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Jes' Anudder Ol' Broked Down Retahrd Pipefitter....
Friday, November 21, 2014, 01:24 PM
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man.”
-- Heraclitus
Moby Grape did not survive survive the era.There were 100 chewed up and spit out for every success in the late 60's...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_FlNwQlBmU
But ya can find remnants that will lift your soul when you least expect it...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNqPwL2jbhU
I wuz drunk the day my Mom got outa prizen
I wuz lookin' out da winnow at da raaaiin....
But before ah could get to da station in mah pickup truck,
She got run over by a damned ol' traaaiinn.
Nah, I'm sober, but my Mom is dead and it IS raining outside da winnow as I write this....
It was on my 21st birthday that I bought my first bike. That happened to be the start of the rainy season and the start of a particularly bitter Winter. That year we had snow and four straight days in the low 30's and below freezing early evening until mid morning in SF. I thought bike wear was a leather jacket and will power. It was not until April that I discovered that riding longer than 15 minutes was not an extreme test of endurance. The rainy day and the polar vortex of this Winter makes me think about riding. And about my plan to buy the fastest street legal BMW, Kawi or Aprilia Superbike (200 Hp) money could buy to celebrate my retirement and my new knees. But the surgery didn't go like I hoped. So, instead of buying runnin' shoes, I'm buying an old man's walker... Arranged shipping today. Bummer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shCQpp95uhw
I still want a well set up Aprilia.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg9N6YVrzQI
The hair on my eyeballs stands on end when I hear a very serious bike give that bad girl howl...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBIca9548Uw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFwS_CQHjqk
http://www.sportrider.com/sportbikes/vi ... YHj3qP-DES
http://thereformedbroker.com/2014/11/21 ... r-clients/
http://pragcap.com/3-no-brainer-policie ... -implement
The Kinda Things I Track For the 401...
www.marketchess.com/2014/11/23/weekend-market-film-session-112314-video/
http://dashofinsight.com/weighing-week- ... mment-7712
Monday...
I Always Said,"It's Not Like Ya Can Go Broke Selling Alcohol Or Sex"...
This is scary....
http://www.businessinsider.com/many-mil ... er-2014-11
Holy Fuck!!!?!?!!
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-2 ... asino.html
http://time.com/money/3600211/gao-repor ... tt-romney/
http://awealthofcommonsense.com/win-argument-market/
"But I'm too late to invest after the rise/What if right after I put my money in, it goes down?"
Here's a list of reasons;
http://www.rbadvisors.com/images/pdfs/t ... scared.pdf
Here's the solution; There's always reasons. Do what you think is right and if it turns out to have been wrong, stop doing it.
Protect your capital from both types of losses; Big All Of A Sudden Losses like being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and gradual persisent small losses like bing in cash or something that doesn't keep up with inflation. Both kinds of losses get you to the same place eventually.
Tuesday...
http://marketchess.com/2014/11/25/late- ... tuesday-2/
Almost indescribably French...
http://www.businessinsider.com/this-ves ... ks-2014-11
I've already had a month of
EARLY BLACK FRIDAY WEEK
LIMITED TIME ONCE IN A LIFE TIME
SUPER ULTRA LOW
PRE-HOLIDAY HOLIDAY PRICES!!!!!!
   ( 2.9 / 1196 )
Bloomfield/Butterfield... Didja hear about the time I saw the Butterfield show from about 10 feet eye to eye?
Wednesday, November 12, 2014, 08:26 PM
Free Your Mind...Your Ass Will Follow.
