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Reagan1k

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by Reagan1k

  1. What does your partner want to buy him out? What does he take out of the business and what do you take out? What would it cost to replace his work, with a less experienced and younger employee who might want to grow into the owner one day?
  2. No doubt there are bad actors, and you are correct. Lots of employers underfunded plans or ran into situations where they could no longer fund them. It's a heavy weight on cash flow. My point was that private enterprise (or their shareholders) decided that it was too costly to provide lifetime income to employees and shifted the burden when they had a chance. Not a judgement either way - just what happened. When IRC Section 401(k) was enacted into law back in '78, employees could then defer income for retirement, and employers glady started implementing the plans so they could shift the responsibility to the employee.
  3. Was a lot easier for business to fund when guys retired at 65 and were dead at 72.
  4. The cost to fund and administer a defined benefit plan for a private / for profit entity is huge. Regulation, reporting, compliance, longer lifespans, etc. all make it very expensive to run a DB plan....and that's on top of filling the funding bucket to provide guaranteed income for all retirees who might live for decades after retirement. The retirement burden was shifted from the employer to the employee. Governmental entities can tax their way into compliance and to fulfill obligations. Private business can't.
  5. About as understanding as they are when they get you to load up Q4 (via discounts) at the expense of the following Q1? Q1 isn't going to count against you....until it does.
  6. I completely agree and can see you don't consider it an equity alternative. I have multiple buy-sell arrangements (both personal and professional) that are funded with it and there is not another asset or strategy that comes close to affording me the protections and returns at the same time.
  7. That’s a well written article and points out some of the situations where it might be appropriate and the larger number of cases where not. It’s just a specialty tool. “I hope this shows some of the situations where a whole life policy can make sense. Note that none of these are medical students or residents. None are young attendings with student loans and practice loans. In each case, the purchaser understands how the policy works and the trade-offs they are giving up in exchange for the benefits they want.”
  8. I won’t speak to comments made above because I don’t know the point that is attempting to be made. I don’t have a dog in this fight but I know a few things about how the product works as an asset. 1) A lot of it is crap. 2) most of the time it isn’t the best solution for a given problem. 3) Comparing it to an equity investment or the performance therein is irresponsible bc they are different asset classes 4) A properly funded policy from a mutual company using accelerated paid up additions MIGHT be a solution to a certain set of problems or priorities. In a vacuum it isn’t an inherently bad product, but a lot of the marketing is BS. So is a lot of the anti-marketing against it comparing it to equity investing and buying terms. It is a different type of tool for a different job. (Hammer vs. Saw)
  9. Cool rifle! Savage made those starting in ‘29 and stopped in ‘40 - lots of recreational guns ceased or paused production as the war kicked off. Looks like most auctions have them selling under $500. There are some Savage message board forms and those guys could dissect all the markings and narrow down the exact date. Wipe it down well, stock and all with soft rags and some Balistol and y’all get to shooting. Looks like it’s is good shape for an almost 100 yr old rifle.
  10. Cool time! Savage made those starting in ‘29 and stopped in ‘40 - lots of recreational guns ceases or paused production as the war kicked off. Looks like most auctions have them selling under $500. There are some Savage message board forms and those guys could dissect all the markings and narrow down the exact date. Wipe it down well, stock and all with soft rags and some Balistol and y’all get to shooting. Looks like it’s is good shape to and almost 100 yr old rifle.
  11. I'm a .327 fan. Have one in my nightstand drawer. Might need to look at this to upgrade.
  12. Cool of the charts- “The Marshfield Find” Winchester 1886 mint condition that was found in an attic still unboxed in original shipping crate. Up for sale in 2 weeks, but even if you’re short on cash this month it’s worth a look and fascinating to see. If you love old guns and history in general, this is well done and worth 13 minutes.
  13. @686 I'll shoot it if you'll skin it!
  14. Let your fingers do the walking and find a full fledged gun shop - probably one that caters to hunters. Run in there and ask them who they'd recommend. They might have someone in house if they deal in long guns.
  15. Does anyone have the latest Boone and Crockett Chronicles that list the records and scores for porcupine? I've got one on camera that has now made (I'm counting) 213 consecutive nights of gorging himself at one of our protein feeders and he's enormous. Won't be too much longer before I start to worry his weight will damage the fence panels as he climbs over every night. Scoring him will be a prickly situation. Will probably take hours putting quill to paper to add him up.
