Friday, January 30, 2015

Get your refund in 2 weeks

Friday, January 23, 2015

Rich rigged STATE tax systems too

The rich have rigged the state tax systems too
New study says that "virtually every state's tax system is fundamentally unfair, taking a much greater share of income from low- and middle-income families than from wealthy families." It added that state and local tax systems are "indirectly contributing to growing income inequality by taxing low- and middle-income households at significantly higher rates than wealthy taxpayers."
In other words, it said the poor paying more and the rich paying less. Overall, the poorest 20 percent of Americans paid an average of 10.9 percent of their income in state and local taxes and the middle 20 percent of Americans paid 9.4 percent. The top 1 percent, meanwhile, pay only 5.4 percent of their income to state and local taxes.
States where taxes hit the poor hardest: WA, FL, TX, SD
It’s time we used the IRS code to benefit us: http://www.amazon.com/Your-Tax-Haven-Tax-FREE-Americans/dp/1482659441

Get Tax Refund in two weeks! File taxes for free using easy online efile screens
IRS announced that taxpayers can begin preparing their returns using the Free File system on Friday, Jan. 16. Available only at IRS.gov, Free File offers two filing options:
• Brand-name software, offered by IRS’ commercial partners to about 100 million individuals and families with incomes of $60,000 or less; or
• Online fillable forms, the electronic version of IRS paper forms available to taxpayers at all income levels and especially useful to people comfortable with filling out their own returns. E-file, when combined with direct deposit, is the fastest way to get a refund. It costs nothing for those who choose Free File.

Walmart gives cash for tax refund approval
Using its in-store tax preparers, the store will give you the cash as soon as you are notified that the IRS has approved your refund—2-3 weeks. Walmart is hoping you will spend the refund in their stores. They may not charge for this convenience but there will be a charge for tax prep. Wal-Mart’s plan is in direct competition to commercial preparers that offer checks as loans against your refund. Check-cashing outlets then offer cash for another fee. This is a very expensive way to force yourself to save. Easier way: http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Builders-Tool-Kit-wasting/dp/1449913059


GOP Crazies
Boehner sent out tweets to his followers with Taylor Swift GIFs. Responses said:
I know @SpeakerBoehner thinks the Taylor Swift GIF thing is funny, but it makes me feel like the republic is in serious trouble. Boehner wants to remind the U.S. that the initiative would cost "60 billion dollars over 10 years." Obama wants to provide a free community college education to millions of students. At 6 billion a year, this is probably a better idea than spending $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties.[3]. A child born into a poor family has only a 9 percent chance of getting a college degree, but the odds are 54 percent for a child in a high-income family.

Members of Congress have spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars supplying their offices with popcorn machines, plasma televisions, DVD equipment, ionic air fresheners, camcorders, and signature machines -- plus $24,730 leasing a Lexus, $1,434 on a digital camera, and $84,000 on personalized calendars.[21]
6 billion invested in the next generation of tax-paying workers sounds good to me. 

Romney blames Obama for inequality—“rich got richer” under Obama?!
Romney will end that???
Mitt Romney stressed the need to sharply reduce poverty in America Friday night during a speech to members of the Republican National Committee. “Under President Obama, the rich have gotten richer, income inequality has gotten worse and there are more people in poverty in American than ever before.”
This is the guy with an elevator for his cars!?! He used to say he does not worry about the 47% who pay no taxes—the poor. Which does he believe?
Poll says 59% want Romney, 50% want Bush, 29% Christie.

Jindal uses Fox slam on Muslims in Europe
GOP candidate Jindal tells London audience that there are whole cities "where non-Muslims simply don't go in," in particular the city of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. The idea of "no-go zones" sparked controversy last week when a Fox “News” commentator raised the prospect of areas in France, Britain, Sweden and Germany where those countries' governments "don't exercise any sovereignty," and instead are run largely by Muslim immigrants.
Paris planned legal action because the city's honour was "prejudiced" by Fox reports that wrongly suggested areas of the city were "no-go zones" that were closed to non-Muslims.
Fox “News” now retracks their made-up story about Muslims.

GOP love affair with Putin over?
Almost-VP-Mrs Palin and Mayor Giuliani were applauding Putin in March 2014. Ben Carson and Pat Buchanan love Putin’s dictatorship. Palin said: "People are looking at Putin as one who wrestles bears and drills for oil. They look at our president as one who wears mom jeans(?) and equivocates and bloviates.” Watch Rudy “Freedom is about authority” comment as he praises Putin as the embodiment of manly leadership. Now, Putin is pushing harder on Russia’s richest citizens to repatriate offshore assets amid a slump in the ruble and the imposition of sanctions by the U.S. and the European Union. Giuliani says that Putin doesn't waste time when he needs a decision: “that is what you call a leader”. True. Dictatorships are more decisive for the dictator and friends.

DEM crazies
Obama wants to tax the wealthy to pay for working family tax credits and education. He would increase tax on their capital gains to the old Reagan levels. Romney on board? Biden is now being shot at. U.S. Secret Service said Sunday that multiple gunshots were fired from a vehicle near the Delaware home of Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday night.

