Friday, October 27, 2023

“Will we have enough?”

 

Every retiree asks “Will we have enough?”

Answer: There’s no way to know without knowing what we plan to spend. If you’re approaching retirement, here are two simple steps to figure out if you’ll have enough. First, you need to estimate how much you will have at your chosen retirement age. If you have $1 million in savings, pensions, and investments, you can simply divide by the number of years you may need income. A couple may have 20 years on average in the golden years. This means $50,000 a year before inflation. Social Security may provide another $72,000 a year with the COLA addition. Inflation will reduce the $122,000 a year each year. A big expense like travel, home, etc should be incurred early. If you have no idea or can’t imagine how much you’ll spend during your retirement years, use the amount you’re spending now. Most folks try to fine tune these estimates as they go forward. For instance, if one of you is forced to quit or wants to expand a part-time job or hobby, this will change your answer to the question of enough. Better to have some idea of whether you must keep working now rather than later. A plan, any plan is better than no plan. For instance, some of us have cut some expenses 10-15 years before we will need the extra money. We saved $600 a year on car insurance so we have $20,000 more for a planned RV tour of the US.

https://www.amazon.com/Maximize-Social-Security-Benefits-Retirement-Income/dp/1495439224/

 

What to do now: market retreated below its historic average of 11%

Many of my readers are regretting not capturing the recent highs in market indices. However others know that the future is hard to forecast so they chose NOT to get out now. Market timing has not been shown to be easy to pull off. They are not taking out money right now or in the short future so they will “stay the course.” Commentators have been predicting the market collapse or recession for months. In July market levels hit near 4600. Few could see the end clearly so many benefited from the summer expansion. Now they are faced with a changed situation. Will dumping stocks for 5% Treasuries be more rewarding than anticipating higher returns from a 4.9% annual rate of GDP growth, the strongest since late 2021? Each of us must decide. Most experienced investors recommend staying in the stock market IF your need for funds does not come for at least 10-15 years. And the inflation rate at 3.7% does not seem to predict a clear course. Perhaps this is the time to keep the bulk of our portfolio in both assets equally.

We just don’t know: https://www.amazon.com/Money-Ball-Investing-Winning-unfair-market/dp/1548831409

 

 

 

********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 

 

Aug 1 2023 Trump indicted by the United States of America

Conspiracy to defraud the United States

Conspiracy to obstruct Congressional proceeding

Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding

Conspiracy against right to vote

 

 

Attempted coup d'état by any other name

 

350+ people have been sentenced to jail or prison.

 

 

Trump and His Gang Get the Mob Treatment

 

Aug 4  “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”

 

Mobster #1 Enrique Tarrio gets 22 years 

Mobster Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years

Mobster Ethan Nordean gets 18 years

Mobster Dominic Pezzola sentenced to 10 years

 

 

 

Aug 14 2023 Trump & 18 indicted by the State of Georgia

 

VIOLATION OF THE GEORGIA RICO (RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS) ACT SOLICITATION OF VIOLATION OF OATH BY PUBLIC OFFICER

CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT INIPERSONATIN PUBLIC OFFICER FIRST DEGREE

CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT FALSE STATEMENTS AND WRITINGS

CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT FALSE DOCUMENTS

FORGERY IN THE FIRST DEGREE

CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT FALSE STATEMENTS AND WRITINGS

FILING FALSE DOCUMENTS

SOLICITATION OF VIOLATION OF OATH BY PUBLIC OFFICER

FALSE STATEMENTS AND WRITINGS

SOLICITATION OF VIOLATION OF OATH BY PUBLIC OFFICER

FALSE STATEMENTS AND WRITINGS

 

 

Aug 24 2023 The Don, Racketeer: GA jailhouse real ‘mug’ shot

 

Oct 2 2023  Kelly, Trump’s staff, confirms Trump called our veterans/wounded soldiers “suckers

 

Wannabe Dictatorto run House of  our? “Representatives

 

 

 

Jan 2025 Dictator pardons himself: his Supremes agree

 

 

How Govt wastes our money:

Debt payment: Global billionaire tax could yield $250 billion annually: stop cheating

How Corporations Can Still Get Out of Paying Taxes: better loopholes

Wasted taxes: $1 billion NASA test its 8-rotor Saturn Titan moon drone Dragonfly

 

Our broker/advisor complaints are often erased by regulators without our consideration

 

SCAMS/SPINS:

Another Trump co-defendant pleads guilty: filing false documents to use fake electors

A third Trump lawyer pleads guilty to felony false statements and writings.

