Can you still grow a retirement fund if you start LATE?

 

Why Wall Street predictions are all wrong

The predictions financial gurus make are not reliable for your decisions. They are for circus “barkers” to attract your hard-earned cash to fuel the financial industry. Wall Street pundits’ predictions — like where the market will be in a month or a decade — is “mostly baloney,” one TV observer writes. Most people are terrible at predicting the future. That’s true of professional stock pickers too. Economists are really bad also. They have a terrible track record of predicting the economy, and the Federal Reserve has a terrible record of predicting the U.S. GDP a year [ahead]. “Wall Street refuses to acknowledge that stock forecasts don’t work because there’s too much money in forecasting,” Bob Pisani says. Traders say managing losses is more important than managing gains. But if you are not a trader, you need to “know your limitations.” His advice: behavioral biases are extremely powerful mentally. It’s very hard to shake them even when you understand. Pisani was asked, “Why don’t you hire a financial advisor?”

Why do you think they’re better? Why do you think they don’t have biases? His conclusion: use low-cost index fund. They don’t have personal biases and they minimize losses.

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

 

Saving a million dollars

21,951,000 people in the U.S. have a net worth of $1 million or more. Among all states, New Jersey has the most millionaire households. Only 3% of American millionaires received an inheritance of $1 million or above. Real estate makes up about 40% of a typical millionaire's net worth. 79% of millionaires did not receive any inheritance from their family or relatives. 8 out of 10 millionaires come from low-income families. So it is possible for you to grow a $ million. The secret is not inheriting or inventing a better mousetrap. The secret according to Warren Buffett: compounding interest. Over time, your $250 a month becomes $1,000,000 from compounding not high salary. Only 31% of respondents surveyed had a $100,000 annual income at some time in their careers. One-third never made $100,000 a year at any point in their career. Many millionaires have a significant percentage of their wealth tied up in their primary residence. $250 a month, $3000 a year (average tax refund) becomes $1 mil in 36 years: $51,000 in 10 years, $104,000 in 15; and $191,000 in 20; $334,000 in 25; and $569,000 in 30; $957,000 in 35 years. Compounding adds $50,000 in the last year on average. Total invested: $108,000; total capital gains $952,454. You became a millionaire by earning 9 times your savings. You do it by using the only consistent market-beating mutual fund.

Start early: https://www.amazon.com/Where-can-your-child-invest/dp/1492164240

 

Can you still grow a retirement fund if you start LATE?

Every saved and invested penny counts in retirement unless you love to work. Many retirees still love to work at a reduced pace as long as they do what they love. If you are a teacher for instance, you may have had enough during the pandemic and are ready to change jobs. Some love working with kids and kids/staff are back face to face. It is never too late to start. You have decided to get serious about saving for your future. You are at a great advantage. Right now the stock market is down 17% for the year. This means you can buy a stock or mutual fund that cost 25-40% less than it did last year. For instance, Microsoft is now $244 not $334 and the stock index is at $393 not $480. Historically, important stocks and the market index have recovered in about a year. Since you are buying during a sale, the value of your account will reach a greater value so you can retire with retirement income. Using your company 401k low-cost index account gives you the advantage of growth without immediate taxes. Your fund compounds faster since your full contributions grow. If you avoid taxes and advisor fees, you could accumulate over $300,000 in 20 years adding $400 a month. If your employer matches some of your $400, you can reach $400,000. Since you are not going to take the full amount out the first day of retirement, you may be able to reach $500,000 after you stop working.

https://www.amazon.com/Robbing-You-Blind-401k-fees/dp/1493588966

 

Stock pickers lost your money

A new study of actively managed mutual funds by S&P Dow Jones Indices asked that question and came up with a startling result. It found that not a single mutual fund — not one — managed to beat its benchmark in either the U.S. stock or bond markets regularly and convincingly over the last five years. Why? Costs. Experts who are not hyping their own businesses agree that “an investor can expect to do better by holding a well-diversified, low-fee, passive index fund than by holding a few stocks.” Over time, no one Wall Street ‘professional’ is consistent enough NOT to cost you earnings. In fact, if you are paying them from your account, they may be taking up to 63% of what you would have had. In fact, Dalbar, the financial scorekeeper found that the index provides 11% return over 30 years while the investor using pickers’ funds earns only 3.79%. That is a huge loss to you. Especially in your 401k plan, mutual funds that pay rebates plus direct fees reduce your net gains drastically over time. Costs matter!