1% wealthy own 48% of all world
The wealthiest 1% will soon own more than the rest of the world's population, according to a study by anti-poverty charity Oxfam. The charity's research shows that the share of the world's wealth owned by the richest 1% increased from 44% in 2009 to 48% last year.

Are you in a state with declining middle class?
As the gap between rich and poor expands, there are communities where wages are falling and lack of jobs is increasing even as the national numbers improve. Do you move or change?

Fidelity caught overcharging clients
Regulators fined Fido $350,000 for overcharging more than 20,000 clients a total of $2.4 million from January 2006 to September 2013. Fidelity inappropriately charged for certain transactions in fee-based accounts in its Institutional Wealth Services group.
Avoid Wall Street charges that can take up to 63% of your funds: http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Without-Wall-Street-Commissions/dp/1442168137

Do you get a tax credit for using ObamaCare?
If you received the benefit of advance credit payments, you must file a federal tax return and reconcile the advance credit payments with the actual premium tax credit you are eligible to claim on your return.  You will use IRS Form 8962,Premium Tax Credit to make this comparison and to claim the credit. If your advance credit payments are in excess of the amount of the premium tax credit you are eligible for, based on your actual income, you must repay some or all of the excess when you file your return, subject to certain caps.
If you purchased your coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace, you should receive Form 1095-AHealth Insurance Marketplace Statement from your Marketplace. You should receive this form by early February.
Form 1095-A will provide the information you need to file your taxes, including the name of your insurance company, dates of coverage, amount of monthly insurance premiums for the plan you and other members of your family enrolled in, amount of any advance payments of the premium tax credit for the year, and other information needed need to compute the premium tax credit.
Using tax preparation software is the best and simplest way to file a complete and accurate tax return as it guides individuals and tax preparers through the process and does all the math. Electronic filing options include IRS Free File for taxpayers who qualify, free volunteer assistancecommercial software, and professional assistance.
For more information about the Affordable Care Act and filing your 2014 income tax return, visit IRS.gov/aca.

Instead of building your insurers' reserves, build your own reserves 
  1. Create a tax-FREE Wealth Reserve.
  2. Accumulate $1,000,000 with NO taxes--EVER.
  3. Use the IRS tax code just as insurers do. 
Most of us don't realize that we can self-insure ourselves. We can save $3,000 every year on our financial services. We can use that $3,000 to build a tax-FREE fund to help protect us from losses. This fund, I call a Wealth Reserve, can cover our deductibles and loss expenses. As this fund grows, it becomes our loss reserve and eventually replaces life insurance, long-term care insurance, and guaranteed annuities when we need them. Most businesses 'Go Naked': they buy protection for large risks only. They avoid coverage for smaller charges.
We build OUR reserves instead of our insurers' reserves and Save.



Quote for the times
Good Catholics don't have to breed "like rabbits," the pope said. Pope Francis discussed contraception and family planning during a mid-flight press conference on board the papal plane while flying home from a five-day trip to the Philippines. He has a plane?

What can we do about this? Why no safety switch?
A 9-month-old northwest Missouri boy is dead after being accidentally shot in the head by his 5-year-old brother. The 5-year-old found a loaded .22 caliber handgun and fired it.

Who owns your account now?
City National, the Los Angeles-based banker to the stars, was sold to Royal Bank of Canada

SCAMS           Why are we still paying $700 Billion a year for WWII deployments? That is 27 cents of each dollar in taxes—the largest part of our money—and we aren’t even at war. We could pay off our debts and fix our schools, roads and bridges!
We are paying for 164,253 of our active-duty armed personnel to be in 150 countries around the world. We have about 50,000 in Japan and 50,000 in Germany.
Are we preparing for WWII again? There are 1,208,083[1] armed personnel in the United States. Our taxes pay for about HALF of the WORLD’s military expenditures every year. We have wasted $398.6 billion so far on the F-35 program—they can’t fly safely.
We just can’t afford to pay for everyone else’s defenses anymore.
Japan, Germany and S. Korea can pay for their own defenses.
The War on Terror requires SEALS’ attacks on top terrorists at their homes. Iraq proved converting a nation to Western-style republic doesn’t work.

Tax refund scams at tax time
Any one of these five things is a tell-tale sign of a scam.
The IRS will never:
  • Call to demand immediate payment, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill.
  • Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.
  • Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.
  • Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
  • Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.
Report the incident to the TIGTA at 1-800-366-4484 or at www.tigta.gov.

Patriots cheated for what?
Deflating the balls is against the rules. Now more fans think there will be an * asterisk after every win. Surely the Super bowl will be marred in fans thinking. Referees touch every play but never said anything. Little advantage but huge downside!
The Patriots are guilty of this, and they are guilty of being one of the best teams in football for the past 15 years.

IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
Montclair, NJ 07042
973.746.2014
Alerts

Friday, January 16, 2015

Learn how to avoid taxes legally like corporations do

Pay No Taxes in Retirement: Learn how to avoid taxes legally like corporations do
·        Two thirds of all corporations pay NO tax.
·        25 actually got $364 Billion refunds from OUR taxes.
·        The wealthy pay as little tax as 13% of their incomes.
·        Create a tax-FREE income fund for the rest of your life.
·        Accumulate $1,000,000 with NO taxes—EVER.

Another way WE pay for the lifestyles of the “rich and famous”
Wealthy collectors have long saved millions of dollars in federal taxes by donating art and money to museums and foundations. But what distinguishes tycoon Brant’s “museum” and a growing number of private tax-exempt exhibition spaces like it is that their founders can deduct the full market value of any art, cash and stocks they donate, even when the museums are just a quick stroll from their own living rooms. When they pay less tax, build their own private “museum,” WE pay more tax. And WE can’t even see the art—it is by invitation only. 
It’s time we used the same IRS code they do: http://www.amazon.com/Your-Tax-Haven-Tax-FREE-Americans/dp/1482659441


Your Vanguard Top Ten returns 11.8% long term
Some of our members are “rebalancing” by adding money to the funds that are down—Energy and International Growth. Buying energy stocks when they are “on Sale” makes great sense for their long term gains. Other members are moving some of their gains in Health to their Wellesley Income fund to protect their money long-term income source. 

Total Return    Fund                            Long-term Return*       Longevity
13.5%              500 Index                    11.1%*                        since 1976
-14.3%             Energy                         11.5%                          since 1984
 7.4%               Extended Market Idx   11.1%                          since 1987
28.5%              Health                          17.4%                          since 1984
-5.6%              International Growth   10.6%                          since 1981
18.7%              PRIMECAP                 13.9%                          since 1984
 7.5%               Small Cap Index           9.3%                           since 1960
 8.1%               Wellesley Income        10.1%                          since 1970
11.8%              Windsor                      11.6%                          since 1958
11.2%              Windsor II                   11.1%                          since 1985
 8.7%               Average                       11.8%
*Average Annual Returns as of 12/31/14.



Which mutual funds are popular with your advisor?
Salespeople steer your money to those that pay the highest commission again this year. Even though most managers did NOT beat the index funds, advisors did NOT do what was best for YOU. The proof has already been known since the unbiased rating firm Morningstar did its study of which funds have the highest returns. Morningstar found that “Over every period and in every category, the average low-cost fund ranked better than the average high-cost fund.”


Where would you get $1,000 for an emergency?
Only 38% of Americans have enough money in their savings accounts to pay for unexpected expenses such as a $1,000 emergency room visit or a $500 car repair, according to Bankrate. Others would raise the money by reducing spending elsewhere (26%), borrowing from family/friends (16%) or using credit cards (12%). The ability to use savings for unexpected expenses increases with age, income and education level. My bank pays 0.01%. A 5-year CD pays 2.25% by mail. My local credit union pays 0.7%. Vanguard’s bond fund pays 6.23%. In retirement, this question is very important. 


What does that medical procedure cost?
FAIR Health (fairhealthconsumer.org) provides free tools to estimate medical and dental costs in your area and help you determine what your insurance will cover if you go out of network. You also can get free cost benchmarks by using Healthcare Bluebook (healthcarebluebook.com). 


GOP crazies
Our “Reps” have started dismantling the laws that prevent another bank bailout. The House passed a bill would let large banks hold on to certain risky securities until 2019, two years longer than currently allowed. It would also prevent the Securities and Exchange Commission from regulating private equity firms that conduct some securities transactions. And, finally, the bill would make derivatives trading less transparent, allowing unseen risks to build up in the system. These activities took us to the brink of system failure in 2008. Bankers want their bank bonuses back. The bankers who pay for our Reps’ perks have told them to eliminate the laws that protect us.
The House also approved a rule that would cut the Social Security Disability Fund. Partisans said they would approve a reallocation if they can cut other SS benefits or increase taxes.
Check your Social Security account for cuts! https://secure.ssa.gov/RIL/SiView.do

Get Tax Refund in two weeks! File taxes for free using easy online efile screens
IRS announced that taxpayers can begin preparing their returns using the Free File system on Friday, Jan. 16. Available only at IRS.gov, Free File offers two filing options:
• Brand-name software, offered by IRS’ commercial partners to about 100 million individuals and families with incomes of $60,000 or less; or
• Online fillable forms, the electronic version of IRS paper forms available to taxpayers at all income levels and especially useful to people comfortable with filling out their own returns. E-file, when combined with direct deposit, is the fastest way to get a refund. It costs nothing for those who choose Free File.