-- George Clinton
Onna counta cuz....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps3x-_JdIeg
and w/o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNkNuVRhkks
This week's Joe...
https://s3.amazonaws.com/pickup-radio/audio/cream-rises-to-the-top.mp3
http://jbonamassa.com/features/2014/bon ... 20magazine
Some of the Bay Area unions locals have recently had a close encounter of the IRS kind... The locals structured their 401 plans as per consultations w/ the IRS and it was good. Until it wasn't. Whether the IRS felt that they needed to be working on something big during the duration of the financial crash, or there was a regime change and a new outlook, or it just happened, we had an extended period where allocation adjustments were not allowed while the IRS reviewed, ruminated, and reflected... So this week we finally started to emerge from that. We reorganized our 401a to the IRS's approval (again) and set in place the new mandatory contribution plus the allowable levels of voluntary contribution. Functionally, there is little difference; the changes as viewed from the participants point of view are minor. I spoke on the floor much as I speak here in my blog, mostly this time about the mandatory level of contribution... But...
There's more to be said and I gotta think about what and how. You gotta click on "If yer a newcomer to the blog" to get started. But watch this space for what comes next...
It is work to do the blog, but I've been writing so long about High End Hi Fi and then Motorcycles and Money, that it is part of my nature. Then a friend and co-worker dropped by at the last union meeting and mentioned that because he was following me back in 2008 and because I'd gone to 95% cash in the 401, he wrestled with it a coupla weeks and then followed me into the GIC. And a month later, the bottom dropped out of the market and he saved himself big time. Made My Day.
Monday...
http://www.businessinsider.com/kotok-sp ... 20-2014-11
http://vimeo.com/112107487
Tuesday...
Little by Little...
http://www.businessinsider.com/john-thu ... ge-2014-11
Jes' Anuder Old Broked Down Retahrd Union Pipefitter
Friday, November 7, 2014, 12:55 PM
“We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest.
We must learn to sail in high winds.”
-- Aristotle Onassis
Theme For The Election; Emotion As Expressed By Electric Guitar...
Take a breath. Path of history and all that... Glacial. But still....
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-i ... ns-2014-11
It was Tuesday after lunnch, sidereal time.... (Odd Bodkins)
And I was reading this thing about Trolls...
http://gizmodo.com/the-first-internet-troll-1652485292
So I called my kid. I go a ways back onna net, but my kid goes farther. (10 years ago I realized my kid was going bald faster than I was...) I asked when a troll went from being a post meant to engage someone in an innocent interchange all for the purpose of leading to a flame war, to an exceedingly unpleasant lurker under a bridge onna web ala Billy Goat Gruff. We kicked it around. (17 Year Old Blonde Surf Gurl wants help photographing a cat. [She doesn't want to take pictures of a cat she doesn't have, isn't 17 or blonde, doesn't surf, and isn't a girl. Or gurl.]) That's a troll. Like behind a boat. Just another case of click and paste use of a term that you think you know what it means. Stand pipe, engineers boots, rear sets, infer/imply, and all that... Just trying to set the record straight.
And if that sends you into a frenzy, flaming me with post after post about how I'm six different kinds of MF, well I can't help it if you jump in the boat while the tackle box is still closed.
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2014 ... al-history
Wednesday...
Cruz in'... Not what it sounds like...
http://theoatmeal.com/blog/net_neutrality
Appearances are everything..... until they are not.
http://retractionwatch.com/2014/11/12/k ... etraction/
Thursday...
A country that avoids debt for infrastrucure is like a family that never buys a home or a new car or a college education. Or borrows @ 1% to maintain its savings...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/won ... of-europe/
Been There, Done That. But Ya Can't Prove Nothin'... So Knock It Off With The Empty Threats.
Saturday, September 27, 2014, 04:23 PM
“It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice. There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia.”
-- Frank Zappa
Between Live Allman Bros @ The 'mo In SF, Live Broadcasts, And The King Biscuit Flour Power Hour, I Heard A Lot Of The Full Allman Bros Band (Duane/Berry) Back Inna Day. EXCEPTIONAL!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqNFwx6QQgY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvH4yA6uflo
Sometimes Something Happens That Is Against Everything You Hope To Stand For And Is Anethema To How you Hope To Live. That Doesn't Mean You Get Out Of Doing It Nor That You Can Do It With Less Than A Full Heart And Total Dedication. It Is What It Is, Not What Ya'd Like It To Be....
