Friday, June 30, 2023

Some “financial” writers just don’t know

 

Some “financial” writers just don’t know

“6 Safe and Smart Investments for Retirees” is misleading and mostly wrong. There are no “safe” investments. Even the fixed rate bank CD is subject to loss of purchasing power. That means you can’t buy what you could have 5 years or even 1 year before. Same for “tax-free” municipal bonds since bonds might end up costing you money. Lending to an individual without some security can leave you with a big loss. Peer-to-peer lending is not without risks: the borrower could default. Annuities are touted as a “safe” investment. However, you can lose money since annuities have many costs and conditions. Insurers make sure they don’t lose even if you have an emergency withdrawal. Even government I bonds have risks. The core rates are low and you will be disappointed if inflation is flat. The costs associated with being a landlord of a rental property can include the human toll of constant aggravation from tenant demands. SS benefits include an inflation-adjusted monthly payment that is good for life and backed by the government. Waiting to age 70 to claim means benefits will be much greater for life. So, every one must decide on a balance between risk and reward. Retirees will need more money for a longer period so the risk of not having enough must be addressed by continuing to invest in a diversified portfolio including stock funds.

NO safe investments: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Retirement-Mutual-Funds-retirement/dp/1481114026

 

IRA: tax-FREE or tax-deductible?

Depending on where you are in your investing life, one or the other IRA is an appropriate source of retirement income. The “traditional” IRA lets you reduce your current income so you pay fewer taxes NOW. The “Roth” IRA lets you increase your retirement income by avoiding taxes then. Thus, you have a significant choice. Given your overall income level, you can reduce income taxes during your whole working life OR you can exclude federal and state income taxes later when you may need more income. This means that depending on how you invest your Roth investments, you could have a potentially greater nest egg to spend and never pay taxes on the withdrawals. In fact you can convert the money in your traditional tax-deferred account to a Roth at a later time when it may benefit you more. The IRA expert, Ed Slott, (IRAhelp.com) can explain why a Roth conversion is his No. 1 tax tip for this year. You may need to use his site to calculate which deal is better for you at your current stage of investing.

Choice: https://www.amazon.com/Create-Your-Tax-FREE-Financial-System/dp/1466367466

 

Save $1000: maintain your vehicles

Don’t ignore “check engine” light. Keep tires at correct pressure. Change oil and regular maintenance as your manual says not as your mechanic wants. Check your PCV valve, windshield cracks, fluid leaks when parked, and any unusual noises. Save more over your car’s lifetime buy shopping for insurance every 2 years. Insurers change their marketing plan every year and it is easy to $500 every time you shop. Major carriers will cut premiums if you are able to raise your deductible. Many have over 20 discounts your agent may not tell you about (commissions are a % of premiums). Bundling policies (including “Umbrella” cover) may or may not save total premium. I have had home insurance for 30 years and would lose money by combining with other policies.

Shopping saves: https://www.amazon.com/Vehicle-Insurance-Beware-Double-Coverage/dp/1480027634/

 

Advisors are trying to become psychologists

This advisor says people are asking: Can you help me define the next stage in my life? What’s going to be my purpose? What’s my “aspirational lifestyle”? And how does that guide my financial choices? Sounds like your therapist not your advisor. Almost all advisors have had no training in answering these questions. He thinks people are demanding humanistic advice of their financial counselor, and he thinks he as a wealth manager can use this need to grow his business. His firm partnered with Columbia University to develop an advisor training program that is based on providing a more holistic, “purpose-driven” approach to planning. It’s been incredibly popular with both advisors and clients he claims. This advisor thinks advisors need to help clients “envision their aspirational lifestyle in their next life chapter.” He says people want more financial stability in retirement. This “stability” is usually interpreted by sellers to mean annuity needed. This writer actually works for an annuity company so his remarks support the push for high-commission/fee annuity sales. And most advisors are focused on revenue growth for their firms. In fact, 72% new advisors quit as most of the training programs are very sales-based. Wall Street wants revenue not therapists.