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Predictor-Investment-Success-Cost/dp/1502524082

 

Can you safely take 3% or 4% from your egg during inflation?

There are advisors who advocate different rates of spending from your nest egg. The two most popular are 3% or 4% a year. Using the historical market data and $1 million retirement fund, this analysis says “the 4% rule does work most of the time, but watch out for periods of high inflation. Don’t blindly take out 4% a year when inflation is high and your portfolio performance is low. The 4% rule may be something like 95% effective historically, but being flexible with your withdrawals will prevent complete disaster even if you are in the bad luck 5%.” I take this advice of “being flexible” as the best advice available from the analysis. Since I have a mostly qualified retirement fund, I must withdraw a mandated RMD of about 3.2% of last year’s lesser total accumulation. If I need more income, I take out some of my losing cash account stocks. Let winners run.

https://www.amazon.com/What-your-RMD-much-spend/dp/1718946716

 

Wealthy learn new ways to avoid taxes in MA

MA has passed a new tax on millionaires. Millionaires are paying big fees to their accountants and advisors to escape the tax before they get the bill. They tell them 1 that if your income is over $1 million, you could try to receive some before the end of 2022 instead of in 2023 when the tax goes into effect. 2 spread income over time so you don’t exceed $1 million. 3 use 1031 exchange to postpone tax on a rental property gains. 4 move out of jurisdiction. Many states are run by millionaires and billionaires and thus are unlikely to ever tax millionaires. If your $ millionaire status is because you may receive a one-time bump, your accountant may already have ways to keep the income out of your 1040. Many business people use their structure to show income in different ways. This may help them avoid taxes like our former president did.

https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Socialism-Rich-little-people/dp/1535218584

 

 

 

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

 

 

Like 1776, this period is a test of democracy—We 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 assault 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

 

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 limit” J6 comm threat

 

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 ‘I win’

 

Jan 2025 Dictator pardons himself: his Supremes agree

 

 

How Govt wastes our money:

Facial recognition at the airport: gov claims not making national database

New bomber @ $750 million each: 100 ordered to kill everyone in the world.

Tax changes for 2022: avoid filing paper return do to fewer processing staff

 

Trump Org guilty of tax fraud: Trump signed check to evade employees taxes

Meet the people who actually make US laws so their bosses can profit more

Drop in labor costs points to private sector profits as a main driver of inflation

 

SCAMS/SPINS:

BEWARE: St. Louis banishes people from swaths of city: punishment for petty crimes

15 yr old canvasser for Sen. Warnock shot in Savannah: democracy on the line

Discrimination in name of free speech: Christian Nationalist web designer hates gays

VA restaurant refuses to serve Christian conservative’s event

 

RoboCalls: almost all our phone calls go to https://nomorobo.com/: cancel land line?

AT&T caught selectively leaking financial info to Wall Street analysts: fine no jail.

Tesla caught deceptively marketing its driver-assistance systems: more complaints.

 

BEWARE: Tesla Semi may not see you slowdown or passing.

Hertz caught getting renters arrested for theft due to poor tracking: fine no jail

Hackers linked to Chinese government stole $20+ millions in Covid benefits

 

TX bans TikTok on official work machines

MiddleMen want $30,000 to see Swift: Handel’s Messiah in a historic Cathedral $40

Eight universities partnered with online sports-betting companies: 2^nd student loan

Trump took/hid more state secrets in his storage unit West Palm: selling to pay taxes? 

 

Another church hides sex abuse so no perp is arrested: sex in the name of God

Child abuse doctor indicted in jail: priests bishop minister abusers never indicted-run free

Rage: 40% drivers admit they carry gun while on the road: 50% knife; 45% pepper spray.