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-figh ... rld-2014-9
http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-th ... sis-2014-9
Obama saw himself as the anti Dubbya, a domestic president. It's not working. What he needs to be is a competent Dubbya. That's not working so well either. The 60 Minute show was about a politician more than a leader. And this is from a 1960's/70's UC Berkeley kinda guy.....
I'm Stayin' Way Aggressive.. Chartz To Follow....
Tuesday...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-3 ... -line.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-2 ... risis.html
Never get comfortable w/ a number. There's always a way to view it differently...
http://blog.yardeni.com/2014/09/the-wag ... cerpt.html
JUST ABOUT REALLOCATED SOME STOCKS TO CASH...
Not yet. End of quarter, seasonal issues, global issues, Ebola issues, Still way up Year over Year, I got not a huge amount to protect inna 401. moved some from and under performing fund to a better performing one... I'll keep an eye onnit...
As I Told My Cousin, "Don't Even Think About Askin' An Old Retired Guy How He's Doin' Unless You Have Something To Eat, Something To Drink, And A Place To Sit Down...
Saturday, September 13, 2014, 05:42 PM
"If, after hearing my songs, just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps to strike a loved one, it will all have been worth the while."
-- Tom Lehrer
Can't Top This Truth With Any Lie, No Matter How Outrageous...
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/tom-lehrer#27vepjj
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPq3SEteEJc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIKGV2cTgqA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoEVPtVk9nE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0Wa_tnvyag
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQfaRSeaMZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf-eIgFJg4w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZE518O2QRo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puu4cYfohgs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN0qvNhtGhM
Monday...
The US was the main driver of the world economy Post WW2.
http://www.businessinsider.com/china-wa ... end-2014-9
In fuckin' credible....
http://newsok.com/why-an-urban-outfitte ... le/5342281
In that era, where lynching was an accepted risk of being involved with civil rights down South, and West Coast Draft Centers and the Berkeley Campus was anti establishment radical hippie pinko shit, and they called out the ' Guard as a matter of form, No one expected a massacre at staid middle America middle class college campus. They followed it up with two more shooting deaths at Jackson State. And it lit a fire for a generation.
Check it out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings
We were out to change the world, trying to save the heart and soul of America and death or incarceration was Nixon administrations' answer. Nixon had called the protestors "bums", and Allison Krause's father, a conservative middle class mainstream man (Allison was a 19 year old student in good standing at Kent State, one of four who were shot, two for protesting, two for walking in the wrong place) appeared on national TV to state in a voice cracking under the emotion,"My child was not a bum." You could hear gears grinding as some previously closed minds opened up. To say the nation was tense was an understatement. God It Pisses Me Off to this day... That Nixon et al went down in flames didn't redeem much about the darker aspects of the era.
Wednesday...
Just to put our coupla three bucks a year contracted raise over the last three years in perspective...
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/upsho ... &abg=0
Thursday...
Amazing run; not unprecedented, but getting out there. Still....
I've been way long stocks. Make while you can. This opportunity will go away like they all do.
Purple Haze All Around ....
Friday, August 29, 2014, 11:48 AM
“When you’re young, you look at television and think, There’s a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that’s not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That’s a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It’s the truth.”
— Steve Jobs
Darkness and Despair...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc8H6USGR90
And Now For Something Completely Different...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvhYqeGp_Do
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhuMLpdnOjY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIzRGHuJt_I
From Wikipedia...
Lehrer's song "The Old Dope Peddler" is sampled in rapper 2 Chainz's song "Dope Peddler", on his 2012 debut album, Based on a T.R.U. Story. The following year, Lehrer said he was "very proud" to have his song sampled "literally sixty years after I recorded it." Lehrer went on to describe his official response to the request to use his song: "As sole copyright owner of 'The Old Dope Peddler', I grant you motherfuckers permission to do this. Please give my regards to Mr. Chainz, or may I call him 2?"