Large nest egg is ‘stable’: https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Future-Insurance-mutual-funds/dp/149355204X/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

?**********ACCOUNTABILITY**************?

 

 

Like 1776, this period is a test of democracyWe 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

 

Nov 21 2020: Trump plan: US Marshals seize voting machines

 

Jan 6 2021 Direct govt overthrow failed: guns & bombs ready

 

Trump engaged in a "criminal conspiracy" to stop Biden

 

I don’t f—ing care that they have weapons

 

Trump was “detached from reality”

 

Trump used mafia-style intimidation on the defenseless

 

Trump still terrorizing election woman

 

Parscale: “a sitting president asking for civil war.”

 

Trump: “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me” 

 

GOP fascism: “RINO hunt armed; no bagging limitJ6 comm threat

 

January 6, 2021A date which will live in infamy

 

Trump’s Supremes END personal rights & state laws except for weapons WMDs

 

Fascism: GOP to stop women leaving state for abortion

 

It’s not a court. It’s a junta: Two Americas

 

Trump: President Biden is 'enemy of the state'

 

Christian Nationalist Party (CNP) replaces GOP

 

Nov 8 2022 Trump’s “national revolution” failed

 

Nov 15 2022 Trump announces for 2024 to avoid lawsuits

 

Dec 3 2022 Trump: cancel Constitution rules so ‘I win

 

Mar 11 2023 Pence straddles his place in history

 

Mar 31 2023 Trump indicted misusing election money

 

Apr 7 2023 One GOP guy decided which drugs we can use

 

Apr 9 Illustrated Anne Frank book removed by Florida school

 

Apr 21 Trump: “I am your justice

 

May 9 Trump guilty of sexual abuse

 

Jun 8 Trump indicted by the United States of America

Violation of the Espionage Act

Conspiracy to obstruct justice

Making false statements 

 

 

Jan 2025 Dictator pardons himself: his Supremes agree

 

 

How Govt wastes our money:

Rich get rich: lower tax rates; higher income from assets; NOT taxable income

Feds give away $200 Billion to fraud Covid fakers: at least 17% of funds lost

 

SCAMS/SPINS:

43 states passed 100 anti-voting laws since Trump attempted to overturn the 2020

Supremes kill GOP move decide our elections: saves marginal Dem voters

Study: when the candidate field is crowded, voters are more likely to sit out than turnout.

 

6 shot outside of a club in Houston: shooter escaped

 

72% new advisors quit as most of the training programs are still very sales-based

Imposter scams: fake authority figures scare us into paying $ billions

Recall: 7.5 million Baby Shark bath toys cut or stabbed children

FL ‘freedom’ gov. bans all direct car sales: protects high-cost dealers from competition

 

Business man lost $340,000 to a crypto scam. Such cases are on the rise

Moving Company Scams: no licenses OK—steal our goods; AG can’t do a thing

Army allows its financial advisors to exploit Army families/survivors: wild trading

 

ACI Worldwide caught improperly initiating unlawful mortgage payment transactions

Insurers deny tens of millions of claims every year but we don’t get stats: why, how, who

Sending money using Zelle® /payment platforms to those you don’t know is dangerous

Ray Brewer caught stole 9 million claimed turn cow manure into green energy 6 yrs jail

Shvartsmans, Garelick caught $22 million insider trading on Trump’s firm going public

Wilson Baston NY caught stole $10 million real estate scams: convicted 2nd time

 

Where do Congress people go for abortion if own state outlawed it?

 

GOP to rewrite history: House to expunge Trump impeachments: dictator’s clean slate

Trump’s Supremes change our lives: college, student loans, religion, speech, LGBTQ

Trump’s Supremes: colleges go back to “old boy network” for new students: $$ win spot

Trump Supremes strengthens protections for religious rights at work: religion for politics

Trump’s Supremes:  “harassing posts” on media are protected as free speech

Trump’s Supremes: use religion to discriminate against anyone you don’t like

Trump’s Supremes: even unemployed students must pay $400 billion in loans

 

Trump delays paying sexual abuse victim Carroll by suing her for ‘defamation’

 

Jobs

Military AI technology to spy on civilians, particularly in the workplace, sold to owners.