 

State lawmakers have weakened child labor laws to let companies cut costs raise profits

Scam: fake bank security tells customer to prevent info thief, convert savings to crypto.

 

We use TEOS on IRS.gov to help find or verify qualified, legitimate charities.

Which bonds should you hold: TIPS, Treasuries, or Total bond fund?

Chase Customers Again Report Missing Money, Wrong Balances: 2nd time takes longer

 

TX bans people traveling on roads if intent is abortion: how know? Nazi-style policing!

23% of us say: “true” patriots may have to use violence in order to save our country."

 

CR finds more lead, cadmium in chocolate: change Halloween candy?

Driverless vehicles were a risk to the public: CA tells GM.

Safeguard Metals steered retirees who cashed out of IRAs for high-markup silver coins

 

 

New Speaker Johnson led attack on Biden election: “states allowed ‘illegal’ voting”

 

Jobs

Low stress high-paying jobs: engineer, statistician, economist

Best and worst states for teachers: VA, NY, UT vs NH, DC, HI

jobs.interestingengineering.com/

 

UAW called on all workers at Ford to return to their jobs: deal done?

 

Who owns your account now?

Prices on some used cars have dropped sharply over the past year:

New Fiduciary Rule: Advisors must provide the best product for you

Net worth increased from $141,100 to $192,900 during 2019-2022.

 

Education Dept: identified errors made by some student loan servicing companies

Massachusetts Doubles Estate Tax Exemption to $2 million

Long Covid Sufferers Preyed on by Stem Cell Clinics

 

 

 

Miracles:

Hamas’s armed wing released a mother and daughter, both Americans

New diabetes treatment could benefit from cell-based therapies.

West Antarctica could contribute more to sea level rise than previously expected

Malaria carried by mosquitoes part of wave of sickness and death due to climate change.

 

An ultrasound device to detect aggressive breast cancer that develops between screenings

Charging EVs while driving in Sweden

New blood test detects tumors early among families with history of cancer

 

 

 

 

@

 

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.

A ‘particle’ is an event; not an objective thing. This event is set of complex relationships.

 

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

 

Stars fueled by the self-annihilation of dark matter might have been spotted for the first time by JWST

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.

New method to study systems with long-range interactions: previously puzzling experts

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

 

Natural ‘missing law’ explain how universe evolved: functions increase in complexity over time

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.

Astronomers discover raw materials for life are present all across the Universe: methyl cation

 

 

 

@

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/ No AI used in these comments

 

 

Friday, October 20, 2023

Regulators order funds to stop “playing name games”

 

Nest eggs broken: retirement abandoned costs $536,572

41% of employees cash out 401(k) accounts upon job separation. First, they give up tax deferral and 10% of their savings. Remember prior to the age of 55, there is a 10% penalty in addition to income taxes. More importantly, their future income is canceled along with all the compounded interest they earned. Both are lost forever. Here is a real example: One of my readers had accumulated $494,509.96 in his current 401k. His employers contributed some of that total. When his employer closed and he had no job to go to, he took the full amount to live on and pay his mortgage. During a 10 year period, even though he intended to invest his nest egg, he did not. He could not find another well-paying job. If he had reduced his spending—living within his means—and invested his 401k in a rollover IRA (also tax-deferred) into the same assets, he would have accumulated $567,577.97 in interest and capital gains. Today he would have had $1,104,149.58 in a retirement account to live on for the next 30 years. Unfortunately most firms have no protocol for job termination and offer no financial advice to departing employees. Instead, communication is often left to financial services firms that administer retirement plans, which usually offer only minimal guidance for a fee.

