We have a friend who was an engineer and built his own beautiful house on several acres. He and his wife raised wonderful gardens and even built a pond where they raised fish. Unfortunately, they had nearly all of their retirement savings in General Motors bonds which they believed were a very safe investment.
They of course lost all of their retirement savings and eventually their home and property. They even had to take their dog to an animal shelter. All they were left with was their old mini-van and what they could fit it in it. They adopted the nomadic life style that has been described here, working seasonally for Amazon and taking whatever other hob opportunities that they can find.
We have now lost touch with them, but the entire situation has been very sad. A lot of people these days have forgotten the way that the Obama administration interfered in the GM bankruptcy process and basically completely screwed over the bondholders to assist in a complete bailout of the unions who were largely responsible for bringing GM to its knees.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/25/AR2009052502135.html
But I have a BIL who worked for GM and he lives very well. He was a UNION employee. I would say he was a union worked but most of the time he was off on disability of some kind. Funny, he was always able to work his cows and hunt while on disability.
I’ll NEVER ever by another GM or Dodge product for as long as I live. The next vehicles will likely be Toyota products.
I realize the author of the article is pushing her agenda, whatever that is. And I’m not a class warfare person, either. If a person is successful and does the right thing, good for them. I’m happy for them. But, I also get irritated with those that spew ... sucks for them that they have no skills or didn’t do this or that.
I lost my job, last year at CSX. Not because I did something wrong. Company had a record year, previous. An Activist Hedge Fund from NYC bought the controlling shares and they brought in Hunter Harrison. His MO is fire as many people as possible, until the RR is barely running, cash out his stock and walk away with about $90 million over 4 years. He’s dead. But, last year, starting in March, they fired around 3000 people. If they keep his strategy, they will fire another 4000 or so. Out of a 27,000+ workforce, they were expecting a 35% attrition rate over the next 5 or so years, just due to retirements, anyway. His strategy was also effecting other companies, that relied on the service, but he wasn’t delivering. Lots and lots of problems. His answer to a Congressional committee was that he answers to the shareholders and their accounts, not to the customers of the railroad nor the other RRs that were also suffering due to his strategy, as they are all interconnected.
My point, after all of that, they’re firing guys with 20+ years on the RR, in their late 40s and 50s. Those guys were staring to see the light at the end of the tunnel to get their “privately funded RR pension”, but Wall St isn’t having that.
Also, go ask the former IT folks at Disney that were forced to train their foreign replacements. I’m sure it’s real easy for them to get right back in the workforce, at their age, competing against some hipster techie right out of college or some H1B visa winner.
I’m not here to be an SJW. I know and fully agree with the concept of, equal opportunity - not equal outcomes.
But, it’s pretty messed up with some of the comments on how these people are nothing. All fun and games until it happens to them.
So did they not pay into SS?
Lesson: diversify your investments.
Sad. One word: diversify!
Here's a post I wrote two months before the overall market hit bottom, while GM bonds were on an upswing:
To: jimbo123I see GMW has been rising of late ($4.17). That's GM's $25 minibond, maturing on Confiscation Day, 2041.
In the meantime, it pays 45.3¢ four times a year (unless it doesn't). That's a yield of 43% at the current price. If you'd scarfed it up 21 November last, you could have had a yield of 77.6%. Of course, if GM's still around after the current crisis blows over, you'll be able to bail out at a nice profit well before 2041, if you so desire. On the other hand, not.
Not. That GMW link no longer works. A year later, General Motors was MLC, the Motors Liquidation Company, and GM was the new, Obama-restructured Gubmint Motors.
It was a wild time.