Friday, February 15, 2019

Refunds are smaller: We’re paying for Jared’s refund!


Refunds are smaller: We’re paying for Jared’s refund!
Trump’s gift to his wealthy friends and companies will cost each working person more. Tax refunds are running 8% less this year because Trump cut deductions for working people as well as property and state taxes. He added 6 more Schedules to file taxes so he could claim you can use ‘postcard’ 1040. It’s NO postcard and preparers charge by the page. Twitter is filling up with complaints from people whose situation has changed radically. A nurse got $1,000 less and nothing changed in the filing. Another person owes $2400 instead of ‘good refund.’ Others made less last year but owe $5,000. We were promised a ‘middle class tax break’ in October.  We are giving a middle-income tax reduction of about 10 percent,” Trump told reporters. "We're doing it now for middle-income people. This is not for businesses. It's for middle." Trump lied again. Compared to 2017 rates, some taxpayers would pay more tax in 2018, even more in 2025, and HALF will pay more in 2027 according to Tax Policy Center. We are paying more because Trump, Jared and friends are paying less or $0 taxes. Instead of creating jobs, the corporations are buying back their stock for larger dividends.

Why do we taxpayers give welfare to profitable companies?
U.S. Steel's 2018 profits shot up to $1.12 billion. Gary IN put US Steel on welfare of $ 47 millions (city and state offered the firm a $47 million tax break package.). IN gave US Steel $10 million in tax credits, along with $2 million in worker training grants. There is no guarantee how many jobs are saved. Gary has already given Steel a property tax break estimated at $35 million over 25 years. Instead of making a jobs commitment to Gary, Steel used the benefits to buy back $300 million of its own stock. This benefits the owners not the workers and certainly not the city or state. Trump’s tariffs on foreign steel don’t help a firm with high-cost steel. Steel re-hired 800 in Granite City. Gary got a worse deal than that at Carrier which Trump boosted. A study of tax breaks on the state’s public finances in the last decade found that state incentives costing about $30,000 per job provided little benefit to Indiana’s economy or tax base. In New York, Amazon quit. Amazon does NOT need incentives—Bezos is rich already. Federal/state funds would be better spent on infrastructure jobs for now. Retraining and apprenticeship programs would help future workers. Funds for corporate Welfare could be for Medicare for All.


Maybe you don’t need a will
Less than 20% of us have the 3 essentials. The folks who have assets usually have them. If you don’t have one maybe you don’t need one. Most financial accounts already specify who gets what. Usually an IRA, pension and brokerage accounts have beneficiary designations. The institution responds to the ‘bene’ on the account agreement not the will. If a home is held jointly it is owned by the survivor. A will is useful to the executor so that you can make sure your wishes are done, like the spouse without a license does NOT get the car. Many children fight over assets but having a will probably ends the discussion. Your possessions may not be needed by the kids and need to be given or carted away. Think about church or charities you want to support. Depending on how long you live a will usually has to be updated periodically. Perhaps that is another reason most us don’t have one. Some people won’t make one because they believe it brings on death. Some others don’t prepare for final expenses for the same reason. Some don’t want to leave a thing to certain family members.

Our work-place benefits are changing—new choices
Some employers are discovering that the old formula for worker satisfaction has changed. Since the age of the workforce may now span 50 years, everyone wants something different. Younger workers may want flex hours. Older workers may want great health care and more retirement fund matching. One size does NOT fit all. Listening to worker needs can lead to packages designed for each group. Some employers help with the student loans. Others fund disaster relief or paid parental leave. Everyone likes choice and employers must pay attention to keeping the workers they have since the market is tight. Chose a tax-FREE or tax-Deferred future.

What Trump destroyed, each state is reinstating to protect us
MD is the latest state to adopt the Fiduciary Rule to protect us from unscrupulous money grubbers. Under the legislation, fiduciaries are required to act in the best interest of their clients, without regard to financial or other interests of the person or firm providing the advice. Seems like common sense but Trump killed the Obama law in his first year. The financial industry wants no limits on its ability to sell products that are NOT the best for us. Recently the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau appointee wanted to scrap a lending rule meant to guard the most vulnerable Americans. Payday lenders could go back to charging 400% interest on temporary loans that end up nagging borrowers for many years. State legislators now realize we need protection from the ‘money changers.’

