Friday, November 3, 2023

Which is better—ETFs or funds?

 

How is your retirement fund doing?

With the fall in stock market value this year, have you quit saving? Have you automated your saving/investing? Do you track your progress annually with a calculator like Vanguard’s retirement calculator? Do you have a balanced stock/bond portfolio that allows you to sleep at night? Do you have enough saved that you can calculate a future nest egg for your needs? Automatic investment strategies help you buy more shares when prices are low and fewer when high. Will your debt be under control later? Have you made a plan for expenses and income? Have you learned about Warren Buffett’s strategy? Do you take the time to learn how to read your financial statements? Are you buying stocks on sale? According to AARP, over 57 million Americans don’t have access to a workplace retirement savings plan. This access makes you 15 to 20 times more likely to save for retirement. Use a tax-FREE investment accounts. Start a plan today. https://www.amazon.com/Best-Robo-Advisor-Ultimate-Automatic-Management/dp/1537111957

 

Who pays your bills when you are away?

Automatic investing complements automatic bill pay. My mutual fund trustee debits my checking account every month. My wife’s 403b takes her pension contributions automatically each pay day. My gas and electric are paid automatically by a set up with my bank. My mortgage is always the same amount so it is on automatic. For most bills, I set up payment on the day before the payment is due in advance so I don’t get his with $29 late charge. If I am out of town and don’t have a bill, I can pay via their website. The only time I got hit with the late charge was when I did not get the bill because the credit card had illegally force my account into “no paper statement” mode. I complained and the website removed the charge automatically. I never send money by Zelle or other hackable “peer-to-peer” digital payment services. My only problem is making sure there are funds in the account on time. Most of my income sources are dependable. When there is a goof, my bank account is overdraft protected. I share this info with my kid.

https://www.amazon.com/Give-your-child-leg-manage/dp/1096505355

 

Which is better—ETFs or funds?

ETFs are good for trading in your brokerage account. Mutual funds are for long-term accumulation. Cost is important to long-term investors since you will kill the “miracle of compounding” with high costs. Both index mutual funds and ETFs can provide investors with broad, diversified exposure to the stock market. Trading an index ETF seems a contradiction to me since the purpose of an index is to take advantage of better investing results by holding quality stocks forever, not missing the highly volatile gains in the market. Fast trading has been shown to be a losing strategy by many unbiased money professionals. Even master investor Warren Buffett recommends using only two low-cost index funds for retirement income. Plus index funds are very tax efficient since the index that they reflect doesn’t change often—buy and hold.

Follow Buffett’s advice: https://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffetts-Vanguard-Funds-Retirement/dp/1496148592

 

Which life insurance is right for you?

If you have a family or folks who count on you for their income, you need to make sure they will have income if you are not around. Term life insurance is right for you. However, in the past some folks had no way to save for a life-long income, bills, mortgage, funeral and final expenses. So they used permanent life insurance. Since the 70s, whole and universal life insurance are not as good a savings/investment vehicle as low-cost mutual funds. Why—because you get a lot more for your money and you don’t have to die to receive benefits. At average earnings of 11% per year, you can accumulate $500,000 for the same cost of a whole life premium policy. Instead of leaving an expensive death benefit to your family, you can have $500,000 in 35 years of investing. You can then supplement your retirement income and have money to pay for end of life needs. You may be able to leave a larger legacy too.

https://www.amazon.com/Life-Insurance-Need-Save-right/dp/1480002178

 

Annuities add little value for investors with income plan

A recent Morningstar study concluded that annuities add little value for investors who are well-prepared for retirement. The study looked at failure rates, or the probability of running out of retirement savings. Most retirees need a steady income and the annuity option as part of a 401k or 403b plan is the industry’s solution. However, annuity costs exceed the cost of a trustee-managed IRA payout using low-cost mutual funds. Many trustees offer steady income at no extra cost. The standard IRS tax schedule provides steady income of about 4% per annum. The RMD or required minimum distribution is specified by the IRS based on age and the previous year’s total accumulations. Using a balanced mutual fund, this strategy overcomes the problem of an annuity payout that loses value to inflation. If you have $500,000 in this kind of account, you are likely to receive $20,000 plus a year recalculated for inflation each year. Even better, if you use the tax-FREE retirement accounts, you pay NO taxes on your retirement income and probably none on your SS benefits either.

Plan for NO taxes: https://www.amazon.com/New-American-Retirement-System-Reserve/dp/1461030072

 

Did you miss FREE money from the IRS?

