My wife and I have a comfotable retirement

[edhopper]

We own our Condo outright and have an income in the upper 5 figures. This pays all our bills and expenses and allows us to go out for dinner and entertainment and travel. Not extravagantly, but enough to make us content. We have a nice Honda that take us where we need and with Medicare, out healthcare is taken care of.
Now if we had $10 or $20 or $50 million dollars we would have a more luxurious life, we could afford a better car, travel a bit more and stay in nicer places, flying first class would be great.
But I don't think our life is diminished because we don't have real wealth.

What made me think about this is all the Mega Rich assholes with more money than God, who have more than they can spend in 100 lifetimes. Many septuagenarian and octogenarians. Who could have a life full of adventure and enrichment. But instead all they want is another 3% tax cut to have more money they will never need. And they are willing to burn the country down to get it. They don't care about women's rights, LBGT rights, gun violence, climate change, education, healthcare, helping the unfortunate or anything else that might help people. They support the worst of us just to get their extra tax break, or destroy some regulation that prevents them from doing what they want.
Power and Greed is all that feeds them. And they will destroy anything that gets in their way, including the country.

[OMGWTF]

1. They hoard money. It's a mental illness and they will never have enough.

[Lonestarblue]

15. Yes. Someone always has more than they do. It's a never-ending game. I'd be happy to have no billionairea.

[walkingman]

29. They actually worship money and the power it gives them to get more money.

[DENVERPOPS]

70. I look at the very wealthy

people I know, (not the Uber Wealthy) and I have come to believe that their almost psychotic obsession with money, and making more money, is their greatest fear, and that is a fear of losing it......Most here, if they were to crash, would pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and get back into the game.

The Rich fear losing all their money, because they wouldn't have a clue how to recover, since most of them have only known a life of having everything they wanted and more.................AND there are a large group of them that were Trust Fund Kids and inherited their money.......they sure as hell didn't ever work a day in their lives.......

They all have extremely deep seated insecurities that are covered up by their wealth.............

Those who are anywhere near the top 1% are doing anything and everything, by hook or by crook, to get into that top 1%, while the getting is good.............

[The Wizard]

83. Money is our national religion

The phrase "In God We Trust" is on all the currency and none of the churches.

[drmeow]

38. I've been saying this for years

Because our society worships money, and money doesn't make their home a health or fire hazard, it slips under the radar of typical hoarding behavior. But that doesn't stop it from being just as irrational and just a mentally problematic as any other hoarding habit.

[Diamond_Dog]

2. I hear you Ed and couldn't agree more.

[FHRRK]

3. Going into retirement

Learned a couple things over the past few months.

Went down to Fashion Island, a high end mall in Newport Beach, CA, wife had to return something. Anyway, rich people dress funny, $200 shirts, $200 jeans, designer tennis shoes, and they look like goofs. Lesson learned, don’t hang around rich or rich wannabes.

Had to take a couple cross country flights, man the seats are tight, I am six foot two and my knees are into the back of the seat. First class, expensive and filled with rich goofs.

Lesson learned, drive whenever possible.

[flying_wahini]

5. Driving is the way to go. It is the best way to see many countries.

[Wonder Why]

11. Take the train and relax.

[flying_wahini]

19. Oh we do that, too when the country has one. We took a plane& a helicopter and still drove 1200 mi in New Zealand

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

62. I take Amtrak when I can. Book a roomette

and it's wonderful.

[KPN]

93. A roomette you say! Didn't know duch a thing existed. Well then, my wife and I

will be lookuing into it. Thanks for the tip PO.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

102. Here's a link to the Amtrak page

that describes private rooms. https://www.amtrak.com/rooms?intcmp=wsp_promo-card_link_rooms_hpcard6

[PatSeg]

104. Oh I love that!

Whenever I watch British TV or movies with trains, I love the compartments in the older trains. They look so comfortable. What a pleasant way to travel.

[KPN]

105. Awesome. Thanks!

[edhopper]

9. There is economy plus

or sometimes for $100 or a little more, you can buy a seat with more legroom. Not anything like first class, but still better for a long flight.

