Watch this video. I dare you.....Watch all four segments.

Can you afford to retire?

I would love to hear everyone's opinions.

I'll start.

Yet another example of how the rich get richer, all at the expense of the middle and working class.

I love Bill Repka from JP Morgan on discussing Superpriority and bank fees. Disgusting.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Aaron,

On the other hand . . . if you look at the best ratings services that rate and track corporate profitablity as well as all other ratios, margins, etc. Corporate profitability in their market segments (from the 60's to 2006, last reference I had) - profitability is largely unchanged in almost all sectors. (example: grocery stores net profit 2% range) There is some year to year changes and corporate profit building in years of fear, and return to averages over time. Some industries vary more than others.

Bottom line, if companies did not change employee benefits or other adaptations that are expenses, then their profit levels would be down from the past. Companies are owned by people - stockholders for big companies. You have to pay or provide for an adequate return for the shareholders to keep the business from not worth the investment to continue. Keep expenses up and you pay the employees and the shareholders suffer.

So what is the company to do - bottom line is the first law of business economics - make a profit. So companies strive to keep same profit margin over the years and it takes some adjustments. Those adjustments may mean less benefits.

At over 50, I have never had a paid day off in my life. I have never had a paid vacation. I don't have an employer paid retirement. Its always been on me to make it happen. Most self employed people have the same story. I've also worked for American Express, Litton Industries and other Fortune 1000 companies (sales w/o paid days off) and all of them divested their divisions that I worked for. Thats life - I moved on and adapted. Its too bad that there are not pensions and life benefits anymore for those who used to get it. But guess what 90% of Americans don't have that these days so the choice is either adapt or spend time wishing for the old days.

Some people would say the other option would be to force corps to pay the benefits. > profit drops, investors find other opportunities, credit dries up, confidence is lost, sales stall, operations cut, and the path is set for sale or closing. So it may better be said, adapt now or adapt later. Even I chose to adapt later and wish I had learned sooner. .02

quote:

Originally posted by 747Heavy:
On the other hand . . . if you look at the best ratings services that rate and track corporate profitablity as well as all other ratios, margins, etc. Corporate profitability in their market segments (from the 60's to 2006, last reference I had) - profitability is largely unchanged in almost all sectors. (example: grocery stores net profit 2% range) There is some year to year changes and corporate profit building in years of fear, and return to averages over time. Some industries vary more than others.

Bottom line, if companies did not change employee benefits or other adaptations that are expenses, then their profit levels would be down from the past. Companies are owned by people - stockholders for big companies. You have to pay or provide for an adequate return for the shareholders to keep the business from not worth the investment to continue. Keep expenses up and you pay the employees and the shareholders suffer.

So what is the company to do - bottom line is the first law of business economics - make a profit. So companies strive to keep same profit margin over the years and it takes some adjustments. Those adjustments may mean less benefits.

At over 50, I have never had a paid day off in my life. I have never had a paid vacation. I don't have an employer paid retirement. Its always been on me to make it happen. Most self employed people have the same story. I've also worked for American Express, Litton Industries and other Fortune 1000 companies (sales w/o paid days off) and all of them divested their divisions that I worked for. Thats life - I moved on and adapted. Its too bad that there are not pensions and life benefits anymore for those who used to get it. But guess what 90% of Americans don't have that these days so the choice is either adapt or spend time wishing for the old days.

Some people would say the other option would be to force corps to pay the benefits. > profit drops, investors find other opportunities, credit dries up, confidence is lost, sales stall, operations cut, and the path is set for sale or closing. So it may better be said, adapt now or adapt later. Even I chose to adapt later and wish I had learned sooner. .02

I dont think I could have said it better myself.

Another thing to look at is the fact that people are living healthier longer so the option of working later in life isnt such a burden of what it has been in the past, that coupled with the fact that "work" can be as simple as selling stuff on ebay to keep a cash flow.

What it comes down to is watch your money wisely and invest it in the right areas and you will be fine.

Good points guys.

