bb wrote:

Michael Coslo wrote:

bb wrote:

Mike Coslo wrote:


bb wrote:



Mike Coslo wrote:


safer places to park your money.

Look at the Federal retirement system.

Look at your state retirement system.

Look at your teacher's retirement system.

Is is all in the market?

Is it all out of the market?

Or is it a balance of the two?

Greed, that potential bad character that we have tapped and used

for

good in out semi capitalist system, is an almost irresistible pull

on

some people.

I'm sure that greed doens't exist in semi-socialist sytems, so why
don't we just get it over with and switch?

Huh? I don't understand.


"Social" security. Get it? And some of the greediest people were
socialists.

Greed is not limited to any one group.


I know quite a few people who during the mid to late '90's were so
impressed by the stock market goings on, that they put all or most

of

their retirement investments in risky, high yielding investments. A
couple invested exclusively in Tech stocks. Guess how much money

they

have today? (answer - not a whole lot) They won't be retiring early
*or* soon.

Were those retirement investments outside of a conventional pension
plan?

No. Where I am at, there are two retirement plan options. One is with


the state, and the other allows you to "customize" your plan with

your

investment options.


Do they limit your options to somewhat wise, conservative investments?

No.

Or are you options wide open? Probably not.

I'm not on the system with lots of options, so I'm mentally paraphrasing
here a bit:

There are a number of options in which you can spread percentages of
your money. Those options run the spectrum from blue chip to high yield,
high risk. Your retirement income is based on your contributions and how
well the investments did.

The Federal Government would likely put limits on the types of
investments you could make with your SS diversion.

Ho-boy, another Federally controlled system. 8^)


No gold and platinum futures, for example.

Probably a good idea.

As you graduate to an older age group,
they would probably change the investment vehicles available. Gosh!

One of the people I know that lost a lot of money was thinking that. He
said that two years before retirement, he was going to pull his money
out of the high risk stuff and put it into the "safe" stuff.


But that's just me thinking out loud. I heard from Al Franken that
Bush doesn't want any ideas on this matter.


On the other hand, I was very careful with my retirement
investments,and didn't lose anything. All I did was take a hit in

my

earning rate.

Until the bubble burst though, Len wasn't the only person that

thinks

I'm a dimbulb!

Aren't you a University of PA employee?

Penn State. U of Pa is the one in Philadelphia.


The point is that you do have a government pension plan.

Yup.


Just how much control do you have over your state employee and

school

employee retirement funds?

Those two plans. We also have an additional TDA possibility from
various companies. On the state plan, there is not a lot you can do.

On

the other plan, there are more investment options.


TDA? Is that like a supplemental, tax-deferred investment option?
Ohio has a 457, "deferred compensation," plan, which is in addition to
the public employees retirement system.

Yup, that's it.


http://nrsretire.nrsservicecenter.co...ome/?Site=Ohio

Ohio also has five (5) public employees retirement systems for some
reason.

http://ohio.gov/Retirement.stm

If you want to see something scary, look at the Federal Employees
Retirement System. They tell you right up front that SS is "the rest
of your retirement." Not the so called safety net that Jim and FDR
described it as.


I see they have three different plans, Social Security, a basic benefit
plan and a thrift savings plan. Looks pretty much like a typical plan group.

- Mike KB3EIA -