Saw a program on A&E (IIRC) where they give people $100,000 to get their lives back on track. Stupid, really.
So, one guy who’s a homeless drinker gets $100K.
Goes out and buys a new $35K truck, because the lack of a $35K truck has been what’s really holding him back.
Then he buys a beater for one of his trailer-trash girlfriends. No biggie.
Never quite gets out of the house, or the bar. Spends weeks buying people drinks.
In one hour and $100K, he really doesn’t evolve much. At the end, he refuses to tell the show’s producers what’s left in the bank, but then we already know.
There is no free lunch. Yes, this typical 66 year old couple probably paid their taxes, and paid social security, but society does not owe them $1 million in benefits.
It won’t last.
If anyone feels compelled to donate to the brownsfan retirement fund, I’m here to accept.
I have no shame. :)
The quickest way to have someone destroy themselves for you is to give them a large sum of money. This only works if the person is a complete loser and user.
I often joke that If I woke up and had a time machine I would buy lottery tickets for all my worst enemies because they would end up destroying their lives quicker.
I would also buy lottery tickets for my friends, not directly, but i would help them pay off their houses and make some emergency funds for them on the condition that they only use them when absolutely needed.
Many of these so-called millionaires are like myself and husband who decided to ‘retire’ because we could not find work - so we will be forced to live on savings for the years until we can collect SS.
In addition, we as do others, live in a house that is too far underwater in an area where every other home is for sale (or being given away, practically) for us to be able to downsize, much as we want to. So we will live with too much square footage, pay a lot more for utilities than we want to or can afford, and this situation shows NO signs of changing.
Yes, we saved enough money to not be a burden on our kids, and hopefully with careful budgeting will be able to control our remaining years, but odds are we will NEED social security and medicare to survive, as the money pit in which we live slowly drains our savings.
Additionally, because my husband had a heart attack at 58 we are concerned that we may not find health insurance to get him to medicare age - once you have a heart attack, you are denied by every health insurance company available and Obamacare isn’t going to change anything in that respect.
I sure wish we could consider ourselves millionaires, but with the cost of everything going up (Rush said hamburger has tripled in price in the last year), it is evident that the sooner we die, the better off we will be.
Sucks to be aging in this economy.
It's not an 'entitlement' program when people pay for it.
It's not a give-away unless you've got the HIV virus - which is not much more than having a cold - and you get full Social Security for YEARS. Or if you're one of the almost 30% of minority males who isn't employed but is disabled - say by alcohol? or drug problems? - both qualify for disability - and THEY get FULL Social Security - sometimes for 40, 50, 60 years...
None of this 'wait til retirement' crap for the drug addicts. They can start collecting in their 20's.
Are liberal elites worried about their favorite victim groups gaming the system? Hell no... Spread that wealth around - have older Americans work until they drop to keep that addicts on the money...
The real p1sser is that even if John Beresford Tipton came to call nowadays - and always assuming that the government somehow let you keep the money - a million bucks would be just about enough to keep yourself in Alpo.
A dollar isn’t what it used to be - and neither is a million bucks.
Get ready for a big shock!
Do your own calculations. Add up all the FICA and SS taxes taken out of your paycheck, or paid by you if you are self employed. Invested in a no risk investment @ 3-5 per cent over the average working life of 40 years, at age 66 you would have a whole lot more than $1 million.
SS is a Ponzi scheme, not in a “lock box” not invested. People pay in on the bottom to pay people on the top. Inevitably it collapses.
How much was withheld from their salaries, over the course of their lives for social security and other ‘benefit’ taxes?
I suppose the author would rather have 19 illegals living next door in a one bedroom house with a ‘man cave’ dug underneath to hold all the cash only renters.
But wait a minute..... this is the WALL STREET journal. WALL STREET, the beneficiaries of the TARP and other ‘economic recovery’ programs, paid for by taxes on wage earning citizens, much of which goes to Social Security and Medicare!
So for WALL STREET to keep raiding that ‘lock box’, citizens who’ve had that money withheld from the wages they EARNED, well we can’t have retirees taking using any of that money, can we now!
Now you know why the WALL STREET journal is pushing garbage like this.
Should it happen, you won't go down the same path as so many lottery winners and maybe, just maybe, developing such a detailed plan would serve to spur you on to making it happen without first having the big 'pay day'.
So today’s seniors need to consider how they want the script for “The Millionaire” sequel to be written: There’s a knock at the door. We now know that on the other side there’s a check for a million dollars. When the door opens, do we really want to see our children, under the commanding gaze of Uncle Sam, presenting us with that check?
I believe that half of the seniors on this site, and about 90% of the seniors overall have ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEM with this approach (i.e., stealing from kids and the unborn).
Because of that, we are FINISHED as a first-world country.
***Readers may recall the 1950s TV show, “The Millionaire,” which portrayed stories of individuals who were given a “no strings attached” ****
I kind of like the movie IF I HAD A MILLION. It shows how various people spend their gift of $1,000,000 during the depression.
One gambles his off, thinking it is a joke.
A prostitute goes in for good living.
A hot check thief can’t get this check cashed.
WC Field’s girlfriend buys lots of junk Model-Ts and runs road hogs off the road.
A fun movie.