[Abnredleg]

28. I fly Comfort Class with Delta

Costs less than First Class and has plenty of leg room.

[Johnny2X2X]

101. Rich wannabes vs the rich

People who are rich and worked for it are cheap. Too many rich people to list who drive modest cars, live in modest homes, and wear off the rack suits. But new money and "fake money, they buy the $200 T-shirts, the $1200 shoes, and the Rolex watch.

[FHRRK]

103. So true

I guess I don’t get out enough. There were a lot of 25 to 35 year olds, dressed in the clothes, but some just looked bad.

Rolex watch is classic,

[flying_wahini]

4. I hope Biden taxes the hell out of them and the Churches too.

It’s time to claw it back for our country. Many Americans are hurting.

[AllaN01Bear]

26. i hope you realize that many so called christians arnt and there are ones who do walk the walk

[Marcus IM]

30. Tax them. Plenty walk the walk AND pay taxes. n/t

[NanaCat]

75. Except they are christians

Belonging to the religion doesn't exempt them from being awful people.

[former9thward]

37. I am not aware of any elected officials of the Democratic party that supports taxing churches.

Biden, Senators, House members, I don't think any of them support that concept.

[Whiskeytide]

41. I say tax the preachers, not the church. And no tax ...

…exempt church should be permitted to own a jet. Ok to have a couple of buses, but no aircraft. If the preacher wants a jet, he can buy it with his after tax income.

Mega churches have become tax dodges. I would support making them file public tax returns also - even if they’re tax exempt. People should be able to see how these organizations spend their money.

[NanaCat]

76. Tax the churches

The property isn't held in the name of the clergy--including the planes and expensive cars. The church members don't give to the clergy--they give to the church. They write the checks in the church's name, not the clergy's. The credit card swipe gets paid to the church, not the clergy. The church pays him (almost always) a salary from those coffers.

The obscene amount of funds are in the church coffers, not the clergy's. You tax where the money is, and the church is responsible for any abuses that take place in regards to that money.

Tax the churches.

[Whiskeytide]

84. I agree with all you said - my suggestion is ...

… to prevent wealth accumulation by the church organizations to begin with. I should have added that such orgs should not be able to hold investment property as well.

Many churches do great works. I have no problem with encouraging that. It was the reason they were given tax exempt status. By accounting for the use of the money, we could keep a better handle on making sure the money is spent for good causes.

Open a food shelter? Great.

Develop a condo complex? Tax it.

Sponsor missions to 3rd world countries? OK.

Put your pastor up in a $4m house? Not so much.

[NanaCat]

77. So what?

I don't give one bloody fig if any of them are on board with the idea, because politicians have always been behind where the people are when it came to doing things that are long overdue. It wasn't politicians that came up with the 40-hour work week or paid vacation and sick leave or Social Security or civil rights. It was the people demanding all of it that got politicians to enact laws for them.

Just because they're not on board is no reason not to seek to change the status quo. If everyone thought we needed anyone's permission to change anything, we'd still be living in caves.

[former9thward]

88. "politicians have always been behind where the people are"

There is no evidence the majority (or even a significant minority) of people are in favor of taxing churches.

[TexasDem69]

47. Absolutely opposed to Biden taxing churches

Though he’s way smarter than to even propose such a thing.

[NanaCat]

78. Why?

If they engage in political activity, then they have violated their 501(c)(3) status, and they need to pay for that privilege like every other organization that does so.

[Elessar Zappa]

58. He wouldn't win if he taxed churches.

A big part of our get out the vote effort relies on networks of black churches.

[NanaCat]

79. So we're to be held hostage to a group

That refuses to play by the same rules as everyone else.

One law and tax code for them. Another for the rest of us.

Got it.

