Film camera

On Apr 9, 2020, hh wrote
(in ):

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 3:12:07 PM UTC-4, Alan Browne wrote:
On 2020-04-09 12:31, Alfred Molon wrote:
Seems that people working for the private sector in
the USA get much less.

Depends what you do and who you do it for. If you're unionized
and working for government in a large city, most provinces /
states and the federal government, it can be very cushy as
you get past 20 - 25 years of service - and harder and harder
to be removed for performance issues. (Why governments
attempt to offer early retirement incentives).

I'd revise 'cushy' to 'comfortable', as the question is
how prepared one is for retirement, and in that regards,
the public sector has generally had its retirement plans
cut less than the private sector typically has, so it
makes for a more favorable retirement prospect without
having to work until you're 100/whatever. Even so, it
comes back to also how well one has done with managing
one's budget and expenses over the prior 25 years.

I have been retired since February 2009, and I would say that I am comfortable with a pension in the area of $82K + Medicare + Supplemental medical + Dental, along with some other planned income.

I managed my mortgage without any additional borrowing against equity, a mistake I have seen many of my fellow employees make. I only have about 70,000 miles on my 2011 Mercedes E350, and I see no point in a new car just yet. I can afford travel, and the occasional purchase of a toy. However, even my photography toy collection has become somewhat saturated, but there are one, or two lenses I have my eye on.

....and once the C-19 lockdown is over and we have some sort of all clear sounded, I think I need to take an unwind trip to a destination yet to be determined so I can clear my brain of cabin fever congestion.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 6:38:12 PM UTC-4, Savageduck wrote:
On Apr 9, 2020, hh wrote:
On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 3:12:07 PM UTC-4, Alan Browne wrote:
On 2020-04-09 12:31, Alfred Molon wrote:
Seems that people working for the private sector in
the USA get much less.

Depends what you do and who you do it for. If you're unionized
and working for government in a large city, most provinces /
states and the federal government, it can be very cushy as
you get past 20 - 25 years of service - and harder and harder
to be removed for performance issues. (Why governments
attempt to offer early retirement incentives).

I'd revise 'cushy' to 'comfortable', as the question is
how prepared one is for retirement, and in that regards,
the public sector has generally had its retirement plans
cut less than the private sector typically has, so it
makes for a more favorable retirement prospect without
having to work until you're 100/whatever. Even so, it
comes back to also how well one has done with managing
one's budget and expenses over the prior 25 years.

I have been retired since February 2009, and I would say that I am
comfortable with a pension in the area of $82K + Medicare +
Supplemental medical + Dental, along with some other planned income.

I'm expecting to be 'comfortable' as well, although a lot of that I'd say
derives from having been a dual-income household. For my own pension,
the defined benefit portion will probably be a tad higher than yours, but I'm
lucky in that I was grandfathered into our "old plan", whereas those who
were hired right after me are in the "new plan". One of the big differences
is that they get a 5% employer 401k match, but their defined benefit portion
got cut in half - they'll be lucky if they get a $45K/yr pension.

I managed my mortgage without any additional borrowing against equity,
a mistake I have seen many of my fellow employees make.

Housing does seem to be a huge one where people get behind the power curve;
a lot of it seems to be the "moving up" from the Starter to the McMansion so
that each kid has their own bedroom (maybe bath too), etc.

I only have about 70,000 miles on my 2011 Mercedes E350, and I see no point
in a new car just yet.

Cycling through cars are another frequent money suck; looking only at what
the monthly cost is (vs lifecycle) is a common shortsighted perspective.

I can afford travel, and the occasional purchase of a toy. However, even
my photography toy collection has become somewhat saturated, but there
are one, or two lenses I have my eye on.

After we paid off our mortgage, we bumped up our retirement savings, but also
shaved off some for more near-term travel budget...a modest "YOLO" before
we're too old to physically do the harder/longer trips.


...and once the C-19 lockdown is over and we have some sort of all clear
sounded, I think I need to take an unwind trip to a destination yet to be
determined so I can clear my brain of cabin fever congestion.

I'm figuring the same. Time to go finally make happen some long-overdue
meet-ups with friends we have scattered around the world. Plus I might
finally finish off the remaining miles I need to get 'Million Mile' status on UA,
so that I don't have the headache of having to prequalify every year ever
since my international business travel plummeted...IIRC, just ~82K to go.

-hh

In article ,
says...
Could be he's overwhelmed by debt.

I don't know. I used to think that pensions are not that high in
the USA.

