President Donald Trump's 90-day tariff reprieve, with China being the only exception, spurred the stock market to soar yesterday, the S&P by 9%, the third-largest gain in a day since WW2, the Dow Jones had its biggest percentage gain since March 2020 and the Nasdaq the biggest one-day gain since January 2001, and second largest ever.
However, noting that this 90-day delay will still mean a 145% duty of all goods from China, 25% tariffs targeting much from Canada and Mexico and 10% levy on all other imports from the world over, the market sank again today: S&P dropped 3.46%, Dow Jones down 2.5% (1,015) and Nasdaq Composite declined 4.31%. Gold rose to $3117.60/ounce, 3.2% higher. Bitcoin fell to just under $80,000, Coinbase fell 6%, while Ether and Strategy lost 8%. Tomorrow? Depends on what Trump does to further his insider options.
Other Democrats raised more serious concerns. Sen. Adam Schiff of California told TIME that Congress should investigate whether Trump engaged in insider trading or market manipulation. “I’m going to do my best to find out,” he said in an interview. “Family meme coins and all the rest of it are not beyond insider trading or enriching themselves. I hope to find out soon.”
That's what immediately came to mind when I reported on this 90-day tariff delay yesterday. No question that Trump, his family and loyal cronies knew this would occur. But they're too smart. All transactions were accomplished by third or fourth-party links that are untraceable.
The bottom line to all this is that over the next few years those American-financed production centers throughout the world will re-settle back to the U.S. Meaning? Everything you buy will be a lot more expensive. Why? Just look at labor costs. Average salary/year.
- USA $80,450
- China $13,390
- Mexico $11,980
- Thailand 7,200
- Indonesia $4,810
- Philippines $4,320
- Vietnam $4,110
- India $2,540
- Cambodia $2,390
- Red countries have lowest salary: Nigeria $1,880, Sudan $880, Somalia $590. Guess where China will next go to set up factories?
- And, by the way, Bermuda $130,290, Norway $102,910, Switzerland $95,070.
So on to my topic of the day, according to the Social Security Administration.
| If you were born in... | Your full retirement age is... |
|---|---|
| 1957 or earlier | You've already hit full retirement age |
| 1958 | 66 and 8 months |
| 1959 | 66 and 10 months |
| 1960 or later | 67 |
- The average person supported gets just about $2000/month.
- I receive only a little more/month, retiring at 62, nearly 23 years ago.
- The later you retire, the more you get:
- Someone born on January 2, 1960, would receive 100% of their full benefit amount at 67 (their full retirement age), 108% by waiting until age 68, 116% by waiting until age 69, and 124% by waiting until age 70.
- Someone born on January 2, 1960, would receive only 70% of their full benefit amount if they start taking Social Security at age 62, 75% at 63, 80% at 64, 86.67% at 65, 93.33% at 66, and 100% at 67, their full retirement age.
- An average retired household spends $5000/month, with an investment portfolio of $210,000.
- I get a little more than that $2000/month from Social Security, with an investment portfolio of about the same as above, but also have a state retirement income quite a bit more than from the Feds, and some endowment money. I'm doing just fine.
- 15 Craigside charges me $6300/month just to live here, and this is after an entrance fee of $400,000.
- The number of Americans collecting their Social Security benefits from overseas increased from 413,000 to 760 between 2019 and 2022. In other words, it is cheaper to live elsewhere than the U.S.
- Many go to one of 44 European countries.
- Looking at countries where English is widely spoken:
- Paris? Monthly costs/person is around $3882. Don't go there.
- Helsinki? Is one of the happiest cities in the world, and the monthly living cost is $2,861. But it can get awfully cold there.
- Oslo? $2,851. Also chilly.
- Brussels? $2,516.
- Rome? $2467. Crime?
- Madrid? $2309.
- Lisbon? $2,236.
- Warsaw? $2191.
- Athens? $1,727.
- Budapest? $1470. Not quite Democratic today.
- Bucharest? $1202. Nicknamed Little Paris.
