Fourteenth Edition

Good morning, everyone! Today is the Fourteenth edition of the "Harsh Reality" newsletter! If you're new here, welcome to the fight. If you want to see previous editions of the newsletter they'll be available at the link below. And if you want to join us on our social media platforms click on those links as well. Our intent is to always provide you more value than we receive so thank you for being here and enjoy the show.

Weekly Dose of "Harsh Reality"

More than half of retirees and soon to be retirees plan to rely on social security as their main source of income in retirement. The average social security "benefit" is $1,693/month or $20,316/Year.

Harsh Reality - Social security has been robbing you for your entire working life. For those that don't math well, $1,219 is the poverty line. You were literally forced to pay thousands of dollars a year for upwards of 50 years of your working life, only to retire barely above the poverty line.. That's what social security has done for you. And before everyone starts screaming about how congress robbed the social security fund, you should know that that's exactly what happens & has happened with every single government program in history. Your unending support & demand for this highway robbery is going exactly how it was designed to go. The moment they separated you from your hard earned money, you lost control over it completely and "they" used it for their own agenda. It's also why it's one of the most corrupt and fraudulent systems in history. This entire statement is going to piss some people off, especially older people; but that's the "Harsh Reality" of the matter.

To jump into the nerdy math ever so briefly, I'm going to walk you through what your thousands of dollars per year earned you. Of the 6.2% of your income (up to $160k in 2023), the average person has paid in $142,600 over the course of their working lifetime. Of that $142,600, the average benefit is $20,316 a year or 14%. To the uninitiated, those numbers don't sound so bad.. Unfortunately, the government is playing to your assumed ignorance of compounding interest. You can read more on that here.

If you had taken the same 6.2% of the average income in the U.S. ($2,852), and invested it over the same 50 year period, you would have over $5,000,000.00... That nest egg would provide an annual benefit of over $500,000 based on an S&P 500, 50-year average rate of return. Granted, the value invested isn't perfect math because your earnings fluctuate and what "they" steal from you every year is always increasing. You get the idea though.

So now that we've informed you of the realities of social security, here are a couple of tax advantaged retirement programs that can actually make you retire rich instead of in poverty.

The first is the most common, the employer provided 401(k). The 401(k) was established by the Revenue Act of 1978. It gives people an investment vehicle to invest tax-deferred money into an account that you can access with no penalties at 59.5 years of age. Tax-deferred money is money you don't pay taxes on now; but you pay taxes on the money when you withdraw it at retirement. It is also common for an employer to match a certain percentage of your investments, typically 5% or less, as part of an employee's benefits package. The matching is a huge benefit that should always be taken advantage of. It's basically free money on top of what you're already investing. One downside to this program is that most employers only give you access to a handful of investment options within the 401(k).

The second program is the Roth IRA. The Roth IRA was established by the Taxpay Relief Act of 1997. It gives people an investment vehicle to invest money into an account that is taxed now, but is not taxed when you withdraw the money at retirement. The benefit to that is that most people's incomes increase as they get older so you take greater advantage of the compound interest early on. It is also something you typically set up with your own investment firm, and is not available through employers as much. There are a couple of downsides to this program. First is that it's capped on the amount you can invest and the amount of money you can make and remain eligible for the program each year. Lastly, your employer cannot match anything invest in a Roth IRA, even if it's an employer provided investment.

The benefit to both of these programs is that the value of the account is passed along to your heir(s) when you pass away. Your social security investment value dies with you. For an even more in-depth breakdown of these programs, read here.

A quick note to all of the younger readers of our newsletter. For whatever reason it's considered evil to be wealthy in today's society. The people who think that are confused and more often than not, broke.. You are accountable for your own performance in life and no one else. The reality is that not only do you deserve to be rich, and to retire rich; but the opportunity is there if you will but reach out and grab it. Here's your cheat code:

$250/Month ($3,000/Year), starting at age 25, invested into a fund that averages 11% a year. If you do that until age 59.5, you will retire a millionaire. If you invest more, or receive an employer match, you'll have even more when you retire.

No matter what risks you take in life, protect this investment and never pause your contributions for anything. Consider it your safety net, and pretend that your monthly contributions are required by law. You're welcome.

Shit That Matters

The Debt Ceiling Posturing Continues - The Congressional Budget Office and the Secretary of the Treasury both issued warnings this week over the looming debt ceiling.

Harsh Reality - The fuckery continues. Janet Yellen has warned of "economic catastrophe" if the debt ceiling isn't raised. The CBO says that the U.S. will default on their debt no later than 15 June. Both sides are to blame for this situation and it sounds like both the democrats and republicans need to make some concessions and get a deal done. Don't expect that to happen until the absolute last minute, if at all.

Durham Report Dispels Liberal Disinformation on Russian Collusion - The Durham report released Monday found no evidence of President Trump colluding with Russia.

Harsh Reality - Well no shit.. Everyone else in the world could have told you this years ago. While this report is not very timely, it's extremely damning for the FBI and intelligence services. It's expected from the likes of Hillary Clinton, but there's no excuse for anything like this coming from the FBI or CIA. It's getting harder and harder to believe in the rule of law in the U.S. after political fabrications of this nature come to light.

Student Loans Are Back - The Department of Education issued a statement that the pause on student debt payments will not be extended.

Harsh Reality - This is far overdue and and only lasted this long to be used as a carrot to secure the support of the low-information voters by democrats. Student loans payments should have resumed the first quarter of 2022 if we're all being honest; but Biden and his liberals wanted a good showing at the mid-terms.

Russo-Ukrainian War - The Russians have hammered Ukraine with several hypersonic & cruise missile attacks and the Ukrainian attempt at a double-envelopment of Bakhmut has failed..

Harsh Reality - Contrary to what the mainstream media is reporting, the Russians have stopped the offensive to the north & south of Bakhmut in its tracks. The Ukrainians were not successful in taking a single major terrain feature on either front and the lines of stabilized again. Not a very good showing..

Also being reported by the MSM is the successful and 100% interception rate of six KH-47 hypersonic missiles over Kiev. The KH-47 Dagger is believed to be the most advanced hypersonic missile in Russia's arsenal. In all honesty we're very leary of this reporting. While several successful interceptions have indeed occurred from the Patriot air defense battery in Kiev, no information directly linking the KH-47 has been presented. Add to that the propaganda value of incapacitating Russia's most advanced weapon system and we're not convinced. We hope it's true, but until actual evidence is presented it's likely that the attack was executed with KH-31 antiradiation missiles and not the KH-47. More to follow on this if there is any confirmation information that comes out.

Weekly Market Recap

Shit That Doesn't Matter

Jim Brown, NFL Great, Dies At 87 - Jim Brown was a member of both the Pro and College Football Halls of Fame, as well as being an actor and civil rights activist.

Harsh Reality - Nothing but respect and reverence for this man's passing. By all accounts he was a man among men and a legend within the NFL. Condolences to his family and the NFL as well.

And Then There Were Four.. - The NBA playoffs are down to the final four teams for the 2023 season. The Celtics will take on the Heat in the East and the Nuggets will face off with the Lakers in the West.

Harsh Reality - The most important thing to know about the NBA finals is that it means we're only a couple of months away from football! And also to hell with Lebron..

That's A Wrap!

Thank you for taking the time to read this edition of "Harsh Reality." Each edition will only get better going forward so if you got value from this content please consider inviting your friends and family to subscribe using the link below. Once we make it to 10,000 subscribers this will transition from a weekly to a daily newsletter and we need your help to get there! Also, hit us on our Facebook page, Twitter, YouTube channel or Discord server to keep the conversation going! We welcome your feedback and discussion!