Is America being split into Two Americas?
Americans in poverty doubled in 15 years. Wages have not increased as the goods produced by each worker has doubled. From 1973 to 2011, worker productivity grew 80 percent, while median hourly compensation, after inflation, grew by just one-eighth that amount, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Child poverty was up in more than half of developed world since 2008. Norway has the lowest child poverty rate, at 5.3% (down from 9.6% in 2008), and Greece has the highest, at 40.5% (up from 23% in 2008). Latvia and Spain also have child poverty rates above 36%. In the US, the rate is 32%.
The share of wages going to the top 1 percent climbed to 12.9 percent in 2010, from 7.3 percent in 1979.
“What we have here is a failure {of the American dream}.” The top 1% grows farther away from us. See graph of US incomes:  http://tcftakingnote.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ffb969888330168eb707466970c-pi

Car insurance by the mile?
Progressive will partner with OnStar to offer usage-based discounts to customers beginning this summer. At the end of a 90-day evaluation period, OnStar subscribers will have an opportunity to enroll in a driving assessment program. Some subscribers then will have an opportunity to share driving data and evaluation information with Progressive through its Snapshot program and potentially receive discounted insurance offers. Information sharing will be entirely voluntary basis, the companies said.

Allianz to start paying death claims
Allianz Life will pay a $4.7 million fine and start paying death claims to people who may not know they are beneficiaries using the Social Security Death File in handling death claims. Allianz agreed to check the death file to ensure death claims are paid. In the past, they held death benefits for their own use. Many people don’t need it anymore.

PA lawyers who are state or federally licensed financial advisors or insurance agents will be barred from recommending or making an investments for clients if they or their family members have financial stakes in the transactions. No other state bans this conflict of interest. US regulators (SEC) and most states follow the ABA’s Model Code of Professional Conduct which allows attorneys to profit from financial advice if the conflict of interest is disclosed.
“How can I give independent objective advice if I stand to gain a sales commission?” one attorney said. Indeed!

Support American jobs—buy “foreign” cars
American cars are really not “American-made” anymore—NAFTA cancelled US Jobs
13 of the most popular cars which are touted as American. They are actually NON-American-made—most are Mexico and Canada. The ones actually made (most) by Americans are F-150, Camry, Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna, Toyota Tundra, Toyota Avalon. “Foreign” cars also top the Initial Quality Ratings too.
Use a quality insurer for your quality ‘foreign” car: http://www.amazon.com/Vehicle-Insurance-Beware-Double-Coverage/dp/1480027634


SCAMS           Why are we still paying $700 Billion a year for WWII deployments? That is 27 cents of each dollar in taxes—the largest part of our money—and we aren’t even at war. We could pay off our debts and fix our schools, roads and bridges!
We are paying for 164,253 of our active-duty armed personnel to be in 150 countries around the world. We have about 50,000 in Japan and 50,000 in Germany.
Are we preparing for WWII again? There are 1,208,083[1] armed personnel in the United States. Our taxes pay for about HALF of the WORLD’s military expenditures every year. We have wasted $398.6 billion so far on the F-35 program—they can’t fly safely.
We just can’t afford to pay for everyone else’s defenses anymore.
Japan, Germany and S. Korea can pay for their own defenses.
The War on Terror requires SEALS’ attacks on top terrorists at their homes. Iraq proved converting a nation to Western-style republic doesn’t work.

How many bridges can we fix with $443 million?
Our government is spending $443 million to operate the Guantánamo prison this year, or nearly $3 million for each of the 149 prisoners. It would be better to try them and put the guilty ones in Leavenworth for life. It cost only $30,280 a year there. 


Mercury Insurance has been ordered by the California Insurance Commissioner to pay a historic $27.5 million penalty for willfully violating Proposition 103, by chargingCalifornia consumers illegal auto insurance fees between 1996 and 2006.

Wall Street tricks discovered: F-Squared stock returns record faked
Regulators finally uncovered this “pump and dump” F2 as just cooking the backtesting data sold by supersalesman CEO Howard Present. He was former engineer who wanted to cash in on the ETF craze. He did; taking $ millions in fees. He changed his fund’s record so it looked like 2008 had a loss of just 1.9% compared to the market drop of 37%. People dove into his fund believing that Present had found the perfect formula. It was. He had made it up.

Noah L. Myers of Lyme, CT, the former owner of MiddleCove Capital LLC, was sentenced to 40 months in prison and three years of supervised parole for “cherry picking” good investment deals for himself and leaving clients with losing ones, the SEC announced Wednesday.

Daniel M. Porush, former broker for “Wolf of Wall Street” Jordan Belfort is under investigation. Med-Care Diabetic & Medical Supplies Inc., which employs Daniel M. Porush, who inspired the movie character Donnie Azoff, is complying with a federal probe into filing false claims against Medicare. Med-Care received more than $84 million from Medicare in connection with the improper sales scheme. Patients were pressured to buy devices they did not need.

IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
Montclair, NJ 07042
973.746.2014
Alerts

Friday, January 9, 2015

They use America's bounty but they pay NO income taxes

As we pay our taxes this season; Let us remember those who use America’s bounty and pay NO federal income taxes.
Citizens for Tax Justice looked at 288 profitable Fortune 500 companies and said that 26 of them - including Boeing, General Electric and Verizon - paid no federal income tax in the five-year period. Some even got our taxes as refunds. The group also said that 111 of the 288 companies paid no federal income tax in at least one of the five years measured. Yet corporations are allowed by the Supreme Court (Citizens United) to pay UNLIMITED amounts to decide who gets to spend all our tax money in Washington. We pay the taxes, corporate stooges spend it.