Justin, while I agree with both of your statements, you do have to admit that we as players in corporate america's card game are at a distinct disadvantage. It's like being at the casino. The odds are against you. Workers who had been investing at United for 30 years thought the same thing you stated in your second point. They are far from being fine. The bank is fine.

Your right, its exactly like being at a casino. The only difference is that if your on top of your game and invest wisely in the right companies its almost certain youll come out ahead.

If you just throw money at some stocks, even those that have been around thirty years, and dont pay attention to what is going on in that market, you can lose it all.

bull shit how the ceo had his own protection for his pension.he knew he was going to clean out the employees. all those bankers ceos should be hung

No one owes you a job,security,or anything else for that matter. You are the one who make the choice on were you work, how you spend your money and how you invest. Point; the gov now has control of GM, stupid move on GM's part..Yes.. no matter now its done. But now the gov wants to quit making GM's best selling suv's and trucks. Stop selling their bread and butter? This is not smart..now the gov will dictate what is going to be on the showroom floor? Small cars that get good gas milage. What are they saving 2 maybe 5 miles to the gallon? We will allways have people stealing and thinking of them selfs. We do not need gov entervention to solve our problems... hell they cant even run what they have now. The people have to quit looking to the gov to solve all the problems... we have a want it now and pay later mentality. So we should be telling the gov that we wont stand for this crap and how we the people will take care of theives then lynch the theiving bastards!
Me ranting

So what about the 100 thousand jobs that will be lost if GM fails? That's 100 thousand folks who had no control over their destiny that are now out of work? It is governments job to protect it's people.

quote:

Originally posted by Paul 061:
So what about the 100 thousand jobs that will be lost if GM fails? That's 100 thousand folks who had no control over their destiny that are now out of work? It is governments job to protect it's people.

Too what existent? Right now their are alot of companies hurting and going out of business. Some will regroup lick their wounds and start over. Lessons learned and will be stronger by doing so. We cant law our way back to a stronger economy....GM is a very large company with alot of problems... I would rather see them restructure stronger and weed out the waste that is pulling them down then to let a group of politicians with no business expeirence and our tax dollars try to run a business... that is not their job. The ramafacations of GM restructuring it self will be minimal compared to the burden left behind with government intervention. In either case jobs are going to be lost what makes the differance is how it will recover.... putting a tax burden on the whole US is not a good idea.

This statement is a fact- period! I could not of said it better myself.

quote:

Originally posted by motodad642:
No one owes you a job,security,or anything else for that matter. You are the one who make the choice on were you work, how you spend your money and how you invest. Point; the gov now has control of GM, stupid move on GM's part..Yes.. no matter now its done. But now the gov wants to quit making GM's best selling suv's and trucks. Stop selling their bread and butter? This is not smart..now the gov will dictate what is going to be on the showroom floor? Small cars that get good gas milage. What are they saving 2 maybe 5 miles to the gallon? We will allways have people stealing and thinking of them selfs. We do not need gov entervention to solve our problems... hell they cant even run what they have now. The people have to quit looking to the gov to solve all the problems... we have a want it now and pay later mentality. So we should be telling the gov that we wont stand for this crap and how we the people will take care of theives then lynch the theiving bastards!
Me ranting

Paul it's Friday and I like to have fun on Friday's and T-time is not til one so I have alittle time to kill so please forgive me if I upset you I am just trying to help make things more clear for you. I tried this before but maybe I did not exsplain it correctlty? Maybe this format might be alittle more easy to understand.

At the last P.R.O. race at Horn you holeshoted me every moto all weekend. Your decision to start with a 450 was smart and gave you a better chance at a holeshot. My decision to start with a 250 was not as good of a choice as yours so the outcome was that you won the start everytime. Its like on the Malcom Smith interveiw the guy calls it- naturel selection. Some guys win and some guys don't it's your choice. Do you put all your chips in one basket and rely on someone else or do you take charge of your own destiny?
Now heres the fun part- After your holeshot on me I had a decision to make. Do I just let Paul check out and blame it on the fact I have less motor and the salesman did not exsplain this to me or do I dig deep and overcome my mistake and learn from it- I do not have the ability to ride a 450 so I must adapt and practice to improve my starts. This is the hand the life has dealt me. Do I blame somebody else for this or look for oppurtunity to improve?-sorry no spell check- Now does that make any sense?

