Almost Half of US Households Exhaust Their Salaries

According to this article, people are able to save for retirement:
www.fool.com...

What's the truth?

originally posted by: jude11
a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

I'm living on 40 acres and with Michigan's right to farm laws and the agricultural zoning of the property, I plan on farming hops and a few other things, hopefully starting this year. I never started out a farmer nor aspired to be one and it will be difficult, but people are going to want a few beers, if there is anything left of this country after the crash.

Most people are either too lazy to make their own beer or too lazy to even learn.

I suggest you develop a way to grow six-packs. Now THAT will make you rich!

Good luck tho. I wish you success.

Peace

Michigan has a 'Farm to Glass' bill (House Bill 5275)

. . . aims to provide tax incentives for beer, wine, mead and cider makers using state-grown ingredients such as hops and grain in their products. While craft beer production has soared in the state over the past decade, Michigan-based agriculture has been slow to catch up

The Farm to Glass bill provides breweries, wineries and other producers with a tax credit of 8 cents per gallon on the first 500,000 gallons of production and 4 cents per gallon on the next 14.5 million gallons. The credit would spare local craft brewers from having to pay thousands of dollars in taxes annually if they meet certain conditions for using Michigan-based ingredients.

Article

The climate and soil are perfect for hops and the vines take over after maturing in a few seasons. The harvest is in the range of 1,500 - 2,000 lbs of hops per acre. Processed hops pellets go for between $10 and $15 a lb, unprocessed around $3 a lb. $2,000 will get an acre started, but with free trellis poles from the woods and the fact that hops grows year after year and propagate from the roots, each new acre will be less than $1,000 to plant and get less expensive each year.

So an acre can potentially gross (low ball figures) from between $4,500 to $6,000 per year, 5 acres $22,500 to $30,000, 10 acres $45,000 to $60,000 per year. Not to mention any other farm related sales, and there is a lot of business allowed for farms without license due to the Michigan Right to Farm Act.

a reply to: Toadmund

Yes. Thus you have an income issue.

May I suggest some additional jobs or means of income?

originally posted by: GreenElf
According to this article, people are able to save for retirement:
www.fool.com...

What's the truth?

That article is using averages, the problem is that the average is increasing. However purchasing power, and thus the amount one can set aside for retirement is declining for the bottom 90% of income earners in the country. Only the top 5% is finding themselves in a better position as the days go by and their position is so overwhelmingly superior to everyone else that the average continues to increase. The system is very top heavy, averages only work when the gaps between the top and bottom aren't so extreme.

originally posted by: texasgirl

originally posted by: macman
a reply to: Aazadan



You can't put aside $1000?



Keep saying can't....you are succeeding.

Aaaahhhh....putting aside $1000 for emergencies. I don't say I can't do that because I have done it a few times, even on the low income I have. Here's my problem: Whenever I do save that money something happens. My cat fell terribly ill and the vet bill was over $800 (and she still passed away). Broke my back filling up my emergency fund again and then I'm saddled with car repairs. Right now I'm spending money on trying to figure out why my car is overheating and have replaced multiple parts. Still overheating. Because of my job I spend half my time driving so it's important to get it fixed.

But it is possible to save $1000 over a period of time on my income. It just keeps getting wiped out.

So, after making the decision that my income just isn't doing it for me anymore I am trying to get a salaried job back in the corporate world again. But, for the moment, I am still living paycheck-to-paycheck.

The best job I got was through a temp agency. The business that hired the temp and got me, later on, hired me away from the temp agency.

A temp agency that would send you to different businesses on different days would be the ideal way to job hunt. Well, maybe a little slower than getting the good job today.

Self employment as a subcontractor can be a money maker. It saves an "employer" a lot of paperwork and extra expenses. Often, as a self employed person you can get more money for the same job. Usually there are no benefits, but the pay is higher.

originally posted by: macman
a reply to: Toadmund

Yes. Thus you have an income issue.

May I suggest some additional jobs or means of income?

I'm not alone, and others are joining my club.

See you later future member!

And it's not additional jobs that are needed, it's jobs that pay what jobs used to pay.
That's the issue.
We compete with slave labour, NAFTA, a corrupt politicians.