Golden years on $678.00 a month

[ikojo]

Is this what awaits all of us after working so hard all of our lives? In the article it states Mrs. Berroa sunk $5k into Microsoft options only to sell them for $700 a few months later. Here she fell for the corporate media's hype of investing in the stock market and lost a good chunk of her savings. I'd like to know what happened to the shyster who conned her into buying those options.
I worry that this fate awaits my mom. She is 67 and has worked at jobs that do not provide a pension. She has managed to put a little away in savings but the interest rates are so low. She currently works full time but would like to retire and not work before she dies.
Things rich people don't have to worry about while shrub hands them more money.



http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/03/nyregion/03POOR.html?8bl=&pagewanted=print&position=

September 3, 2003
Golden Years, on $678 a Month
By N. R. KLEINFIELD
She trudged languorously along the thrumming streets of Elmhurst, Queens, lost in her early evening thoughts. The air was moist and still. She turned left on Justice Avenue, away from the crowds. She dislikes crowds. When she reached the Queens Center Mall, with its clatter of commerce, she turned around. Stores foster an undercurrent of tension in her.

Walking consumes time, and in the awkward caution of her life it drains her of troubled memories. She does this loop from her apartment every day. She derives comfort from one of the few things she can do that carry no price tag.

Anna Berroa is 68, and she is poor.

[Muddleoftheroad]

1. I'm sorry, but she's also foolish

Buying options is a high-risk investment. Sure, whoever handled that transaction for her did wrong, but so did she. Options aren't "investing in the stock market," they are an all-or-nothing dash for cash.

[Mairead]

4. Uninformed, perhaps, but 'foolish'? No.

She bought into Capitalism's hype, just as the elites demand--relentlessly demand!--that we do.

I choose not to blame victims for being victimised by state-sponsored criminals.

[Muddleoftheroad]

7. Greed

is one of the seven deadly sins. We all know to avoid it. She did not. She got greedy and lost money. Never gamble with money you can't afford to lose.

[Terwilliger]

9. oh nonsense! capitalism is greed incarnate

now you're telling people they're greedy for trying to have a better slice of the pie?

[Muddleoftheroad]

13. No, I'm telling them not to be stupid

She was. Sorry, but that is the case. Get rich quick schemes are always a bad idea.

[Yupster]

12. I'm surprised she was even allowed to buy them

Firms have suitability requirements for each investment.

My company would not have allowed me to sell options to an elderly woman with so little money.

You would want X dollars of annual income and X net worth to make stock options a suitable investment.

[Noordam]

2. So sad

but I am not too much better off. And I know my case is Bush and his economic policies.

[teryang]

3. This is the future for millions

...who had their pension funds, IRAs and 401 ks wiped out. Also for the tens of millions of Americans who work at or near the minimum wage. Get used to the idea. The fascist pressures will increase as the issues of how to house and care for these impoverished individuals becomes a worsening national crisis. Let's blame the poor people! After all they should have been rich.

[brook]

5. The future is here.

I get 2 to 3 calls a day from seniors who want to enroll in our Meals on Wheels type program. The majority fall in the low income (less than 1010 per month for 2 people) category, though ability to pay is not a criteria for service. They worked all their lives, and while they probably understood they would live in reduced circumstances, I don't think they envisioned the level of poverty that's become their fate. My client load has almost doubled this year - and for everyone who does sign up- there are 2 or 3 who resist what they consider a *handout*.

I heard someone say this morning that the Republicans are dithering around with such things as a prescription drug plan "because that's where the votes are." When will someone propose a decent national health plan simply because it's "the right thing to do"?

[InkAddict]

6. MIDDLE CLASS CITIZENS INDICTED by Repug Grand Jury!

'...who had their (ADD: EMPLOYMENT/CAREERs), pension funds, IRAs and 401ks (ADD: SYSTEMATICALLY)wiped out, if they ever existed.

Your honor: GUILTY AS CHARGED.
Outcome: Sentencing deferred to the Ultimate (peerless)Judge.

[Fescue4u]

8. She was very lucky then.

To have sold her options for $700.

Most options expire worthless.

Options are very much like gambling. Once I bought $2k in options and made $24k in 3 weeks. Fortunately I sold them when I did because if I had waited 1 hour longer, they have been worthless (anyone remember PALM, 3COM IPO?)

Many other times, I bought options only to lose the whole purchase (and that happened under Clintons watch, but it was hardly his fault).

I guess my point is that buying options is NOT investing in the stock market. Its gambling on the turns of the stock market.

[kodi]

10. the "Seniors" diet: cat food and government cheese.

its not just for third worlders anymore.

[Hubert Flottz]

11. The US House is voting on a raise though!

Look at the bright side!

[grasswire]

14. there is no more government cheese

At least not at the traditional charities and food banks. I volunteer at a regional food bank. This is what a family of two will get (and only once a month, and they can't go to more than one charity!):


two pounds of rice
two pounds of beans
16 oz of peanut butter if they have it
several cans of fruit (USDA applesauce or pears)
several cans of soup
one can tuna
a box of raisins if they have it
a box of cereal
a box of USDA dry milk if they have it
a pkg of frozen meat substitute if they have it
two cans of vegetables or tomato sauce
bread
a couple of other things from donated goods

This is for two people for a month. The old government commodities such as cheese, butter, etc. just don't exist.