Some good news - market broke 20,000 today!

[jmg257]

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/25/505431272/the-stock-markets-on-an-epic-upswing-heres-why-it-probably-hasnt-benefitted-you

The Dow Jones industrial average cruised past another milestone Wednesday — the 20,000 level, further evidence of the long bull market that has lifted share prices since the depths of the financial crisis.

The index closed at a record 20,068. Since the November elections, the Dow and the broader S&P 500 are up 9.5 percent and 7.4 percent, respectively.

[JoeOtterbein]

1. Great time to sell!

[MineralMan]

2. Thanks, President Obama!

[The_Voice_of_Reason]

3. Market did really well...

for the six months before the Great Crash of 1929, and I look for a similar crash this spring.

[sarcasmo]

4. Pump and Dump.

[Warpy]

5. That's mostly due to the decline in the dollar

since the orange git said the dollar was too strong shortly after he lied during his oath.

[HarmonyRockets]

6. Who cares?

[rug]

7. Serious question. Why is this good news?

[jmg257]

8. 401K stuff. nt

[rug]

9. Meh. Congratulations, but I don't think it's a good measure of either the economy or workers' lives.

[jmg257]

10. Helps me and I'm a worker. Doesn't seem to hurt. nt

[rug]

12. I already congratulated you. Anecdotes aside, 401ks save the employers millions from pensions.

http://www.epi.org/press/401ks-have-left-the-overwhelming-majority-of-americans-unprepared-for-retirement-32-charts-show-how-the-retirement-system-has-exacerbated-inequality/

[jmg257]

14. Thanks! nt

[HeartachesNhangovers]

16. Most pensions are invested in the stock market

to some extent, so some level of positive market returns are necessary for pensions to work in the long run.

[rug]

17. The amont of the pension is independent of the Dow Jones.

It's defined in collective bargaining not in a financial adviser's office.

[HeartachesNhangovers]

20. Yes, the benefit amount is based on a formula.

However, employee contributions are never the only source of revenue that is used to pay benefits. In the case of government pensions, employee contributions, employer (government entity) contributions, PLUS returns on investment (such as the stock market) are used to pay benefits. If the market under-performs, that means that employees and employers have to make up the difference to pay the required benefits. In the worst case, the government (which could be a state, city, county or agency) either refuse to increase their share, which means that the current employees have to pay more OR the government refuses to continue providing a pension for new employees in the next contract renewal OR (as has happened recently for all California government pensions managed by CalPERS), new employees get a less-generous "Tier 2" pension.

Any way you slice it, better market returns mean better-funded pension plans, which reduces the risk that employees will have to increase their contributions, or that new employees will get no pension or "Tier 2" pension that basically not much better than Social Security.

[HipChick]

11. Unless you are retiring today or

tomorrow...

there are going to ups and downs

[jmg257]

13. Oh of course...its been going up steadily under Pres Obama. Generally over years

it pays off.

[llmart]

18. I wouldn't get too excited...

Your 401K is only worth something at the time you decide you need to use it. I equate it to owning a home. People love to brag about how much their home is worth when the housing market is a seller's market, but unless you are selling, that means nothing. Your house is only worth what you can get for it at the time you decide to sell.

I'm not saying it's not great news for some people, including me. I took a chunk out last week and whatever I took out, today's market shows my 401K is back up to close to where it was before I took that chunk out. Tomorrow I'll take an even bigger chunk out and roll it over into something more secure because I don't trust what it will do under tRump.

I am no financial expert but back when the economy began to crash under W, I had a gut feeling that the markets would dive so I took a lot out and put it in CD's. I didn't suffer the angst that everyone else did with their retirement money. When President Obama took office I gave it a few months and then put it all back into index funds. Over the past eight years it doubled.

A lot depends on your age. I was close to retirement so I knew I didn't have that much time for it to rebound if I lost a lot. If your young then you may be able to wait out a crash.

[jmg257]

19. Understood - I have a good 10 years to go yet.

[Rex]

15. That is great news for the 10% of the people that own 80% of all stock!

Such a great country! Watch Trump fuck it all up.