Post Race!

[dilettante]

I was surprised to see that a lot of US drivers don't have auto insurance coverage when driving in Canada. Normally there is a simple declaration on the back of your proof of insurance card.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Yeah, I think we tend to buy into things and invest a lot of hope in them. Financial strategies as much as anything else.

Some can be pretty high-maintenance if "done properly" requiring time and expertise or paid advice which can be... of uneven quality. That's pretty much why pensions and Social Security had been structured to finance halfway-trustworthy management into the package rather than leave workers quite as exposed to predation and circumstance.

The poor performance of 457 plan experiments showed the flaws of individually managed funds-based investment, but the lobbyists got their way anyhow. That's how we got 401(k) plans, which allowed employers to escape the competitive pressure to offer pension plans and opened Wall Street into a fully fledged Las Vegas experience.

Or, you can do all of the above.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I was surprised to see that a lot of US drivers don't have auto insurance coverage when driving in Canada. Normally there is a simple declaration on the back of your proof of insurance card.

Apparently, I don't get physical cards anymore. I looked it up on my phone, but when I turned the phone over...there was nothing on the back side.

[dilettante]

Maybe you need a phone with those new wraparound screens. Of course the only safe way to handle those without triggering weird edge-tap flyins, etc. etc. is with fingertips holding the phone by the top and bottom edges which are not screen real estate (yet).

[dilettante]

Does make me wonder what you present to Dudley when he pulls you over on horseback though.

[dday9]

Mine has an Apple logo.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I forgot, mine is in a protective case. I can't SEE the back side of the actual phone. Therefore, I cut it in half, and now it doesn't show anything....but what's this white smoke?

[Shaggy Hiker]

It does seem that I should have a physical card.

[jdc2000]

Salt Lake City to Boise train service:

https://www.ksl.com/article/50478925/a-utah-train-to-idaho-salt-lake-boise-leaders-are-working-to-restore-old-service

Oregon rail-biking:

https://jbrailriders.com/
https://www.tillamookrailriders.com/
https://www.mthoodrr.com/train-rides/railbikes/

[Shaggy Hiker]

Well, I would be allowed on the first of those three, and maybe on the third, but not on the second.

[wes4dbt]

My investments have shifted since that time, but I did get unusually lucky over some quarters, and had average returns for most of them. One thing about it is that there's a certain amount of luck involved. I was in a couple mutual funds for reasons that can best be described as laziness. One of them gained 40-60% in a single quarter. I happened to be there for that, but not because of any skill. I had researched all my options thoroughly back around 98, but since that time, some funds I had been in had been removed from the table, and my money automatically moved into a different fund. That happened twice, so the fund that did so well...wasn't of my choosing. I was in it because I hadn't bothered to do the same research on the new fund.

I have a buddy at work who is seriously hooked on gold. He talks about how great it would be if he had put a thousand into gold back in the '80s. He overlooks the fact that he'd have made FAR more had he put that thousand into Apple stocks at the same time, or held onto that thousand and put it into bitcoin when it was worth pennies. Of course, it helps if you also sell at the right time, but the key point is that if you are in the right place at the right time, it can go really well. If not...well, then not so much.

I have never been foolish enough to think I could choose winning stocks or "play" the market. I chose a large well established investment firm, as I've got older I've moved most of my investments into low/moderate risk diversified funds that are @ an even mix of equities/bonds and some small amount of other assets.

I always thought when stocks are dropping that the bond market would be going up but this last year has proved that wrong. I definitely have no idea how the markets actually work. I've been watching the daily markets lately and it seems crazy. Somedays Stocks/Bonds, Oil, Gold and Treasury Bonds will ALL decline. Where is all that money going? Today they're all up. lol

[Shaggy Hiker]

Usually, when stocks drop, bonds go up. That hasn't been happening this time, and it has some people puzzled. After all, where is that money going? When stocks drop, bonds go up because the global pool of money is rushing to safety, which means buying treasuries, which causes the price to rise. That hasn't been happening, so...where's the money going?

[wes4dbt]

Usually, when stocks drop, bonds go up. That hasn't been happening this time, and it has some people puzzled. After all, where is that money going? When stocks drop, bonds go up because the global pool of money is rushing to safety, which means buying treasuries, which causes the price to rise. That hasn't been happening, so...where's the money going?

