Babe’s Auction

Jake D wrote:

The day they quit SS will be a blessing

Haha. Won’t ever happen. Would take an act of God to even touch it.

The issue with quitting SS is there’s no easy out…for multiple reasons. I would have loved to invest every dime I was required to pay into SS for my entire life, but that ship has sailed. For it to change now would screw most of us that still frequent IDO.

First and foremost, politicans from all sides of the aisle have one top priority – keeping their job and “power.” Talking about SS is the proverbial “slitting one’s own throat.”

The other issue is that there’s no feasible way to phase it out. You could see a small scale Civil War if there was just some arbitrary end to SS at a certain date or date of birth. Those who have paid in for years would be screwed out of both their anticipated payments and the potential gains they could have had if they were allowed to invest that money elsewhere for all their years of working. If they just cut it off and terminated the program say for anyone born in 2025 and beyond…SS would be bankrupt and then some by the time people like us who have paid in will be retiring.

queenswake wrote:

I know people have their complaints about him, but I used to really like his show. I liked how he took his family on trips with him and it was all about the excitement of fishing. Less about technique like other shows. It captured the spirit of what fishing is for me, so I was into it.

He shares the face of early MN fishing with the Linders, Ron Schara. Faces that have always been there.

I totally agree. I always enjoyed his show and in my opinion he’s a Minnesota icon. I think he always represented the state and angling in general very well.

I loved seeing Minnesotans representing Minnesota angling on tv. A lot of the angling media started to get way too Southern Fried with way too much emphasis on Billy Ray Jackjaw catching stocked bass for the camera.

He had his flaws but when my son was about 10 Babe was at the Deer Classic in St Paul. He talked to my son for at least a 1/2 hour. Not treating him like a kid but having a serious conversation about fishing techniques. I’ve always been grateful for the way he treated my son.

gim wrote:

Why is he bankrupt?

Seems a little odd for someone with an outdoor show and sponsors.

I don’t know the specifics for Babe, but there is and has been a huge misconception that outdoor shows make great money. Most of them are barely surviving, and that sponsor money goes towards the cost to keep them on TV. I think YouTube has helped some since you can post for free (instead of buying air time on TV), but still need a ton of viewership and sponsorship to cover expenses, let alone put some money away. The most successful ones like IDO and the Linders leveraged their TV shows into marketing/promotional companies that actually make legitimate money, and most of that has nothing to do with what we see on TV/YouTube. The Hunting Public has a good video about this, and basically they need to have a whole bunch of revenue streams (YouTube, Podcasting, Appearances, Sponsorships, Merch, Production etc.) in order to keep doing what they are doing. The days of being wealthy bc you were on TV are long gone, if they ever existed to begin with.

Good response Werm.

I think that most of these guys that are doing well for themselves such as Flair on youtube has found different avenues and ways to make money. Selling merchandise, gear, Beef Jerky, Seasoning anyway to capitalize on the viewership. Why some of these have created things like Googan bait and frostbite.

Have any of you won anything at this K-Bid auction site that got shipped to you? I won a couple of lots at this Winkelman auction that said shipping was available. Their rules say to pay for the auction bids first, then arrange shipping by sending an email. I paid and sent 2 emails and have not had any response yet. I’ll have to give them a call this week. I was wondering if anyone else here was having issues with these people.

K-Bid is the name of the auction service. This was probably an affiliate of theirs from Babes area. Srat calling K-Bids main number and pass the complaint along.

I did finally get a response from K-Bid.

We have experienced an enormous amount of shipping requests for the Babe Winkleman Retirement Auction.  We are processing these this week.  What we are asking customers to do is make sure their initial invoice is paid so we can move forward closing out the auction.  When we have your item(s) packaged, we will email you thru Square for shipping charges and once paid, we will ship.  Thank you for your patience.  Tom Johnson

I’m in my 30’s and I’ve been told and been planning to not rely on SS for my retirement.

KP wrote:

I’m in my 30’s and I’ve been told and been planning to not rely on SS for my retirement.

That’s the plan… have you pay in to bail out all the government has stolen and prep a couple generations, that you better not count on it. It’s basically robbery in plain sight.

KP wrote:

I’m in my 30’s and I’ve been told and been planning to not rely on SS for my retirement.

We were told the same thing in the early 70’s.

big_g wrote:

It’s basically robbery in plain sight.

A 1000% and not to derail this topic but most of my income is commission based which is also robbery at how much its taxed.

Think about changing career paths!!

SS isn’t going anywhere and the government isn’t always out to “f” you over like some of you think.

Let’s have a government with no rules and a free for all and see how that goes…………

Getting old of all the doom and gloom conspiracy theorists on BOTH sides. That is where the holistic problem starts that we are in as a country / society.