New Year Resolution—create a Tax-FREE retirement
Start your tax-FREE retirement fund the painless way: your tax refund. The average refund is $3,000. Use the Vanguard Top Ten averaging over 10% per year. In 20 years you have $200,000 tax-FREE money. In 35 years, $1,200,000. That can provide $60,000 per year; $5,000 per month. With no taxes on this money, you won’t need to pay tax on Social Security or your 401k.


Bad brokers have their clients’ complaints destroyed
Brokers who have been caught cheating their clients had their complaints destroyed as part of their settlements. This means that checking your brokers’ records is meaningless. They could be Mr Evil himself and their FINRA record is blank. This is another reason to follow a passive investment plan. Just set it and forget it as Warren Buffett recommends:

Brokerage firms fight regulators on broker background checks?
Regulators say firms must conduct a search of “reasonably available public records,” such as those pertaining to criminal history, bankruptcy, civil litigation, liens and business records. This will cost more money and so firms are against it even though it protects clients. If a broker has been sued 10 times, it's important to look at the underlying facts, advocates say. The new background check rules may force them to think twice about hiring a hotshot broker with a big book of business but a sketchy regulatory history. Brokers hide negative issues. Avoid Madoff-style scams.

Just 1000 Americans control 1/5 of all the wealth
According to economists Saez and Zucman, “wealth concentration has followed a U-shaped evolution over the last 100 years: It was high in the beginning of the 20th century, fell from 1929 to 1978, and has continuously increased since then.” The recent rise of wealth inequality is “almost entirely due to the rise of the top 0.1% wealth share, from 7% in 1979 to 22% in 2012 — a level almost as high as in 1929.” Corporate executive are paid pensions worth 1,000 times a worker pension.
What’s causing it? According to the economists, the increase in wealth concentration at the top of America’s economic pyramid is due to a surge of top incomes combined with an increase in inequality of savings — the wealthy are being paid more (or earning more from their investments) and the poor aren’t able to save: Like middle-ages serfdom. Make sure you get your fair share: http://www.amazon.com/Tax-FREE-Wealth-How-laws-free/dp/1475089236

Do you know the car dealer scams?
Do your research before you shop and save $1,000 or more. There are several tips dealers have used in the past, but there is a sure way to avoid losing to a scam. If you know what you are buying and what it costs, you are not likely to fall for the scams. Most of the money lost in buying a car is in the financial part of the sale.

Buffett’s investment plan:
"My advice to the trustee could not be more simple: Put 10% of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund," he wrote to shareholders of his company Berkshire Hathaway earlier this year.
New data from investment adviser SigFig leads to a similar conclusion.
After analyzing portfolios held by 325,000 users, the robo-adviser found something interesting: The most successful investors in the group were also the least active.
SigFig finds that investors who trade frequently — defined as "investors who have a turnover amount equal to or greater than their portfolio value in a year" — actually see lower returns than their peers who are more hands-off. Traders return was 0.13% vs non-traders return of 4.7%. Use Warren’s strategy for better returns:

Save $300 on tax prep
The average cost of having your taxes done is $300. Preparers will charge more for the new health care forms. If you earn less than $60,000, use the IRS-approved software providers FREE. It is easy. Just fill in your data from your forms and see what your refund could be: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Free-File:-Do-Your-Federal-Taxes-for-Free
We AARP volunteers will do your taxes for FREE: The IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs offer free tax help for taxpayers who qualify.
Find a provider for Jan 20 IRS opening: http://irs.treasury.gov/freetaxprep/jsp/vita.jsp

List of items for your tax return prep for 2014
Wait for all your tax forms so IRS won’t reject your return—delay your refund.
Pension and broker forms will be delayed. ObamaCare exchanges send forms late too. Congress waited to the last minute so many forms are in process, including the new 1040. Take these documents with you to your tax preparer:

GOP crazies
NJ gov Christie has Cowboys owner Jones fly him and family to the game and lux suite (costs over $100,000) and gives Port Authority WTC observation contract (est. $200 million) to Jones’ firm. This is illegal—they are not childhood friends. It looks like graft.
VA Gov McDonnell has been sentenced to two years in prison for receiving $165,000. The sentences for elites: http://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/local/corruption-sentences
If you are poor, stealing a $1,000 used car is punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison in many states.
Millionaire Congress: Almost half of newly installed GOP freshmen come with big bank accounts. Over half of all House and Senate are wealthy and don’t know about middle-class struggles.

BEWARE: Salespeople are now pushing this investment:
This is an email that was sent to many salespeople this week offering an annuity to beat bank CDs. They don’t disclose the fees or the charges if you cancel. They do mention the 3% rate. If CD rates go up during the 5 years, you are stuck with a penalty. Ad says:
“Beat bank CD's with our January Fixed Annuity Top Pick, which features:
3.00% guaranteed five year interest rate. Our January Fixed Annuity Top Pick with a five year interest rate guarantee of 3.00%. According to Bankrate.com, the national average interest rate on a 5 year bank CD is currently 0.85% (as of 1/6/15). Additionally, the interest earnings from bank CD's must be reported on your income tax return each year. Whereas, interest earnings left to grow and compound in an annuity are tax deferred, saving you taxes.”

