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  #81   Report Post  
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Default Better rates than a CD ?

On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 17:42:34 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 15:48:33 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 09:27:34 -0400,
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 01:28:25 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 00:50:09 -0400,
wrote:

On Sun, 18 Apr 2021 22:11:44 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Sun, 18 Apr 2021 21:50:33 -0400,
wrote:

Again with the chicken reference. If you're skirting the law, as you seem
to be suggesting, I'd advise you to take a better look at what you're
doing.

Frank gave you the perfect example. He underestimated his withholding
and ended up writing too big a check A couple years later they
actually looked at his return, assessed a penalty and charged interest
on that penalty for a couple years before he even knew he was in
trouble.

I don't know what that contrived scenario has to do with what we've been
talking about. Your estimated withholding is unrelated to any capital gains
or losses you encounter as a result of selling financial instruments.

You don't have Federal tax withheld (from what? from where?) on the off
chance that you might sell some stock shares and make a profit. Those are
two entirely different things, not captured anywhere near each other on
your return and not related to one another in any way.

Is that what you've been worrying about all this time? Well, don't.

I think what might have confused you is that the net of capital gains minus
capital losses is added to (or subtracted from, if negative) your ordinary
income amount and the sum is reported as total income. Withholding isn't
affected by capital gains, though. It's possible to owe a ton of Federal
tax if you made a ton of capital gains, but that doesn't enter into the
calculation on whether you didn't withhold enough throughout the year. The
IRS knows that taxpayers have no idea what the market rate will be when a
taxpayer decides to sell an asset. They aren't going to penalize you for
selling in a hot market. Think about it.

You are the first person I have ever heard who said a big capital gain
did not abrogate the rule about owing too much money at tax time.


Thank you. I'm glad I could help.

Now we can stop the nonsense about playing chicken, etc.


The chicken part is still true for the ones you say you are helping.


No.

If someone is trying to micro manage their withholding to minimize
their return, they can guess wrong.


It's not rocket science, but people have got to know their limitations, as
Clint Eastwood more or less said once. If the subject of taxation, income,
and withholding all sound like black magic, go ahead and give Uncle Sam a
nice big interest free loan. He won't complain one bit, but when he pays it
back in the form of a refund, it'll be without interest. I don't choose to
do things that way.

If you don't have a pretty good
sized slush fund, paying might be a burden. The average American would
be hard pressed to come up with a few grand on short notice.
As for me, I just look at it as a T bill that pays 0.04% less than the
going rate. I can afford the two bucks I am missing out on.


As I pointed out earlier, it's probably more like $500, but you've been
clear that $500 isn't going to break the bank either way.

  #82   Report Post  
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Posts: 14,141
Default Better rates than a CD ?

On Wed, 21 Apr 2021 20:38:55 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 17:34:56 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 15:46:52 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 13:27:54 -0400,
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 14:23:50 GMT,
(Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

writes:
On Sun, 18 Apr 2021 11:06:29 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Friday, April 16, 2021 at 12:06:42 PM UTC-4, Frank wrote:
On 4/16/2021 11:37 AM, Dean Hoffman wrote:
On Friday, April 16, 2021 at 9:11:45 AM UTC-5, AK wrote:
Is there any relatively safe investment that makes a better rate than a CD?

I am getting .4 %.

I don't think that is even better than the inflation rate.

Thanks.

I checked the inflation rate a few days ago. One source put it at 1.6%. It's been years
since I had money in the old government bond. EE?
You might want to look at balanced index funds. I've had some of my money in one of Vanguard's but
that particular one is closed to new investors. It has 60% of the money in stocks, 40% in bonds.
An article here about others.
https://investedwallet.com/best-vanguard-index-funds/
Consumer Reports years ago claimed it's better to get an index fund that just tracks a group of
stocks and/or bonds. Doing that cuts out the hot shot stock picker who might make a fortune one
year then go tits up the next.

Lot depends on your age and tolerance for risk.

You are not going to get any interest rates anywhere near inflation rate
and I think inflation is much higher than quoted. Government plays
games in trying to show inflation rate is low such as if price of beef
spikes then people will eat chicken so they say inflation in meat prices
did not go up.


Yet another right wing myth. At least that one won't create an insurrection.


Do you really think inflation is as low as the government says it is?

Do you have any evidence that it is not?