[TBF]

6. Well that's about half of MAGA, if that -

and I totally agree with you - my husband and I are probably the generation behind you and about the same. Working hard, driving our older cars to get our kids through college, saving for retirement. We've flown first class exactly once in the past 20 years, and only because I had leftover miles from canceled pandemic trips so I was able to do an upgrade. Which isn't even all that impressive to the uber wealthy with their private jets.

But the other part of MAGA is the evangelicals, and Donald definitely has his pulse on them, even if he can't hold a bible right side up. He's got them convinced he will put in people they want - and he did it with the Supreme Court. They are a weird crowd to be sure, a lot of them don't have much money to speak of so you'd think they'd look at dem policies. But they are too worried about their guns and controlling women's bodies.

[live love laugh]

22. The other end are still just useful idiots helping the rich.

Of course you know that already.

[yardwork]

7. Sociopaths. That's what they are.

If we were all as content as you and your wife, everybody on earth could have a great life, sharing resources and living happily together. But no. The greedy ones have to spoil it.

[edhopper]

12. This is so true

we are not a rational or generous species.

[JudyM]

45. Agree with you about irrationality, mostly ... cultures do vary considerably in generosity, though.

It’s interesting but not surprising how conservatism has evolved into such a horribly stingy political philosophy, with such a smooth transition to tea party and now caving in to magats.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

8. We have been in a destructive positive feedback loop for half a century.

The filthy rich feed the GOP, the GOP reward the filthy rich, the power of each grows and enables feeding the greed even more. We, collectively, have rewarded the worst with more power so they grab more power.

[live love laugh]

23. The loop tightened with Trump billionaire tax cuts and insider trading.

They are now salivating for a repeat because they doubled their absurd wealth.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

27. Some data supporting what you say

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/12/these-6-jaw-dropping-charts-show-just-how-much-rich-people-will-get-richer-from-the-gop-tax-bill/

[Irish_Dem]

10. There will never be enough money to fill the holes in their souls.

They are addicted to wealth. And always chasing money.
Even when they have more money than they can ever spend.
It is like a hoarding addiction.

Yes like most addictions they will destroy everything and everyone who gets in the way
of their drug of choice, cash.

And yes money gives them power and they are addicted to that as well.

Their sickness is destroying humans and the planet.

[SWBTATTReg]

13. Sounds like you guys have what you need in life. This hunting for wealth, and yet more wealth, never seems to end.

When does it (the hunt for yet more money) end?

It's a disease, and it's a sad one really. To have it all, and yet, still not have 'it'.

[markodochartaigh]

25. Need can be satisfied.

Greed can never be satisfied.

[Ferrets are Cool]

14. "Power and Greed is all that feeds them"

It's usually how they GOT so rich.

[Tribetime]

16. Consider yourself blessed.My dad had two degrees from notre dame

And because of medical pills he was never able to retire and died at eighty two doing uber. I also don't ever think I'll be able to retire.

[LittleGirl]

31. I grew up in the shadow of Notre Dame

and I'm very sorry to hear about your Dad. That is not how most ND grads end up.

[OldBaldy1701E]

17. For some of us, five figures is very 'real wealth'. (n/t)

[edhopper]

20. Yes

and I understand that we are fortunate. Others retire with much less. If a couple has worked their whole lives they should get around $60K from Soc Sec. But some don't get that.
And the fact that what we have can be viewed as wealth (not disagreeing) shows you how obscene the billionaires' wealth is.

[moonscape]

32. The average single recipient gets

about 1.8k/month. 4.9k/mo = maximum benefit for a single person retiring at 70 yo.

Couples have a better gig

[edhopper]

36. Hmm

a lot of people do not get full SS benefits. I think right now that is near $3K a month.

[dpibel]

55. Average overall $1770

https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/

So, $42,000 per couple.

A considerable range on that chart (e.g., for two retired workers, it's more like $45,800), but if you're in the high five-figures on SS alone, you're pretty high up on the bell curve.

[edhopper]

57. Not alone

We have pensions from union jobs also.

[dpibel]

61. In any case, I agree with your OP

Just to be clear.

Infinite accumulation of wealth is a disease. That should be cured.

