(04-05-2019 09:40 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(04-05-2019 06:46 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(04-04-2019 09:53 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(04-04-2019 06:58 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(04-04-2019 05:48 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  Got in my quarterly statements today. Trump can tell all the bad jokes he wants and nickname anybody he wants as long as the economy keeps up this performance.

I live off my retirement funds and support my invalid sister from them, so maybe this means more to me than it does to you paycheck cashers.

Whats with the paycheck casher line?

I roughly divide people into two groups.

The first is entrepreneurs, company officers, managers, etc. they are the people who worry about how to make payroll. They have skin in the game. I call them paycheck signers.

The other group are employees who have little skin in the game, and little understanding of business or economics. I call them paycheck signers.

It has nothing to do with the size of the checks. A self-employed plumber is a check signer. The head of security for a Fortune 500 company is a paycheck casher.

Do you sign paychecks, lad? My guess is no.

Do you have a 401K? My guess is yes, and that you are happy with the returns you got this past quarter. Do you hope for those returns to continue? I do, and that is one reason I won't be voting for the Democrat on 2020.

Listened some to Howard Schultz today. If I don't vote GOP, he is a viable alternative. My guess is that you did not hear him.

did I go 3-3 with my guesses?

I manage one employee already and am about to hire my second direct report in the next few weeks. I work for an employee owned firm that has recently decided to extend the ability to own stock to employees at my level, and what do you know, that option was extended to me.

I do have a 401k, butI don't pay too much attention to it because it's too far away for me to care about the ups and downs. If I did, I would have been tearing my hair out as the market was crashing and booming seemingly each week at the end of 2018. I do hope that the market does well overall.

So, you're like 1.5 for 3.

I asked if you sign paychecks, Lad, not if you supervised somebody.

I have no experience with employee owned companies, so I have a few questions.

When it comes time for the company to borrow money for any reason, are you one of the co-signers?

If the company were to go under owing a ton of money, would the creditors come to you for part or all of it?

If the answers are yes, then you have skin in the game. If they are No, then you are no different from the millions who own stock in ExxonMobil.

That employee you manage...Can you fire him? If you decide to fire him...do you do it yourself or call HR? can you give him a raise?

Skin in the game is more than telling somebody what to do. Lots of paycheck cashers supervise people. Go to McDonalds for breakfast, and somebody with the assistant shift manager.

some advice from somebody who has been there - pay attention to that 401K. Put in at least as much as the company will match, and pay attention to how it is invested. A year when you are 30 is worth 10X as much as a year when you are 60. Same advice I gave my 25 YO son when he took a job with a big company up north. Now he is 49 and beginning to appreciate his 401K.

I saw an example once of twin brothers, age 18. One invested $10K a year for 8 years, then stopping adding money. The other waited 8 years and then invested 10K a year for 39 years. Assuming a constant rate of return, which brother do you think had the most at age 65? Yep, the early bird.

I think what you're telling me is that you don't actually include managers in your definition of pay check signers...

A lot of the questions you ask don't apply to managers, even if they are worrying about making payroll. And they especially don't apply to managers in a mid-size to large firm.

We're an employee owned firm of 1,200 people that does not allow a single shareholder (even our ex-CEO and founder) to own more than 3% of the stock.

We also have people with different levels of management responsibilities. Mine is at the base floor - managing and being responsible for a single employee. My boss, is a bit further up - she manages an entire office. But even she has limitations on her personal liability and what she can be responsible for and who she can/cannot fire, give raises to, etc. without approval (hint, no one - that's because no one in our company can give those orders without oversight). But she is certainly a manager when the health of an entire office is on her shoulders and she is responsible for it. However, based on your definition, she wouldn't qualify as a manager.

So remove "manager" from your description, because you really don't consider them pay check signers, and you're 2.5 for 3.

And as many people have told me - don't pay attention to your 401k or you'll go crazy. The stock market is a long game - celebrating 1 year gains means you're also fretting over 1 year loses. That's not a healthy way to live. I contribute significantly to it because I understand the benefit of it as a long-term investment tool. I appreciate it as an investment tool, but I take the long game approach, as I should. I do appreciate that you're advocating for me to use my 401k.