Americans' Median Net Worth by Age -- How Do You Compare? Dan:
We are probably in agreement as to 'diminished work options' for the current college-age kids. And that is govt-policy driven, by the pols who serve the Establishment/Elite/Aristocracy of this country. Hillary, Bush 41, Obama, Bill Clinton, and Bush 43 served the interests of the American Aristocracy quite well. The dismantling of the American Middle Class was not by accident, it was by design.
But I am talking about spending, not income. -- Its been my life’s observation that most Americans tend to spend up to their income, or overspend, regardless of their income (unless they make obscene amounts of money). There is a desire among the majority of our people, no doubt fostered by corporate-marketing types, to consume today, at the expense of putting away money for a rainy day – even if one must borrow to do so. Parents splurge on their kids, husbands splurge on their wives, most everyone insists on “keeping up with the Joneses”. Bigger houses, bigger cars, more & endless indulgences. “Enough” is never enough. The financial impact of decisions is ignored – especially if such an analysis might cause one to defer immediate gratification.
So of course (maybe), the ‘median’ household has little savings. That is what happens when you choose to spend, borrow to spend, and choose not to save -- and make those choices so frequently that having little/no savings becomes who you are.
David:
As for UBI, I recently heard an interesting saying that applies: “Politicians who chose to take from Peter in order to pay Paul, can ALWAYS count on the vote of Paul.”
Seafarer On the Matthews-Seafarer question,
the chart shows MAPIX (AF's old fund) still outpointing SFGIX* since SFGIX's inception, +4
1.8% to +30.5%.
Yes, they're different animals, but generally I've thought Foster appears to be good manager who's made a mistake with his long-running underweight to Asia (and at one point, before I stopped following the fund closely, some not-so-hot security selection in Latin America). The Asia underweight may seem slight, but over time, it's had to have some effect.
Just another view ...
* If the chart shows only Seafarer, as I think a direct link sometimes does, just add MAPIX to the chart to see the pattern.
Americans' Median Net Worth by Age -- How Do You Compare?
Americans' Median Net Worth by Age -- How Do You Compare? MJG: “The failure that I perceive is not a national failure. It is the failure of the individual and/or the individual family unit…. The problem would quickly desolve if we just practiced the saving discipline that many of us displayed until roughly the early 1980s. We seemed to toss frugality to the wind in that era and have never recovered from that reckless joyride”
Response:
I wholly endorse those comments. Granted, secular & policy trends have stagnated incomes. Chief among these in my opinion: “Trade Uber Alles” trade policies, open borders and (legalized-) corruption/bribery of the political class.. Mass automation will be another headwind.
I agree with that to a degree - trade policies. However, if an individual does not have options then it is not wholly their responsibility. Also, much of this 'individual responsibility' disparity is due to the base comparison - the working generation that came from about
1942 -
1980 (lets not get too hung up on the exact dates). As mentioned here current workers do not have the work/pay/benefits opportunities that past workers did.
Seafarer OT but related to Seafarer. How many people are trading or have in the past moved out some or all of Matthews Asia Growth and Income to Seafarer G&I? I currently have 1/3 Seafarer and 2/3 Matthews and wonder if making a move now (to 2/3 Seafarer or more) is to late? The Foster/Horrocks combo are my only dedicated EM positions.
Seafarer Hey folks. Was hoping to get some advice. As you know, Seafarer is closing as of the end of the month. I have a position in the fund at Schwab. Unfortunately, Schwab tells me that they are currently in negotiations with Seafarer in regards to whether they will continue to sell the fund to existing shareholders. At this point, it is unclear whether they will do so. I want to continue to be able to add to this fund. I'm wondering if others have run into this issue and if you have any suggestions on what to do. thanks.
I have some information from a very reliable source at Seafarer. Per the prospectus they believe the fund will remain available for purchase at Schwab by existing shareholders after today. Contrary to what Schwab told MikeW, Seafarer has no on going negotiations with Schwab, nor are there any new agreements pending with Schwab.
The only new aspect to Seafarer’s relationship with Schwab is that they recently requested that Schwab “soft close" the Fund according to the principles outlined in the Fund’s prospectus (as revised 8/3
1/
16, and available at www.seafarerfunds.com/prospectus). Seafarer has worked with Schwab to implement the soft closure accordingly, and to the best of their knowledge, Schwab has agreed to comply with the intent of the prospectus.
