The whole premise is rather silly. Debt, shares, and dollars are things invented by people to keep track of quantities, accounts, and property ownership rights. The actual wealth and productive capacity of a society consists of: 1. Real resources (oil, minerals, farmland, etc.) 2. Physical capital (buildings, machinery, roads) 3. Human capital (knowledge, worker skills, legal/political institutions) As long as these three are available in sufficient quantity and quality, we will be completely fine. SPX could go to zero tomorrow and it wouldn't reduce actual productive capacity by one iota. Wipe out all debt to zero, and you've wiped out some peoples' claims to the future income of other people, but actual productive capacity is once again unaffected. Ask yourself how it's possible for the future to be simultaneously one of mass unemployment and poverty due to robots taking all the jobs, and one of economic collapse due to population aging and insufficient numbers of workers. Short answer is they can't both be true, and likely neither will be as political institutions will adapt. Actual threats to our future well-being have nothing to do with financial anything; they consist of things like overpopulation, resource depletion, dysgenic fertility and immigration patterns, and the increasing dysfunction/collapse of socio-political structures and institutions. On most of these points, the trends in the USA aren't so good.
I agree with the above. I’ve been poor, made great money and lost a fortune. Happiness is inside all of us, you just need to stop attaching to things in hopes that they make you happy. Again, the happiest most loving giving people I have ever met can’t rub two nickels together !!!
much appreciated and understood. there's more concerns the topic of this thread, namely: Americans DROWNING IN DEBT Pensions and 401k’s Will Be Devastated in Crisis, forgive me for skipping the exclamation point.
I grew up pretty broke. I paid my way through college because it was my way out. That's why I love money and everything to do with money. I really don't care about much else because money is mobility, security, and power in today's society. You can wax poetic about the days when you could be broke, but until you have money to own land (and land is true power) you are on the wage slave treadmill. I could never go back to eating dried ramen and taking 3 minute long cold showers to save water. I struggled so I never have to go back - and I will do anything to make sure I don't. I can't name a single person I know who started like I did and yearns for the days of simplicity of being poor. Being poor sucks. Money is everything. Period.
I started off a LOT worse than you and I agree to a point. I do not yearn for the poor days, but I can be happy in almost any economic condition because I have been there, done that. I just don't worry about it.
As I approach my retirement in about 18 years I expect (and hope) my net worth will continue growing. But between now and retirement day a number of things could easily happen that may adversely affect that plan. Out of control health care costs + living costs, my business revenue slowing down, one off life events, etc. For this I have kind of a 'stop loss' rule which I intend to adhere to very strictly: if my net worth drops below a certain number I will sell my home and move me and my family to a cheaper country where cost of living is a fraction of the US. It would be in a warm climate preferably with a plot of land on the property where I can grow my own vegetables and be self sufficient. Since I am vegan and my family is vegetarian, we could live very, very cheaply.
Vegetarian perhaps, but vegan may present some difficulties in farm life unless you plan on growing soybeans and stuff. I'm not a vegan, but my vegan friends spend significantly more on food than I do. My vegetarian friends seem to come out ahead though.