Working from anywhere: nomad visa right for you?

Chip maker TSMC hires 4,500 in AZ: culture barriers

 

Who owns your account now?

In Europe’s empty churches, prayer and confessions make way for drinking and dancing

Best fixed income products: compare T bills, TIPS, annuity

Home insurers don’t like these dogs: liability increases premium or cancels

 

Farmers and AIG quit insuring FL homeowners

Getting an FHA home loan: check if it fits your needs

Jersey City is now the nation’s second-priciest rental market: $3370: 2nd to Manhattan

 

Changing landscape of wealthy folks allocations to real estate

Fastest-growing demographic groups

44% voters to consider third-party/independent candidate if Biden-Trump are nominees

DeSantis to close IRS, Commerce, Energy, Education

 

Top Robo-Advisors Ranked From Worst to Best

 

 

Miracles:

Scientists Say They’ve Reached ‘Turning Point’ in Cancer Research With Vaccines

Drug in trials helped people lose 24% body weight or about 58 pounds: no more diets

Diabetes metformin protects against long-Covid

 

Intermittent fasting is as effective as counting calories:

Study: AI predicts pancreatic cancer risk based on patient’s medical records. 

Popular steroids could mess up some cancer treatments

 

 

 

 

 

 

@

 

Our Universe is Mind-Blowing

Light is both a particle and a wave depending on how we look at the light.

I don’t think that there is any such thing as a position or a velocity of a particle.

Everything (galaxies to stones) in universe made of subatomic energy ‘vibrations’

A subatomic ‘particle’ is the smallest possible vibration (quantum) of a quantum field.

 

Mass–energy equivalence: E=mc^2.  At the smallest level; Everything is moving

Energy into matter: scientists converted light energy directly into matter in one step

In place of atomic lattice, light waves used to create an optical lattice with same geometry

Physics Nobel Prize: “entanglement” 2 particles share info instantly at a distance

Quantum mechanics violates local realism: two objects behave as single system at distance

 

“It may be that gravity and quantum mechanics are exactly the same thing,” Leonard Susskind

Gravity might induce the collapse of quantum vibrations into 1 quantum state—our world

Strange state of physics that allows energy to flow frictionlessly through a material

Bending light from extreme gravity reveals largest black hole so far

Curved SpaceTime: heavy masses and simultaneously quantum effects become visible

There is no TIME at this level because of force fields come and go in all directions. 

Universe expanding: events may not come together like they did before: created our time.

Our planetary system: rarest system: only 1% of all systems with same number of planets

 

Inside protons, neutrons, it is the fields of the virtual particles that creates its mass.

Gold made from neutron stars: collisions produce more neutrons:79 protons,118 neutrons

The proton is so complicated science still finds new energy entities/forces every year.

 

“Empty space is a boiling, bubbling brew of virtual particles that pop in and out of existence in a time scale so short that you can’t even measure them.” Space expanding.

The electricity we use comes from the field around the wire not from electron itself.

Scientists build 'baby' wormhole as sci-fi moves closer to fact: inside quantum computer

starts-with-a-bang/universe-expansion-not-accelerating/

Physicists knew black holes eventually disappear particle by particle. Now they think everything else does, too

 

 

 

@

We can apply for Medicare online: https://blog.ssa.gov/apply-for-medicare-online

We can apply for Social Security online: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/

We can apply for health care online: https://www.healthcare.gov/

 

IAN

973.746.2014

http://www.theinsidersguides.com/

Alerts available at http://dankeppel.blogspot.com/

 

 

Friday, June 23, 2023

Insurance You Really Don’t Need

 

Invest in stocks or not?

