Have you saved enough?

You might feel that if you have saved enough you are "safe". But, I would argue otherwise.

We live in a deeply flawed world, where you can work your entire life for money. But, the actions of a few would kill your retirement.

Here is the story of money in 5 simple points:-

[1] Money= trust.

• We trust the USD, INR because of the trust in the underlying, which is the government.

[2] The governments are actually not trustworthy.

Here are two examples:

• In 1933, President Roosevelt declared buying of Gold in the US as illegal.
• He did that because the US was going through a great depression. And, people were shifting US$ into Gold.

Now, imagine that you if you have bought gold by converting your US money, you would have gotten trapped.

Modern day Lebanon:

• The government put capital control on your account (i.e you couldn't withdraw more than a minuscule amount).
• And, everyday you saw your savings in your bank depreciate. Why? because the government did not manage the economy well.

The same story is being played out in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, as we speak.

[3] Common sense is not so common when it comes to money:

• According to Ray Dalio, we need two things for growth:

a. Earnings > Expenses
b. Peace

Look around: the world debt is at an all time high. And, the world flirts with the next world war every 5 years.

The common citizens don't even realise their savings are getting depleted by the day due to high inflation and high indirect taxes.

The debt the world has already taken will be paid by our future generations.

[4] Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts, absolutely:

• Last year, the strongest economy on earth (US), had riots on Capitol Hill.
• Why? because a President wanted to become a dictator. There was a big segment of the world's strongest economy who de-facto supported that move.

Centralizing more and more power is just human tendency. The same case is playing out in Turkey, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and another developing country, which I will not name (because it will lead to unnecessary backlash).

[5] The point is:

• Several people prepared for their retirement in 2020.
• They were banking on a real growth (so that they could live off on their savings)
• High inflation has successfully eroded their savings. And, they are back looking for work in their economy.

The worrying part is: with the world at 0% interest rates, it gives infinite power to the world governments to borrow money for free.

Every time, they borrow. A few more folks have to kill their dream of early retirement and figure out a way to work past their sunset years.

And, this dance is just getting started.