Conspiracy theory. Doom and gloom…. so if your 30 years old today… if you retire in 32 or 35 years, so around 2057, you are not getting what you have (secured) for yourself… with the govt’s help.

According to the most recent projections from the Social Security Board of Trustees, the Social Security trust fund is expected to be depleted around 2035 if no changes are made to the program, meaning they will be unable to pay full scheduled benefits at that point.
Key points to remember:
Not completely broke:
Even when the trust fund is depleted, Social Security will still be able to pay out some benefits, but they would likely be reduced significantly, potentially to around 75% of the scheduled amount.
Congressional action needed:
To avoid benefit cuts, Congress would need to take action to adjust the program’s finances, such as raising taxes or changing eligibility requirements.

(the free for all govt the last 4 years was tried.. no thanks)

Or maybe if they had a few billion in forgiven college loans they could roll them into social security.

It’s a dark, dark hole we go down when starting to talk about what the government should or shouldn’t do.

I guess theres always the hole in the backyard where we can start filling mason jars with 100 dollar bills……oh wait, the banks and government want to do away with paper money also.

Any idea why the 8 bar stools sold for so much?

Current bid was $3076?

jimmysiewert wrote:

Think about changing career paths!!

SS isn’t going anywhere and the government isn’t always out to “f” you over like some of you think.

Let’s have a government with no rules and a free for all and see how that goes…………

Getting old of all the doom and gloom conspiracy theorists on BOTH sides. That is where the holistic problem starts that we are in as a country / society.

I don’t think SS is going anywhere either, but it will be changed.

I’d be shocked if the mandaded tax isn’t increased, AND fully anticipate the age to begin drawing will be increased too. It’d be nice if the changes were phased in for people who haven’t hardly began to pay in versus slapping the changes on people well into their careers…but I doubt that will happen.

SS has already gone somewhere…. $2.9 Trillion of it anyways.

jimmysiewert wrote:

SS isn’t going anywhere and the government isn’t always out to “f” you over like some of you think.

Not sure what you would call getting 2% or less rate of return on 100’s of thousands of dollars taken without your consent or ability to opt out, but to me that is an f’ing. But hey at least that 6.2% will probably be going up, and our ability to draw on it delayed until closer to death to keep SS solvent. Thank you gov’t!

Unfortunately I agree SS is not going anywhere soon. That said, I’ve always been told not to rely and/or count on it for retirement. There’s a handy calculator on ssa.gov . Run your numbers and see if you’re satisfied. Just another wealth redistribution scheme imho.

BigWerm wrote:

But hey at least that 6.2% will probably be going up

Just remember, it’s not 6.2%. It’s 12.4% with the employer side of the payroll tax.

I looked them up and they retail for $12,000 for 8 of them, $1500 each. The poker table and those chairs were made by the same high end company and I am sure the winning bid for around $1800 was probably a pretty fair price too. He must have had a fair amount of money at one time to drop cash like that on stools, chairs, and a poker table.

koldfront kraig wrote:

Any idea why the 8 bar stools sold for so much?

Current bid was $3076?

KP wrote:

I’m in my 30’s and I’ve been told and been planning to not rely on SS for my retirement.

Same. Financial advisor has never relied on it to compute any long term goals with me either. I’m planning my retirement without it.

If you are self employed you pay the whole 12.4%.

SS is in trouble because of the boomer population bubble and people’s longevity. Too many people living longer. The workforce that works for a traditional payroll is shrinking and their combined payments cannot sustain what is being paid out. They probably need to continue to push out the trigger point ages and $$/age based on new longevity data and actuary tables.

SS is somewhat of a redistribution of wealth but that said those that pay in more certainly get more upon retirement. It is certainly a tax on workers in the lower and middle class. It is also a safety net retirement income for many, too many.

There is a max threshold limit which has increased quite a bit over the past 10 years. In 2015 any income over 118K was exempt from SS tax. That number is $176K in 2025. You pay income tax (Fed and state) on any income no longer pulled into the SS tax so you don’t retain 100% unless you channel it into a traditional 401 plan or an HSA account if those are not already maxed out.

The Watson hunting camp possessions were just auctioned off too. Apparently that camp has closed. Watson was a hunting outfitter in the LQP area. I think I drove by once or twice, but never stopped in. Seems like they tried to extend their operations to renting ice castles, being a regular bar and grill, and becoming a wedding reception venue the last few years based on FB (looked at via wife’s account).

We need some form of forced retirement savings. We all except alot of people make bad financial plans or choices and unless as a country we allow them to starve we will pay for the poor choices at sometime. Just need to take people off who did not contribute and pay for them in different way.

Brittman wrote:

The Watson hunting camp possessions were just auctioned off too.

A fair amount of cool stuff in that auction.