Friday, June 28, 2019

Just $9 a day provides retirement fund


What is $9 a day worth compounded over time?
Unfortunately my public schools never told me about compounding. Or if they did, they never showed me how much a stock fund compounding can be worth to me. As a teen, I found out the value of a dollar I earned did not go very far. However, if they had shown me this string of earnings, I might have been inspired to invest part of my salary. $9 a day is about $3,000 a year. Using a simple calculator like this, I see that my investment might  (http://www.moneychimp.com/calculator/compound_interest_calculator.htm) be worth $50,000 in 10 years, $190,000 in 20, $570,000 in 30, and $1,600,000 in 40 years at 10%. If you think you could not find $3,000 a year to invest, remember that the average tax refund is over $3,000. If you think only the most sophisticated traders could compound their investments to $1.6 million, remember that a low-cost stock market index fund like the one Warren Buffett recommends, earned over 11% in the last 30 years. So even if I had learned nothing about investing in school, I didn’t need to know a thing except to call a low-cost mutual fund like Vanguard to sign up for automatic monthly contributions of $250. I could have managed that instead of buying/leasing a new car. Yes compounding!

Are Target-Date Funds right for you?
Automatic rebalancing from stocks to bonds can work well because you don’t need an expensive advisor to handle this mechanical task. Paying someone for 30 to 40 years to keep you invested in the right mix is not cost effective. Almost every advisor suggests you invest in stocks during your working life. Once you are 10 years from ending full-time work, you should be at 50-50 stocks/bonds. Some research shows that your accumulation is at risk if the market dives at the beginning of your drawdown period. However, for most of us, we don’t use all of our retirement dollars the first years of non-payroll living. Given time, we can recover our nest egg for later years. Researchers have hindsight so they noticed that some retirees suffered a loss just as they retired. However, they don’t realize that no advisor can foresee the downturn and so help you avoid it. Timing the market is the number one reason most people don’t have enough to retire. Since your advisor can’t foretell the future and help you avoid the market fall, you don’t need to waste money on their timing guesses. There are other ways to make up for any temporary shortfall at the wrong time. Use emergency funds saved from advisor fees.

How were investors hurt by killing the Fiduciary Rule?
Lawmakers are asking the GAO to study several items related to the DOL fiduciary rule: The degree to which financial services firms and advisers serving defined-contribution plans and IRAs assumed a fiduciary role due to the regulation; how firms' product line, compensation structure, product sales and revenue, and compliance costs changed; and the extent to which firms and advisers maintained or abandoned a fiduciary role following the 2018 appellate court ruling. Also, for those firms that didn't continue to be fiduciaries, what was the effect on product line, product sales and revenue, compensation structure and compliance cost? Instead of our broker/advisor having to disclose their conflicts, we must ‘understand and ask them’ about ‘these conflicts.’ Since we don’t know the industry tricks, we would not know the conflicts. Sales people can make sales legal if they can show customers were not harmed by the product. They don’t need to act as fiduciaries—giving us the ‘best’ deal. Most firms don’t even offer the best deal because the owners must make money. Fiduciaries are required to protect us=Conflict.

Half of employees moving their 401k do not know fees spent
According to a new survey, 47% of departing employees don’t know the cost of staying in their old plan. Most don’t know the options of leaving, transferring or rolling over their funds so they may mistakenly pay tax, penalty and an advisor’s expensive fees. Most people don’t have a paid advisor. On the other hand, if they use an advisor, they may get locked into an expensive alternative like annuities. There are few unbiased sources of information. Employers, old and new, don’t want the responsibility of helping. 69% of survey participants didn’t consult an advisor. Most fear the cost or don’t know about unbiased information sources. Regulators have thousands of cases where the employee was misled in those dinner seminars. Unfortunately, the requirement for advisors to act as a fiduciary (customer comes first) was overturned in 2018 after heavy lobbying by the industry. There are only two financial providers that are not-for-profit: Vanguard, USAA and TIAA. Their staffs are well trained and licensed to offer unbiased advice.

