How much are Warren and Sanders worth?

They've both got to be millionaires.

Yeah. The I think the only two who aren't at least millionaires and are still running are Gabbard And Buttigieg.

On the one hand, I'm not too enthusiastic about millionaires running the country. Even if they earned it simply by learning good skills and having good jobs, they gradually grow out of touch.

On the other hand, financial calculators are estimating I'll have a few million by the time I retired myself.

Simply because I'm putting 12% of my income into retirement funds.

Right, and most of them are so old that if they were in a normal job they would have retired a while ago.

Yep. So on the other hand, there's a good chance they did just earn it fairly.

That's why I'm kind of mixed about it.

I don't mind it too much, considering if you own some property and have ever run a business you're going to have a net worth over a million

and if you haven't done those things, you probably aren't qualified to run the country

For sure.

So far as that goes, my "net worth" could spike to a million in a year or two, actually.

I'm looking into buying a rundown, but still active, ranch. It needs a lot of sweat put into it, and some money, so I should be able to get it cheap-ish.

And I ran the numbers and I could afford a loan using the income from the ranch if it keeps operating at its current capacity.

I think it is possible to stay somewhat down to earth and have a lot of money. From all stories I've heard Buffet and Gates have stayed relatively sane, and mostly avoid excess. There was an interview with one of Buffets kids, and he said that he didn't even know that his family was rich until he was a teenager, and his dad made him do stuff to earn his own spending money as a kid.

Going to wait and see what the market does, though. If it crashes, the ranch won't be worth as much, but I almost certainly won't be able to get a loan, and the ranch won't generate as much income, too.

And I'm almost certain it'll crash around election time this year.

What's your reasoning?

The elections.

Assuming that one of the insane socialists will win?

It always gets unstable near a major election, and frequently crashes if the business people are pissed at the result.

For example, it was going to crash around 2008 anyway. But I'm convinced it crashed as hard as it did because a lot of people were mad that Obama won, and it may well have been for racist reasons.

If enough people pulled their money out just because, it could easily have become the spark that created the fire.

If Sanders wins, it'll almost certainly crash just as hard.

Not sure about the others.

I don't think that's for racist reasons... That's mostly because his plan will raise taxes a lot and tank the economy

Quite possibly.

I didn't pay attention to the policy fights at that time.

Heck, I was like 12, or something.

I was old enough to vote, but I don't remember anything like that. I really don't remember hearing any racists stuff, mostly just people not liking what he was saying about his health plan and other stuff

That was a big part of it later on for sure. I think that's what made it re-crash.

It was beginning to recover a bit, and then it tanked again, if I remember correctly.

And of course only a fool would say they were being racist, so I don't know how much it is. I'm just aware there is a bit of hidden racism in society still, especially in the older MLK-era people and the younger activist-age people.

And probably in between, too; they just have too much to lose by voicing it, and are smart enough to realize it.

Most people aren't racist. They just don't like uncertainty. That's why the UK markets jumped way up when their conservative party won in a landslide. All the will they/won't they uncertainty was removed.

Agree, most aren't.

But enough are to be the spark that can crash an already-unstable economy.

And, as you say, there were other causes.

I don't know how much of it was--I just know a number of non-Obama voters that my family was acquainted with were being at least somewhat racially motivated--and you'd never have guessed it if you weren't on a first-name basis.

May have been my family was just in the wrong crowd, too.

I live in a pretty conservative area, and no one I knew ever said anything about not liking Obama because of skin color. His beliefs and policy, sure, but not skin.

But, back to my original point, I'd be careful, and either plan to pull my money out this summer or be prepared to leave it in the market for about 10 years so it can recover.

Or even pull it out anyway, bet on it tanking, and put it back in after the election.

It's not going to spike by too much, either way.

I don't have anything invested except my retirement account, which I'm just going to leave alone.

I have a CD that terminates in September that I have set to pull out automatically instead of re-starting it with my house money.