Gov. Tim Walz doesn't own a single stock

willsenior@lemm.ee to politics @lemmy.world – 988 points –
axios.com
  • His disclosures, both from his final year in Congress and his time as Minnesota governor, also show no mutual funds, bonds, private equities, or other securities.
  • No book deals or speaking fees or crypto or racehorse interests.
  • Not even real estate. The couple sold their Mankato, Minnesota, home after moving into the governor's mansion, for below the $315k asking price).
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That's insane.

Like, no 401k or Roth IRA? Dang. I'm fuckin hard.

Their only investment assets appear to be via state pensions, including teacher pensions.

He also retired from the Army, and likely has a pension from that too.

If I could retire without needing to know the difference between ETFs and mutual funds, I would be soooo happy

If you're under 42 you can always grease the gears of war and join the military. Fat pension and great healthcare!

Great healthcare while you're in it.

Once you come back, you can go eat shit and die as far as the VA is concerned.

Pensions are still indexed to the stock market in a way, it's just someone else who's controlling it for you. And I guess there is meant to be an extra protection of "the government says this is your money, even if they bungle their investment." How that works in the real world, I'm unsure. I imagine lots of days in court.

There are issues that come with pensions, all of which could be easily solved if the will was there. But it's not, so they're real issues unfortunately. See: Chris Christie fucking over NJ State Workers (https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/10/nyregion/christie-wont-be-forced-to-make-pension-payments.html

Many (most? Not sure) government employees at the state or local level don't receive pensions anymore

I'm shocked he doesn't have an IRA (unless that doesn't count). Given his previous jobs, it passes the smell test that he doesn't have a 401k.

I'm sure his pensions are invested in a wide range of stocks and bonds, but he doesn't directly hold them.

And pension funds are generally invested broadly enough that the only way a politician could "game" them is to just improve the economy as a whole. Which is like, one of the main things people want their elected officials to do.

Military/feds have TSP, it's essentially a 401k.

If he was 20+ years military reserve he's got a lot in there. I think he started in 1981 tho. And I'm not 100% sure how long tsp has been happening

He was in the Army National Guard, so would have received those benefits when activated, which he was for short periods aside from normal training requirements, but wouldn’t have as much as you’d think since he only was paid when training or activated. Also, contributions for uniformed service members began in 2001. Also also, it’s optional.

Introduced in the late 90's if I recall correctly. He should the the older pension that guaranteed income.

Not having retirement savings of some kind would be...not great.

But as someone else said, if he has military pension, that may be good enough.

Also Teacher's Pension

And military pension.

edit I totally spaced on the orginal comment mentioning the military pension. No regrets.

And from his 12 years in congress.

How many pensions does this guy have? I'll trade all my stocks for just one pension lol

He did 20 some years in the reserves or guard.

That means he has tsp money, it's the government 401k essentially.

I mean, he might not, but it's incredibly rare not to have tsp especially after 20+ years of service.

TSP contributions for the uniformed services didn’t start until 2001, it’s optional, and he only would have had deductions when paid for his training periods or any activation periods. The disclosures say no stocks or bonds, and TSP’s investment are only in stocks and bonds.

These disclosures are usually intended to address conflicts of interest and often exempt disclosing mortgages on your primary residence, market index funds, certain types of pensions, etc.

His teacher’s pension realistically is invested in something, but he has zero control over it. He just gets what he’s owed