Just my grocery bill, the cost of energy, the cost of various
materials I buy, the cost of real estate/rents and the cost of
consumer goods, in spite of most being made by Asians or 3d world
workers. The exception is electronics but that is just because of the
technology getting smaller/cheaper. There is far less labor involved.
What used to be hundreds (thousands?) of parts soldered together by
hand is now on a chip that costs pennies to produce and is wave
soldered on a board by a robot.

In other words, no evidence.

I am not sure what the government puts in it's basket to get the CPI
but I don't seem to buy much of that.

That explains the lack of evidence. You know, they publish detailed info on
how they calculate the CPI, how they select products, the records they
keep, etc. You can look it up, or maybe this will get you started.

https://www.bls.gov/cpi/questions-and-answers.htm


I just know my grocery bills are higher, my energy bills are higher,
used car prices are higher and the rents people pay are higher. Buying
a house is a distant dream for most of them. What do you think drives
the cost of living for the majority? You millionaire democrats claim
to care about the working man but you seem to be totally out of touch
with the reality of their day to day life.


If I may... Please pull to the side of the road and disconnect the rope
that you're using to drag the goalposts around.

Now, addressing your post:
1. Your example is anecdotal. One person doing some grocery shopping in
Florida does not inflation make.

2. Use the link I gave you and learn what goes into the actual calculation.

3. I forgot my third point, but I think it was just a reminder that running
after you as you move the goalposts is exhausting.


We were talking about inflation as seen by normal folks. They notice
the extra dime or quarter hike in a can of soup. People whine about it
everywhere, including letters to the paper. Grocery prices keep going
up, it is just true and Cindy said the same thing from Michigan. Store
brand milk was $3.52/gal here today. Fancy "milk" (low lactate, soy,
almond etc) is ~$4.50-$5.99 a half gallon. Store brand bread was
$1.89. It isn't just the nickel here and the there on various
[products you are going to buy. They don't have as much stuff on sale
and they haven't had the gas coupon for 6 weeks or so. Lots of little
stuff adds up pretty fast at the store. Rents and energy bills are up
too. At a certain point, what do working people actually buy?

As for that puff piece from BLS a few things were made pretty clear.
The computation is 3 years old the day it is published
"CPI data in 2016 and 2017 was based on data collected from the
Consumer Expenditure Surveys for 2013 and 2014"

I also question exactly what is meant by
"food and beverages, housing, apparel, transportation, medical care,
recreation, education and communication, and other goods and
services."

One thing stands out right away. Only a moron thinks medical costs
haven't gone up much more than the "CPI" would indicate. The same is
true of education. We already talked about the housing.
  #83   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
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Posts: 14,141
Default Better rates than a CD ?

On Wed, 21 Apr 2021 20:45:24 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 17:42:34 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 15:48:33 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 09:27:34 -0400,
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 01:28:25 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 00:50:09 -0400,
wrote:

On Sun, 18 Apr 2021 22:11:44 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Sun, 18 Apr 2021 21:50:33 -0400,
wrote:

Again with the chicken reference. If you're skirting the law, as you seem
to be suggesting, I'd advise you to take a better look at what you're
doing.

Frank gave you the perfect example. He underestimated his withholding
and ended up writing too big a check A couple years later they
actually looked at his return, assessed a penalty and charged interest
on that penalty for a couple years before he even knew he was in
trouble.

I don't know what that contrived scenario has to do with what we've been
talking about. Your estimated withholding is unrelated to any capital gains
or losses you encounter as a result of selling financial instruments.

You don't have Federal tax withheld (from what? from where?) on the off
chance that you might sell some stock shares and make a profit. Those are
two entirely different things, not captured anywhere near each other on
your return and not related to one another in any way.

Is that what you've been worrying about all this time? Well, don't.

I think what might have confused you is that the net of capital gains minus
capital losses is added to (or subtracted from, if negative) your ordinary
income amount and the sum is reported as total income. Withholding isn't
affected by capital gains, though. It's possible to owe a ton of Federal
tax if you made a ton of capital gains, but that doesn't enter into the
calculation on whether you didn't withhold enough throughout the year. The
IRS knows that taxpayers have no idea what the market rate will be when a
taxpayer decides to sell an asset. They aren't going to penalize you for
selling in a hot market. Think about it.

You are the first person I have ever heard who said a big capital gain
did not abrogate the rule about owing too much money at tax time.

Thank you. I'm glad I could help.

Now we can stop the nonsense about playing chicken, etc.


