUE inflation, they were NEVER there, because inflation was ALWAYS worse than the returns. LOL).
Hopefully some of the OTHER INFO about how to extract your money with the smallest tax burden can help others that are here.