Will you have enough?
Nearly 40% of men and 50% of women will live to age 90 according to recent (2008) mortality tables. Can you live on your retirement income for this long? Annuities will pay an amount for life but most annuities are fixed payments so $1000 a month now will be worth $500 in 20 years. The best strategy is to keep growing your retirement portfolio AND take increasing monthly payments. There is only one way to do that:  http://www.amazon.com/Not-Buy-That-Annuity-Guaranteed/dp/1466494573


Police chief shot his wife in bed—Was he annoyed?
A police chief in Georgia told a 911 dispatcher he ‘accidentally’ shot his wife while moving a handgun that was in their bed (????), according to a recording released Friday. Guns have no safety switch? What can they be doing in bed with a loaded no-safety gun?
The police chief in FL claimed the guy in theater was texting and it annoyed him. He had just texted his son. Michael Dunn killed Jordan Davis because music annoyed him. 

Tax filing scams
Beware of a trust that promises to reduce the amount of income subject to tax, offers deductions for personal expenses or claims to lower estate or gift taxes. You may be caught in tax avoidance schemes that involve various business entities. Avoid those who use doctored income statements to reduce wages to nothing.
Some scammers use frivolous tax arguments to encourage taxpayers to avoid filing and paying taxes. Most tax cheats report less income than they make, so their tax liability will be less. Scammers impersonate charities to get money or private information from well-intentioned taxpayers. And they use a variety of tactics. Putting money into a foreign bank account for the sole purpose of hiding it from the IRS is illegal. Questionable return preparers have been known to skim off their clients' refunds, charge excessive fees for return preparation services and attract new clients by promising guaranteed or inflated refunds.
Tax con artists claim they can get filers free money from the IRS based on fictitious Social Security benefits or false tax credit claims. Tax phishers usually pose as an IRS representative. The IRS doesn't send unsolicited emails to taxpayers. Some scammers tell folks who take the calls that they are entitled to huge refunds; all they need to do is provide some personal information. Identity thieves use your personal information to file and claim a fraudulent refund. Learn the signs of scammers:

Are you exempt from ObamaCare penalties 2014?
Choose the exemption you want to apply for
  • Exemptions based on coverage being unaffordable
  • Exemptions based on hardship
  • Exemptions for membership in a health care sharing ministry
  • Exemptions for membership in a federally-recognized tribe or ANCSA corporation
  • Exemptions based on eligibility for services through an Indian health care provider
  • Exemptions for being incarcerated
  • Exemptions for membership in a recognized religious sect whose members object to insurance
  • Exemptions for low income, short coverage gaps, and not being lawfully present
Instructions for filling out exemption forms.
Call to apply, compare plans, enroll or ask a question. 1-800-318-2596

GOP trying to eliminate health care regs by redefining working hours
GOP pushing for ObamaCare to define “full-time” 40 hours not 30 hours. If every worker has their hours cut to 39, employers can avoid providing help with health care expenses. 


 SCAMS          Why are we still paying $700 Billion a year for WWII deployments? That is 27 cents of each dollar in taxes—the largest part of our money—and we aren’t even at war. We could pay off our debts and fix our schools, roads and bridges!
We are paying for 164,253 of our active-duty armed personnel to be in 150 countries around the world. We have about 50,000 in Japan and 50,000 in Germany.
Are we preparing for WWII again? There are 1,208,083[1] armed personnel in the United States. Our taxes pay for about HALF of the WORLD’s military expenditures every year. We have wasted $398.6 billion so far on the F-35 program—they can’t fly safely.
We just can’t afford to pay for everyone else’s defenses anymore.
Japan, Germany and S. Korea can pay for their own defenses.
The War on Terror requires SEALS’ attacks on top terrorists at their homes. Iraq proved converting a nation to Western-style republic doesn’t work.

Shareholders get the shaft—CEOs increase their pay/bonus/deals/control/etc
Last month, government ruled in favor of big business, allowing them to exclude from its proxy a shareholder proposal on director nominations. Other companies will surely followed suit, asking the regulators to rule the same way for them. The owners of corporations—the shareholders—will not be allowed to propose the directors who are supposed to rule management for them.

Bank bailouts again?

Moshe Marc Cohen, a former Woodbury Financial broker who participated in a scheme to profit from the death of terminally ill patients through variable annuity sales, must return $768,000 in commissions, an SEC judge ruled. SEC did not stop Cohen from stealing from other clients because he was not caught within 5 years.

Jeffrey M. Knutsen, Bellwether Wealth Management, was barred in 2005 from working as a broker after a customer complained that he embezzled from the client’s account. Despite being barred, Knutsen continued to work with clients, many of them elderly. Knutsen was finally caught 10 years later and was sent to jail for 4 years. He created more than 200 checks on the clients’ accounts and used the money for himself, according to the FBI.