The chicken part is still true for the ones you say you are helping.


No.

If someone is trying to micro manage their withholding to minimize
their return, they can guess wrong.


It's not rocket science, but people have got to know their limitations, as
Clint Eastwood more or less said once. If the subject of taxation, income,
and withholding all sound like black magic, go ahead and give Uncle Sam a
nice big interest free loan. He won't complain one bit, but when he pays it
back in the form of a refund, it'll be without interest. I don't choose to
do things that way.

If you don't have a pretty good
sized slush fund, paying might be a burden. The average American would
be hard pressed to come up with a few grand on short notice.
As for me, I just look at it as a T bill that pays 0.04% less than the
going rate. I can afford the two bucks I am missing out on.


As I pointed out earlier, it's probably more like $500, but you've been
clear that $500 isn't going to break the bank either way.


I made it clear, I have investments and I have cash parked. Parking at
the IRS is as safe as parking it in a T bill and I am only giving up
0.04% with a whole lot less hassle. The bank isn't much better either.
I barely notice it missing nor do I see much when it comes back.
  #84   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
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Posts: 1,313
Default Better rates than a CD ?

On Thu, 22 Apr 2021 01:23:55 -0400, wrote:

On Wed, 21 Apr 2021 20:45:24 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 17:42:34 -0400,
wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 15:48:33 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 09:27:34 -0400,
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 01:28:25 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 00:50:09 -0400,
wrote:

On Sun, 18 Apr 2021 22:11:44 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Sun, 18 Apr 2021 21:50:33 -0400,
wrote:

Again with the chicken reference. If you're skirting the law, as you seem
to be suggesting, I'd advise you to take a better look at what you're
doing.

Frank gave you the perfect example. He underestimated his withholding
and ended up writing too big a check A couple years later they
actually looked at his return, assessed a penalty and charged interest
on that penalty for a couple years before he even knew he was in
trouble.

I don't know what that contrived scenario has to do with what we've been
talking about. Your estimated withholding is unrelated to any capital gains
or losses you encounter as a result of selling financial instruments.

You don't have Federal tax withheld (from what? from where?) on the off
chance that you might sell some stock shares and make a profit. Those are
two entirely different things, not captured anywhere near each other on
your return and not related to one another in any way.

Is that what you've been worrying about all this time? Well, don't.

I think what might have confused you is that the net of capital gains minus
capital losses is added to (or subtracted from, if negative) your ordinary
income amount and the sum is reported as total income. Withholding isn't
affected by capital gains, though. It's possible to owe a ton of Federal
tax if you made a ton of capital gains, but that doesn't enter into the
calculation on whether you didn't withhold enough throughout the year. The
IRS knows that taxpayers have no idea what the market rate will be when a
taxpayer decides to sell an asset. They aren't going to penalize you for
selling in a hot market. Think about it.

You are the first person I have ever heard who said a big capital gain
did not abrogate the rule about owing too much money at tax time.

Thank you. I'm glad I could help.

Now we can stop the nonsense about playing chicken, etc.

The chicken part is still true for the ones you say you are helping.


No.

If someone is trying to micro manage their withholding to minimize
their return, they can guess wrong.


It's not rocket science, but people have got to know their limitations, as
Clint Eastwood more or less said once. If the subject of taxation, income,
and withholding all sound like black magic, go ahead and give Uncle Sam a
nice big interest free loan. He won't complain one bit, but when he pays it
back in the form of a refund, it'll be without interest. I don't choose to
do things that way.

If you don't have a pretty good
sized slush fund, paying might be a burden. The average American would
be hard pressed to come up with a few grand on short notice.
As for me, I just look at it as a T bill that pays 0.04% less than the
going rate. I can afford the two bucks I am missing out on.


As I pointed out earlier, it's probably more like $500, but you've been
clear that $500 isn't going to break the bank either way.


I made it clear, I have investments and I have cash parked. Parking at
the IRS is as safe as parking it in a T bill and I am only giving up
0.04% with a whole lot less hassle. The bank isn't much better either.
I barely notice it missing nor do I see much when it comes back.


It's OK. Not everyone is good at managing their money.

  #85   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
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Posts: 1,313
Default Better rates than a CD ?