S&P 500 up 14% YTD. Is the future bright for stock investing or not? Many say no; many say yes. There is no way to know the future so what do you do? Looking at the record of similar periods, the answer for the long-term investor is YES. Over most 10-year periods, stocks and low-cost stock mutual funds provide superior returns to all other common assets. Even in volatile years, stocks regain their results quickly. For instance, from 2003 to 2013, the market return was 10.97%. During the 2012 to 2022 period, the market return was 13.98%. So for most investors NOT speculators, a low-cost market index fund provides about 11% a year over time. The real risk is not “holding” stocks but NOT owning stocks or low-cost stock funds long term. Other assets like gold and fixed income vehicles may look like greener pastures, but only for short periods. Moving from stocks to other assets would require a miracle in market timing both out and back into the markets. If your interest is long-term goal accomplishment, holding stocks or at least mostly stocks is the safest investment you can make.

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Robo-Advisor-Ultimate-Automatic-Management/dp/1537111957

 

Why gold investing does NOT live up to the ‘gold myths’

For most of us, we consider gold as the best alternative long-term investment and it is up right now. We drastically underestimate the volatility of gold and gold’s downside risk. Most of us think gold is an inflation or currency hedge and haven. It is not. For us, gold is perceived as an asset that provides superior performance during turbulent macroeconomic times. It does not. Gold prices declined over 30% during the worst of the financial crisis. From 1975 to 2022, the real returns for equities and gold were 8% and 1.5% respectively. There is a 50/50 chance for gold to show negative returns in a given negative equity month. Looking at a one-year horizon, gold was riskier (49.7% chance of loss) than both equities (24.9%) and bonds (34.6%). For long and short periods, gold is NOT a viable alternative investment.

https://www.amazon.com/Earn-11-11-3-69-Investments-choice/dp/1502412187

 

You may lose up to 63% of your nest egg

“No matter what I did, I could never beat the S&P 500,” an advisor confesses.

Many fees, charges, and costs are hidden in your financial relationship. One analysis by a finance expert shows you could lose up to 63% of what you would have had during your lifetime of saving/investing. Over time most of us do not see or add the small individual costs. The total nest egg over time can make a big difference to how much you are able to draw as monthly income. For example, you invest $250 a month ($3,000 a year) in your advisor’s mutual funds, choice stocks, bonds and alternatives. There are fees, charges, and costs in each product plus a management/firm quarterly fee which total 2%. As promised, you expect to earn 7% on your money over time. You do—but that number is gross—before all the costs. You end up earning only 5% or less do to bad market timing. So instead of $1.3 million you only get to keep about $670,000 before taxes. You paid $630,000 in investment costs. If you had used a low-cost index fund (0.04%) and free trading platform, you could have earned enough to provide at least $52,000 a year in income. Using a Tax-FREE account, you could have spent every dime ($4,300 a month) for 25 years.

Costs kill: https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Mutual-Funds-Save-taxes/dp/1534939490

 

Insurance You Really Don’t Need

There is an insurance policy for EVERY need. The question you must ask is what is the chance of me using it and at what cost. To find the answer, you can’t rely on the answers from the person trying to profit from the sale. You need to search for that type of policy and a professional analysis of it. The most common insurance you don’t need are whole life, extended warranties, rental car, supplemental (Aflac-like) and trip insurance. For instance, every person of the right age is asked if they have “long-term care” insurance. The sales “hook” is ‘70% of Americans will need some form of long-term care. However, only 7.5 million actually have long-term care insurance. Most costly care is provided by Medicare or Medicaid. The lifetime chance of someone buying coverage at age 60 and USING policy benefits was only 35%. So 65% will not. Most people use it to get care in their own home. So those who pay for help directly and not own a policy might be better off. Not only are premiums increasing but few nursing homes have a A+ rating. Better: wait until you really need expensive long-term care in a good institution and use your Medicaid. It pays for most nursing home stays, not private insurance.

Find the facts: https://www.amazon.com/Long-term-Care-Insurance-Updated-2013/dp/148274001X/

 

Retiree’s portfolios: more guaranteed income?