https://www.amazon.com/New-American-Retirement-System-ReserveTM/dp/1461030072

 

Scams, fraud and hacks: be vigilant

Crooks are using more elaborate methods of gaining access to your life than ever before. Scam text messages from unknown numbers could infect your phone with malware. I just got one that said a package sits in the post office and to retrieve it I need to give info to an email ending in “.top.” The “Hello”, “how you doing” and photo scams are repeating again. A scam text about your bank, “Netflix” or other account being suspended is just to get you to give up access numbers. Scam of the car warranty scam may be phone calls or mail: “Vehicle Alert Notice.”  Only scammers will tell you to buy a gift card, like a Google Play or Apple Card, and give them the numbers off the back of the card. Social media “friend requests” are effective scams for Facebook users. “Pop-up” ads have scam codes that if clicked downloads malware to your device. “Computer virus alerts” scare us into clicking a link or making a call the scammers. They will fix your computer so it never works again and their fee is not retrievable. Call the maker or seller of your device. Scammer can now program scam caller ID to use a fake number and caller city to get us to pick up. Never give up your identifiers. Never follow a text asking you to send them money via a cryptocurrency ATM using their QR code. They may have convinced you the money is used to spring your nephew in jail. Ask other family members to verify the circumstances they allege.

https://www.amazon.com/Money-Scams-2014-insurance-financial/dp/1505437962

 

Regulators order funds to stop “playing name games”

After nearly two decades, investment managers have misleading investors as to the actual types of assets in their funds. Consider, for example, a fund name that indicates an investment focus, such as Large Cap Value. “If the fund actually has much of its assets invested in mid- and small-cap growth stocks, investors are being blatantly misled.” The ESG name game has become particularly concerning as many investment houses have hastened to add ESG-focused funds to meet investor demand. There have been clear instances where this rush to meet investor demand has resulted in products that were ESG-friendly “in name only.” For most investors, the habit of reviewing new fund disclosures that detail the investment style and process has never been more important. 

Name alone cannot be the main selection criterion.

https://www.amazon.com/MasterClass-Buffetts-SIMPLE-Strategy/dp/1983485268

 

Alternatives to costly long-term care insurance

Medicare pays for some short-term care after a hospital stay but not for a long-term need. There are ways to avoid using your last cent on this expensive insurance. Some may be right for you. Medicare and Medicaid have limited programs for your long-term care needs. Most of us don’t need facility care. All states now offer some level of benefits for care in home settings, but the breadth of coverage varies widely. Many folks, who would prefer to stay in their own home, pay for in-home care on their own. Using savings, family help or using the equity in their home are the most common ways to pay a semi-skilled care-giver to help with the main challenges. Some of us own life insurance with a rider for care. Unfortunately, these policies can be expensive and the coverage is limited. Other than selling your home or using a home equity loan, a reverse mortgage can be a great option for covering your care needs. They can be an ideal way to stay in your home and get cash to help pay for care. Others claim a reverse is much too expensive. Clearly, you need to plan well to make sure you have a flexible affordable plan.

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

 

 

 

********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 

 

Aug 1 2023 Trump indicted by the United States of America

Conspiracy to defraud the United States

Conspiracy to obstruct Congressional proceeding

Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding

Conspiracy against right to vote

 

 

Attempted coup d'état by any other name

 

350+ people have been sentenced to jail or prison.