On Thu, 22 Apr 2021 01:18:16 -0400, wrote:

On Wed, 21 Apr 2021 20:38:55 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 17:34:56 -0400,
wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 15:46:52 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 13:27:54 -0400,
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 14:23:50 GMT,
(Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

writes:
On Sun, 18 Apr 2021 11:06:29 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Friday, April 16, 2021 at 12:06:42 PM UTC-4, Frank wrote:
On 4/16/2021 11:37 AM, Dean Hoffman wrote:
On Friday, April 16, 2021 at 9:11:45 AM UTC-5, AK wrote:
Is there any relatively safe investment that makes a better rate than a CD?

I am getting .4 %.

I don't think that is even better than the inflation rate.

Thanks.

I checked the inflation rate a few days ago. One source put it at 1.6%. It's been years
since I had money in the old government bond. EE?
You might want to look at balanced index funds. I've had some of my money in one of Vanguard's but
that particular one is closed to new investors. It has 60% of the money in stocks, 40% in bonds.
An article here about others.
https://investedwallet.com/best-vanguard-index-funds/
Consumer Reports years ago claimed it's better to get an index fund that just tracks a group of
stocks and/or bonds. Doing that cuts out the hot shot stock picker who might make a fortune one
year then go tits up the next.

Lot depends on your age and tolerance for risk.

You are not going to get any interest rates anywhere near inflation rate
and I think inflation is much higher than quoted. Government plays
games in trying to show inflation rate is low such as if price of beef
spikes then people will eat chicken so they say inflation in meat prices
did not go up.


Yet another right wing myth. At least that one won't create an insurrection.


Do you really think inflation is as low as the government says it is?

Do you have any evidence that it is not?

Just my grocery bill, the cost of energy, the cost of various
materials I buy, the cost of real estate/rents and the cost of
consumer goods, in spite of most being made by Asians or 3d world
workers. The exception is electronics but that is just because of the
technology getting smaller/cheaper. There is far less labor involved.
What used to be hundreds (thousands?) of parts soldered together by
hand is now on a chip that costs pennies to produce and is wave
soldered on a board by a robot.

In other words, no evidence.

I am not sure what the government puts in it's basket to get the CPI
but I don't seem to buy much of that.

That explains the lack of evidence. You know, they publish detailed info on
how they calculate the CPI, how they select products, the records they
keep, etc. You can look it up, or maybe this will get you started.

https://www.bls.gov/cpi/questions-and-answers.htm

I just know my grocery bills are higher, my energy bills are higher,
used car prices are higher and the rents people pay are higher. Buying
a house is a distant dream for most of them. What do you think drives
the cost of living for the majority? You millionaire democrats claim
to care about the working man but you seem to be totally out of touch
with the reality of their day to day life.


If I may... Please pull to the side of the road and disconnect the rope
that you're using to drag the goalposts around.

Now, addressing your post:
1. Your example is anecdotal. One person doing some grocery shopping in
Florida does not inflation make.

2. Use the link I gave you and learn what goes into the actual calculation.

3. I forgot my third point, but I think it was just a reminder that running
after you as you move the goalposts is exhausting.


We were talking about inflation as seen by normal folks.


No, we were talking about inflation as measured and reported by the CPI.
You kept trying to drag it into your personal housing or food shopping
situation. You're doing it again below.


They notice
the extra dime or quarter hike in a can of soup. People whine about it
everywhere, including letters to the paper. Grocery prices keep going
up, it is just true and Cindy said the same thing from Michigan. Store
brand milk was $3.52/gal here today. Fancy "milk" (low lactate, soy,
almond etc) is ~$4.50-$5.99 a half gallon. Store brand bread was
$1.89. It isn't just the nickel here and the there on various
[products you are going to buy. They don't have as much stuff on sale
and they haven't had the gas coupon for 6 weeks or so. Lots of little
stuff adds up pretty fast at the store. Rents and energy bills are up
too. At a certain point, what do working people actually buy?

As for that puff piece from BLS a few things were made pretty clear.
The computation is 3 years old the day it is published
"CPI data in 2016 and 2017 was based on data collected from the
Consumer Expenditure Surveys for 2013 and 2014"

I also question exactly what is meant by
"food and beverages, housing, apparel, transportation, medical care,
recreation, education and communication, and other goods and
services."

One thing stands out right away. Only a moron thinks medical costs
haven't gone up much more than the "CPI" would indicate. The same is
true of education. We already talked about the housing.




  #87   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
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Posts: 14,141
Default Better rates than a CD ?