How does your advisor get paid?
The industry is changing. Its compensation plans change too. Be sure to ask for details. Don’t be surprised if they are ready to answer your questions with a printed statement. More experienced advisors are using the old revenue model: product sales are rewarded by a percentage of revenue from the product on a grid. For instance, a $100,000 annuity sale earns the firm 4-6% or more and your advisor earns 30-40% of that before taxes and expenses. A new incentive is a specific bonus: bonuses for net new assets, the breadth of the household relationship and penetration of financial planning, among other business objectives. Salary is favored for some wealthy clients. Specific activity fees like asset planning and customer satisfaction and quality outcome achievement. This leads you to be very specific in your needs. If you only need a financial plan for retirement income conservation, a single fee is cheaper than paying 1.5% of your growing assets for years.


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How Govt wastes our money: Congress spends $1.3 Trillion we don’t have! 
Trump changes mind: Delays deportations he promised at 2020 kickoff.
Trump: U.S. to ‘obliterate’ a whole country: nuclear winter to follow
Did US send the drone into Iran to provoke event to justify our attack, then cancel?

SCAMS/SPINS:
When concentration camps are not concentration camps: no hygiene, beds, guards fences.
Border guards refuse needed supplies (soap, diapers, etc) just like concentration camps.

Patrick Churchville caught selling through own firm: $21 million Ponzi scheme
Citigroup caught overcharging on unit investment trusts sales: refund and fine.
Donald Fowler NY caught excessive trading of customer accounts: fine

John Schmidt Ohio caught stealing from elderly in Ponzi-like scheme. Jail 5 years
State Street Bank caught overcharging clients for asset custody 20 years: Fine no jail.
Jason Sugarman CA caught $43 M tribal bonds fraud; stole $9 M.

Bitcoin’s rise to $14,000; then fall to $10,640 same week: speculator dream.
NJ millionaires caught a break: no tax increase by Gov this year: Dems baulk

Home prices rise faster: share of homes bought by ‘investors’ reached 11.3%, new high
Marketing magic: Brain Health Council says supplements waste of $3 Billion spent.


Jobs:
He plans to stay in our White House: even if it takes outside help—rigged 2020 election?
Manufacturing jobs under pressure as automation costs go down: Robots are cheaper.

Who owns your account now?
Consumer Reports on appliances: you DO NOT get what you pay for. EG:Viking.
3M Co. cut retirees benefits of life insurance nearly in half to $8,000.

Miracle:
When is an election debate no debate at all? 10 get to talk 30 seconds at a time. Bedtime.

GOP plans another tax cut for the rich: just in time for the election!

IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
MontclairNJ   07042
973.746.2014
Alert

Friday, June 21, 2019

Is converting IRA to Roth IRA right for you?


Is converting IRA to Roth IRA right for you?
Pro: your future income is tax-FREE. Con: you pay taxes now on the amount you convert. Even with lower current income tax rates, you still pay taxes at your income tax bracket, not at capital gains rates. Converting is a good move if you are early in your career and don’t have a large IRA. Converting is a bad move if you have a sizeable IRA and your tax rate will be lower in retirement. You may not need to convert if your employer now offers a Roth 401k. So instead of getting the break on taxes now you may have a HUGE break on all the compounded earnings over the next 20-30 years. Since you do not pay tax on the earnings later nor the contributions anytime, you could retire early. If you don’t need this money for income, Roth accounts go tax-free to heirs. A regular IRA inheritance is taxable at the heirs’ income tax rate. Even if you can’t contribute directly because your income is too high, you can make non-deductible IRA contributions and then convert to a Roth so that your future gains are tax-FREE. Another attractive option is to buy no-dividend stocks and then sell off when needed in retirement. The capital gains tax is less than income taxes and when left to heirs, there is no tax. Heirs receive your gift tax-free due to the “stepped up basis” rule.
Roth IRAs make a great gift for your grandchild too. Roth funding even from their early teen job income means they will have a tax-FREE retirement.

Is an HRA right for you?
New rules provide a hint of Trump’s new and “something terrific” health insurance plan announced June 18. The new plan won’t actually be available until 2021 but the promise may be enough to sway some voters. The new health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) rules make individual markets purchase of a policy more attractive to businesses. Thus a small business does not need to provide health insurance—it can just give pre-tax dollars to employees so they can shoulder the responsibility of finding/paying for a policy. Any unused portion of the HRA in one year may be carried forward to subsequent years. If certain rules are followed, neither employer contributions nor employee reimbursements from an HRA are subject to income or employment taxes under federal law. The old rules excluded premium payments with HRA money. Employers will have an incentive to dump ‘at-risk’ employees to fend for themselves in the individual market. Thus young and healthy employees are encouraged by their employers to use the HRA plan and buy stripped down health plans. Older and sicker employees would be given untaxed money to help them purchase whatever plan they could afford. Thus the new TrumpCare plan of 2021 can claim to be ‘something terrific’ for most employees in that they can buy whatever coverage they prefer. They have the ‘freedom’ to make the ‘choice’ to buy incomplete insurance. If an accident required more care than their plan was scheduled to pay, they would be forced to declare bankruptcy because they made the ‘choice’ for that plan. Thus everyone COULD have ‘something terrific’ for health coverage or choose to go bankrupt.
Will voters pick a candidate based on their need for adequate health insurance?


