Not a humble brag; I'm genuinely pissed off. The more money I make, the more pissed off I get. Why? Because every financial decision that has lead to great success for me has generally been frowned upon. I really feel like a whole generation my age has been f'd over by shitty, outdated financial advice. It may be coming from the right place and with love and the best intentions, but I think the generations above us became so institutionalized even to the point of never questioning the system while they watch friends and family become homeless in 2008 from the subprime mortgage crisis.
-It all starts with go to college=profit (I did go to college and it worked out, but I'm still the most anti-college college graduate).
-Then the "if you can't afford a 20% down payment, you can't afford the house" -- tell that to anyone who has been in the market over the last decade and has just watched home prices rapidly escalate out of reach even for the slummiest of slums.
-"Bitcoin is a ponzi scheme, fake internet money. Drug dealers... illicit activity...". Funny, because aside from the creation of Bitcoin and DeFi, what DID ever change systemically from the 2008 crisis? Nobody went to jail, only your mom and pops paid the price, we already eliminated fractional reserve banking requirements in the COVID crisis...
Anyways, so bitcoin has made my retirement plan look like a joke. They say not to do it, but at this point why would it be that terrible of an idea to take some profits from crypto to just pay the tax bill and early payment penalty to cash out my 401k early? I can still keep it in securities as I'm a huge believer in diversification I'm not throwing it at crypto even though I do think tokenized securities are the future, but at least I could access it if I ever needed. Seriously, why would I not? I don't plan on ever working (for an employer) again, so won't be contributing any more to a IRA unless I do so through my own LLC (currently consulting with attorneys about this). And then I would have assets freed up if I did ever need to raise capital (behind a LLC, of course).
Arguably, life expectancy may possibly be decreasing depending on geography. They already tell me I'm like 20x more likely to die from cancer because of my 10 years of working in the oil field.... But they're still pushing back social security age to cut deficit, why future tax rates not go up as well, or push back non-penalized retirement disbursement age? And speaking of ponzi scheme--generally IRA's are weighted by age to minimize risk near retirement age, so there's that but still what's to stop boomer generation from cashing out all the rest of their securities out of fear if we get another shakeup crashing it further? I made my money in crypto off that same mentality and buying up cheap tokens while everyone is running for the exits fearing going to zero, how could that not happen to markets? It's all funny money at the end of the day. JFC look at the P/E ratio of most S&P 500 companies. It's really funny how the Fed is adamant about getting people to believe how they have inflation in control at a claimed 2.3% or whatever and coming up with runaround stories about repo markets and treausuries to deny printing money, all while precious metals, real estate, equities, all fucking skyrocket 10x that pace. Where is the money coming from then? Joe Biden's tax plan may very well never see light of day being what it is, even if it only effects people who make 1 million/year+, did we forget how much of the worlds wealth the wealthiest 1-2% owns? This would effect--oh, only all of them. More reason everybody could drain their accounts any day if they ever really fear it.
Anyways, this all came to mind as I was talking to my neighbor's parents (newly grandparents). The dad got his employer to allow unemployment, he's just going to collect that while he can into his minimal social security age and then just take retirement then. Fucking eh, RIGHT?! I've just known of too many people who didn't or aren't going to live to retirement age. idk if that's just a part of growing older, or if it's a trend that isn't talked about. Keep in mind, if a fucking apocalyptic asteroid is headed to earth, or there is you know--a fucking pandemic, governments don't want any info or statistics leaked early in fear of "inducing a panic".
I know, I'm that tin foil hat guy. But the mindset has lead me to where I am today. I'm retarded, you could be a PhD Economics professor at Tufts disproving what I say, but that's only going to make me doubt everything that much more. It's like the Q, except totally different. And it is backed by numbers. That's what I like about markets --- you can make up whatever story you want, but numbers don't lie
Tl;dr I don't trust anything I am told anymore when it comes to financial advice and markets. We've been lied to.
Edit: shortened title
**This thread was edited on Apr 27th 2021 at 1:31:08am
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