On Thu, 22 Apr 2021 01:07:25 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Thu, 22 Apr 2021 01:18:16 -0400, wrote:

On Wed, 21 Apr 2021 20:38:55 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 17:34:56 -0400,
wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 15:46:52 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 13:27:54 -0400,
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 14:23:50 GMT,
(Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

writes:
On Sun, 18 Apr 2021 11:06:29 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Friday, April 16, 2021 at 12:06:42 PM UTC-4, Frank wrote:
On 4/16/2021 11:37 AM, Dean Hoffman wrote:
On Friday, April 16, 2021 at 9:11:45 AM UTC-5, AK wrote:
Is there any relatively safe investment that makes a better rate than a CD?

I am getting .4 %.

I don't think that is even better than the inflation rate.

Thanks.

I checked the inflation rate a few days ago. One source put it at 1.6%. It's been years
since I had money in the old government bond. EE?
You might want to look at balanced index funds. I've had some of my money in one of Vanguard's but
that particular one is closed to new investors. It has 60% of the money in stocks, 40% in bonds.
An article here about others.
https://investedwallet.com/best-vanguard-index-funds/
Consumer Reports years ago claimed it's better to get an index fund that just tracks a group of
stocks and/or bonds. Doing that cuts out the hot shot stock picker who might make a fortune one
year then go tits up the next.

Lot depends on your age and tolerance for risk.

You are not going to get any interest rates anywhere near inflation rate
and I think inflation is much higher than quoted. Government plays
games in trying to show inflation rate is low such as if price of beef
spikes then people will eat chicken so they say inflation in meat prices
did not go up.


Yet another right wing myth. At least that one won't create an insurrection.


Do you really think inflation is as low as the government says it is?

Do you have any evidence that it is not?

Just my grocery bill, the cost of energy, the cost of various
materials I buy, the cost of real estate/rents and the cost of
consumer goods, in spite of most being made by Asians or 3d world
workers. The exception is electronics but that is just because of the
technology getting smaller/cheaper. There is far less labor involved.
What used to be hundreds (thousands?) of parts soldered together by
hand is now on a chip that costs pennies to produce and is wave
soldered on a board by a robot.

In other words, no evidence.

I am not sure what the government puts in it's basket to get the CPI
but I don't seem to buy much of that.

That explains the lack of evidence. You know, they publish detailed info on
how they calculate the CPI, how they select products, the records they
keep, etc. You can look it up, or maybe this will get you started.

https://www.bls.gov/cpi/questions-and-answers.htm

I just know my grocery bills are higher, my energy bills are higher,
used car prices are higher and the rents people pay are higher. Buying
a house is a distant dream for most of them. What do you think drives
the cost of living for the majority? You millionaire democrats claim
to care about the working man but you seem to be totally out of touch
with the reality of their day to day life.

If I may... Please pull to the side of the road and disconnect the rope
that you're using to drag the goalposts around.

Now, addressing your post:
1. Your example is anecdotal. One person doing some grocery shopping in
Florida does not inflation make.

2. Use the link I gave you and learn what goes into the actual calculation.

3. I forgot my third point, but I think it was just a reminder that running
after you as you move the goalposts is exhausting.


We were talking about inflation as seen by normal folks.


No, we were talking about inflation as measured and reported by the CPI.
You kept trying to drag it into your personal housing or food shopping
situation. You're doing it again below.


The point is the CPI is a fairy tale version of reality to most
working class consumers.
It is a number created by politicians to show us what a great job they
are doing.

  #88   Report Post  
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Posts: 14,141
Default Better rates than a CD ?

On Thu, 22 Apr 2021 11:07:21 -0400, Ralph Mowery
wrote:

In article ,
says...

I made it clear, I have investments and I have cash parked. Parking at
the IRS is as safe as parking it in a T bill and I am only giving up
0.04% with a whole lot less hassle. The bank isn't much better either.
I barely notice it missing nor do I see much when it comes back.



If you just want to park some cash it does not make much difference
where you park it. With most places under 1 % it takes lots of big
money to even notice it.

Probelm I see with parking it with the IRS is that you have to wait a
year to get it. A money market account would seem better to me as you
can get the cash when you want it.


That is why I compared it to a T bill.

I did well with the IRS this year. Got back about $ 650 from the feds
and paid about $ 550 to the state. As most of my money stays the same
from year to year except some stock I am playing with which does not
ammount to too much profit I can come out very well on the pay or
receive from the IRS.
The only unknow unknown is how much I take out of the IRA, but tax money
comes out of that at the ammount I tell them to take out.