Just like 642 said- Nobody owes us anything- And I say if you make a bad decision learn from it do not blame someone else. Sadly and I meen very sadly I do feel for the 100k employees at GM that might or will loose there jobs-that sucks! but bottom line they depended on someone else for security and thats perfectly okay if your willing to assume the risk but in the end it does not give them any gaurentees or rights like they are led to beleive. They should of known but now the positive is that they do know and can learn from it. Or they can blame someone else for there loss and sign up again for some more false sense of security.

P.S. For the record Paul I passed you everytime right after the start before the tunnel or just on the backside of it- there was no way I was going to let a liberal lead me around my home track! But I have to say I would much rather race with you Paul than that wild dood on the kawi450 that was crashin and rammin his way around. You posted early that one time you were top three on the first lap right behind Holt going through the rythim section by the stands and grass. I don't remember that but I will take your word for it.LOL

If anybody is lookin for 300+ days of sunshine-very good job market-large river to wakeboard on-excellent motorcross facility-only 45 minutes to mountains and snow-not alot of traffic and most importantly affordable housing- please check out my website at TEDARNOLDHOMES.COM- Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by Paul 061:
So what about the 100 thousand jobs that will be lost if GM fails? That's 100 thousand folks who had no control over their destiny that are now out of work? It is governments job to protect it's people.

So Tra is it Tea Time or Tee time

So the point is not just the folks at GM, it's the ripple effect of vendors, restaurants, hotels etc. I will agree that the gov't may not be running things very well but things at GM have to change. Not everyone can be in business for themselves and in reality everyone relies on everyone unless you live in an Amish compound in Texas growing your own food and making your own furniture.

I thought you were someone else LOL Ya you are much faster than me but I'm back in training mode and maybe I won't be so easy to pass next time! See ya in Spokane

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Paul 061,

quote:

Originally posted by motodad642:

quote:

Originally posted by Paul 061:
So what about the 100 thousand jobs that will be lost if GM fails? That's 100 thousand folks who had no control over their destiny that are now out of work? It is governments job to protect it's people.

..GM is a very large company with alot of problems... I would rather see them restructure stronger and weed out the waste that is pulling them down then to let a group of politicians with no business expeirence and our tax dollars try to run a business...

Would you be saying that if you owned one of the suppliers business that would be out money should GM file CH11? This issue is about more than GM

Weed out the unions and you've got a great start.
They are crippling our manufacturing in this country.

Weed out the unions?! Thats about the dumbest thing i have heard in a while. You got the unions to thank for your 2 day weekend at the end of every week. I am a proud union ironworker. It has provided me with a very good paying job, health insurance,pension and annuity. Now, I will admit alot of unions take things way to far as to what they want and demand. look at boeing or better known as the lazy B for a reason. If more of these people had more of a work ethic and pride in what they do and that they work to make their company money we would be doing alot better. TOO many people expect to get payed good money for very little work. Then they hide behind their union so they can keep their job. I think thats b.s. These unions should start weeding out their union of these leaches that are dragging their union down along with the company they work for. Now im not in a manufacturing union but if i got fired, then went to my union rep for getting fired because I was lazy they would laugh at me and probably tell me to man up and work for 8 hours for your 8 hour pay. Dont lump all unions in the same catagory as these leaches. I guess construction unions are a bit different than the manufacturing unions. My 2 cents.