Did you tell your child how to retire early?
Tax-FREE wealth! We did not have this option when I started working. Today, if you show your young adult that they can accumulate enough tax-FREE money, they could work and then enjoy life without the grind. The hard part is explaining that it takes time. The tax-FREE account has been around since 1997 and I was lucky my boss told me about it in the 2000s. This account can be set up at any financial firm and in many it costs nothing: No lawyer or broker is required. Using the low cost mutual funds recommended by Warren Buffett, it takes just 25 years to accumulate $3/4 million using $500 a month. It takes 30 years to hit $1.4 million—TAX-FREE. Your kin does nothing else—no trading, no broker fees, no market-timing. Automatic investing means they can’t fail. Teach on. Tax-FREE means they will have 25% MORE to live on. $0 Fed/state taxes.

Are no commission ETF index funds right for you?
In the race to recapture revenue from going to Vanguard, the for-profit firms Schwab and Fidelity are try to win us back by removing the commission. ETFs are index funds chosen by management to keep us invested in securities. You can trade 503 ETFs in 79 Morningstar categories (for example, large value stocks). Fidelity matched this explosion at the same time. But do we need 500 choices? The assumption is that we know what will happen in the future and will buy the right ETF. Like everyone who gambles, we are encouraged to place our bets on the favorite of the day. This delusion has caused many ‘investors’ to earn less than the buy and hold strategy. DALBAR, the firm that keeps track of returns, shows us that most of us earn only 3.79% when a simple 500 index fund earns over 11% a year over time. If that sounds like old fashion news, a recent study shows index funds hold more money than the funds run by ‘wise men.’ More investors are learning why Warren Buffett recently won his bet on the 500 Index over 5 hedge fund strategies. Trading and fees rob us of the Miracle of Compounding. John Bogle founder of Vanguard told us that trading and fees can take up to 63% of our possible accumulations over time.



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Make America, “The Don”, Great Again
Truth isn’t truth, his lawyer says


Two Americas: A Banana Republic? Do we really want an infant king? Daddy Putin!


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How Govt wastes our money: Congress spends $1.3 Trillion we don’t have! 
CA National Guard goes home: NO crisis on border—must be in Washington.
50,000 refugees in camps guarded by soldiers: separated children—Is this America?

Veterans who fought for our country were deported: Dems bring them back as heros!

SCAMS/SPINS:
Senate passes bill declaring lynching as hate crime—it took 200 years: Will Trump sign?

5 for-profit firms control health for over 125 million Americans: Cost going up or down?
Drug firms claim their high costs are needed for new drugs: actually we pay for them.

Jared’s investment failure bailed out by Qatar: now Trump owes Qatar big time.

Trump tariff sending more farmers into bankruptcy: Trump helping corporate farms grow
IRS pursues fewer cases of tax evasion than it did less than 10 years ago. Rich get richer.

Ford 150 recalled: downshift to 1st automatically at high speed—1.5 million 2011-13.
Toyota airbag recalled: shrapnel explosion in high humidity—70,000 2002-5; 23 dead.
BEWARE: Dyson vacs called unreliable by Consumer Reports. Half are pricy ‘garbage.’

Kestra Investment, TX, caught overcharging 3,205 clients $1.6 million: Fine, no jail  
BEWARE: Advisors claim signs of recession but no proof—balanced funds for long haul
Brent Borland NY caught fraud in Belize airport investment scam—jail time.

William Husel Mt Carmel OH caught giving excessive fentanyl doses: 16 deaths’ suits!

We have a history of separating kids from parents? Fear of the next group wins elections.
 Individual 1” could be a Russian “asset”: Why FBI opened a file on The Mob Boss.

The Mob Boss can never go to jail: Trump has Kava as Supreme so no indictment.
‘No man is above the law’ … well up till now. Dictators nullify courts first, then votes.
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Jobs:
Retail jobs require us to learn a new language in order to sell to young customers.

Who owns your account now?
Check with the mechanic of your plane BEFORE you get aboard. Any skipped steps?
Medicare for All 1st step—50 year olds can buy Medicare in advance.

Michael Avenatti has trouble: The Don must have a new Cohen. One less challenger.

Miracle:
The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump?



IAN
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