73 Reds

Bad for who? Precisely what are you complaining about? In my lifetime I've never seen so much opportunity for so many. Where is it written that everyone should be able to afford a home and pretty much everything else they want? There is a job for anyone who wants one, educational opportunities for just about any field or interest, and the average standard of living today is incomparable to just one generation ago; trust me, I lived it. My advice: Stop complaining and go do something productive.

North Florida got some snow too. Global warming is taking a break this winter, LOL.

@Luke, You're fighting a losing battle. After having spent considerable time learning about Crypto, it is easy to congratulate those who have made money on their bets and just as easy to ignore it. Speaking of bets, I turned $1k into nearly $30k at the craps table over the weekend but like BTC, would not recommend dice to others.

John, it still looks like a taxable account. What am I missing? Do they tax you even more when you withdraw the funds?

Yeah, what is tax deferred about a 42% annual tax above a relatively small amount of yearly gains? I'd hate to know what a taxable account looks like.

2021. Thanks almost entirely to Viking.

Can you imagine what they are working on for the future? That's part of what you get. PEs and earnings growth only tell a story of the immediate past.

I quit my last paying job a week after my first child was born. Not exactly good advice for everyone but in hindsight was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Decided life was too short to be on someone else's schedule. Not to suggest I did it solely to be available to help with kids - we were fortunate to have live-in help - but growing up my kids always knew that I could - and would be there for them at any time.

@Junior R, LOL on the one hand your post just described the American dream. On the other hand many people are unhappy or at least dissatisfied at work. I was the latter - dissatisfied (and bored) so the decision to leave many years ago was more about wanting to wake up each day with a purpose. If one is able to find something that is both socially and financially rewarding at the same time, you've hit pay dirt. My last day as a W-2 employee was the last day I ever "worked".

@nsx5200 Curious, where would you have have all the generational wealth go? If you want to confiscate it, or effectively confiscate it in the form of ever-higher taxes, why would you trust government to effectively allocate it better than the person that created it?

Yeah, when is the last time Buffett "got the call"? Those days are largely long over. Hopefully T&T are a little more aggressive when it comes to finding suitable acquisition candidates. The culture need not be degraded by pursuing more and waiting less. There is nothing wrong with competing with and bidding against others for acquisitions; each of Berkshire's operating companies competes for business against competitors every day.

Mostly agree but I think BRK has a better chance at outperformance because Ted and Todd will be in the forefront and looking for and needing a reason to shine. Buffett's "circle of competence" may no longer be a constraint on a large portion of Berkshire's investible capital. With much larger sums to invest, T&T may look to areas and/or regions for investment that don't necessarily make as much sense with smaller amounts to allocate. My hunch is even while Buffett is still in charge they are doing a lot of prep work anticipating the day when they assume control of that much more investment capital.

Is there any significance to the last 52 weeks? Not sure how pigeon-holing the last year's price movement is in any way helpful in selecting stocks. Why not also look for quality companies near their 52 week (or all-time) highs? Anything wrong with Viking's favorite company? The reality is every day when you wake up it is a potentially great day to have money to allocate. There is always something worth considering, no matter where we are in any particular macro or micro cycle.

IDK, to me the booze stocks are starting to look interesting. Never owned (or even considered owning them) but I don't buy any "trend" that suggests that people are forever going to drink substantially less than before. Sure young people may like weed, but no one sells or consumes weed in mainstream establishments and booze doesn't affect anyone but the person consuming it. Tobacco companies were left all for dead when the surgeon general finally figured out that smoking was harmful but last I checked companies like PM, BTI and even MO are doing just fine.

I respectfully disagree. We already tax large generational wealth transfers well beyond any reasonable proportionality. Just check the lowest estate tax rates. Why would we choose to punish those who have generated/created/earned the most wealth, who have also paid (by far) the most taxes during their lifetimes and who also disproportionately support charities and other public interest causes? What is the ultimate goal? Simply raising more revenues is a weak argument in light of the relatively tiny revenues raised from gift and estate taxes. If the goal is to encourage more consumption, statistics reflect that fortunes are often completely spent by the 2nd and 3rd generations so that too doesn't support higher taxes on wealth transfer. The flip side is if folks know that they can't build a legacy that can be passed down as they wish, how many legacies will ever get built?

Its somewhat ironic that politics also plays a part; conservatives tend to be more optimistic and liberals more downtrodden. Not sure I can rationally explain that. But you are so right about hard work, saving, discipline, etc.. Life has to be about a proper balance. Some are raised with it; others have to adopt it. There is genuine satisfaction in a life lived responsibly, well beyond financial rewards.

Of course. Do you think that what you tend to see day to day is a product of expectations? As other posters have pointed out, older generations had to work harder/longer for less and we've gone from a survivalist mentality to a rather comfortable experience-oriented mentality in a very short period of time. I just can't see how today's youth doesn't have an advantage when it comes to education and opportunity.

I think the chart can be explained in at least two ways: (1) older people have had more time to accumulate wealth in stocks and stocks have done very well since 1990; and (2) There are many more opportunities to create and hold wealth today - particularly for young people - than merely owning stocks. A traditional brokerage account in 1990 offered opportunities to buy stocks (or mutual funds) and hold cash. Today even traditional brokerage accounts have far more investment alternatives and the gig economy offers so many more ways to make money so (for some young people's mindsets) why even bother with stocks at all? There is also the notion that today's young people (at least in the US) seem to be all about the "experience" and less so concerned with material wealth.

But younger generations are always less wealthy than their predecessor generations until they grow older because older generations have had more time to generate wealth. And even so, they are still better off than much older generations at the same juncture. Besides, how exactly does one measure wealth? JP Morgan and John Rockefeller were hugely wealthy in their times but who would want to trade places today with them?

Making money is about so much more than investing. Yeah, I know we are on an "investment board". But figuring out professionally what you are good at (or even adept) is something that most young people today have an opportunity to do that some of us older folks did not, at least at the beginning. Life was not always this convenient where folks could sit around all day (or whenever) and talk about different ways to make money while at the same time doing something productive to actually make money. And there are no set working hours - working hours are whenever one chooses to work in many areas.

LOL, the chart tells me that you want to be a long term homeowner and you don't want to settle for the "median". But if all you truly want to be is "average" there has never been a better time in history. You could win the Mr./Mrs. Mediocrity Award and live a pretty nice life in the US.

Perhaps but young people have more opportunities today than ever. Again, I'd trade places with any broke young person in a heart beat.

Wow, so many fatalist attitudes on this board. I would gladly give up everything I own to be young again with the same knowledge I have now.

To your point, there is nothing wrong with cash when your intent is to deploy the cash into an actionable investment and you don't look for too many excuses along the way. Age and investment objectives have a lot to do with this as well. When you no longer need any more to maintain your lifestyle indefinitely, why risk what you've got? At least retain as much as you will ever need in reliably safe assets (reliability and safety will vary with every one of us). Personally, I shun debt because losing money is bad enough but when you wind up paying to lose money, well....

I'm not Parsad but a 401 plan is also a dollar cost average plan. In such case when you are investing for times that are often well into the future, today's prices are immaterial to long term results.