Today’s retirees are living longer than previous generations — and they want greater certainty that they won’t outlive their money. Thus the appeal of a pension-type annuity contract is common. However advisors usually fail to explain all the fees, charges and costs associated with this vehicle. Plus, the current annuity payout is set at a low level so that there is no recalculation to make up for inflation. The fact that the annuity initial deposit cannot be returned if a retiree has an emergency is ignored. Some retirees feel their current portfolio structure is not modern enough to create more income certainty. A survey finds investors on average want 80% of their retirement savings to be invested in “safer investments,” while those protected by a pension or an annuity have a significantly more positive outlook on their retirement prospects. “Safer investments” is the chosen description of what retirees say they want but usually such vehicles provide less of a nest egg and thus less income for life. Many retirees feel they have not saved enough and that Social Security is not a guaranteed income source anymore. Retirees can’t have more income from “safer investments.” Retirees want to protect whatever they do have even if that means less income later. No more pensions means the risks are all ours.

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

 

 

?**********ACCOUNTABILITY**************?

 

 

Like 1776, this period is a test of democracyWe 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

 

Nov 21 2020: Trump plan: US Marshals seize voting machines

 

Jan 6 2021 Direct govt overthrow failed: guns & bombs ready

 

Trump engaged in a "criminal conspiracy" to stop Biden

 

I don’t f—ing care that they have weapons

 

Trump was “detached from reality”

 

Trump used mafia-style intimidation on the defenseless

 

Trump still terrorizing election woman

 

Parscale: “a sitting president asking for civil war.”

 

Trump: “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me” 

 

GOP fascism: “RINO hunt armed; no bagging limitJ6 comm threat

 

January 6, 2021A date which will live in infamy

 

Trump’s Supremes END personal rights & state laws except for weapons WMDs

 

Fascism: GOP to stop women leaving state for abortion

 

It’s not a court. It’s a junta: Two Americas

 

Trump: President Biden is 'enemy of the state'

 

Christian Nationalist Party (CNP) replaces GOP

 

Nov 8 2022 Trump’s “national revolution” failed

 

Nov 15 2022 Trump announces for 2024 to avoid lawsuits

 

Dec 3 2022 Trump: cancel Constitution rules so ‘I win

 

Mar 11 2023 Pence straddles his place in history

 

Mar 31 2023 Trump indicted misusing election money

 

Apr 7 2023 One GOP guy decided which drugs we can use

 

Apr 9 Illustrated Anne Frank book removed by Florida school

 

Apr 21 Trump: “I am your justice

 

May 9 Trump guilty of sexual abuse

 

Jun 8 Trump indicted by the United States of America

Violation of the Espionage Act

Conspiracy to obstruct justice

Making false statements 

 

 

Jan 2025 Dictator pardons himself: his Supremes agree

 

 

How Govt wastes our money:

NASA costly rocket: Astronauts’ brains need years to recover from trip: no one goes!

Pentagon found $6.2 Billion it “lost”! More “accounting errors”?  

Avoid taxes on investment portfolio: how some folks avoid taxes even without specialist

 

 

SCAMS/SPINS:

Most of us are "very concerned" about wealth inequality: rich country poverty kills poor

Millions dropped from Medicaid as states start a post-pandemic purge of rolls: ERs full

Old 1970 GOP: Nixon expanded Voting Rights Act of 1965: more voters not less

 

Recall: Honda recalling 1.2 million US vehicles for rear camera issue

Recall: 42,000 pounds of Johnsonville sausages : possible contamination.

Ground water pumping for years made Earth shape change; North Pole shifted

 

Schwab caught: hid fees in robo-advisor program, Intelligent Portfolios: promised no fees

PIMCO caught failed to disclose information to investors, failed to waive fees as ordered

Thomas Vernor frmr LPL caught: not disclose he was charged with sex abuse of a child

Three-quarters of financial exploitation is done by family, friends or caregivers.

No client protections: Spending Bill Kills SEC's New Custody Rule, Reg Best Execution

 

2 killed 3 injured WA campground crowd

1 killed 23 people shot IL parking lot party to celebrate Juneteenth

2 killed 1 injured PA shooter killed

6 shot Milwaukee's Juneteenth celebration

 

TV scams: Networks Enlist A.I. Script Generator to ‘Save’ Television Industry: writers?