Arthur Nadel as a poster child of the Ponzi scam. His ersatz hedge fund bilked investors out of close to $350 million dollars. An investor thinking about investing with Nadel could have seen a disaster waiting to happen by doing an elementary public records search of the financier before giving him money. Nadel had been disbarred as an attorney for fraud and had listed himself as indigent in a divorce filing.

IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
Montclair, NJ 07042
973.746.2014
Alerts 

Friday, January 2, 2015

Advisors stealing $ millions from our pensions

“Advisors” stealing $ millions from retirees
Christopher Birli and Patrick Chapin, were MetLife “advisors” in Williamsville, NY until 2012. The two focused on advising employees of the State University of New York and legally created double commissions by “churning” their state pensions into IRA annuities. Pensions and IRAs are already “tax-deferred” and thus don’t need an annuity benefit. Annuity victims are locked in for over 7 years and pay high annuity fees forever—earn 2%; pay 2%. Advisors took 8-10% commissions on $21 millions of pensions.

Your Vanguard Top Ten returns 11.8% long term
Some of our members are “rebalancing” by adding money to the funds that are down—Energy and International Growth. Buying energy stocks when they are “on Sale” makes great sense for their long term gains. Other members are moving some of their gains in Health to their Wellesley Income fund to protect their money long-term income source. 
Total Return    Fund                            Long-term Return*       Longevity
13.5%              500 Index                    11.1%*                        since 1976
-14.3%             Energy                         11.5%                          since 1984
 7.4%               Extended Market Idx   11.1%                          since 1987
28.5%              Health                          17.4%                          since 1984
-5.6%              International Growth   10.6%                          since 1981
18.7%              PRIMECAP                 13.9%                          since 1984
 7.5%               Small Cap Index           9.3%                           since 1960
 8.1%               Wellesley Income        10.1%                          since 1970
11.8%              Windsor                      11.6%                          since 1958
11.2%              Windsor II                   11.1%                         since 1985
 8.7%               Average                       11.8%
*Average Annual Returns as of 12/31/14.
Bond king Bill Gross took $290 MILLION before he left PIMCO while leaving some of our members with only 4.7% in “Total Return”. They are not following him to Janus.

Tax evasion will cost more!
The IRS has updated its list of so-called bad foreign banks where offshore accounts trigger a 50% (rather than 27.5%) penalty in the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP). The IRS added Sovereign Management and Legal, Ltd., plus certain branches of Bank Leumi. Neither addition should come as a surprise. Both banks have been targets of the Department of Justice. Presently, taxpayers in the 2014 OVDP face a 50% penalty if they had accounts at 10 banks, including UBS.
You don’t need a foreign bank to avoid tax on your savings/investments: http://www.amazon.com/Create-Your-Tax-FREE-Financial-System/dp/1466367466

Save $300 on tax prep
The average cost of having your taxes done is $300. Preparers will charge more for the new health care forms. If you earn less than $60,000, use the IRS-approved software providers FREE. It is easy. Just fill in your data from your forms and see what your refund could be: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Free-File:-Do-Your-Federal-Taxes-for-Free
AARP volunteers will do your taxes for FREE: The IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs offer free tax help for taxpayers who qualify.
Find a provider for Jan 20 IRS opening: http://irs.treasury.gov/freetaxprep/jsp/vita.jsp

List of items for your tax return prep for 2014
Wait for all your tax forms so IRS won’t reject your return—delay your refund.
Pension and broker forms will be delayed. ObamaCare exchanges send forms late too. Congress waited to the last minute so many forms are in process, including the new 1040. Take these documents with you to your tax preparer:

GOP crazies:
Michael G. Grimm, the Republican Party’s lone congressional representative in New York City, announced late on Monday that he would resign after he pleaded guilty to felony tax evasion. Only last month he said he would not give up his seat he just won in ultra-right Staten Island (OK when police kill black man by illegal choke-hold).
GOP leader, Steve “the sleeze” Scalise, says he had no idea he was boosting the KKK white supremacists in 2002 meeting. Either he is the stupidest Rep we have or he needs a new handler. Either way, this “Rep of the people” gives the GOP a new low. He replaces Ms. Bachmann as an example of what Washington has become—great entertainment for Fox and MSNBC to sell. Lesson 101 for our Washington Reps: http://news.yahoo.com/five-ways-to-know-you-re-speaking-to-white-supremacists-004845526.html


DEM crazies
2015 brings a raise for over 3 million workers. Employers in 21 states and Washington D.C. will hike their minimum wages on January 1. Sparked by a wave of fast food and retail worker protests, more than a dozen states like Alaska, South Dakota and Nebraska and many cities such Seattle and Oakland have jumped on the momentum and passed new laws to raise the minimum wage. In 2015, a majority of states -- 29 -- will have a higher minimum wage than the federal wage, which is $7.25 an hour. West Coast cities led the push for higher wages this year, breaking the $15 an hour barrier for the first time. Seattle and San Francisco passed $15 wage laws, while Los Angeles announced a significant wage hike too.