SEC ruling now puts the burden on us to ask about advisor ‘conflicts’
The new industry-friendly statement shifts the burden to us regarding broker/advisor ‘conflicts of interest.’ In its final version of Form CRS, the disclosure document that will be given to retail investors, RIAs (advisors) will be required to say, “When we act as your investment adviser, we have to act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours. At the same time, the way we make money creates some conflicts with your interests. You should understand and ask us about these conflicts because they can affect the investment advice we provide you.” WOW. Instead of our broker/advisor having to disclose their conflicts, we must ‘understand and ask them’ about ‘these conflicts.’ WRONG! We can’t ask how they conflict with our interests if they are not disclosed. How can we know about the sales contest for a Hawaii vacation if we buy their product? How do we know about the firm’s soft dollar rewards for buying the expensive mutual funds? And how could investors know they are getting a deal that reflects ‘MY best interest’? Mutual funds can cost 0.05% or 9.86% per year and annuities can cost 0.1% or 10% and sales fees can be 5% upfront or 0.75% for 30 years (22.5%). Which would you sell if you were a broker/advisor making a living from other people’s money?

Need a graduation gift?
The greatest gift you can give is financial knowledge. No matter how much your young graduate makes, it is up to YOU to show them the Buffett investment strategy. Make sure they can make and manage money. At my first job, I had no clue which investment to use for my 401k contributions and company match. The HR person told me to put it into the 'safe' stable value fund. That was the worst choice at my age I learned later when I got my securities’ licenses. If I had followed their advice I would have ended up with about $150,000 instead of a Wealth Reserve of $877,233 about 33 years later.


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How Govt wastes our money: Congress spends $1.3 Trillion we don’t have! 
Multiple election security bills are dead: killed by Senator McConnell: Putin’s hackers!

Strike Iran then not strike Iran: Bolton, Pompeo, Haspel for war but they’re too old to go

Govt report: we don’t know how to handle money: mandate college financial course?
Kids are to be interned in World War II-era Japanese American concentration camps.
Millions to be deported but home country must give ‘travel paperwork’: internment.

Trump EPA to go ahead with catastrophic warming of the planet. Increase, not reduce C

SCAMS/SPINS:
Art of the ‘bad’ Deal: Buying bad land for another golf place turns into HUGE tax deduct
“Do you think the people would demand that I stay longer? KEEP AMERICA GREAT”
Israel/Syria: Golan Heights town renamed "Trump Heights

‘Facility fee’ new bogus charges for any medical procedure, even if no ‘facility.’ 

Trump cuts 70,000 from health care: will we vote our health care needs 2020?

Trump’s convicted felon, Manafort, moved from Rikers to comfortable
Stephen Bratton TX Baptist clergy caught sex abuse on teen multiple times: bond
Brokers screaming ‘fire fire’ as NJ regulator plans to require putting client interest first.
Ways to cheat on taxes for the wealthy: IRS doesn’t have auditors to catch them.

Head ‘phone hooks’ growing on younger people who use phone hands-free often?

Investors in a event-rental space in Carmel IN lost $6.2 mil promised steady flow income.
Annuity earning 8%: Marketing hype to sell sales leads—“Truth is not truth”
Vermont Creates Restitution Fund For Investment Fraud Victims: Senior Scams
Kansas City Life caught overcharging customers: taking cash value they earned

Jobs:
Are you still getting low wages with the employment rate low? Won’t get better than this
Average employer 401(k) match reached 4.7% this year: new high will last?
Highest salary cities/regions shift from auto makers to digital makers: things to processes.

Employers use unique ways to pay student loans for employees: get smart
Wages are going down for most: lower than in 1968 with inflation we can buy much less.
Trump threatened TIME reporter with jail: Not fake news—on tape.