Hey we could hire illegal mexicans too, that would increase sharholder value and give the CEO's a bigger bonus. It aint the unions, let's work on the health care industry to lower insurance premiums, let's lower CEO and upper executive pay, let's invest in new technology and treat workers as part of the solution not the problem, THAT would be a good start.

quote:

Originally posted by wheatley193:
Weed out the unions?! Thats about the dumbest thing i have heard in a while. You got the unions to thank for your 2 day weekend at the end of every week. I am a proud union ironworker. It has provided me with a very good paying job, health insurance,pension and annuity. Now, I will admit alot of unions take things way to far as to what they want and demand. look at boeing or better known as the lazy B for a reason. If more of these people had more of a work ethic and pride in what they do and that they work to make their company money we would be doing alot better. TOO many people expect to get payed good money for very little work. Then they hide behind their union so they can keep their job. I think thats b.s. These unions should start weeding out their union of these leaches that are dragging their union down along with the company they work for. Now im not in a manufacturing union but if i got fired, then went to my union rep for getting fired because I was lazy they would laugh at me and probably tell me to man up and work for 8 hours for your 8 hour pay. Dont lump all unions in the same catagory as these leaches. I guess construction unions are a bit different than the manufacturing unions. My 2 cents.

Nicely said Wheatly although please don't lump all Boeing workers, factory or otherwise, into that barrel. I'm a union Mechanical Engineer at Boeing, I know many many union mechanics that work their A$$es off. All work groups suffer from the same deadwood.

Paul you removed the part about you and me playing a round of golf. That sounds like fun! I am a better golfer than a motocrosser and I know thats not saying much. Next time your in town I will buy us a round but beware if you kick my ass at golf as you do with starts I might have alittle breakdown on the course. I can tell your are just suckering me in on this golf thing with your statement- i am so much faster than you crap- when I came off the track you were right behind me everytime unless maybe you were a lap down?

Having a fulltime job would be a very difficult challenge for me but I can also tell ya being self employed is like having a full time pounding headache.

No you don't have to live in a Amish compound to be alittle independent. Just need the basics like: GUNS-AMO-FUEL-WATER-FOOD AND DON'T FORGET THE CHAINSAW-

I will be practicing my starts and you train hard so you don't get passed in like the first 500ft of the race-those holeshots must make a guy very tired!- hope to see ya in Spokane Paul...It's on!LOL

quote:

Originally posted by Paul 061:
So Tra is it Tea Time or Tee time

So the point is not just the folks at GM, it's the ripple effect of vendors, restaurants, hotels etc. I will agree that the gov't may not be running things very well but things at GM have to change. Not everyone can be in business for themselves and in reality everyone relies on everyone unless you live in an Amish compound in Texas growing your own food and making your own furniture.

I thought you were someone else LOL Ya you are much faster than me but I'm back in training mode and maybe I won't be so easy to pass next time! See ya in Spokane

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TRA-742,

I would say iron workers are the exception to the rule. Anybody that can hang off a chunk of steel way high up on a daily basis is a special breed indeed. There is no faking that job!

quote:

Originally posted by wheatley193:
Weed out the unions?! Thats about the dumbest thing i have heard in a while. You got the unions to thank for your 2 day weekend at the end of every week. I am a proud union ironworker. It has provided me with a very good paying job, health insurance,pension and annuity. Now, I will admit alot of unions take things way to far as to what they want and demand. look at boeing or better known as the lazy B for a reason. If more of these people had more of a work ethic and pride in what they do and that they work to make their company money we would be doing alot better. TOO many people expect to get payed good money for very little work. Then they hide behind their union so they can keep their job. I think thats b.s. These unions should start weeding out their union of these leaches that are dragging their union down along with the company they work for. Now im not in a manufacturing union but if i got fired, then went to my union rep for getting fired because I was lazy they would laugh at me and probably tell me to man up and work for 8 hours for your 8 hour pay. Dont lump all unions in the same catagory as these leaches. I guess construction unions are a bit different than the manufacturing unions. My 2 cents.

Oh man....I'm not biting. this would be 3 aggravating hours of my life I'll never get back

It is "you incorporated" and it is up to the individual to manage their own career and life.

Government does not owe these companies or the employees anything. Company screws up they need to file bankruptcy, and as part of any loans or investment to keep the company alive, there needs to be restructure or a business plan that shows that it will in fact be able to repay any monies.

While it is very much time to look at the financial industry, the unions, etc. in the ned it falls to "You Incorporated" to do what is necessary for yourself and family.

Re-tool, yes it is hard but I can assure you first hand it can be done.