WELL, THERE'S GOOD NEWS, AND THERE'S BAD NEWS...AND THERE'S SOME GOOD NEWS...AND THEREIN RESIDES A TALE... This is a big one, people...see below
Thursday, July 3, 2014, 10:55 PM
Every so often, I find myself thinking that I've got something to say. Things like the "Mutual Fund Investing" riff on my web page. And 'jes Annuder Old Broked Down Pipefitter" on the blog here. "Easy Now?" part of this post, looks like more of the same. It has changed by the day. it's down to mostly pluperfect subjuntive polishing inna last day or two. I'll repost the final version above in a new post in a day or two. Serious shit... “Buy the ticket, take the ride."
-- Hunter S. Thompson
I've Been Getting Some Serious Work Done On My Retirement... this last week or two. Yeah, I retired the first of Sept 2013. But therein lies the story alluded to, above.
This Is A Work In Progress .....
Easy Now?
Hot Tuna... Easy Now
EASY NOW? Well, yeah.... the probabilities look.... well, complicated. Here's Where I'm Comin' From...
I've got this spreadsheet... I've had it for a while. It was my touchstone regarding my retirement for the last coupla three/four years. It was in large part an automated matrix of Years/Age x Sources Of Income. I had started a small business back in the 80's just as the IBM Personal Computer was introduced...
NERD ALERT!!! Seriously... Skip This Part.... There were a coupla local stores that would have sold me a PC if they had one. No one did. Hell, one store had one blank floppy disk and everybody else was outa stock. So I bopped down to the IBM corporate headquarters where this eye candy model in a business suit next to a spotlit display of a single nonoperational computer on a pedestal tried to send me up to the 12th floor to sign up with a Corporate New Account Representative. Not likely. (NTFL) So I went home and bought by mail order, a new IBM PC with the latest motherboard (256K bytes memory), dual double sided half height 360K floppy drives, the latest DOS (2.01) and one of the new amber CRT monitors, a dot matrix printer with tractor feed, and a daisy wheel printer, etc... Later, I went back to the local store and convinced the guy onna floor to sell me the only blank floppy disk available in the city since I could use it, and he might as well have no floppies as one. From there, within a coupla years I was using a word processor and Lotus 123 to create my own automated business software.
...so my spreadsheet was set up to automatically tally my prospective post retirement income for current and future years, by monthly cash pension and Social Security payments, and by theoretical income from my investments/savings. I also had a table of my W-2 incomes for the last 10 years set off to the side to give me a reference for the monthly and yearly income, and the matrix was done multiple times on the page with various rates of return on my savings. The whole spreadsheet was interactive and linked to my personal financial spreadsheets, allowing me to update it instantly and track it real time.
The end result was that when I was no longer able to work in 2013, my spreadsheet told me that my pension/Social Security income would give me a livable income and that given a 4% return on my savings, if I withdrew only the income, I could get all the way to what I'd earned in 2010, paying the bills, allowing some discretionary spending, and allowing me to draw principal as required for some inflation protection...
Kool. It was not like I had a choice. Regardless, I was set. I retired. But I was only sure about the here and now.... Where would I stand as the years went by? Would my wife and I be living in a cardboard box in ten or twenty or thirty years? Would I be able to leave the kids anything? Should my wife or I die well before the other one did, how would the survivor get by?
My Union pension is fixed. What about inflation? How fast would my Union pension's contribution to my income shrink? How much other income would be required to replace it and how soon? Can I spend a dollar on fun stuff today with a clear conscience, or will every dollar spent hasten the arrival of the day that I try to convince myself that living with the kids was my plan for my wife and I all along? Will I have to speed up my rehab from my latest knee surgery so I can get a job? Am I doomed to a future with an orange apron in it?