- Another report. (One Euro is $1.10)
Forbes has a good article on where to retire abroad:
Colleen Kennedy is a child of Southern California. Born, raised and educated there, she spent most of her professional life as a high school special education teacher in Manhattan Beach, a tiny enclave wedged between Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. “I love Southern California,” she declares. So where did the divorced, 65-year-old mother of three grown children decide to settle for retirement? Spain. Earlier this month, she moved from Los Angeles to Mijas Costa, along the Costa del Sol west of Marbella, to a rented apartment just a 10-minute walk from the Mediterranean. Despite the region’s swank reputation, she figures her basic cost of living there will be a third of what it was in Los Angeles.
- At last count, there were 701,000 U.S. Social Security recipients living abroad, up 20% over a decade. Yes, most Americans stay in the U.S. for retirement. (These are our latest top 25 picks for the Best Places to Retire domestically.) But an impressive 85% of Americans 65 and older have traveled abroad and the U.S. dollar is at its strongest level since the 1980s, making both foreign travel and a foreign retirement more affordable.
- However, most Americans retire in the USA. Read this from Forbes: Best places to retire in the U.S.
- Forbes compared more than 800 locales in America, assessed on basis of housing costs, taxes to healthcare, air quality, crime climate change and natural hazard risk, and picked their top 25 cities.
- For example, Florida only qualified Pensacola because of hurricanes.
- All but two of the 25 picks have home prices below the national median. Augusta, Georgia is the cheapest locale at $152,000, 56% below the national median.
- This year, an estimated 4.1 million Baby Boomers in the U.S. will turn 65, the traditional retirement age, although most folks retire earlier or later. About one-tenth of new retirees relocate to another state for any number of reasons—climate, proximity to family, a better place to feed their passion for the arts or sailing or golf. But a major impetus for long distance moves is economics, as manifested by the cost of housing and living as well as state taxes.
- The list is alphabetical. You can read the article, but I selected some surprises.
- Dorado, Puerto Rico: 15 miles from San Juan, was hard hit by Hurricane Maria. Known for resorts, and is a golf haven.
- Fargo, North Dakota: cold.
- New Braunfels, Texas: within the Greater San Antonio metropolitan area,, and was the third-fastest growing city in the USA from 2010 to 2020. Current population of 105,000. Strong German heritage, and has an annual sausage festival every November. Until 2023, Buc-ee's was the largest gas station in the world.
- Spoken, Washington: has a median house price of $386,00, less than half that of Seattle, 280,000 to the west, of $879,000....and rainy. But have you been to Spokane? I have. Nothing there. Well, there is Washington State University. But they have a higher crime rate than similarly sized metro areas, bad air quality during the wildfire season, no cultural diversity, significant homelessness, with cold winters and hot summers. It's 180 miles away, but the Hanford Nuclear Site is where much of our nuclear wastes are stored.
- No city from Hawaii. But honestly, would you ever want to go to those locations....for the rest of your life?
What Is Happening to Social Security Under the Trump
Administration and Should You Be Concerned About Yours?
- 70 million Americans receive some form of social security. That's 21% the population of the U.S.
- Also, just around 21% of the federal budget went to Social Security.
- Musk's DOGE has announced plans to cut Social Security staffing and close offices nationwide.
- Democrats complained: “Their goal is clear: destroy Social Security from within. Make it so unworkable, so inefficient, that Donald Trump has the pretext to slash benefits to kill it and then privatize the program,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said at the conference. “Seniors across America are not getting the help they need to get their checks.”
- Much of the hoopla is currently not what you think.
- The Trump administration has not yet cut 7000 of the 57,000 Social Security staff.
- But yes, there are now stronger identity verification procedures, and for this you need to call or visit an office. Same offices and staffing, but some near retirees just panicked.
- For people like me who routinely get monthly checks by computer, no problem.
- How many people actually get a paper check? About 1%. And most of these can and should change to electronic payment.
So is there today a serious concern you should have about your Social Security payment? NO!!! What has been happening is that policies now and then are slightly adjusted to convince you to delay going on Social Security. That has been occurring for many decades.
But isn't the trust fund to which workers pay into running out of money? Actually, yes, and these reserves, as projected, will become insolvent in 2035. If Congress doesn't do something, you will only get 83% of your current benefit. But Congress always prevents actual shortfalls. So, again, don't worry about Social Security, even under President Trump, with Elon Musk seeking to steal your money.
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