HELPING PHYSICIANS ATTAIN FINANCIAL SECURITY
By Robert M. Doroghazi, M.D., F.A.C.C.
Not surprisingly, I received many comments on the last two articles about how I thought Social Security might end.
“As for Social Security, I can only see a band-aid now of raising the age to retire…and tax all income with no limit….I ran my sole proprietorship for 25 years…I was taxed double of what workers were taxed, plus I matched my employees’ contributions. If they took away my benefits now (Tony is 72), I would hit the streets with whatever strength I have left with whatever weapon I could find, and I mean it. Why?—because take away what I put in all 53 years of working and I’m as good as dead….Might as well go down in flames”.
Cousin Tony, NJ
RMD comment: Someone has to be the nicest person on earth, and I nominate Tony. I have known Tony for 40 years and have never heard him say or do anything with malice intent. If he can get this upset, we will be in serious trouble when Social Security falls apart.
“Scary stuff, man. We need to get some tenacious, smart decent people elected so we can head this off. Let’s deal with our problems (take the pain) and move on”.
G. W., Columbia, MO
RMD comment: The only people I can think of that meet these criteria are Rep. Ron Paul, Rep. Paul Ryan, Sen. Jim Bunning (retiring at the end of this term), General Colin Powell and ex-Senator John Danforth. I also have great respect for Chief Justice Roberts.
“I predict increasing class warfare. The younger generation will resent the increased payroll taxes to support the older generation. The older generation will not budge because they have been promised benefits and have paid into the system over their lifetimes (see above). When SS was enacted the average life expectancy was 64 years. The demographics have changed significantly. SS is a social experiment of the 20th century that is doomed to fail. The system is by definition a Ponzi scheme.
You are so right in your observation that pre-tax money locked in retirement plans is not really your money. The government will increasingly consider it their money”.
M. M., ND
“I believe the older generation (my mother is 85) already saw the freeze. Her benefits for 2010 will not go up from 2009…Her assisted-living expenses won’t go down, her prescription meds won’t go down, her groceries and necessary supplies won’t go down”.
C.M., St. Louis
RMD comment: As I have emphasized in many previous letters, the government-generated inflation numbers are bogus, complete fabrications, and this is the reason why. Every 0.1% increase in the CPI costs the government tens of billions of dollars in entitlement payments. I have seen many well-documented articles which suggest inflation has been under-estimated by 2-3% per year for the last decade.
I received this comments in relation to mentioning gold.
“Agree with you on holding on to gold. My mother promoted that in Germany when (paper) money was totally devalued. She started buying jewelry (gold mostly) from the time she could scrape extra cash together”.
E. C., Columbia
RMD comment: E. was born in a Baltic Republic just as the Germans invaded on their way toward Leningrad (St. Petersburg). With the Russian advance in 1944, her family was on the last steamer that got out back to Germany. After the war, some of this gold was their ticket to the US.
Foreigners who have seen such terrible times have an appreciation for the power and wealth preservation of gold that we don’t (yet) have here in the US. I again recommend the core position in your investment portfolio be US-minted gold (and silver) coins kept in your personal possession (safe deposit box).
This was in response to Issue #93 (2/22/10), where I mentioned that Resolve Physician Agency will now act as agents for physicians, just as agents have been so critical in helping athletes.
“If your group of Cardiologists got a call from an “agent” for a new doctor you were considering hiring what do you think the reaction would be? Would they still hire him? How much good will would he lose right off the bat? I don’t think an agent would get too far with my group. I don’t know the docs may decide the guy was trouble and move on to the next applicant. I think the concept is good in theory”.
P. P., NY
RMD comment: Interesting, and possible, but I disagree. 1) I think the group would first look at the applicant. If he was strong, this would make no difference. If he were weak, it would be just one more reason they wouldn’t like him. 2) I think an agent would actually make the applicant more desirable. The group would see the person as someone with sound business sense, someone they should want, who could add some savvy to their group. 3) Expect institutions that employ physicians (hospitals, HMOs, etc.) to cry (whine) just as the owners did when athletes finally caught on and hired agents.
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