 

 

Trump and His Gang Get the Mob Treatment

 

Aug 4  “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”

 

Mobster #1 Enrique Tarrio gets 22 years 

Mobster Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years

Mobster Ethan Nordean gets 18 years

Mobster Dominic Pezzola sentenced to 10 years

 

 

 

Aug 14 2023 Trump & 18 indicted by the State of Georgia

 

VIOLATION OF THE GEORGIA RICO (RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS) ACT SOLICITATION OF VIOLATION OF OATH BY PUBLIC OFFICER

CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT INIPERSONATIN PUBLIC OFFICER FIRST DEGREE

CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT FALSE STATEMENTS AND WRITINGS

CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT FALSE DOCUMENTS

FORGERY IN THE FIRST DEGREE

CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT FALSE STATEMENTS AND WRITINGS

FILING FALSE DOCUMENTS

SOLICITATION OF VIOLATION OF OATH BY PUBLIC OFFICER

FALSE STATEMENTS AND WRITINGS

SOLICITATION OF VIOLATION OF OATH BY PUBLIC OFFICER

FALSE STATEMENTS AND WRITINGS

 

 

Aug 24 2023 The Don, Racketeer: GA jailhouse real ‘mug’ shot

 

Oct 2 2023  Kelly, Trump’s staff, confirms Trump called our veterans/wounded soldiers “suckers

 

Wannabe Dictatorto run House of “Representatives

 

 

 

Jan 2025 Dictator pardons himself: his Supremes agree

 

 

How Govt wastes our money:

$115K magic income number for family to buy medium-priced home: income now $75K

Wasted taxes: NASA’s Psyche rocketed on six-year journey to asteroid: we need housing

SAD: Fed Needs More Americans to Lose Their Jobs: or they could just raise wealth tax

 

 

SCAMS/SPINS:

IRS warns exaggerated art donation deductions promoters

Wells Fargo customers reported account balance problems

Citi Customers Report App, Website Problems

 

TD Bank Customers Report Missing Direct Deposits

Gemini, Genesis Global, Digital Currency caught crypto fraud of $1Billion

 

Small business scams steal average of $150,000: beware

 

Court: DeSantis denial of Covid attacks cost thousands of lives: hid Covid severity

Trump co-defendant pleads guilty: interfere with the performance of election duties.

Thomas Brenner OH conned clients out of IRA funds used for personal assets: 10 yrs

Alex Jones cannot use his personal bankruptcy to escape paying at least $1.1 billion 

 

Tesla recalls 55,000 model X: fail to detect low brake fluid: warning light fails

Chime bank caught deceiving: forced waive rights, failed provide disclosures and receipts

 

Jobs

Find "secret" job opportunities : pick the company first then contact likely manager

jobs.interestingengineering.com/

46% of middle-skill and 31% of high-skill occupations reduced degree requirement

 

Workplace health insurance premiums for family $24,000: worker part:  $6,575

 

Who owns your account now?

Medicare Open Enrollment started October 15! BEWARE Medicare scams

Floridians pay more than $4,200 a year home insurance: national average $1,700

Your 2022 tax return extension ends on October 16: avoid the penalty-pre-date check

 

Use one app to control your data on multiple web sellers/sites: stop selling your data

Free money added to new IRA account: 1% added to your contributions each year

IRS pilot a free e-tax-filing tool next year: 4 states to integrate their state taxes e-filed

 

The share of households that own stock hit a new high in 2022: Avg net worth $748,800

 

Miracles:

More of us use bankruptcy to limit stress of overstretched finances.

Some coma patients may be conscious. New research could identify them.

El Niño may save Lake Mead's catastrophic water levels: it remains only 30% full

 

Marine bacteria gobble up hard-to-biodegrade plastic

Amazon River water levels hit lowest point in over a century

Young driver fatality rates have fallen sharply in the US, helped by education, technology

 

Hurricanes are now twice as likely to zip from minor to major from warm oceans

Mild winter for northern US: trending warmer

Oxford light chip processes 100 times more efficiently

 

@

 

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.

A ‘particle’ is an event; not an objective thing. This event is set of complex relationships.

 

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

 

Stars fueled by the self-annihilation of dark matter might have been spotted for the first time by JWST

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.

New method to study systems with long-range interactions: previously puzzling experts

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

 

Natural ‘missing law’ explain how universe evolved: functions increase in complexity over time

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.

Astronomers discover raw materials for life are present all across the Universe: methyl cation

 

 

 

@

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/ No AI used in these comments