Passive acceptance is not my preferred mode of operation, finding out what's going on and dealing with it is. So I started to get some answers. I began with this table...
http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html
As per the Actuarial Life Table for 2009 from the Social Security Administration, if ya started with a theoretical 100K males, by the time you get to 63 years, my age at my retirement, you'd have 82.6K men left standing. The nominal life expectancy at 63 is 19 years. That gives an average mortality at 82 years old. But that also means that of the 82K men standing with me when I was 63, 41K of them are expected to still be standing when we all hit 82. Hopefully I'll be one of the ones standing. If I am, I'll still need income and with hopefully a lotta good years to go I'll need a handfull. Let's say that my health and luck are good. If so, I have a 1 in 4 chance of still being alive at 89 and still needing income. That's not an outlandish bet. Running out of money and needing to get a job in my 90's worrys me a lot more than leaving my kids with more to inherit than I expected to leave them if I die in my late 70's. So I have to plan for a 30 year long retirement without a brick wall at 92, just in case I make 100 plus years old.
Next I needed an income and expense matrix, including pension income, assets, investment income, taxes, inflation, expenses, a discretionary budget, a bequest number, and all this by a timetable. And I need it in a format that will allow me to track it so I can see if it is working, and give me direction as to what to do to keep it working in the face of the unexpected. If I had this, then I would have a plan.
Well, as per noted elsewhere in my blog, I've sought out investment professionals to handle part of my retirement income and they've been busy doin' what they do. Such as working up the plan I just described. I've been grinding on the finer details for a week...
I'll stop here for now. Mostly. So Far, So Good. I'm retired and the near future is well in hand. And, I've got what I need to evaluate whether I can continue to live comfortably in my current lifestyle, do some fun retired type things, help the kids out along the way, leave them something, and not have to move us old folks in with them for the last decade or two. Hell, my wife and I barely survived the first go round of living with the kids when they were teenagers. The good news is that I can do all that good stuff above. The bad news is that It's not a slam dunk. My pension covers about 55% of our expenses this year. Given historically based projections of inflation, my expenses will be multiplied by about 2.3 times by the time I'm 82. My pension is projected to be 26% of our income at that point, without counting for increased medical coverage costs. If I hit 90, I'll be needing 3 times today's income to maintain my standard of living and my pension is projected to cover only 19% of that cost, again not counting for increased medical coverage cost. The numbers are surprising... and the base reality is not encouraging. My Union Pension is fixed, my medical coverage comes out of the gross sum, and medical costs will grow, reducing my monthly pension payment. Currently only about half our our pension income will be adjusted for inflation. On top of that, Social Security is motivated to fudge on the cost of living adjustment so as to delay going broke, leaving everyone falling slowly behind every year. And, just to pile on when I'm down, my wife's pension's cost of living adjustment is based on the first year's number. That number, (a neglible amount) will follow her to the end of her days... A VERY tricky bit of fine print! And on top of that, she has not yet drawn her Social Security. When she does, her Social Security will be reduced over what she should get because she has a state pension rather than a private one. Bummer. So I'm going to have to do the heavy lifting of our retirement income cost of living adjustments myself. The good news is it looks like I can do it with my savings and investments. I like this plan they came up with. I can make this work.
But It Was A MAJOR Slap Upside The Head to see the numbers and see how much the future will rely on sucessful financial planning and investments.
Uhhh. You got this under control for yourself...right?
STAY TOONED.
And That's How "I Saw The Light"....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvbLJ6TGepI
"Cuz "Death Don't Have No Mercy In This Land"...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb8l8MWA7yk
An' 'Cuz It Feels Too Good To Stop...I'll "Keep My Lamps Trimmed And Burning"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA6mobt0ydw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H76fbU4csRI
RIP George Duke. (Check Out "I Love The Blues, She Heard My Cry." This Was His First Release Post His Time W/ Zappa, A Sampler For What Lay Ahead.)
I Been Listening To Stanley Clarke for 40 years. I Plan To Continue...
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Jes' Anudder Old Broked Down Retahred Union Pipefitter.....
Friday, June 20, 2014, 11:25 AM
Ahm jes' anudder ol' broked down retahrd union pipefitter.
