Simon

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Posts by Simon

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  96

  No pension no preparation for retirement

  by Mikejw in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a lot of my ex fellow servants must be now in their seventies, what can you do?.

  no children no money no home.

  it is so sad.. so many decided not to have children as the end was right around the corner and that was decades ago.

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  Simon

  absolutely--the safety net of Uk social security. Makes no difference if the claimant has never worked a day in their lives...which is a fact in many parts of the UK.

  He was 65 and received his full state pension, some € 1200,00 and the state pays almost all his rent. He is witness of course and always did some jobs on the side, cash.

  Once people qualify for "a" benefit, it often means they receive other benefits too.

  It really is ridiculous how much people can get who do nothing and contribute nothing. The same segment of people also consume the lions share of police and healthcare services - everyone else is too busy working and paying their way.

  IMO everyone should contribute something, and work if they are able to. That way they have some "stake" in society. There should be a safety net but not a comfy mattress for people to spend years on.
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  96

  No pension no preparation for retirement

  by Mikejw in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a lot of my ex fellow servants must be now in their seventies, what can you do?.

  no children no money no home.

  it is so sad.. so many decided not to have children as the end was right around the corner and that was decades ago.

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  Simon

  Well, I wasn’t aware of the part about keeping ‘most of your income’ if you live in the USA. I’m spending money like water.

  That's the point - YOU can spend it, in other countries the government takes it and spends it for you.
  
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  96

  No pension no preparation for retirement

  by Mikejw in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a lot of my ex fellow servants must be now in their seventies, what can you do?.

  no children no money no home.

  it is so sad.. so many decided not to have children as the end was right around the corner and that was decades ago.

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  Simon

  Well, here in the USA it’s not like that. You have to pay into Social Security to get anything (unless you are a spouse of someone who paid in or disabled and qualify for something else).

  What people in the US / outside the US often miss is that workers in the US keep way more of their income than they do in Europe, Canada and the UK. There, the government takes money off you and uses it to deliver piss-poor services, LOL.

  So yes, healthcare is more expensive in the US at the point of delivery. In the UK you already paid it, same in Canada.

  Pension planning is one of those areas where the forced participation might actually be beneficial for many people, with allowance for those who want to opt-out of any state-run scheme.
  
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  96

  No pension no preparation for retirement

  by Mikejw in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a lot of my ex fellow servants must be now in their seventies, what can you do?.

  no children no money no home.

  it is so sad.. so many decided not to have children as the end was right around the corner and that was decades ago.

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  Simon

  If anyone is worried about their retirement you may want to checkout this previous topic:

  Retirement Planning for ex-JWs

  The key thing to remember is that many people haven't planned well or saved as much as they maybe should have, so you're likely not as far behind as you imagine.

  Also, the pension industry wants your money, so they don't tell you that you might not need as much as some of the calculators predict - they tend to tell you the total amount you might need, forgetting to account for the fact that some of that may very well come from state pensions etc..., and you "only" have to cover the shortfall (or just plan on a more frugal lifestyle).

  Retirement planning, like general investing, is like planting a tree - the best time to start was 20 years ago, the 2nd best time to start is today.

  But ignore the P2P lending mentioned in that other topic - that kind of imploded with the Covid outbreak. It's important to keep up with what's happening with where you put your money - if there is a whiff of trouble, move it. Don't be the first one in and the last one out - preserving capital is more important than the promised returns (although "some" amount of risk is usually good to include)
  
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  29

  Nicholas King at a gay bar

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  seriously, when will this guy come out of the jws, and out of the closet?.

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  Simon

  Are we supposed to know who Nicholas King is?
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  Simon

  Why would he go on a dating website in London and try to get a new woman there if he wasn’t planning on moving there?

  You know his relationships are "hourly", right?

  And a real date might be cheaper than a pay-for-girlfriend.

  His defence is so pitiful, and his "I must have your contact details" (so I can dox and harass you) act is so old and transparent, surely no one falls for it?
  
  
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  23

  Geographical inaccuracies you cant shake

  by GabeAthouse in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  where your mental image of a place does not match up with where you intellectually know it actually is?

  1. great britain: i always picture it to the west of france.

  if i'm reading about the norman invasion or d-day i always see it in my head as crossing the channel east-west / west-east.

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  Simon

  People think of Canada as far north, but Toronto is level with Italy in latitude terms.

  I only noticed that there's a huge gulf off California / Mexico the other day. That can't be new, right? How did I never see it before!

  The Mercator projection masks the enormous size of Africa and makes the USA / Europe look far larger by comparison.
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  Simon

  This doesn’t include money, gifts, travel paid for, books sent to him for free by supporters, which by the sounds of it was substantial.

  The sorts of things someone who is less than honest could easily avoid paying taxes on, which also then makes a substantial difference - imagine your pay packet if you got the gross amount instead of the net!
  
  
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  30

  Is burying someone on a golf course tacky?

  by GabeAthouse in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  trump's first wife and mother of his children died recently.

  they had her buried on his golf course.

  do you think this is tacky or a savvy business move since it'll now get them some tax breaks as a cemetery?.

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  Simon

  GabeAthouse: please take your TDS elsewhere, we don't need the endless drivel.
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  Simon

  Yes, 461 now, even that bump (maybe from the Leah Remini video?) ... which means the flippening is upon us - this topic will soon have more pages than he has patreons!