So, we have a deal to lower the deficit and keep spending money we don’t have. The national debt is still increasing.
But nothing has really changed, we either must continue cutting spending – unlikely OR we must raise taxes, all kinds of taxes and on all Americans.
That reality should be a major factor in your financial planning, especially retirement planning. Even though your income may drop in retirement and things look like you will be in a lower bracket in the future, are those tax brackets going to remain as is?
How can they?
Will payroll taxes funding Social Security and Medicare be unchanged in the future? That is not possible without reductions in future benefits – but keep in mind many Americans want higher benefits.
Perhaps we will see new taxes, could a VAT be in our future?
Is it time to consider a Roth IRA or 401k or possibly some portion of investments in mutual bond funds?
I don’t claim to be an expert, but it seems to me now is the time to hedge your bet on future retirement income.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
The frog has already been cooked royally done in the water pan. It will continue to be cooked to a crisp. In other words, deficit spending will continue on an exponential path and inflationary depreciation of US money will continue until????????
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Taxes. More progressive income taxes or wealth taxes. A blind man can see it.
“I work hard for my money!”
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So does everyone else.
Sorry, bucko you do not work a thousand times harder than that farmer or street sweeper.
The “system” got royally sideways in the U.S. over the last half century. Who knows why? You can probably start with voodoo economics.
In any case, we are not talking about socialism. We are not talking about OPM. We are talking about a whole market and regulatory/tax system that is seriously out of balance.
When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
Stop blaming the people at the bottom.
Tax the rich. Willie Sutton knows.
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The day will come when the government will come after the Roth IRA and tax the withdraws. I don’t think it will be soon because the politicians are too scare to deal with Social Security. But one day they will run out of income to tax and the Roth will be the only thing left.
They reasoning will be that they already tax pensions and some of Social Security for certain people in retirement.
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While I won’t outline my entire strategy in a public forum, let’s just say that my Roth IRA is going to be getting quite the workout over the next few years as I enter the home stretch to retirement. I’m not foolish enough to believe that our “leadership” will resolve the problem so I’m doing what I can, with what I have, to legally avoid taxes.
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The spending is not being cut even though the recent compromise is touted as such. The spending is still increasing, maybe a few billion less than proposed by Biden, and the sad truth there is no amount of cutting that can avoid tax increases.
Social Security will need to raise about 25% more by some year in the early 2030 decade. That is if we don’t cut benefits (we won’t). There will be a need for a major income tax increase across personal and corporate rates and that will have to be done in the next few years.
If you’re looking at retirement in the 2030’s or later, you should figure on a much higher tax burden then as compared to retirees now. I wouldn’t presume to say how to adjust for that as you go along.
Just my 2 cents.
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Why keep spending at this rate? Please, enough profligate spending, or should I say wasting money. Big government has “helped” out enough. They need to focus on a few basic functions they are responsible for. If we need to raise taxes, how about a flat tax, all pay will pay with no “loop holes”. Maybe voters would be more interested in how their money is spent.
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Mr Bilotti asks “why keep spending at this rate?” Everytime someone -Congress – wants to curtail or stop a program, those involved in that program throw a hissy fit and the idea dies. Congress needs to grow a big pair!
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