I retired in September of 2013 after 40 years in the trade, five years after this picture was taken. At the time, there was only one retired pig inna pichur. Now there would be two...
I had started actively managing my 401 in 2004, after leaving it untended and with the minimum contribution since its inception in 1991. I was too busy raising a family, building America, and riding, racing and writing about motorcycles to pay any attention to saving for retirement. After all I had my Defined Benefit Plan and an IRA or two. What more could I need? Big mistake. I had contributed the minimum amount to the Defined Contribution Plan and left the funds in the default Balanced Pooled Fund. But between 2000 to 2003, I had to straighten out a coupla my IRA's after the dotcom-9/11 financial crash had crushed them, and as an afterthought, I then applied the same kind of evaluation to my 401 account and to my defined benefit pension fund. I found both to be in desperate straights. I was able to help turn both around. The story of both my IRA's and 401 are in part on my website.
Once I was able to get decent returns from my 401, I increased my contributions until I was maxed out and started to save some serious coin and to make serious returns for my retirement. It worked out really well... So far.
I have a nice income from my defined benefit pension plan and Social Security. Today. But my pension plan has no cost of living adjustment.
"What Is Hip Today Might Become Passe'"
-- Tower Of Power
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN8pWdZhVaM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vauqRuvzVgs
Only 30% of my pension income, the Social Security part, adjusts for inflation. Add my wife's pension and Social Security into the mix and we're a little short of 50% of our pension income being inflation protected. The continued wellbeing of my wife and I is dependent on how I handle my retirement savings.
Since retirement, I've given almost all of my 401/IRA balance over to professionals. But not all. I've kept $10K in my Union 401 account to provide a benchmark for the professionals and to keep the 401 account open should I decide to take management of the funds back. Here's where I have the money allocated, how I've done this year and since I started managing my 401(table), and how I've done since I started managing my 401 post retirement in 2013 (chart).
Note that this is my personal 401 account, managed for and by me, as I see fit, for Where my head is at and my perceived needs. I have Social Security and a defined benefit pension for regular income and I am looking to generate serious returns on my retirement savings for future use when my fixed pension income falls seriously behind my cost of living inflated needs. I am aggressive in nature but with three generations (wife and I, kids, and grandkids) to think about, I gotta make the right moves. I can stand the volatility of this approach, the gains are proven, and it is a plan. It's my plan..
I've made a copy of the Excel spreadsheet I use to track and manage my 401 available to download on my website. If you are not in my Local, the spreadsheet can be adapted to other 401s and other mutual funds by someone with a modicum of Excel experience.
I post here what I read that I find of significance or interest. I allocate funds within the 401 between aggressive and conservative allocations as circumstance and inclination require based on what I read and some professional level subscription data. Running the blog keeps me honest with myself. Putting it in writing makes sure I really have a grip on the handle.
Here's what I see onna chartz..... Thinkin' 'bout upping the stocks vs bonds back up closer to 100%...
BLEAHH.....
http://www.businessinsider.com/iran-ira ... lks-2014-6
One of the financial blogs I follow had a post onna Harley electrical bike prototype. I have been catching up on my gearhead reading and it is plain where we are heading in transportation and motorsports. It is going high tech and green. Think 1950's black bakelite tabletop phone vs iphone/Galaxy. It Is What It Is and with good reason but lookie here...
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2014/06/li ... /#comments
I just can't imagine rolling thunder... The electric race bikes at BEST give a whistle like a jet fighter on glide path...
So I stuck my oar inna Comments...
...
Eco Boost three and four cylinder motors and CVT and Stop/Start Idle/Stop motors everywhere?
2014 Harley 500cc and 750 cc beginner bikes and now an electric bike?
Honda crossbreeding scooters (NM 4 and DM-01) with their next generation motorcycles ?
...
It Is The End Of The World As We Know It (Or The Weekend) And I Feel Fine.....
Knee surgery is getting smaller inna rear view mirror...