FL TX turns back on GOP and takes ObamaCare
More than 670,000 Floridians have signed up for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act for 2015, the most of any state using the federal marketplace, according to federal data. Florida leads the nation in the number of people signing up in the 37 states using the federal exchange at healthcare.gov. Texas was No. 2, with more than 379,000 Americans signing up. "I could afford to buy food or go to the doctor," said Mrs. Alfred, a mother of three. "But not both."

You can now add $53,000 to your “after-tax” 401k account
On a pretax basis, employees can't contribute above certain limits. In 2015, for instance, the limit is $18,000; those 50 and older can deposit $24,000. However, on an AFTER-TAX basis, the IRS raised the limit to $53,000 in 2015. Now you can roll over after-tax contributions into a Roth IRA when you retire or leave the company without paying tax or being required to take RMD distributions at 70 ½ years. You can create a TAX-FREE legacy for heirs at no cost—no trust or life insurance costs!

SCAM ALERT: RoboCalls steal your time and money
Delete roboCalls automatically so you can’t be scammed by telephone calling factories. I have tried this FREE service because they won the FTC call blocking contest. It answers your land line and hangs up on the 1st ring on your phone. You don’t have to give up your time and attention every time the phone rings from those NO Name 800 numbers. Try it FREE. We love it! Thanks http://www.nomorobo.com/

What has Congress done for us lately?
They passed 40 bills (15% of all new laws) just renaming post offices! They get $174,000 plus free perks for little work. They passed 4 laws naming the boardmembers of the Smithsonian, 2 laws on duck hunting, 1 law canceling pensions for Nazis (????), 11 laws changing the title to our lands, 8 laws giving medals to celebs, and 1 law setting the premier of their new do-nothing session.
We need a refund. We have been tricked. HALF of Congress are millionaires. They don’t need money. Back in 1965 they made $30,000 and did not get a raise every year but passed 800 laws. They passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which outlawed states from making it hard for minorities to vote. That provision was reversed by the Supremes in 2014. Congress did nothing to stop the voter suppression in GOP states.  

Which insurer should you use for your life insurance?
A recent report about insurers’ strength during crisis shows that “brand” names don’t guarantee financial soundness. Like AIG, MetLife has now been designated as a systemically important financial institution (SIFI) because of how much trouble the company got into in the 2008 crash and also because of how woven the company is in the global economy, according to a justification the council released the day after the designation. Financial distress at MetLife “could have significant adverse effects on a broad range of financial firms and financial markets, and could lead to an impairment of financial intermediation or financial market functioning that could be sufficiently severe to inflict significant damage on the economy,” the 340-page report said.
Pick the insurer that is aligned with your lifestyle, not Wall Street’s: http://www.amazon.com/Life-Insurance-Need-Save-right/dp/1480002178

How can we let this go on?
Two-year old kills own mother with her mom’s gun. There is no “safety” lever.
What about the rights of children who die every year from out “mistakes” and accidents? Is the NRA that powerful that we give up all our right to life?

SCAMS           Why are we still paying $700 Billion a year for WWII deployments?
We are paying for 164,253 of our active-duty armed personnel to be in 150 countries around the world. We have about 50,000 in Japan and 50,000 in Germany.
Are we preparing for WWII again? There are 1,208,083[1] armed personnel in the United States. Our taxes pay for about HALF of the WORLD’s military expenditures every year. We have wasted $398.6 billion so far on the F-35 program—they can’t fly safely.
We just can’t afford to pay for everyone else’s defenses anymore.
Japan, Germany and S. Korea can pay for their own defenses.
The War on Terror requires SEALS’ attacks on top terrorists at their homes. Iraq proved converting a nation to Western-style republic doesn’t work.

Auditors Say Feds Needlessly Wasted $43 Billion
Their recommendations included actions such as implementing tighter controls and oversight to decreasing improper payments. Those alone represent almost $20 returned for every taxpayer dollar invested. The watchdogs are limited in their actions. Despite the potential savings, departments are not obligated to follow their auditors’ recommendations.

Jo Ellen Fisher of Gallipolis, Ohio stole assets from 96-year-old client
Raymond James Financial Services is pursuing more than $800,000 from a former financial advisor the firm claims swindled a 96-year-old client suffering from dementia.

Patricia S. Miller, of McMurray PA, advisor affiliated with Investors Capital was charged with wire fraud and arrested in Pennsylvania on June 6. Victim's lawyers—and a number of lawyers seeking to represent victims in the case—say the Ponzi scheme was far reaching and involved numerous victims. Miller promised high returns if clients put their money into investment clubs called, among other things, KS Investments and Buckharbor. Miller told clients the funds would be placed in fixed-income notes and other investments. Instead of investing the money as promised, Miller misappropriated client funds for her own personal use.

Matthew Celenza and Lawrence DiGioia, Celenza's partner, Bank America, LA, were ordered to pay $6.6 million signing bonus when joining Barclays in March 2012, plus almost $140,000 in interest. They left after working only 3 months.

 IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
Montclair, NJ 07042
973.746.2014
Alerts