Friday Reading: Count Social Security as Bonds?

By Harry Sit

Asset Allocation is Not a Goal from Oblivious Investor. Mike says we should come up with an asset allocation based on the gap between incomes and expenses, not by converting incomes or expenses to an asset or a liability. But John Bogle said on NPR we should count Social Security as bonds in the "age-in-bonds" formula.

"If you accept that $300,000 is the value of Social Security and you had $200,000, that could all be in stocks," Bogle says.

I’m confused.

My 2012 Personal Finance Resolutions from Matthew Amster-Burton at Mint Life. Matthew already made his 2012 personal finance resolutions. I haven’t done mine yet. Have you?

Humongous Provincial Tax Credits for Student Graduates from Canadian Financial DIY. Several Canadian provinces — Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Quebec — are offering large tax credits to recent college graduates who choose to work there. How nice! If you know someone in Canada who could possibly quality, give them a heads-up.

Arizona to Audit Everyone Who Fails to Report Sales and Use Tax? from Five Cent Nickel. If you buy stuff online, you are supposed to report and pay use tax. Rumor says Arizona will audit people who don’t report use tax. I wonder if people would just put a low dollar amount instead. I asked this question before in Do You Cheat On Your Taxes? There’s an initiative for a federal sales tax on Internet sales.

College Illinois suspends prepaid tuition sales as new chairman plots fixes from Crain’s Chicago Business. A defined benefit college savings program runs into trouble when the investment return is lower than expected and the college tuition increases faster than expected. Public sector pension plans have the same problem. Lesson learned? Don’t offer defined benefit!

Changing military pensions from Doug Nordman at Military Retirement & Financial Independence. Even the military is learning that lesson. Defined benefit is a very difficult promise to keep because the promise can grow more than anybody originally expected.

Are you better off than mom and dad? from CNN Money. It’s that Strapped story again. If you are competing with a global labor force that demands less, you won’t be better off than mom and dad. That generation is an anomaly. Forget it.

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Posted on December 16, 2011 under News. Keywords: .

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One Comment on Friday Reading: Count Social Security as Bonds?

  1. DTSC on December 17, 2011
     

    I guess you can count Social Security as a bond if you’re old enough to have a fair chance of collecting it! How many young people are confident that SS will be around when they retire?

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