Who owns your account now?
Drug prices in Canada: $1,200 or $12,000? Why Americans must travel for health!
Where did your broker or advisor go—the industry changes quickly now.

Miracle:
Baby left in forest is alive: Outlawing choice for women in GA does not stop intercourse.

IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
MontclairNJ   07042
973.746.2014
Alerts 

Friday, June 14, 2019

Easy Emergency Fund Options


How can you make an emergency fund?
My clients used many methods to have cash available when they needed it. Some strategies are just not possible for some folks. Of course, if you have a large Wealth Reserve, you already have your money for any contingency. I made mine by saving on all my insurance, mutual funds, brokerage, and banking costs. The other options: HELOC, CC, liquid 401k, brokerage stocks, CDs, IRAs, high pay job. Several obtained a Home Equity Line of Credit from their bank. They have $100,000 loan they don’t use which is backed by a 2nd mortgage on the equity in their home. It cost nothing to set up. Use it to make upgrades to your home and the amount borrowed is tax-deductible. Another group has tons of credit cards they keep in check so charging a couple of thousand is no problem. Unfortunately, a few think their 401k future nest egg can be cracked anytime. They would need to invest 5 times their withdrawal to make up for the Miracle of Compounding they gave up. Some have been playing the market and can easily cash in enough stocks to pay for an emergency. If they sell a stock that has not done well, they may take a deduction too. Most clients use CDs for their emergencies even if it costs an early penalty. It’s tax deductible too. IRAs are not like a 401k loan—whatever you take out will cost you taxes and sometimes a penalty. A loan shark’s loan would be cheaper than giving up your future. Obviously, some people make enough money that they don’t need cash sitting around earning 1% a year. They could get a bank loan with one phone call. Finally, my choice when we recently needed a new used car: $12,000 HELOC loan at 3.5% put me into a 3-year-old Camry, made right here in the
USA’s Georgetown, KY. I didn’t have to touch my Wealth Reserve still growing to $1 million.

Which annuity is right for you?
An annuity in its simplest terms is a string of benefits. Lottery winners often have a choice: annuity or cash. Last Saturday’s $344.6 million Powerball jackpot winner was Charles Jackson. He claimed his prize: cash option of $223 million or 35% less.
Jackson will have almost 50% taxes taken out. If Jackson took the annuity, his annual total would increase over the next 30 years. Annuity ‘certain’ means his heirs would receive the annual amount if he dies sooner. You have the same choice with your nest egg. For example, $100,000 buys a monthly benefit of $549 for a 65 year old male. If you want your heirs to receive the rest of your annuity if you die early, you can pick life--10 years certain. Your benefit is $553 monthly. You could chose to receive $941 monthly for just 10 years and then buy a new annuity with your growing nest egg. This way you can keep up with inflation since $549 will be worth about HALF that in 20 years.

Value over price
Warren Buffett has maintained his rep as one of the greatest investors of all time because he knows the difference between price and value. His teacher at Columbia, Benjamin Graham, said that we should buy securities like we buy "groceries, ... not perfume." It is like buying a Land Rover or Volvo—expensive AND the most UN-dependable cars available. Only outdone by cheaper Fiat, they cost $87,350 and $68,000.  Accumulating wealth requires that we buy value--quality at the right price. We want to avoid the two KILLERS of building wealth--fees and taxes. We pay high fees and taxes from security turnover by assuming our advisor is adding value: higher price because better performance. But a recent study shows that most advisors use standard portfolios. And the performance is horrific compared to the boring index: 3.79% vs 11.06%.

Need a graduation gift?
The greatest gift you can give is financial knowledge. No matter how much your young graduate makes, it is up to YOU to show them the Buffett investment strategy. Make sure they can make and manage money. At my first job, I had no clue which investment to use for my 401k contributions and company match. The HR person told me to put it into the 'safe' stable value fund. That was the worst choice at my age I learned later when I got my securities’ licenses. If I had followed their advice I would have ended up with about $150,000 instead of a Wealth Reserve of $877,233 about 33 years later.