With all the above in mind, Seafarer said that every broker, dealer or platform may enact the soft closure differently, typically because of varying internal policies and technological limitations. Consequently, Schwab’s actual implementation of the soft closure is subject to some uncertainty. While Seafarer does not anticipate any material difficulties for Fund shareholders that custody with Schwab, they can not be certain that some shareholders will not encounter temporary frustrations, or even permanent restrictions. Seafarer will work with Schwab and other platforms to alleviate such problems and they can only ensure the soft closure will be implemented as intended for “direct” shareholders.
My take on all of this is that if Schwab does not sell the fund to existing shareholders after today, the reason(s) for this rest with Schwab and not Seafarer.
Mona
Americans' Median Net Worth by Age -- How Do You Compare? MJG: “The failure that I perceive is not a national failure. It is the failure of the individual and/or the individual family unit…. The problem would quickly desolve if we just practiced the saving discipline that many of us displayed until roughly the early 1980s. We seemed to toss frugality to the wind in that era and have never recovered from that reckless joyride”
Response:
I wholly endorse those comments. Granted, secular & policy trends have stagnated incomes. Chief among these in my opinion: “Trade Uber Alles” trade policies, open borders and (legalized-) corruption/bribery of the political class.. Mass automation will be another headwind.
That said, individuals are “captains” of their own lives. Pursuing worthless degree programs on borrowed money, marrying too soon (or too often !)– or choosing a poor life-partner, or having kids outside of the traditional two-parent household – these are often costly, life-effecting decisions. Succumbing to relentless distractions from real life -- of which spectator sports, the internet & chemical-dependency, are problems too. Choosing not to “pay one’s self first” is another bad decision. These decisions often can costs hundreds of thousands of dollars over a lifetime. -- and 'voila!' there are large chunks of the 'savings gap'.
Successive, contemporary generations seem to increasingly make poor, life-altering decisions, rather than following the “straight and narrow” path common in times past. It really is on each of us to “choose wisely” - or suffer the consequences.
If that “Fool” chart is correct, it amounts to a collective tally of those consequences. It’s the parable of the ant and the grasshopper, writ large.
C’est la vie.
Scottrade Exploring Sale Like I said above, I already have Schwab. I also asked if I can open another account at Schwab. Now that was a bad question.
The reason I have multiple brokerage accounts is to spread my risks. I am a very paranoid person. Imagine if I only had account with Wellstrade.
I have portfolios at Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, Merrill and Scottrade at this time. That's why I own close to 50 funds. I guess I could own 40 funds. The point is not to own 50 funds with two accounts at 1 brokerage.
TRP brokerage NTF offerings are scarce and I use it for managing inlaws money so don't want to mix things. I do have IRA at TRP and Scottrade. I could transfer IRA to Schwab.
TradeKing sucks I just found out.
So I have one fund BPRRX at Scottrade that I will lose since it is closed to new investors. Others I could either sell, or maybe some of them include in other portfolios if I really need.
Scottrade was so good to me. Is there any chance Scottrade will stay as a unit of TDA? Or maybe Scottrade brand has better name and TDA will assimilate into Scottrade and the latter's back-end systems (sic) are retained. Freakin' headache!!!
Scottrade Exploring Sale
Scottrade Exploring Sale I have most of my accounts at E*TRADE as a legacy BrownCo customer and have been pretty happy with the collection of NTF funds they have. Customer service seems to be the main issue. For years I dealt with a guy who was great. He got things done, he went to bat for me when I needed or wanted something like making Grandeur Peak Emerging Markets fund available quickly after launch, and he always followed up on questions I had.
More recently it's the opposite and I find customer service much more stressful because not only are more of the answers bad answers for me, which has to be expected sometimes, but I have to chase after them more for answers. Sometimes they've provided answers that seem more like they just want to be done with my question and move on to the next one rather than actually trying to make the customer experience better- even if the answer isn't what I might hope for.
Though I would go elsewhere for TF funds (e.g. Scottrade $17, E*Trade $20, or Fidelity with $5 to add shares to an existing position).
@msf, is your comment about Fido pricing when adding to an existing position their general approach? I can't find that anywhere on their website or in my account documents. I have a small account at Fido and have always avoided TF funds because I mostly like to add to positions over time, but if the $50 fee was just on the first purchase and each additional purchase was only $5 I might reconsider in some cases.
Scottrade Exploring Sale VF - not sure if you're reading this correctly. Years ago, TDA had no NTF funds, plus a high transaction fee; the combo meant I didn't even take a look at them.
But that was years ago. These days, it's got a very respectable stable of NTF funds. Though I would go elsewhere for TF funds (e.g. Scottrade $17, E*Trade $20, or Fidelity with $5 to add shares to an existing position).
