Iowa | Badger - 1/20/2014 22:10
Sounds like a "good idea" for those who promote it. Just wait for the "Cypress trick" in America when the government "borrows" (STEALS) the IRA's for "safe keeping". I think your money invested in your own operation would return way more than in a IRA. Land is just 1 spot, but property tax eats some of that. Build good STEEL buildings for your farming years, & rent them out when retired. Write off while your using them, good income renting.
I am afraid the American dollar might be par again with the Zimbabwain Dollar again someday..... But I am afraid that the Zimbabwain dollar is not going to improve, the movement will be down to their level.
In about 1986, I was visiting a very sick elderly neighbor. His wife brought in the mail, and in it was a $20,000 INTEREST check (or maybe an account credit, I don't remember). He looked at it and said, "Boy, I'm glad I bought as much land as I could but also saved some cash. My sister's husband only bought land, their tenant filed bankruptcy without paying the rent, and I had to loan them some $$ to run their household while they sort it all out".
People have short memories. Sure, land is a good investment; maybe the greatest over time that there is. But whose to say we won't be in a terrible downturn right when I need $$? My old neighbor was watching his land be worth 30% of a couple of years earlier, was slipping his land-flush sister grocery money while he had cash laying around everywhere just at a time in his life when he needed it.
Since I don't know the future, and since all investments are cyclical, I want to be balanced enough to hedge my bets and be covered if I need $$ when ag is in the dumps.
And, in my case it has been easy to put the $$ away--just drive clunker vehicles and put what would have been "car payment" money in an IRA. I recently read that the average car payment is $490/month. Who do you suppose will be better off in the long run-the couple with $980/month in car payments or the couple who put $980/month into their Roth IRA? |
Thoughts on IRA's