Saturday...
http://www.businessinsider.com/draper-d ... tes-2014-6
Speaking Of Divided States...
http://www.businessinsider.com/should-i ... art-2014-6
http://www.businessinsider.com/sunni-re ... raq-2014-6
http://www.thereformedbroker.com/2014/0 ... id-assets/
Sunday...
Monday...
http://www.businessinsider.com/markit-f ... 014-2014-6
Boom And Bust; One Decade Finds You As A Master Of The Universe...And The Next One Finds You Out Onna Street.
http://www.businessinsider.com/wall-st- ... mer-2014-6
It's easy to be comfortable with the world as you thought it was. It is less easy to be comfortable with the way it has changed...
http://www.businessinsider.com/john-sch ... ato-2014-6
This Gettin' Old Ain't Fer Sissies....... Getting New Knees HURTS!!!!
Saturday, May 31, 2014, 03:45 PM
“I’m always thinking about losing money as opposed to making money. Don’t focus on making money; focus on protecting what you have.”
—Paul Tudor Jones
Ahm jes' anudder ol' broked down retahrd union pipefitter.
I retired in September of 2013 after 40 years in the trade, five years after this picture was taken. At the time, there was only one retired pig inna picture. Now there would be two...
I had started actively managing my 401 in 2004, after leaving it untended and with the minimum contribution since its inception in 1991. I was too busy raising a family, building America, and riding, racing and writing about motorcycles to pay any attention to saving for retirement. After all I had my Defined Benefit Plan and an IRA or two. What more could I need? Big mistake. I had contributed the minimum amount to the Defined Contribution Plan and left the funds in the default Balanced Pooled Fund. But between 2000 to 2003, I had to straighten out a coupla my IRA's after the dotcom-9/11 financial crash had crushed them, and as an afterthought, I then applied the same kind of evaluation to my 401 account and to my defined benefit pension fund. I found both to be in desperate straights. I was able to help turn both around. The story of both my IRA's and 401 are in part on my website.
Once I was able to get decent returns from my 401, I increased my contributions until I was maxed out and started to save some serious coin and to make serious returns for my retirement. It worked out really well... So far.
I have a nice income from my defined benefit pension plan and Social Security. Today. But my pension plan has no cost of living adjustment.
"What Is Hip Today Might Become Passe'"
-- Tower Of Power
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN8pWdZhVaM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vauqRuvzVgs
Only 30% of my pension income, the Social Security part, adjusts for inflation. The continued wellbeing of my wife and I is dependent on how I handle my retirement savings.
Since retirement, I've given almost all of my 401/IRA balance over to professionals. But not all. I've kept $10K in my Union 401 account to provide a benchmark for the professionals and to keep the 401 account open should I decide to take management of the funds back. Here's where I have the money allocated, how I've done this year and since I started managing my 401(table), and how I've done since I started managing my 401 post retirement in 2013 (chart).
Note that this is my personal 401 account, managed for and by me, as I see fit, for Where my head is at and my perceived needs. I have Social Security and a defined benefit pension for regular income and I am looking to generate serious returns on my retirement savings for future use when my fixed pension income falls seriously behind my cost of living inflated needs. I am aggressive in nature but with three generations (wife and I, kids, and grandkids) to think about, I gotta make the right moves. I can stand the volatility of this approach, the gains are proven, and it is a plan. It's my plan..
I've made a copy of the Excel spreadsheet I use to track and manage my 401 available to download on my website. If you are not in my Local, the spreadsheet can be adapted to other 401s and other mutual funds by someone with a modicum of Excel experience.
