It would help to be able-bodied!

None of these people I’m referring to are in good standing health. One of them has severe epilepsy. And is in a completely loveless marriage. So, yeah it must’ve been that economic collapse…

Yep, economic crises don't change anyone's life trajectories. How naive of me to think otherwise!

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The State (Government) sure had a whole lot of involvement in COVID policies to say that "capitalism remains undefeated".

cap·i·tal·ism
/ˈkapədlˌizəm/
noun
an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

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Why are you an asshole? Grow up!

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

Considering the average age of parents during the Depression…I don’t think they waited until their late 30’s/early 40’s. My perception is that a lot of them are just selfish assholes who jump on the parenting bandwagon when too many of their other, younger friends start having them.

I look at people who graduated college the same year as me (2010) who were not impacted by 2008 as the economy was already growing again by the time they got out of college and so many of them are not yet married or having kids. 2008 is not the reason so much as their inability to find someone. Economic circumstances are not to blame for it because the less educated poor as fuck people keep pumping out kids. It's a personal problem with these particular people being unable to find someone they deem suitable or they are so fucked in the head that no one finds them suitable.

Worth noting those who you would think of as the SJW types are the ones who are definitely having the most trouble getting married.

The way things are going, their eggs will be gone by the time that ever happens.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Millennials are not doing well as their parents did financially and have delayed marriage, families and other conventional personal milestones as a result. They have lower wages, more debt, higher poverty rates, etc, compared to prior generations at similar ages. The 2008 crash is a big part of this story.

The same isn't necessarily true of people during the depression, since the economy was less stable in the Gilded Age, Progressive and WWI eras than it was following WWII.

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I think class-based lifestyle expectations have a lot to do with this. Millennials typically aren't doing as well as their parents, and they are delaying personal milestones as a result. It's true, though, that marriage/children are also becoming less popular among the PMC for cultural rather than economic reasons.

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In January of 2008 did you have the same opinion that numerous co-workers are expecting to push things back in anticipation of having to rebuild 401k's after the expected Bush era damage finally comes to an end?

The US equity market rises and falls, sometimes dramatically in the short term, but history shows that over the long term for patient investors returns are significant.

That said, your co-workers needing to push things back as a result of the recent market downturn, has less to do with Biden, or Bush, or Powell, or anyone else other than those individual co-workers having a poor asset allocation given their proximity to retirement.

LOL, yes, I did have numerous co-workers push back retirement during the Obama Presidency, in fact, it took one of my recent co-workers years and years to rebuild, she just caught up two years ago and was able to retire. The problem then was a lot of people lost jobs during that era and had to start other jobs/career which required them to dip into 401Ks to bridge the gap. Kinda silly you don't know that, but there are sometimes direct real world consequences for people that are on the verge of retirement when the market dips, younger people can ride it out, but there is some definite restructuring for those that are within a few years that have a plan in place requiring a certain level of retirement funds to meet goals.

Do appreciate the comedic interlude, rarely does a post make me actually laugh, but yours did.

If you have to dip into your 401(k) and retirement funds, that just means you didn't build yourself a proper emergency fund. They double fucked themselves by selling then at a bottom and missing a rise where the market and doubled already by 2013 from the winter 2009 lows. Let that be an example of why you need a real emergency fund as well as investing into your accounts. They would have wound up 3x the 2007 highs and 6.5x the 2009 lows had they not had to sell.

Let's be honest here, most Americans have the means to properly save an emergency fund and retirement. They just lack the proper discipline and financial literacy to do so.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Saving money means you’re not doing your part to stimulate the economy. Very selfish!

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Those Star Wars Disney getaways aren’t gonna pay for themselves! And people need Botox!

00-09 was a pretty crappy time to begin your investing career. I lost money as a college kid in the dot com bubble. I graduated in 03 and was like no way i'm putting money in there and finance was my major! so after 2/3 years of working, I realized that I had to do something for retirement and I began retirement investing in 2006 in my work plan and by 2009 I was making deposits but making no headway. I remember sitting down with a friend and they were like, look you are at the bottom, it only goes up from here. it always does and if it doesn't there are worse things to worry about. and it clearly made sense to me and I persevered. but you knwo there were tons who didn't.

None of that stopped us from having a kid or 2 or buying a house but it definitely changed HOW we did it and what kind of house we bought.

A retired fellow I golf with went to cash at the bottom in 2009. his advisor said he'd do it but it would be the last thing he ever did for him and he'd have to find a new advisor. He didn't get back in the market until the end of 2011 and even then he just Dollar cost averaged back in. He estimates it cost him 2 million dollars in todays money to do that and he lives with it every day. still enjoying retirement but as great as he it could have bee.

This is the issue with people who don't understand stocks and investing when they check there portfolio value everyday and see it goes up or down and make financial decisions based on short term thinking. Not understanding there is a long history of what happens after recessions or major corrections 3- 5 yrs out from the event. I think this has to do with American culture of immediate gratification vs. delayed gratification and lack of big picture thinking. A majority of us are sheep and want to keep up with the 'Jones' regardless if incomes don't match.

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"You know 'that look' women get when they want sex? Me neither" ~Steve Martin

39 is horrible time to have a kid I would wait till at least 45 to make sure I'm dead when the kid really needs money

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

it's easy on a message board to 'go all cash'. if your $600k portfolio just earned $104k with all the sales going 'all cash', get ready for big tax bill. if the experts can't pick a bottom, i guess only the arrogant can.

its easier to go "all cash" into settlement funds within an account today. and because most of that takes place in tax advantaged spaces (IRA's, 401k's) there are no immediate or even future taxable ramifications of buying and selling.