  16. What kind of rifle and what kind of work - That'll drive the search. Gunsmith is as generic a search as "mechanic". We talking D10 dozer, lawn mower, or 1936 Bentley? You need scope rings installed or a barrel replacement and bedding? Valuable rifle or composite stock Savage?
  17. IMO bond FUNDs are ok for your folks trying to maintain exposure and seek diversification when they have a long time horizon before retirement. For income purposes or for the cash / income buffer @Trey3216 espouses - I’m overseeing a family member’s portfolio using a 24 month ladder of treasuries maturing each month. If they need income via the principal, this month’s maturity is transferred to checking. If not, it is rolled back into the end of the ladder. Tax efficient and strategic selling of equity is used to backfill the ladder when a rung is removed and must be replaced. Since they’re holding to maturity they don’t worry about rising rates and grab some gains when falling. There are other ways to skin this cat.
  18. They grabbed that dude off a dock and said get to Paris. He may have just as well strolled out with a Charter Arms snub nose and said “So my friend, which is my target.” Turks need to make him the spokesperson for all their gun mfgs. “Turkey- we know guns!”
  19. I've always believed that a 2-4 year protracted sideway to slightly down market early in retirement is more dangerous than a sharp, temporary decline if a cash bucket isn't being used for spending withdrawals. The effects of sudden 20% - 30% drop and snap back reversal can be muted by the fact that there may only be a few withdrawals made during this period, or withdrawals may be paused for a short time. Unless that cash cushion is there, a 2-4 year repeated selling into weakness can really open risk for depletion in years to come. Another huge issue that is an advantage to those with cash (income buffers) would be the ability to do tax strategic selling during both up and down years. Tax loss harvesting and rebalancing is easy to do and advantageous to long term wealth when you aren't relying on those proceeds this year to pay for expenses. Gives a good planner and tax pro a lot to work with.
  20. Exactly why testing with real Monte Carlo simulation is so crucial. It’s human nature to view what’s recent as long term, but real simulations incorporate longer periods (historically relevant) of low to negative returns. That sequence of return is far different than our recent experiences of rapid cyclical bear market recovery. Shit can take time and even a decade or more to recover. Considering a retirement may span 30-40 years or more…. Those secular bear and bull markets must be considered and tested against with entrance and exit throughout the retirement cycle. Thats part of the case for bonds in the portfolio of a 40-50 year old with retirement still 15-20 years out. If we enter a secular bear market tomorrow, a 100% equity portfolio would be tough to swallow when eyeing retirement in 2040 for instance. Plans would change. Another gotcha that’s a risk is the dominance of a few names in many of the indexes that ETFs and mutual funds hold or mirror. A lot of inventors have FAR more exposure to a few tech-ish names than they realize. Not saying it’s bad, but many don’t realize they have 25-30% of their money invested in a handful of stocks via weighted indexes and overlapping funds.
  21. Both the Lowes grocery store and Buttery Hardware in Llano sell ammunition already. Seems reasonable for placement. Central Market on Westheimer - not so much.
  22. These are two different discussions being cobbled together. 1) is it a good business model? Maybe in a very limited, narrow market. As @TwiceHorn said - bait shop, rural hardware store, some other appropriate place as a gimmick. That’s discussion A 2) Is it going to be abused by criminal element? All these scenarios of mannequin heads and hackers seem to miss the key element- No one is stopping the criminal element from walking in and buying a box of shell manually anyway. Your scenarios are akin to hardening security around copper tubing sales to prevent Cletus from moonshining to get his booze fix. He doesn’t need to build a still. He can walk next door and buy his bottle from Jacks liquor, or ask his brother to. Ammunition is not some rare, guarded commodity requiring a Dirty Dirty Dozen or Oceans 11 plot to acquire. You’re over complicating this. Do you see organized crime syndicates devising ways to help 17 year olds get lottery tickets from the machines in grocery stores? No - not necessary- just buy them or send someone to buy face to face.
  23. We might all agree on that!!!
  24. Yep- and you’re right. I was foolish thinking underlined facts might help.
  25. What’s different? It ain’t a quarter operated coke machine. Lots of wasted words creating irrelevant scenarios. It’s a different interface - same or even higher scrutiny and data capture than face to face cash at counter. May be dumb but isn’t a game charger for the criminal element. But don’t let reality get in the way of outrage…. When a customer approaches the vending machine, they must agree to terms on the screen, select their desired type of bullets, insert an identification card and participate in a facial scan. Customers have to be 21 years of age or older to purchase bullets from American Rounds’ vending machines. After the facial recognition is confirmed, a customer can swipe or insert their credit or debit card and then wait for their ammunition to be dispensed.
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