Is your advisor giving you their ‘Best Interest’ or Fiduciary advice?
Your brokerage firm is rejoicing with the recent decision: SEC has downgraded the client treatment rules just for them. The issue comes down to this: Brokerage owners need profits and you have the money. You can pay more for their facilities over time or you can pay a planner only when you need a full plan. My family CFP got paid for a comprehensive plan that shows how we can pay our bills for the rest of our life using the Vanguard funds we’ve built up for years. The SEC terminated the Fiduciary Rule to make brokerage happy. Brokerage sells products and if they don’t hurt you, that is in their ‘best interest.’ Helping you reach your goals is NOT "solely incidental" to you even though this is the exception brokerage uses to NOT do the right thing for you. How is putting a 90 year old widow’s nest egg into an annuity the ‘right’ plan. That model is not the best for you. Your financial picture is not helped by giving up 63% of your total possible accumulation during your working years. That is the effect of paying 1-2% of your nest egg as it grows over time. The DALBAR study shows a shocking 3.79% average earnings in investor’s managed equity accounts over time. You deserve the Fiduciary Rule which requires sellers to put your profits ahead of their profits.

Where have all the increases in productivity gone?
In 1978 our boss made 30 times our salary. Now, the average CEO pay is 271 times the nearly $58,000 annual average pay of the typical American worker, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute. We were promised that we would not have to work as much since the value of our use of automation quadrupled our output over previous generations. In 1981, I worked with an outside company’s computer programmers to automate our data capture and reporting system. We saved thousands of man hours of hand-tabulating and writing reports. But I and the 50 or so of my staff were not rewarded. Instead I could not fill positions of retirees. Instead of training our folks to handle the data process, management outsourced it until the ‘systems people’ handled everything. This process has been repeated thousands of times in America. I left because I found a better-paying job. My staff had no updated skills so couldn’t leave. Their salaries have stayed the same given their 1-2% COLA increases. Are the CEOs smarter now or have they just updated their skills—learning how to consolidate many firms—creating fewer firms; employing fewer people. Learning that customer inquiry can be handled by a group in India for a whole lot less than the 50 experienced people here. Since 1978, CEO’s have seen a 937% increase in earnings. That salary growth is even 70 percent faster than the rise in the stock market. Are CEOs 271 times smarter than us? “CEOs are getting more because of their power to set pay, not because they are more productive or have special talent or have more education,” says this report.

Is your advisor honest? Truth in financial selling
Advisors are sales people. The firm decides the products and price you are offered. How do you know their product recommendations are the best for you? Do you know what the product is worth to the advisor? Is the firm licensed to sell this ‘great deal’? What other options are available? Could you negotiate your advisor’s charges? Do you know all the good and bad about this product? Does your advisor share the product experiences of others? What happens to your account if your advisor moves to another firm? Does your advisor explain the tax consequences of this product in future years? What happened at your advisor/broker’s last firm to make them leave? How do you know when you are overcharged? Does your advisor speak ‘financial jagon’? What does __ mean?


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How Govt wastes our money: Congress spends $1.3 Trillion we don’t have! 
Today Trump changes his mind about raising prices on all food, cars etc from Mexico.
US to Send 1,000 More Troops to Poland: 5,000 troops to scare Putin?
GOP halts funds for election integrity: no voting machine ‘hacker-blocks’--paper ballots?

IRS says OK to discriminate against NJ homeowners: Trump decides who pays taxes
Defense Dept not allowed to protect bases from climate changes: Words actions banned!
Arming both Israel and Saudis etc is asking for another war: Can Congress block sales?
WA state allows personal use of drugs: empty jails or cost more later?

SCAMS/SPINS:
GOP pays to put ‘citizen’ on census even tho Constitution says ‘people’: democracy??
Govt study says catastrophic climate change unless extensive fixes started.


Catholics to discuss their child abuse and accountability AGAIN: dodge the law?
Religious leaders, above the law, want to control abuse reporting to legal authorities

SCAM: undelivered email being held for you—don’t click link
Insurance agents caught rolling 401k retirement money to annuity: it’s illegal so cancel.
When NOT to file a car or home claim: It may cost you more than it’s worth!

WalgreenBoots taking health benefits from retirees before Medicare kicks in.

Nina Jessee, Cetera caught doing outside business, not cooperating with its investigations
Jovannie Aquino, Windsor Street Capital caught churning clients' accounts—defrocked.


Brokers can’t call themselves advisors anymore: SEC rules against this marketing tool

Balance or out of network surprise billing: challenge any who you did not pre-approve.

WI GOP courts reinstate Scott Walker bias laws that voters threw out: Model for all US?