My FIL is doing it exactly right according to your logic. He pays
about $50-70 a year and has for as far back as I looked (I did his
taxes this year and compared it to prior years as a sanity check).

Maybe I just like getting Sam to send me a check, even if it is my
money. It might just be a throwback to when I was poor.
I looked and the average refund is around $2300.
Other people must like it too.
  #89   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
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Posts: 1,313
Default Better rates than a CD ?

On Thu, 22 Apr 2021 16:19:53 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 22 Apr 2021 01:07:25 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Thu, 22 Apr 2021 01:18:16 -0400,
wrote:

On Wed, 21 Apr 2021 20:38:55 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 17:34:56 -0400,
wrote:

On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 15:46:52 -0500, Jim Joyce
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 13:27:54 -0400,
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 14:23:50 GMT,
(Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

writes:
On Sun, 18 Apr 2021 11:06:29 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Friday, April 16, 2021 at 12:06:42 PM UTC-4, Frank wrote:
On 4/16/2021 11:37 AM, Dean Hoffman wrote:
On Friday, April 16, 2021 at 9:11:45 AM UTC-5, AK wrote:
Is there any relatively safe investment that makes a better rate than a CD?

I am getting .4 %.

I don't think that is even better than the inflation rate.

Thanks.

I checked the inflation rate a few days ago. One source put it at 1.6%. It's been years
since I had money in the old government bond. EE?
You might want to look at balanced index funds. I've had some of my money in one of Vanguard's but
that particular one is closed to new investors. It has 60% of the money in stocks, 40% in bonds.
An article here about others.
https://investedwallet.com/best-vanguard-index-funds/
Consumer Reports years ago claimed it's better to get an index fund that just tracks a group of
stocks and/or bonds. Doing that cuts out the hot shot stock picker who might make a fortune one
year then go tits up the next.

Lot depends on your age and tolerance for risk.

You are not going to get any interest rates anywhere near inflation rate
and I think inflation is much higher than quoted. Government plays
games in trying to show inflation rate is low such as if price of beef
spikes then people will eat chicken so they say inflation in meat prices
did not go up.


Yet another right wing myth. At least that one won't create an insurrection.


Do you really think inflation is as low as the government says it is?

Do you have any evidence that it is not?

Just my grocery bill, the cost of energy, the cost of various
materials I buy, the cost of real estate/rents and the cost of
consumer goods, in spite of most being made by Asians or 3d world
workers. The exception is electronics but that is just because of the
technology getting smaller/cheaper. There is far less labor involved.
What used to be hundreds (thousands?) of parts soldered together by
hand is now on a chip that costs pennies to produce and is wave
soldered on a board by a robot.

In other words, no evidence.

I am not sure what the government puts in it's basket to get the CPI
but I don't seem to buy much of that.

That explains the lack of evidence. You know, they publish detailed info on
how they calculate the CPI, how they select products, the records they
keep, etc. You can look it up, or maybe this will get you started.

https://www.bls.gov/cpi/questions-and-answers.htm

I just know my grocery bills are higher, my energy bills are higher,
used car prices are higher and the rents people pay are higher. Buying
a house is a distant dream for most of them. What do you think drives
the cost of living for the majority? You millionaire democrats claim
to care about the working man but you seem to be totally out of touch
with the reality of their day to day life.

If I may... Please pull to the side of the road and disconnect the rope
that you're using to drag the goalposts around.

Now, addressing your post:
1. Your example is anecdotal. One person doing some grocery shopping in
Florida does not inflation make.

2. Use the link I gave you and learn what goes into the actual calculation.

3. I forgot my third point, but I think it was just a reminder that running
after you as you move the goalposts is exhausting.

We were talking about inflation as seen by normal folks.


No, we were talking about inflation as measured and reported by the CPI.
You kept trying to drag it into your personal housing or food shopping
situation. You're doing it again below.


The point is the CPI is a fairy tale version of reality to most
working class consumers.


I don't think most working class consumers are as ignorant as you make them
out to be, so maybe you shouldn't be trying to speak for that group.

It is a number created by politicians to show us what a great job they
are doing.


See what I mean? If that's really what you believe, you definitely
shouldn't be trying to speak on behalf of most working class consumers, or
anyone other than yourself.

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