I asked first. lol

My guess is it has to be going into cash but with such high inflation that doesn't make sense. All I know for sure is it's not going in my account.

[dilettante]

We are also in the years of the largest shift into retirement we've ever seen. People who were working, paying in, have flipped to retirement and begun cashing out to use their savings just as intended.

I see no evidence that this was ever planned for though it has obviously been coming for decades. I won't be surprised to see more states levy taxes on pensions and retirement savings plan distributions in violation of both written and implied social contracts. It happened here where the state Constitution even has a provision that state pensions "shall not be diminished." Courts just reinterpreted that despite its established meaning and both Parties rubber-stamped new taxes on pensions to fund corporate tax relief.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Do you not pay state income tax on disbursements (assuming you have a state income tax)? I always assumed that I would be, so there isn't any 'flip' in my mind...it just always was.

[dilettante]

Not on Roth accounts... yet.

[dilettante]

Another head of the serpent is scheduled to inject more venom into the economy within weeks: "student loan forgiveness." However its scope may be too limited to do much harm even if it survives court challenges.

[homer13j]

[dday9]

Well, it didn't take long for the Browns to go back on the downswing. Unfortunately it looks like the Saints are right there with y'all.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Not on Roth accounts... yet.

That would be quite a change. The whole point of Roth accounts is that you've already been taxed on that money. If they taxed you on the disbursements, that would be double taxation. That's a much higher bar to cross, as being taxed up front is the sole reason that Roth accounts exist.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Yeah, I was mighty surprised at the beatdown the Pats put on them last weekend. They should have kept running, that's the weakness of the Pats defense, and the strength of the Browns, but the Browns moved away from the run early.

[dday9]

That would be quite a change. The whole point of Roth accounts is that you've already been taxed on that money. If they taxed you on the disbursements, that would be double taxation. That's a much higher bar to cross, as being taxed up front is the sole reason that Roth accounts exist.

There is precedent with the death tax.

[dday9]

It is a high bar, but there is precedent nonetheless.

[wes4dbt]

That would be quite a change. The whole point of Roth accounts is that you've already been taxed on that money. If they taxed you on the disbursements, that would be double taxation. That's a much higher bar to cross, as being taxed up front is the sole reason that Roth accounts exist.

You also don't have to pay taxes on any of the money earned from the Roth. Plus you can pull your money out at any time. For young people this is a great type of IRA. But so many want that initial tax break and go with traditional IRA's.

It's possible they could could make changes to the laws, it depends how bad they need money. But the government has a lot of other "lower bar" ways to increase revenue.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Yeah, remove the carried interest loophole, remove the distorting (though popular) deduction for mortgage interest. There are plenty of options better than taxing retirement savings.

[wes4dbt]

remove the carried interest loophole

What's the carried interest loophole???

[dilettante]

I don't think it applies to normal people at all. Last I looked it was a scheme that allows money managers to treat their income as capital gains for preferential taxation treatment.

[Shaggy Hiker]

That's it. It's straight up income by some of the wealthiest people in the country. The loophole allows them to pay taxes on it at the capital gains rate rather than as regular income, which it is. That saves them a HUGE amount.

Trump said he'd close it, but didn't even try. It was in the Inflation Reduction Act, but dropping that was the price Kyrsten Sinema required for her vote.

[Bonker Gudd]

We must rise up and defeat the owls.

[dday9]

Owl take up that call.

[dday9]

Just don’t commit any fowls.

[dday9]

Or make any cheep shots.

[dday9]

I guess you could chicken out.

[dday9]

But don’t post a giant goose egg.

[dday9]

Ok, I’ve beaten it to death. Omelette it stop.

[wes4dbt]

I don't think it applies to normal people at all.

I appreciate that you group me in with the normal people.

[dilettante]

I appreciate that you group me in with the normal people.

Cute. I had written "honest people" at first and then hurriedly adjusted it before posting. Crooks seem to be a protected group and I didn't want to risk a ban for intolerance. Oops! Perhaps the correct term now is "differently moralled" or something?

[Shaggy Hiker]

It's the shepherd lobby. They're always protecting the crooks.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I don't give a hoot about all those puns, though.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Owl be back, later.