Jobs:
Are you still getting low wages with the employment rate low? Won’t get better than this
Average employer 401(k) match reached 4.7% this year: new high will last?


Who owns your account now?
CA to shore up Obamacare: State fills in gaps created by GOP.
Monopolies raising health care prices throughout the systems of care: no competition.

HELOC or Home Equity Loan: Pros & Cons which is right for you!
Where are your old employer 401ks? Frozen in bankruptcy? Never leave it with others.


Miracle:
AZ law protects seniors from financial abuse but gives advisors immunity.
Who are these kids who saved the life of a neighbor? They’re your next door neighbor.

IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
MontclairNJ   07042
973.746.2014
Alerts 

Friday, June 7, 2019

Easy way to save for the future


Easy way to save for the future—use the money you save by buying direct: auto, home, life, other insurance and expensive 401k and mutual funds. Create a Wealth Reserve: use savings on financials you already own. The financial industry has changed so you can buy with discounts or at Costco-type outlets. Example: MetLife charged $983 for the same $300,000 30-year term policy as SBLI provided for $384. Their financial strength ratings are A+ and their underwriting requirements are the same. The difference, $599, over 30 years is $17,970. If invested, this difference can add $175,000 to YOUR Wealth Reserve when you need it. The SHOCKER: the median net worth of a 33-year-old is just $8,525 including home and car! Buy value not price: benefits are the same.

What will you do with your 401k or 403b account?
Retiring or changing jobs, you must decide what to do with your money. BEWARE: Insurance agent advising 401k rollover is illegal: Check the insurer’s fees! Unless your old employer has low fees and a large selection of funds, you should transfer your money to a rollover IRA at no cost. Federal workers will soon have new options that allow their money to stay. Two questions to answer before you decide what to do. Large mutual fund firms like Schwab or Vanguard usually offer more choices and lower fees inside an IRA rollover account than leaving your money with your old employer. A stock/bond balanced fund costs 0.5% at Schwab and 0.07% at Vanguard. Both offer low-cost IRA accounts. Vanguard’s fees are low because the funds are run at cost—there are no commissions or owners to pay. Fees over your lifetime can take up to 63% of your potential nest egg. Based on the timeline for this money—stocks for 30 years out or balanced for retirement now—your first step is to call your new IRA custodian. Let them do the paperwork and initiate the direct transfer so you pay no tax. Tell your old 401k administrator you don’t want taxes taken out. When your money gets to its new home, confirm the move amount and type. If you change jobs again, you have a place to put it and you don’t need a broker to move it.

Are ‘Alternative’ investments right for you?
‘Alts’ are all the rage in the brokerage community. The argument goes like this: “multi-million dollar accounts have alternative investments and so should you.” Alts are private equity, real assets, derivatives, and hedge funds. Short answer: they are not worth the cost. If you had a few $ millions you would not be able to buy the same deals as the institutions that use alts. You are not an institution, so your goals can be met with less expensive vehicles. Higher costs, greater dependency on management’s crystal ball, less transparency, low tax efficiency, and limited or no access to the funds, all make alternatives unattractive. Alts are supposed to rise when your other assets fall. In recent history this has not been the record.

Is your advisor just plugging in the numbers?
85% of all advisors us ‘model’ portfolios. You thought the $ thousands you pay every year—eventually costing up to 63% of your total possible accumulation—was buying ‘Wall Street professional money management.’ No. This study says your advisor does not have time to plan each client’s future. They want scalability—more money for them not for you. Just as in Mrs Blanding’s dream house, you think you are getting the “color of butter ‘yellow’,” the painter buys the standard ‘yellow.’ The painter knows you will never know the color difference. Since you are NOT getting top-notch professional management why not pay less and earn more. We are talking real money: $3,000 a year invested in a low-cost market index for 30 years = $700,000; in an advisor-managed account = $167,000. Forget the myth of ‘professional management.’ Earn more.

Need a graduation gift?
The greatest gift you can give is financial knowledge. No matter how much your young graduate makes, it is up to YOU to show them the Buffett investment strategy. Make sure they can make and manage money. At my first job, I had no clue which investment to use for my 401k contributions and company match. The HR person told me to put it into the 'safe' stable value fund. That was the worst choice at my age I learned later when I got my securities’ licenses. If I had followed their advice I would have ended up with about $150,000 instead of a Wealth Reserve of $877,233 about 33 years later.

