Retired game dev (688 Attack Sub, SSN-21 Seawolf and SCARAB with Electronic Arts), shadowy super-coder, Freemason, OG bitcoin hodler. Interested in UFOs.
Dec 20, 2023 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Social Security payment achievement unlocked. My first payment ever was direct deposited this morning to my account.
So, let's run the numbers...
Throughout my career I personally contributed $213,439 and then my employers contributed an additional $201,715
So, the total contribution to social security was $415,154.
In exchange for that, I get a check for $2,569 a month until I die..or...social security goes away.... or is means tested, or some other bullshit I cannot control.
It will take 13 1/2 years for me to get back what was paid in, without any interest or growth of any kind. I will be 75 years old before I mathematically get back more out than I put in. Will I live to 75? Maybe. Statistically speaking few men in my family have lived that long but, hey, maybe I will break the trend...
Now, let's do the math a different way. Let's say that, instead, I had invested $415,154 in the stock market at a steady rate over the past 40 years...
Actually, let's not do that math because it will make a person cry. It would have been worth many millions of dollars had it been invested in the market over my 40 years of employment.
I should add to this a comment about *why* I am taking my social security at the age of 62 instead of waiting until 65 or even 70 where they payment would be larger.
* If you wait, you may get a larger check but you do *not* get more money. The only way you 'get more money' by waiting is if you live an insanely long time. As I said, in my family, that has never happened. Even if you do live that long, the difference isn't substantial which leads to another point...
* If I was not receiving that $2,569 a month social security payment the money would have to come from somewhere else, right? Where would it come from? It would have to come from my retirement accounts. That means I would be pulling an additional $30,828 a year out of my retirement accounts which would be quite damaging to compound investing growth. If I take it out of a regular IRA, I have to pay taxes on that distribution as well, so I would need to take out even more money! The opportunity cost for strip mining your investment accounts early is not worth getting a tiny bit more money if you live past 82!!!
* There are no guarantees about the future of social security. You might as well get what you can, while you can!
Apr 27, 2021 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
(1) A thread which is just copy/paste of a chat exchange I just had with a relative who wanted my opinion on DOGECOIN. I realize not everyone will agree with my views here, but it's one person's perspective nonetheless.
Exchange begins in the following thread:
(2) Him: "I've had some people tell me to get into this Dogecoin? Some tell me to buy others tell me to stay out. What are your thoughts?"
My response: It's an IQ test and a lot of people are failing. It has an infinite monetary supply. People buy it because it 'seems cheap'.
