Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

A very popular strategy is to "double-dip" pensions by retiring from the military and get a job as a bailiff at a Court. The military has very accelerated vesting processes and many people join very young, so it is very possible to get your 20 years in, retire at 40, get a job as a bailiff, then retire at 60, and collect $6,000 a month.

Additionally, almost every single state has a preferred hiring process for veterans and veterans are exempt anti-discrimination hiring rules that most states have, so you can actively choose them over someone else.

Well run and rich counties and states are actually the places with the best pension plans.

Montgomery County Maryland, Fairfax County Virginia, San Francisco, Delaware, Massachusetts, the Federal Government, and parts of New Jersey have the best run pensions.

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

Rising costs being a problem doesn't mean it's not well run.

Pensions are only 6% of the county budget, they are still completely solvent, they are very generous, and they can make it solvent for the foreseeable future by just making the minimum retirement age 60 for new employees and having some economic growth.

ate all the Oreos posted:

Also:

Teeter posted:

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In California, there is a statute of limitations of 4 years for debt collection. I have 200k in student loans. If I stop paying for 4 years, what happens?

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A woman now in prison for Medicaid fraud used some of her ill-gotten gains to invest in a Ponzi scheme, according to court documents.

Tracie Yvette Clay pleaded guilty in 2014 to three counts of health care fraud and is now serving a six-year sentence at a federal prison in West Virginia. Authorities said Clay, the chief executive of Durham-based North Carolina Behavioral Health and Counseling, illegally used Medicaid ID numbers and a doctor's billing code to steal more than $1 million in Medicaid money.

New court documents show that Clay, her husband and their son used some of that Medicaid money to invest in ZeekRewards, a Lexington-based company that promised a $100 return on every $1 invested.

Federal regulators shut down ZeekRewards in 2012, accusing it of illegally selling investments.

IRS agents are now trying to seize $25,000 the Clays invested in the scheme. Tens of thousands of other people also are fighting to get some of their money back from the defunct company.

Once Clay is released from prison, she also must pay off a $990,000 fine.

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I have been looking at getting a new loan for a new car with a lower interest rate. I don't want to refinance with the car I have because, well I hate the car...and I can't because I'm upside down. I have noticed on a lot of credit apps/pre quals that they don't ask about trades in or removing the existing loan.

1) Is there a lender that includes this in part of their application, short of going to a dealer and telling them?
2) Any specific lenders that work with "good" credit, somewhere between 600-650. I have tried Capital One and Lending Tree, both of which can't pre qual me.

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Here's my existing situation:

Current Vehicle: $12,500- Owe
Trade In: $8,000 (Written Offer)
Money Down: $1,500

"New" Vehicle
Price: $12,200
KBB Value: $8,000-9,500

Obviously the smartest decision is to keep my current vehicle and just pay it down. But interest is killing me.

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5. I once invested in a mutual fund solely because they advertised on a radio show I frequently listened to.

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Too many to count, but included cashing out 401(k)s and a SEP IRA or three before 35.

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Snowmobile... that was about a $8000 loss in three years.

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One that stands out was when I left a govt job in NC in my 30s. I was vested in their retirement system, but had no plans to return so I withdrew my contributions of $10k. Five years later I returned to replace my former boss and stayed 22 years until retirement. I was allowed to re-purchase my years in the system after 10 years, at a cost of $63k. Ouch! I did that. It was worthwhile despite the cost. Oh, and one more thing. A NC supreme court case ruled that govt workers pensions were not subject to taxes for those vested in the system prior to 1989. Had I kept my money in the system, my pension would not be subject to NC income tax, but since I took it out, my pension is taxable. I keep on paying for that mistake!

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My list is also long and I will take the time to post it to hopefully help others from making the same mistakes:
1) Trading in my perfectly usable used car for a new car that cost ~33% of my gross income 2 months after I landed my 1st job. The loan was at 15.75% (1985).
2) Spending enough that we carried a revolving balance on our credit cards for the first 5 years after we started work.
3) Buying our first house with 5% down. We had no business buying a house at that time.
4) Buying a Mercedes after a big raise and then buying another during the tech bubble. I think cars are a leading cause of financial suicide and we certainly extended the time to becoming FI by 5 years by overspending on cars.
5) A financial and life lesson: My wife and I spent too much time working in our 20s and 30s and spent too much on material stuff Vs experiences.

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1. During college, I charged everything and only made minimum payments on my credit cards. Now, I still charge everything but only if I can pay it off every month.
2. After college, I invested my IRAs in penny stocks, some which did spectacularly well and others that went bankrupt. I cashed in my IRAs when I started grad school to pay tuition and paid taxes and penalties.
3. After the crash in 2009, I sold all the active funds in my 401k, but instead of immediately buying index funds, I DCA’d my way back in over two years, thinking there would be another reset. I left a lot of money on the table by being partially out of the market during the early part of the run-up.

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Bought a used 2014 Honda Odyssey even after test-driving it and having some reservations about it's condition. I took it to my mechanic (after purchasing it) and he kindly informed me that I had made a mistake. We traded it in for a new minivan, to the tune of a $4k loss. We don't talk about that one too much in my house.

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Invested in sports cards and comic books in the 1990s instead of the stock market (to be fair, I didn't even know "ordinary people" could buy stocks-- I thought you had to wear a suit and tie.)

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Panicking and selling and missing out on some great gains following the last recession.

Marrying a complete disaster of a woman.

Spending too much on frivolous purchases.

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My first investing experience was a penny stock recommended by my roommate. I put in $500 hard earned dollars during the same time I was wrestling with CC debt in my 20's. I thought "this will pay off huge and I can get out of debt!" It didn't just tank, it was delisted and went to absolute zero. It was what I'll call a multifaceted learning experience

Krispy Wafer posted:

My grandfather got to keep his Lockheed healthcare until he died, but IBM shuffled my mom off to Medicare as soon as it was able. They did cover the gap between retirement and age 65 though. At this point I doubt many companies are keeping retiree healthcare any longer than they have to.

I have a pretty dim view of pensions because I've had largely bad experiences with them. IBM in particular kept trying to find ways to crack open the billions in its pension plan and move people to 401k's with offers to 'catch-up' employer contributions that really didn't match what was promised. Pensions are nice to have and I'd love to still have a job that provided one, but they're not the cure-all this thread seems to think they are for retirement. Municipal pension plans, in particular, are in for a world of hurt as cities declare bankruptcy to get out of those obligations. We should probably use the same for people who depend 100% on a pension plan as we do for people who depend 100% on Social Security.

Krispy Wafer posted:

Once you have 52 time shares you can sell your house and go on a never-ending vacation.

This sounds like they've somehow equated large numbers of time shares with the trappings of wealth. Like how some poor people think having 6 cars in varying states of disrepair means they've arrived.

Krispy Wafer posted:

Just retire to a cruise ship, which some old people do. You rack up all kinds of frequent boater perks and just bounce from ship to ship. Housekeeping and food is taken care of and there's even rudimentary medical care. Prices vary based on peak seasons, but you might be able to survive off $5k a month, maybe? So $60k a year for a forever vacation. And when you die they just bury you at sea.