But reading what Savageduck is getting, a retired police
officer, I must say wow...

Just wondering how the US government manages to generate so much
cash to pay for all those pensions. Or perhaps pensions here in
Germany are low.
--
Alfred Molon

Olympus 4/3 and micro 4/3 cameras forum at
https://groups.io/g/myolympus
https://myolympus.org/ photo sharing site

In article , Alfred Molon
writes:

I don't know. I used to think that pensions are not that high in
the USA.

But reading what Savageduck is getting, a retired police
officer, I must say wow...

Just wondering how the US government manages to generate so much
cash to pay for all those pensions. Or perhaps pensions here in
Germany are low.

The salaries of public employees are public in the States. So, look at
the salaries at a university, where the football coach gets ten times
the salary of a Nobel Prize winner. The high-level police and
fire-department officers are pretty well paid, especially in large
cities, and have a pension to match, but the rank-and-file police and
fire people are paid much less.

In Germany, basically you get a certain amount for each month you pay
in. If someone works 40 years, then they end up with about 65% of their
former salary. This is just the state pension; some have others. But
direct comparisons are difficult because of differences in health
insurance etc.

On Apr 11, 2020, Alfred Molon wrote
(in . com):

In ,
says...
Could be he's overwhelmed by debt.

I don't know. I used to think that pensions are not that high in
the USA.

Generally speaking if a retiree depends on Social Security for a pension, and has no other retirement plan, they are in trouble.

But reading what Savageduck is getting, a retired police
officer, I must say wow...

What I get as a pension as a California State Law-enforcement employee is a reflection of several factors starting with the bargaining unit for my agency. Then there is my time in service, which for a Peace officer gets me, at age 55, 3% of my final year’s salary for each year served with a maximum pension of 90% after 30 years. I had 25 years service giving me a 75% pension, and after the second year of retirement an annual COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) is calculated and added to the pension. Then in addition to my CalPers contribution, I also paid into a tax deferred investment fund for over 20 years. We had a selection of both 457K, and 401K funds to invest in, and I took advantage of that. Unfortunately there was no employer matching contribution.

Also I earned a very good salary due to my rank as a supervisor (Lieutenant), which gave me a good final salary on which to calculate my pension.

Just wondering how the US government manages to generate so much
cash to pay for all those pensions. Or perhaps pensions here in
Germany are low.

Not all retirees, including public employees, in the USA are as fortunate as I have been. Federal employees, in different job categories have different retirement plans as do different States, Counties, school districts, and municipalities.

While I was working I paid 10% of my salary into the CalPers (California Public Employee Retirement System) retirement fund. The CalPers fund is one of the largest diversified investors in the US, and other State, and Federal funds have similar portfolios.

When it comes to private sector employees, unless there is a fairly strong union contract in place, and generally the unions have been getting weaker, and weaker most workers are left to make their own retirement plans. Unfortunately many younger folks leave retirement plans too late, and face a particularly miserable retirement.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

On Saturday, April 11, 2020 at 6:32:10 AM UTC-4, Alfred Molon wrote:
Could be he's overwhelmed by debt.

I don't know. I used to think that pensions are not that high in
the USA.

But reading what Savageduck is getting, a retired police
officer, I must say wow...

It varies widely, including by job position. Best to avoid comparing
a supervisor with a line worker, etc.

Just wondering how the US government manages to generate so
much cash to pay for all those pensions.

There’s the Federal level and then the State/Local levels. The States
has their own tier of taxation, including a VAT in many places, and are
where most (over 90%) public workers are employed.

Or perhaps pensions here in Germany are low.

Does DEU’s include free medical? Because Healthcare in the US is
an expensive mess, even in retirement. There is Medicare but it has
huge gaps in coverage, so many pay for additional coverage. For
example, a friend’s mom didn’t have long term care insurance, so until
she runs out of money to qualify for Medicare, they’re paying $120K/yr
for her nursing home. My mom’s is cheaper (out of State) and has LTC
insurance, so the drain on her income & estate is “merely� $40K/yr.

-hh

In article , -hh
writes:

Does DEU's include free medical?

Yes.

Actually, what happened before continues to happen: one pays half of the
contribution, which is a fixed percentage of income, and the other half
is paid by someone else (previously the employer, after retirement the
state-pension scheme). Although it is a separate contribution, it is
essentially like a progressive income tax, i.e. the more your income the
more you pay (but with the difference that the absolute amount, rather
than the percentage, is capped if you earn a lot). So, in that sense,
it is is socialized medicine, in the same sense that the USA has
socialized armed forces, socialized schools, socialized interstate
highways, socialized national parks, and so on---paid for out of taxes.