Ticket Scams Are Skyrocketing

Safer passwords: How Hackers Steal Your Password 

IM Mastery Academy caught deceptively marketed itself 

Cryptocurrency scams involving elders are on the rise: 5 clues help us find scams

JPMorgan deleted 47 million records, emails and instant messages: avoid penalty?

 

Dictator: I can declassify documents “simply by thinking about it”

 

Hunter pleads guilty: will it quell the GOP storm?

 

Supremes violate own rules: don’t report; don’t recluse for donor’s gift case: no trust!

Trump got his Supremes’ rulings from the ‘Shadow Docket’: opinions w/o credibility

Supreme Court rulings are making religion an all-purpose excuse for ignoring the law

Use religion for “political power remake [our America] … an actual ‘Kingdom’ of God.”

 

Biden allows Russia's military to buy ”Western components" for its weapons in Ukraine

 

Jobs

Jobs for manufacturing supercycle starting with high pay

Technology majors thrive in this environment

Companies Offering Sign-On Bonuses

 

ways-retirees-can-make-money-through-passive-income/: some good ideas

Ford gets $9.2 billion for the construction of three EV battery factories

 

Who owns your account now?

Higher interest earned search? Interest Rate Chaser Calculator

Negotiate mortgage rate; save up to $20,000 on change from 6.5% to 6.25%

People over 65 on daily low-dose aspirin were 20% more likely to be anemic

 

7 Things You Should Do Before Claiming Social Security

10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers 

Free custom financial plan: get started with your plan, print and customize

 

Miracles:

In a First, Wind and Solar Generated More Power Than Coal in U.S.

Thanks to the new robot, an area the size of two soccer fields can be reforested every day.

People with incurable cancers may live for decades

 

China to use robots to take care of its aging population: machine over immigrants?

Fast-charging Nyobolt Lotus Eclipse EV can fully charge in under six minutes

‘Lobster Lady’ turns 103, has been hauling traps for 95 years

 

 

 

 

@

 

Our Universe is Mind-Blowing

Light is both a particle and a wave depending on how we look at the light.

I don’t think that there is any such thing as a position or a velocity of a particle.

Everything (galaxies to stones) in universe made of subatomic energy ‘vibrations’

A subatomic ‘particle’ is the smallest possible vibration (quantum) of a quantum field.

 

Mass–energy equivalence: E=mc^2.  At the smallest level; Everything is moving

Energy into matter: scientists converted light energy directly into matter in one step

In place of atomic lattice, light waves used to create an optical lattice with same geometry

Physics Nobel Prize: “entanglement” 2 particles share info instantly at a distance

Quantum mechanics violates local realism: two objects behave as single system at distance

 

“It may be that gravity and quantum mechanics are exactly the same thing,” Leonard Susskind

Gravity might induce the collapse of quantum vibrations into 1 quantum state—our world

Strange state of physics that allows energy to flow frictionlessly through a material

Bending light from extreme gravity reveals largest black hole so far

Curved SpaceTime: heavy masses and simultaneously quantum effects become visible

There is no TIME at this level because of force fields come and go in all directions. 

Universe expanding: events may not come together like they did before: created our time.

Our planetary system: rarest system: only 1% of all systems with same number of planets

 

Inside protons, neutrons, it is the fields of the virtual particles that creates its mass.

Gold made from neutron stars: collisions produce more neutrons:79 protons,118 neutrons

The proton is so complicated science still finds new energy entities/forces every year.

 

“Empty space is a boiling, bubbling brew of virtual particles that pop in and out of existence in a time scale so short that you can’t even measure them.” Space expanding.

The electricity we use comes from the field around the wire not from electron itself.

Scientists build 'baby' wormhole as sci-fi moves closer to fact: inside quantum computer

starts-with-a-bang/universe-expansion-not-accelerating/

Physicists knew black holes eventually disappear particle by particle. Now they think everything else does, too

 

 

 

@

We can apply for Medicare online: https://blog.ssa.gov/apply-for-medicare-online

We can apply for Social Security online: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/

We can apply for health care online: https://www.healthcare.gov/

 

IAN

973.746.2014

http://www.theinsidersguides.com/

Alerts available at http://dankeppel.blogspot.com/