[mopinko]

90. widows and divorcees get screwed.

i dont understand why giving full to 1 spouse, but half to the other is considered fair. each shd get 75%.
and i dont get y a widow doesnt get the full bennie.
my rep has been screaming about this for a couple decades.

[Abstractartist]

18. Absolutely correct

You are absolutely correct. A simple way to address this aspect of our GOTV efforts….

Simply put, if you are lower or middle class, under a trump dictatorship, your taxes are going up and up and up…

Vote blue complete down ballot… state, local, federal. From President Biden down… Go Blue

[twodogsbarking]

21. Retired. Don't pay SS, State or Local taxes. Didn't pay any Fed tax last three years.

No travel costs to work, clothes and not paying contribution to retirement. Have Medicare but pay more for insurance than ever.
Living costs low with low interest mortgage. Retirement good.

[Bettie]

24. Human dragons

sitting on their piles of gold, eternally angry that someone might get a coin or two.

[GoneOffShore]

82. They were bitten by Smaug and infected with extreme greed.

[moonscape]

33. The mega-rich are so lost in the

game of money to see it as a necessary commodity for the struggling. How many lives they could impact if only they’d open their hearts and wallets is heartbreaking.

Christopher Reeves talked about before his paralysis when he’d show up at a benefit for those disabled as he was and how little actually penetrated. It took what happened to him he said to gain compassion that lasted outside the walls of a given institute..

[TexasDem69]

48. Who is the "mega rich"?

I think someone like Bill Gates, who is definitely mega rich. But what the cutoff? Seems like $100 million would qualify as mega rich, though even then is that cash in the bank or stock or what?

[liberal N proud]

34. I just turned 65 and received 2 of the various pensions I built over the years.

I plan to work until I am 70.
I have 2 pensions that payout in lifetime annuities. That money, I can and plan on taking now, because every month I don’t, is money that I don’t get. It is not like I need to hold off on the withdrawal. It’s a payment from now until my wife and I are in the ground.

Then I have 3 401K plans that make sense to sit on until I need them. Then my wife has a 401K as well plus some stock. We think that we will be comfortable, but not ready to retire.

I just want enough to live comfortably and do some travel.

[Warpy]

35. Money is how new money parasites keep count within their own class

Which would be annoying and amusing if only they didn't also think that their ill gotten fortunes make them wiser than rhe rest of us. And they do. Anyone who tries to disabuse them of this notion is quickly shown the door, I've watched it happen.

Old money never mentions the subject of money. New money can talk of little else. Both think money confers godlike wisdom.

[Evolve Dammit]

39. You nailed it Ed! Feel the same way. ED.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

40. I have a comfortable chair.

[GoodRaisin]

74. The value of a comfortable chair cannot be overlooked

if you sit a lot, like some of us.

[mike_c]

42. we're in roughly similar condition

I was stressed about retiring for many years, fearing poverty or having to work until I dropped (and leaving nothing for my partner). At least I really enjoyed my work.

We moved to a state with way lower cost of living and, while certainly not flush, we're comfortable with our Social Security and my modest pension. I'm so thankful I had a good union job until we retired. I don't think we could have done it, otherwise.

[Mr.Bee]

43. Well the problem is this;

Accomplishment.
When you don't work, when you have no real challenges in life, you never have a feeling of accomplishing something.
It's hard to be satisfied with anything when it's not something you've accomplished though hard work.
You've felt it, I've felt it, it gives life meaning.
In the example of someone like Darn Old Trumpf, he has an office, he goes to 'work', but what sense of accomplishment does he really get sitting there not working with his hands, not getting his blood coursing?
And because of that, these types of people can never be satisfied.

[Mr.Bee]

49. I might also add;

When middle-class workers retire, we don't quit working, we find ways to keep busy. We get our accomplishment working in the flowerbed, cooking, painting, woodworking, building or doing little things we do ourselves, not getting someone to do it for us.
Accomplishment. Satisfaction.

[Aussie105]

52. Amen!

Going to work for decades in the same job is a mind killer.