Coverage is mandatory and the insurance has to accept everyone. The
state of your health does not affect what you pay. There are
essentially no co-pays, out-of-pocket expenses, and so on. Total costs
are about 14%, i.e. you pay 7% of your income, but it is capped at an
income of about ¨60k, or about ¨350 per month. And that includes all
children and non-working spouses.

One way the system could be improved is to get rid of the possibility
for some people to get private coverage instead---if they earn a huge
amount or if they are civil servants (and most civil servants don't earn
enough to qualify for opting out because they earn a huge amount).
There were historical reasons for this: in the old days, when there
wasn't that much medical treatment available, the idea was that if you
are rich, then you can afford it without insurance. Also, civil
servants had their expenses paid for by the state. But today good
medical treatment can be expensive, even for those who earn well, and
the state contribution to civil servants no longer covers 100% (so they
just have to insure the difference which is why private coverage can be
less than the public one, especially since (another historical accident)
in most states (Hamburg is the exception) if civil servants go private
they have to pay the full amount, not just half).

I think that such a change would be an improvement, but more as a matter
of principle and general simplification of the system. Private
insurance tends to pay the physicians more than public insurance does,
so in a sense the private insurance subsidizes those with public
insurance. Also, we are talking about perhaps 5% or people who have
private insurance, so this is a small perturbation which doesn't change
the basic facts.

My wife and I both have public insurance, even though I earn enough to
opt out and my wife is a civil servant. Why? One reason is
solidarity; I think it is a good idea and I practice what I preach.
Another is that there is much less paperwork: make an appointment (not
necessary in an emergency), get treatment, leave. That's it. No bill.
Costs are handled directly by the insurance. Also, coverage is fine.
I've had cancer three times, had full anesthesia about 15 times, had
about a dozen operations. Everything went smoothly.

I recently looked at the "radical" policies Bernie Sanders advocates
(not just in regard to health care). Even in Bavaria, the most
conservative state in Germany, all have been in place for decades, and
NO party there would even consider dropping any of them. So other
countries (apart from the US, there are only a few third-world states
without it) would do well to adopt single-payer public insurance (which
is essentially what Medicare is; the protesters with "keep your
government hands off of my Medicare" demonstrates the depths of
ignorance). But it is essential that it be a requirement, not an
option. The reason it works is that it is like a tax. Any sort of
flat-rate scheme would either be too expensive for the poor or would not
bring in enough revenue. So having it just as an option doesn't cut it.

Also, the inflated costs themselves have to be addressed. Medical staff
earn well in Germany, but not the absurd salaries like in the States,
where some people go into it for the money who aren't even interested in
medicine. I was born up and grew up in the States, but came to Germany
when I was 18 and now, at the same age as Savage Duck, have lived twice
as long here as I did in the States. When I was in 11th grade, a guy
remarked to me after Latin class (yes, it was a good private school,
where the supposed creme de la creme attended) asked me if I had heard
that a particular girl had farted during class. I said yes and asked
what's the big deal, considering his remark rather immature. "I didn't
know that girls could fart!" was his reply. This was a future
physician. I would rather be treated by someone who earned less but was
interested in medicine. Why are the costs inflated? Partially because
of inflated salaries, partially because of inflated costs for supplies,
partially because of for-profit insurance companies.

In the current corona crisis, Germany is actually taking on some foreign
patients because we have more capacity than we need at the moment.
Perhaps the corona crisis will lead even Donald Trump to realize that
the USA doesn't have the best health care in the world. It is perhaps
the most expensive, but in terms of quality is down at #40 in the world
or whatever, even disregarding the huge number of uninsured.

In article , Alfred Molon wrote:

In article
.com,
says...

That pretty much seems like a novelty camera which would very quickly lose any appeal it might have had long before you had exhausted the first 36 shots.

This is especially true since you can apply any number of light-leak, toy-camera, or ???Holga??? effects in post with existing cameras. All without having to wait a week to see what will probably be disappointing results, and then never use any such camera again.

The question is why this guy felt the need to bring along an old
MF film camera and not for instance one of those small tough
outdoor weather sealed cameras, such as for instance an Olympus
Tough or something similar.

"When I learned I was allowed to bring a camera to the mountain portion of
the school, I was excited to capture my experience, but one hurdle stood in
my way. Only film cameras are authorized and I had never shot on film
before."


--
Sandman[.net]