I post here what I read that I find of significance or interest. I allocate funds within the 401 between aggressive and conservative allocations as circumstance and inclination require based on what I read and some professional level subscription data. Running the blog keeps me honest with myself. Putting it in writing makes sure I really have a grip on the handle.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/ ... 4ow0PmICm4
In Fucking Credible... Grrrr.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/nation ... -coverups/
Tuesday...
http://www.businessinsider.com/nra-stat ... ers-2014-6
Wednesday...
http://www.businessinsider.com/shake-sh ... ers-2014-6
http://www.businessinsider.com/when-the ... ded-2014-6
I've Owned And Run A High End Audio Company, Done Electromechanical Design And Packaging For Consumer Electronics, Project Managed Mechanical, High Purity And Biotech Projects, Helped Put Cold Spring In 14 Stories Of Main Steam Line At A Coal Fired Power Plant, Walked The Steel, Pushed A Broom, And Hung From A Man Basket To Tighten Bolts As Required. But Now I'm Retired.
Saturday, May 10, 2014, 02:15 PM
“I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people”
- Dan Quayle
Back A'fore Yer Tahm...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYh5oMDlWwQ
The Rascals Did The First Set At The 'mo In Little Lord Fauntlaroy Outfits. They Looked At The Audience And Did The Rest Of The Engagement In Levi's. VERY Competent Musicians And A Great Show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA7CPmNqjek
Ahm jes' anudder ol' broked down retahrd union pipefitter.
I retired in September of 2013 after 40 years in the trade, five years after this picture was taken. At the time, there was only one retired pig inna picture. Now there would be two...
I had started actively managing my 401 in 2004, after leaving it untended and with the minimum contribution since its inception in 1991. I was too busy raising a family, building America, and riding, racing and writing about motorcycles to pay any attention to saving for retirement. After all I had my Defined Benefit Plan and an IRA or two. What more could I need? Big mistake. I had contributed the minimum amount to the Defined Contribution Plan and left the funds in the default Balanced Pooled Fund. But between 2000 to 2003, I had to straighten out a coupla my IRA's after the dotcom-9/11 financial crash had crushed them, and as an afterthought, I then applied the same kind of evaluation to my 401 account and to my defined benefit pension fund. I found both to be in desperate straights. I was able to help turn both around. The story of both my IRA's and 401 are in part on my website.
Once I was able to get decent returns from my 401, I increased my contributions until I was maxed out and started to save some serious coin and to make serious returns for my retirement. It worked out really well... So far.
I have a nice income from my defined benefit pension plan and Social Security. Today. But my pension plan has no cost of living adjustment.
"What Is Hip Today Might Become Passe'"
-- Tower Of Power
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN8pWdZhVaM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vauqRuvzVgs
Only 30% of my pension income, the Social Security part, adjusts for inflation. The continued wellbeing of my wife and I is dependent on how I handle my retirement savings.
Since retirement, I've given almost all of my 401/IRA balance over to professionals. But not all. I've kept $10K in my Union 401 account to provide a benchmark for the professionals and to keep the 401 account open should I decide to take management of the funds back. Here's where I have the money allocated, how I've done this year and since I started managing my 401(table), and how I've done since I started managing my 401 post retirement in 2013 (chart).
Note that this is my personal 401 account, managed for and by me, as I see fit, for Where my head is at and my perceived needs. I have Social Security and a defined benefit pension for regular income and I am looking to generate serious returns on my retirement savings for future use when my fixed pension income falls seriously behind my cost of living inflated needs. I am aggressive in nature but with three generations (wife and I, kids, and grandkids) to think about, I gotta make the right moves. I can stand the volatility of this approach, the gains are proven, and it is a plan. It's my plan..
I've made a copy of the Excel spreadsheet I use to track and manage my 401 available to download on my website. If you are not in my Local, the spreadsheet can be adapted to other 401s and other mutual funds by someone with a modicum of Excel experience.
I post here what I read that I find of significance or interest. I allocate funds within the 401 between aggressive and conservative allocations as circumstance and inclination require based on what I read and some professional level subscription data. Running the blog keeps me honest with myself. Putting it in writing makes sure I really have a grip on the handle.
I'm A Demon Tube Bender, Detailer, Layout Hand, Very Competent Heavy Rigger, Instrument Tech, Copper Hand, And Stick Welder. But Mostly, I'm Retired.
Monday, May 5, 2014, 10:33 AM
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