A person needs to develop hobbies to stop the mental decay, and something to build on when retired.

Money is just a tool.

Once you have enough, stop chasing it and enjoy life.

[DFW]

86. Not all jobs are mind killers. I've been at mine for the last 49 years, and if my mind is dead, it was dead at age 23.

I started my job at age 23. I'll be 72 in a week, and I'm still at it. Call it mental decay if you want, but that would had to have set in very early. I'm still in a different country every day, speaking several languages every day despite my (apparent) mental decay. Today, I'll have to use German, Polish, English, Catalan, Spanish, Dutch and French, and it's just 1 PM here. I'm in Germany today, France tomorrow, Spain Wednesday, etc.

I don't think about chasing money. I think about fleeing boredom.

[calimary]

73. Welcome to DU, Mr.Bee!

Accomplishment. Satisfaction. And for me, not having to get up at 3:30 or 4am to get to work in time to put together the 6am newscast. It was great for the ol' ego and it made for a nice series of resume credits but getting up that early EVERY DAY was HARD!!!

I like sleeping in.

[NanaCat]

81. Depends on how you define accomplishment

I spent some part of my life, including the last 14 years, as a stay-at-home wife. I haven't ever thought of my housework as 'work,' but as daily life maintenance, like bathing or brushing my teeth. It's simply something I try to do as quickly and efficiently as possible so I can get to what interests me more. Which usually involves serving Her Royal Highness (the cat, of course), reading, or venting about politics online or playing stupid games on the computer. That's really the bulk of how I spend my time these days.

So I don't have accomplishments in the sense you mention, but I'm still happy with my life most of the time, despite my slacker lifestyle.

[PatrickforB]

44. You know, Ed, you're right.

I have always felt there is something freakish about people who work so feverishly to amass billions of dollars.

The more money they have, the more they seem to worry. The more money they have, the more selfish they seem to get.

There is just something wrong with that, on many different levels.

Enough is the ticket. More than that just gives cause for worry.

[JHB]

46. They're believers in Divine Right

Not the Divine Right of Kings, but the Divine Right of Money.

And they will bankroll entire crusades to defeat the infidels who have other priorities.

[bluestateboomer]

50. I'm a leading edge Boomer

My wife and I have a comfortable retirement thanks to our unions, virtually free public education, and the benefits of Social Security and Medicare. All of us, whatever the age, deserve the same.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

51. They're all assholes, plain and simple.

[LiberalFighter]

53. They want more privilege than everyone else.

[pwb]

54. This cardboard owner guy backing trump is giving me

second thoughts about Mail order now.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

56. "Many septuagenarian and octogenarians". I think it's strange that people in later years focus on controlling young

What made me think about this is all the Mega Rich assholes with more money than God, who have more than they can spend in 100 lifetimes. Many septuagenarian and octogenarians

I think it's strange that people in later years focus on controlling the lives on young people. not trying to making sure that future generations have clean water and air, but trying to block them from voting so that their civil rights are curtailed to fit the view of people who won't even be living in 20 years... I'm looking at you Koch Bros and McTurtle.

[oldsoftie]

59. We'll never make the needed steps to tax ALL income properly or attack the debt

Neither party is serious about it because they want to be reelected. So they talk about it and kick it down the rod. And here we are at 34 trillion and rising millions a minute.
Pres Obama had a comnisssiion empaneled to come up with solutions. They presented their findings and everyone ignored them.
And here we are.

[Scrivener7]

60. It's just another form of hoarding.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

63. I'm 75, retired, live alone.

I live on about half of what you apparently do.

And I have a good life. Yeah, more money would be nice, but I get to do most of what I want to do.

[c-rational]

64. And that, your last sentence, they will destroy antyhing that gets in their way, is why we must destroy

them first, and I mean that figuratively. We dems have always been the reasonable ones, and the opposition the snarling tyrants. The best way to crush them is at the ballot box and then full spead ahead with drastic reforms, in the face of the snarling and hyperventilating pearl clutching right wing opposition that suggests we will hurt their capitalisti system. No self doubt.

