Your Unbiased Advisor: How your kids can learn to make good financial decisions

How can your kids learn to make good financial decisions?

A single-credit financial life skills course does NOT have much influence on financial well-being or financial stress. However, there are still good reasons for colleges to offer financial education courses. Among the measurable benefits derived from these courses are greater financial socialization and financial self-efficacy. In other words the course may help a persons understand their needs. For instance, if you learn that you may get help in paying off your loans, you may seek out help from more professional sources. On the whole, people learn what they need to know when the specific need arises. My real financial awakening came when my boss showed me how much money he made investing in a particular mutual fund without a broker. I was lucky. This guy was a helping type. He was happy in his career and he liked helping me understand how financials worked. When I needed a high-interest savings vehicle, I learned to compare rates and costs of different formats by asking questions. I learned about how the brokerage business was done. Eventually I took an MBA and was hired by a Wall-Street brokerage firm to manage a unit. I did not sell securities. I had to get 5 licenses to keep my job as an annuity automated computer processing system.

Learn when you need to: https://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Guides-Discount-Financial-Services/dp/143480593X

Another tax avoidance strategy for the wealthy

Some rental real estate owners will take advantage of the “1031 exchange” or like-kind exchange. A 1031 exchange is a tax strategy that allows rental real estate owners to avoid paying capital gains taxes on the sale of an income property by using the proceeds from that sale to purchase a similar commercial property. Wealthy owners can delay paying taxes on their gains until they eventually sell their new property, or do another 1031 exchange in the future. If used correctly, there is no limit on how frequently you can do 1031 exchanges. Special rules apply when a depreciable property is exchanged. “I love depreciation,” Trump responded during the interview with Anderson Cooper on how many years he has avoided paying federal income tax.

https://www.amazon.com/Tax-Credit-Class-your-credits-ZERO/dp/1539462382

GOP vision of America’s future “freedoms”

Children’s education reduced to DeSantos Conservative ideology

FL wants to ban the Democratic Party as revenge for toppling Confederate monuments

FL DeSantis will have a veto-proof majority in both chambers: junta installed

Kids Carry concealed weapons without a permit back to 18

Block programs on diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory.

Death sentence without a unanimous jury.

Easy to sue journalists you don’t like

Further restrict abortions.

Trump: military to stop crime: martial law replaces civilian control of cities: dictator

Couples with 10 kids would have their property taxes cancelled under TX law

Catholic group spent millions to track gay priests: Russia or America?

30 GOP states limit public health authority: next pandemic wipes out millions?

AR Gov bans child sex talk and child labor law limits: roll back child labor protections

“Do nothing” funds beat stock pickers even in rocky year

Fewer than half of actively managed funds outperformed their passive peers last year. Active funds do NOT do better in rocky markets, Morningstar found. Active managers overseeing fixed income and real estate funds saw substantial declines in year-over-year success rates too. Morningstar also found that fees continue to matter, as the least expensive funds succeeded more than twice as often as the most expensive, with a 36% success rate versus 16% for the decade ended Dec. 31. Over that time, 67% of the cheapest funds survived versus 59% of the most expensive. Our readers reaffirmed that paying more for management means keeping less. Readers have stayed the course of holding their funds through these difficult times. They tend to use a very balanced portfolio so that they lost less than 9% in 2022. Many found the mix of Vanguard’s 10 Best funds avoided huge losses.

https://www.amazon.com/Vanguards-Top-Ten-mutual-funds/dp/150073909X

Are 401k after-tax contributions right for you?

If you’re on track to max out your 401(k) plan for 2023 and want to save more, your plan may have another option: after-tax contributions.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/28/heres-how-to-make-after-tax-401k-plan-contributions-for-2023.html

Using your tax refund to build a tax-FREE retirement fund

What do you do with your refund? Most people pay bills they had put off already. They don’t have a choice. The car or home needs fixing and the IRS money is real. The average refund is $3,000 or so. That is your money that you we forcibly saved from each paycheck. A lot of folks need help saving money and that is a way to do it. You made an interest free loan to the spendthrifts in Washington. This year, start a new trend for yourself so you are sure you will have enough to do what you want in retirement. It is hard to save but the bonus is that if you save in a tax-FREE account; you won’t pay higher taxes later when you will need the money more. Inflation makes everything cost more in the future.

https://www.amazon.com/Tax-Refund-Millionaires-Let-Uncle-Help/dp/149595644X

Are 401k after-tax contributions right for you?

If you’re on track to max out your 401(k) plan for 2023 and want to save more, your plan may have another option: after-tax contributions.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/28/heres-how-to-make-after-tax-401k-plan-contributions-for-2023.html

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Like 1776, this period is a test of democracy—We rejected an "American fascist" once

The Path to Dictatorship: 2010-2030

Parallels of this era in the past may hint at our future: democracy breaks apart legally

Jan 21 2010 Corporations’ election-spending unlimited

Billionaires paid $881 million for votes in 2022 midterm elections

Nov 2020 Wealthy discredit election process

Nov 21 2020 Trump’s Plans for a Coup: criminal