by Joe
on September 11, 2011
I was 10 or so, and the World Trade Center was built but the observation deck wasn’t opened yet. I remember being disappointed that we were there but not able to go to that outside area. So we (my Godfather and I) took the elevator to the highest floor and found a staircase that took us to the observation deck. The thrill was twofold. Both the view that was breathtaking combined with the fact the fact that we were doing something that was a bit illegal, as we snuck up to this location.
After this, The World Trade Center was a fixture, a part of the New York skyline. My mother’s office moved from mid-town to the Trade Center, and my ride into Manhattan, for both high school and college, gave me a glimpse of the towers for 8 years.
I graduated and moved away from NY in 1984, but visited often. Even from mid-town, the towers were visible.
My daughter was born in 1998, and wasn’t yet two when the attack happened. I turned on CNBC before I left for work that day and saw the plane hit. I called my mom in NY and she was home. She had a reduced schedule as she was recovering from surgery, losing half a lung to cancer, and only working a three day schedule. She worked for a law firm whose office was at the trade center, and fortunately, they all got out. Others weren’t so fortunate.
The photo above is from a print I have on the wall in my home office. It’s the image that will remain with me no matter what the skyline of New York looks like.
We lost many loved ones in this attack and the very skyline of the most magnificent city was changed forever. My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones on that day, I know too many people who had close relatives who lost their lives on 9/11 and my thoughts will be with them always.
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by Joe
on September 10, 2011
It’s remarkable that this day, 9/11, is now 10 years behind us. More thoughts on this in tomorrow’s post.
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by Joe
on September 8, 2011
It always starts like this – I save (for example) 15% toward retirement, spend 28% on my mortgage, and between Social Security and Medicare 7.65% comes off the top. This is 50% of my income that I won’t have to spend once retired, so a starting point is that I’ll need 50% of my pre-retirement income to retire at the same lifestyle once retired. Add another 20% or so as a buffer for increased medical expenses as I get older, and 70% should be more than enough. Right?
Not so fast, says Dan Ariely, behavioral economist and author of best sellers, Predictably Irrational and The Upside of Irrationality. In his recent blog post Asking the right and wrong questions Dan suggests that this method (what I call a top-down approach) underestimates the required income for the lifestyle people desire during their retirement. Dan suggests that instead of using the method I started with, that we look not at our current budget and reduce from there, but rather ask the key questions “How do you want to live in retirement? Where do you want to live? What activities you want to engage in?” In Dan’s study (which isn’t shared or linked to, unfortunately) by asking these questions he discovers an average result of 135%.
Let’s take a step back and understand the implications of this. Assuming social security replaces 35% of pre-retirement income (accurate at a $70K income level), then for the 70% replacement, only 35% more is needed, vs 100% as the gap for Dan’s 135% total. This is nearly three times the required retirement savings. If we rely on a 4% withdrawal rate as being safe, it would take 25 times the first year withdrawal as a total amount saved. Just under 9 times your final income to replace 35%, but 25 times final earnings to replace that 100%. Ouch. Considering how low the savings rate is in the US, these numbers are pretty intimidating. I don’t know if these studies serve as a wake up call that we need to save more or if they are just a source of discouragement, showing us how far we are from a satisfying retirement.
What do you think of Dan’s article? How will it impact how you look at what you’ll need to retire?
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by Joe
on September 5, 2011
This is the seventh post in an 8 part series on being homeless, by a guest author who goes by the name Dreamscaper. It’s my honor to share his story with my readers.
I never once begged on the street for money. I wish I did. If I was homeless again in the future I probably would. Easier than what I went through.
1. If you see someone that looks hungry, buy them a good meal. It doesn’t have to be fancy. A few burgers from the $.99 menu does the trick. When you are hungry and don’t know when your next meal will be from having someone give you something nice and warm is nice.
2. If you have a couple bucks, give it to them. People don’t like this because “they’ll just blow it on booze”. Who cares what they spend the money on? I think if I ever became homeless again I’d booze it up to help kill the pain of what daily life was like.
3. If you are more giving, why not buy the person a meal and find out what they need. Maybe they might need a new pair of shoes or a backpack or a blanket or…there is a lot of stuff people could use. You could probably go to a thrift store and find something perfect for them that would make their life a lot easier. I think I would have been happy if someone bought me a notebook and a pen. Nobody offered. That notebook and pen would have made life easier for its lifespan because I needed it.
4. Don’t judge. There are professional homeless people who make good money begging. But people like me exist that was having a hard time. It’s easy to roll up your windows when a homeless person is around and hard to actually care because there are so many. But if you help just one person that could be a big deal to them as they figure out how to survive the day.
Next Week – Final thoughts
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by Joe
on September 3, 2011
The east coast all the way to Vermont (which is not a coastal state) were impacted by this storm, flooding, trees down, etc. We weren’t home when it hit, and were lucky to return to an undamaged house with a cold fridge. My thoughts to those who are still recovering.
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