[LoisB]

65. Then they will die and find out that you really can't take it with you.

[RipVanWinkle]

66. Where wealth accumulates, men decay.

Oliver Goldsmith

[Bluethroughu]

67. Tax them into reality!

[Seinan Sensei]

68. "Every billionaire is a policy failure"

[LudwigPastorius]

69. The largest expansion of the middle class occurred when there was...

a 90% marginal tax rate on this country's highest earners.

But, we can't do that now because it would "kill the economy", or some such crap.

[Roy Rolling]

71. According to Cheryl Crow

Is not having what you want, it’s wanting what you’ve got.

I think she’s on to something. 😂

?si=bm1vvT748onMYlCc

[DFW]

87. That could have been taken from a fictitious character in the novel "Shibumi."

According to Beñat Le Cagot:

"....a man is happiest when there is a balance between his needs and his possessions. Now the question is: how to achieve this balance. One could seek to do this by increasing his goods to the level of his appetites, but that would be stupid..........Ergo? Ergo, the wise man achieves the balance by reducing his needs to the level of his possessions......"

[tblue37]

72. I think it is a form of hoarding.

[czarjak]

80. More4Me

F-U? Christ-like.

[Goodheart]

85. Not to toot my own horn, but I also had a few thoughts

I'm not resentful, except that higher income people don't appreciate what it actually took to get them there. If they did, studies show that their likelihood of giving help to others would increase:

[link:https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218762252|

[DFW]

89. I'm always reluctant to dump everyone into one barrel

I know a guy in Dallas who is very smart and very lucky. I don't know his exact worth, but I think it is somewhere between $50 million and $100 million. He still works because, like me, he is terrified of boredom. He gives lots of it away precisely because he knows he'll never spend it all. He funds foundations for addicts, dance performance troupes, education, etc. He definitely appreciates his luck, and is fully aware that most people will never get the chance to do what he is doing. He pays all taxes due, but has plenty left over. He definitely does not sit on it just to count it on spare moments during weekends. He has no such spare moments. I doubt he is unique, but people like him seldom seek headlines--or mentions on sites like this one.

[BlueTexasMan]

91. Amem!

We regulate monopolies to ensure fair competition, why not put an eye on excessive profit taking to bolster the working population? Make America Fair Again!

[KPN]

92. That's all of it in a nutshell edhopper!

You've expressed my personal thoughts and experience perfectly!

[William769]

95. Welcome to DU.

[GP6971]

96. Hello again.

[edhopper]

97. Upper 5 figures

is between $50K and $99K. We live in NY so expenses are higher than most.
What donations we give is none of your business.
But thank for playing. Wonder if you will be around long enough to read this?

[Permanut]

98. This is one of the best threads I have seen in my 16 years here.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

99. My Republican brother can't resist saying how bad the economy is....

... if you ask him how he is. I never argue with him about it because he wants to retire and needs to sell his business to do so. He just says he did well until 3 years ago. Then he will launch into how he hates living in CA. He puts the most negative thoughts about it in your face. Mainly that it's "unaffordable" for retirement and full of Democrats.

It's an amazing balancing act he does because he is so sweet otherwise. He's addicted to right wing news outlets. He inherited that from his dad (different dads) along with the business. Says he voted for "SHitler" because of regulations. 12 years earlier he said he voted for Bush because of late term abortion!! I asked what if his wife needed one to live and he said she might sacrifice herself, even though she was raising 3 boys. He thinks he makes me feel better about the dangers of Climate Change by telling me some made up science he read about.

Last summer I told him I see where he gets his info from reading his Facebook posts. It was the only time I felt I held up a mirror. It was a painless way of saying we get totally different info. Saturday he suddenly ragged on NBC. I didn't ask why because there is real anger there and the wedge would only deepen. I love him and wish only the best for him. But he and so many others have been dragged from facts with highly paid for "altrrnative facts".

I will miss him when he moves to Arizona to retire.