More than nine million people may qualify for tax benefits but didn’t claim them by filing a 2021 federal income tax return. Many in this group may be eligible to claim some or all of the 2021 recovery rebate credit, the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit and other tax credits. These and other tax benefits were expanded under last year’s American Rescue Plan Act and other recent legislation. The only way to get the valuable benefits is to file a 2021 tax return. Often, people can get these expanded tax benefits, even if they have little or no income from a job, business or other source. This means that many people who don’t normally need to file a tax return should do so for 2021, even if they haven’t been required to file in recent years. To help people claim these benefits, Free File will remain open for an extra month this year, until November 17, 2022. People with income of $73,000 or less can electronically file a return for free using brand-name software. Free online filing means you get ALL of the money you deserve.

https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free

 

Who is a real fiduciary?

Not all financial advisors are fiduciaries

Selling only their firm’s high-cost products isn’t in your ‘Best Interest’. Regulators have given into the financial sales industry in the sense that now almost every sales person can call themselves a ‘fiduciary’. A fiduciary is a person who does not profit from the advice they give. All financial people who work for a firm—brokerage, advisory or trust company—must sell only what their firm has a contract to offer. Legally these ‘fiduciary’ financial advisors can’t avoid this conflict of interest because they work under a license provided by their firm. In each of the firms I worked for, the products and services we offered were authorized by management. As a member of the product selection committee, I had to provide full due-diligence on the vendors and products we used. We picked the compensation structure we needed for our revenue goals. Sales people can be paid by commissions, quarterly fees, shared-revenue and other means. They can’t offer Vanguard products and services because Vanguard is owned by its investors. You will know you don’t have a real fiduciary when you must sign a BICE. A Best Interest Exemption gives the broker/advisor a safe harbor to recommend an investment product that may benefit them more than it benefits you, and that is a conflict of interest, no matter how much lipstick you apply. Use a certified financial planner (CFP®) for unbiased advice. Or learn from experts like Warren Buffett, John Bogle, and Burton Malkiel what you need.

https://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffetts-Vanguard-Funds-Retirement/dp/1496148592

 

 

 

********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:

Trump’s gag order again by judge after violation: no jail time

45,000 military personnel protecting Israel that we pay for: $ millions for arms too!

GOP to protect wealthy from IRS up tick in audits: IRS funds diverted to Israel

 

We waste $2 Billion to Save Salmon. They Are Vanishing Anyway

We gave $30 million to Song-Chun Zhu who started China’s AI program: tech loss

Surge of debt: both declines in income and corporate tax revenues — as a share of GDP

 

Proposed legislation that would end unlimited corporate donations to PACs is laughed at 

 

SCAMS/SPINS:

Driverless cars banned from CA for striking, dragging, rolling over pedestrians, finally

Trump to push the US House/government to the ultra-conservative religious-white right

Black and brown people face greater exclusion in American society: US at bottom of list

Inflation has crushed retirement dreams for a third of all workers

 

Farmers and USAA raised home insurance rates over 14% in 2023.

DeSantis defends call to ban pro-Palestinian groups from Florida colleges

Insurance Costs Cause Florida Residents to Leave State: weather-related costs rise

The Pros and Cons of Retiring Abroad: It can lead to rewards — but tax headaches.

New Fiduciary Rule Cracks Down on 'Junk Fees': flat fee for plan

10 Common Ways Seniors Get Scammed

 

Where GOP leader Johnson was before his elevation: Christian Nationalist

Christian university fined $37.7 million: it misled students about costs: UN-Christian!

 

Mass shootings are preceded by various signs that are ignored by authorities: we allow

14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban:” ban Trump?   

 

Average parent spends more time with devices than with their kids: end of humanity?

Finally: Eye drops could injure our eyes removed from big stores:

Toyota RAV4 recalled due to a fire risk: replacement batteries don’t fit

Allstate raised rates so now it shows profits over last year loss

 

AI-generated content distorts events in Gaza: “a picture’s worth a thousand [lies[”

 

Jobs

Morgan Stanley Gives All 3 CEO Contenders $20M Special Bonuses: MS lost clients

Auto workers Big 3 agreement: back to work with 25% increase plus: Toyota raised pay

jobs.interestingengineering.com/

 

work-from-home-companies

Trump’s kids knew nothing of his finances: “don’t really remember ever working on it

 

 

Who owns your account now?

Our personal saving rate down to 3.4%,

Shop Health - Plans from $10 or less per month

Used Car and EV Affordability Improves

 

 

Miracles:

SS child benefits can help 2 million grandparents raise their grandkids: must adopt

14-year-old scientist Heman Bekele developed a skin-cancer-fighting soap: 3M prize

Simple blood test can help detect bipolar disorder: avoid many misdiagnoses

 

New treatment for sickle cell disease: FDA examine effectiveness and safety

Can breast milk help lead to early detection of breast 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

 

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