Your Unbiased Advisor: Why most investors don’t need an advisor any more

Why most investors don’t need an advisor any more

Many are DIY investors—they have jettisoned their advisors since learning the John Bogle and Warren Buffett investment lessons: advisor costs detract from your earnings. Advisors can take up to HALF your earnings in fees and trading costs. Here are DIY's results for 2019. They are total return investors—selling shares equally across all 10 funds for their monthly RMD income in retirement. Some want protection from a down market and so they overweight Wellesley Income instead of buying an annuity: Wellesley’s 9.7% a year is not too bad to live on.

2019 Total Return Fund Long-term Return Longevity

31.5% 500 Index 11.2% since 1976

13.2% Energy 9.9% since 1984

28.0% Extended Market 10.7% since 1987

22.9% Health 16.2% since 1984

31.4% International Growth 10.6% since 1981

27.9% PRIMECAP 13.4% since 1984

27.4% Small Cap Index 10.6% since 1960

16.4% Wellesley Income 9.7% since 1970

30.4% Windsor 11.3% since 1958

29.0% Windsor II 10.7% since 1985

25.8% Average 11.4% *

*Average Annual Returns as of 12/31/19.

Dependency costs too much: https://www.amazon.com/DIY-Financial-Independence-Freedom-Workbook/dp/1088908500

If you already had your legacy planned, you may have to change it

Congress just passed SECURE which makes your non-spouse heirs un-SECURE since they must take all your IRA (ROTH IRA) money out and pay the IRA distribution taxes within 10 years. If you were planning to leave your $500,000 IRA (Roth IRA) to your daughter to supplement her SS benefit, she will need to pay the IRA income taxes on $50,000 not $15,000 a year as you had planned. The Roth has no income taxes but your legacy still ends in 10 years after your death. You can no longer guarantee your son a SS supplement in 2035 when SS benefits will be cut by 25%. The same 10-year limitation will apply to your “conduit” trust. They won’t have payments over the trust beneficiary’s life expectancy. We had planned to leave our IRAs and Roth IRAs to our children so they could have supplemental income for the rest of their lives—20-40 years. Now we will have to create an expensive trust to do that. HOPE 2021 new Congress could change it.

https://www.amazon.com/Your-Retirement-Income-Checklist-TrumpWorld/dp/1544703260

New law takes away food stamp funding

Congress cut $5.5 billion in SNAP funds over the next five years, forcing 10,000 families to lose all food stamp benefits. Congress cuts benefits to SSI may put more disabled persons into homeless status. We were tricked by Trump’s party: they promised that under the 2017 tax bill working families would see a $4,000 - $9,000 benefit both in individual tax cuts and through investments made by corporate

America

. Now Trump wants to claim he paid for the wealthy tax breaks. Nothing remotely close to this has occurred. Now median family income has risen just $514 while corporations enjoy their lowest effective tax rate in more than 30 years—just 11.3%. Trump claims he got Congress to cut $426 billion in further wealthy tax breaks. We pay subsidies to many profitable companies already. We’ve seen skyrocketing CEO pay and stock-buybacks that enrich wealthy shareholders. Stockholders spent dividends on private planes and bigger yachts not on new factories. The already wealthy gained another 25%: $1.2 trillion in 1 year. Many middle class saw their taxes go up NOT down.

Socialism for the Rich: https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Socialism-Rich-little-people-pay/dp/1535218584

Changes to retirement plan law require some re-thinking

The Secure Act raises the age for RMD (required minimum distributions) to start to age 72 beginning in 2020. It also removes the age limit for contributions to traditional IRAs beginning in 2020. This 2019 legislation does not affect the rules for 2019. If you’re at least 70½ in 2019, you must take a required minimum distribution. And you’re not allowed to make contributions to your traditional IRA for 2019 after age 70½. Put them into 2020 and beyond. You can add to IRA all your home health payments, grants, fellowship, stipends and awards. For those who don’t save: “IRA holders can use money in their account for child birth and adoption cost without penalty,” The bad news is that insurers can now sell annuities to employers so bosses won’t have any responsibility when your retirement income loses its buying power. There are better ways to gain steady income and keep your nest egg growing than giving your earnings to an annuity seller.

Annuity alternatives: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Buy-That-Annuity-Guaranteed/dp/1466494573

The rich have plans to avoid DEM wealth and income taxes. Do you?

Consider if DEMs win in 2020 and are able to change any laws, what are your plans to avoid the new taxes on the middle class (wealthy already have avoidance plans)? GOP has run up huge deficits by using our children’s future income to give themselves one of the largest tax breaks. Many of us did NOT receive a benefit from Trump’s tax cuts. Trump’s friends in the tax-credit class did. Because of the staggering $22 Trillions owed in our name, Congress will have no choice but to raise taxes. Since the wealthy already have ways to avoid taxes, those without offshore or corporate tax shelters will be paying. Right now the wealthy pay under 17% tax while most working people are paying over 30% total. We don’t have the accountants, lawyers and companies to hide our assets or income. The IRS doesn’t have staff to chase down all the tax havens around the world. We middle class will end up paying more, not less—unless we use the only legal shelter available to us. There is only one free LEGAL tax shelter.

Use your Tax-FREE account: https://www.amazon.com/Trump-Tax-Shelter-Avoid-taxes/dp/1985448300

**********ACCOUNTABILITY**************

Like 1776, this period is a test of democracy—do we really want ‘low-IQ’ Mobster?

Mobster’s court: let’s just “dismiss impeachment” articles

Mob boss’s henchman to ‘sing’

How Govt wastes our money: Congress spends another 1.7 Trillion we don’t have!

GOP allows scammers neighbor spoofing: Trump makes space war not robocall war!

Everyone needs a gun in TX, even in church: churchmen kills gunman; way of life here.

U.S. mass killings hit new high in 2019; most were shootings

Clean water regs cancelled: GOP gives industry GO to dumping in streams near you!

Trump’s tariff ‘success’ over Mexico and China means they will just charge more

Trump reverses ban on vaping products: lobbyists win and kids continue to die.