Articles › Behavior

A Little Perspective

Jonathan Clements · Nov 20, 2018 · 1 reply

TODAY WAS PAINFUL. How painful? Think of the financial losses:

• Homeowners who closed on their house sale might have lost as much as 6% of the proceeds to real-estate commissions.
• Car buyers who picked up their new vehicle probably gave up more than 10% of the purchase price just by driving off the dealership lot.
• Those who signed separation agreements with their soon-to-be-ex spouse likely surrendered 50%.
• Investors who bought load funds might have been nicked for 5.75%.
• Employees who got their paycheck were dunned 7.65% for payroll taxes, maybe 12% for federal income taxes and perhaps 3% for state income taxes.
• Those who then spent their paycheck might have lost another 5% to sales taxes. And if the money they spent was $100 in cash withdrawn from an out-of-network ATM, they could have lost another $3 to bank fees, or 3%.

Oh yeah, the S&P 500 also slipped 1.82%. Thank goodness for small losses.

Follow Jonathan on Twitter @ClementsMoney and on Facebook. His most recent articles include Simple Isn’t Easy, Fanning the Flames and Just Asking.

Want to receive our weekly newsletter? Sign up now. How about our daily alert about the site's latest posts? Join the list.

Email Alerts for this Comment Thread

Log in with

Notify of

new follow-up commentsnew replies to my comments

Log in with

Please log in to comment

1 Comment

Newest

Oldest Most Voted

Eagle Wings

5 years ago

That list looks like half the story or completely missing context.

Taxes are not a “loss” but payment for services you receive from the city, county, state and federal government. That library, police, fire, roads, etc. doesn’t pay for itself.

Also, your commission for selling your house isn’t a “loss” but yet again, payment for services like marketing and selling your house. How much more do you lose when your For Sale By Owner house sits on the market for years and finally sells for peanuts under market?

And payroll taxes pay for Social Security and Medicare. Again, that money doesn’t come via the Cash Fairy but needs to be collected from somewhere, unless you plan on not collecting those at all.

1

Free Newsletter

Arrives weekly.

Please leave this field empty

Select list(s):

Also send me the daily alerts with HumbleDollar’s latest content Weekly Newsletter - HD

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.