How did you find your car insurance?
Surveys usually look at all the factors but best is really determined by claims handling. You don’t want aggravation after the accident. Since price does not always show value, you need to keep both of these factors in mind. US News looked at over 2,000 claims. They rated satisfaction with the ease of filing a claim, customer service, claim status communication, claim resolution, overall value they feel their insurance company gives, if they’d recommend the company, and if they planned to renew their policy. Prices in 50 states, driver miles, violations, age and sex and type of car were considered. USAA is only for military had best rating. Travelers and State Farm were next. Geico had lower rates in most states. American Family car insurance was the lowest-ranked company on their list. Liberty Mutual did not provide rates. There are so many factors in your quote that this list is only useful as a start. Agents don’t always offer discounts. You must ask.

What regulators have done to us with their new rule?
SEC has put lipstick on a pig. The industry gets fat as they kiss us with sweetened lip service. GOP propaganda wins out over real significant change: Regulation is called ‘Best Interest.’ It claims to improve individual investor protections but look for the teeth! Since it does not actually define ‘best interest’ of the client, it lets salespeople drive through loopholes. Our ‘best’ interest is defined by the sellers, thus: “It doesn’t actually require brokers to act in clients’ best interests.” Most clients yawn at a broker’s ‘disclosures’: pages of legal boilerplate meant to keep clients out of court. The GOP had to kill the Fiduciary Rule in 2018 since it required sellers to ‘prove’ our interests were put above that of the sellers. The model: Certified Financial Planners have professional credentials to uphold. It took 6 years for the govt to incorporate all the concerns of consumers into the standards brokers/advisors/agents had to follow. We were losing $17 billion a year because we never got the ‘best’—only 2nd best: sellers still sold high-cost or inappropriate products. It was like our doctor giving us the new expensive drug when the generic did the job. Doctors received cash and meals and trips to push expensive versions. The same happens in financial products. Annuity sale scams were the focus of the Fiduciary Rule. Sellers have always received incentives for giving 2nd best the happy talk. The industry lobbyists got the Fiduciary Rule canceled in 6 months. Buyer beware!





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Make America, “The Don”, Great Again
Truth isn’t truth, his lawyer says

Two Americas: A Banana Republic? Do we really want an infant king? Daddy Putin!

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How Govt wastes our money: Congress spends $1.3 Trillion we don’t have! 
Do our leaders want us to kill each other? There will always be psychos; sell 3 bullets/yr?

Trump won’t let immigrant children play ball, learn English, get help. Money to golf.
Rick Perry reclassifying nuclear waste to ‘save’ money: shallow pits not leaky tanks.

Gerrymandering and PAC money destroy our democracy as much as Putin tipping scales.


SCAMS/SPINS:
HALF of us want dictator: above law, obstructs justice, hides info, snubs Congress
Citizenship question: “hurt Dems and benefit white Republicans in redistricting.”

Price increases are now called ‘fees’ using unexplained ‘fees’ to keep ‘price’ low trick.
FL bans valedictorian from giving her speech: made joke about principal. Oh my!
Job offers that are just scams for personal data: fake ‘verify checking’ gets number.


Insurer caught dealing claim in bad faith: victim gets $1.3 million not $50,000.
Avenatti indicted on 36 counts: stealing $ millions—disbar, extort, etc etc

Trump stops IRS from going after his election contributor Koch: fake tax shelters work. 

Peter Baker, GA Elizabeth Oharriz, FL caught defraud investors with ‘prime bank’ scam
David Strnad MorganStanley caught ‘churning’ CDs lost $100,000 for client: no jail
MorganStanley made $ millions on Uber IPO but its wealthy clients lost a small ranch.


‘No man is above the law’ … well up till now. Dictators nullify courts first, then votes.
"Charging the President with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider."

Jobs:
Catholic in every way except in having optional celibacy for its priests: Bishop Njogu.

Walmart needs workers: college prep help is perk—management degrees paid.

Who owns your account now?
LouisianaCare for all families w/o employer plan using state and ObamaCare money.
Drug prices high but Dr doesn’t track unfilled prescription: ask for generic alternative

Best tax-FREE IRA account firms: review what is best for you—cost, face, service, trade

Miracle:
Ryan Keith Cox helped fellow workers get safe and then took a bullet for their safety.
Our President at his best on D-Day: Can he get more ‘introspective’?


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