WV may have drug users sterilized for reduced sentence: “reduces drug babies”

 

Supremes decisions tilt toward Christian evangelicals: constitution says no favorite faith

 

Another Trump-style dictator coup fails: Peru Castillo tried to dissolve Congress

German terrorists seeking to overthrow the state caught: they are everywhere

US says Saudi prince beyond law: killing reporter is OK since prince of oil exporter

 

Jobs

On the move: 24% of U.S. homebuyers looked to relocate to new cities

Remote jobs are in demand, but positions are drying up

10 college degrees that job seekers regret obtaining

 

70,000 new staff members over the next five years in financial services: $50K - $130K

 

Chip maker Phoenix factories 13,000 high-tech jobs, 4,500 TSMC; rest by suppliers.

Warnock projected to win Georgia's Senate runoff on Tuesday

Warnock for 2024?

 

Who owns your account now?

First solar electric car: charge every 2 months or leave in the sun

Tesla self-drive RV semi gives you portable home that drives you there overnight

Why our family can’t afford a baseball game: $360 million pay for 1 player

 

Miracles:

Unemployment income exclusion: IRS sent letter 12/2/22

We’re Blessed: recent scientific research suggests that life in the universe is rare. 

‘Walnut Queen’ Broke Lots of New Ground: when you think you have difficulties

First early screening test for pancreatic cancer: urine tested in dish

 

Trump’s Supremes consider end to voter-decided elections: state pick electors a la Trump

 

 

Zelensky: TIME 2022 person of the year: Sell mags: Trump 2016 person of the year?

Women of Iran: TIME 2022 Heroes of the year

Griner free in prisoner swap for arms dealer

 

Hurricane erosion reveals 1800 shipwreck on Daytona Beach

CA homeowners losing their water to growers’ wells in the Central Valley

Covid death up: Vaccines for Holiday celebrations: https://www.vaccines.gov/

 

 

 

@

 

Our Universe is Mind-Blowing

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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.

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

@

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

www.InsuranceAdvisorsNetwork.com

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

 

What to do when you don’t know what to do?

 

Are strong dividend stocks for you?

When the market is down and talk of recession is high, many of my readers move more money into a dividend-producing stock fund like Vanguard’s Dividend Growth Fund. With a low expense ratio of 0.27%, you get to keep more of your earnings. Dividends are taxed at a lower rate than other gains so this fund is perfect to hold in a non-qualified account. There are no purchase, redemption or 12b-1 fees so you keep more of your earnings. This fund provides long-term returns of 9% and current return of -8.84% YTD while avoiding the downdraft of the current market at -18%. The fund focuses on high-quality companies that have both the ability and the commitment to grow their dividends over time. So when stock prices are down, dividends keep coming across many sectors of the economy. Overcome inflation: keep your money growing in retirement.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/what-to-do-with-your-rmd-dan-keppel-mba/1128673366

 

 

4% of Americans have a million-dollar retirement nest egg

How did they get to over a $1,000,000? Not all of them are entrepreneurs or recipients of a family legacy. Some humble people earning the average American salary have crossed the mark before retirement. A survey of regular investors found that only 4% reached their goal. Advisors tell us to “do the math” to find your number. For most folks that is really impossible until it is too late to do anything about it. You won’t know your SS benefit, your pension or 401K/403B/IRA number until later. Some folks can estimate what they will need but inflation could strike at the last minute like it just did. But life is uncertain and you could be hit with layoffs or severe illness/accident right before retirement just like we all experienced. The only sure strategy is to invest early, consistently and paying little for the average market returns of 11% a year. It is time—compound earnings—that gets you there. If you pay an advisor to invest for you, you may be giving away up to 63% of your potential total, according to one analyst. Most of us don’t learn about basic investing early or about the low-cost way to benefit from stocks. Only 4% of us have smart parents or meaningful college courses to teach us. Give your child a leg up. Use the simple Buffett method.

Sign them up early: https://www.amazon.com/New-American-Retirement-System-ReserveTM/dp/1461030072

 

What to do when you don’t know what to do?

Every investor is faced with conflicting information. Advisors who are paid by you and I are supposed to know what to do in these times. Some of them believe that activity—any activity—is good since it shows they “know” what to do. As one who worked on Wall Street and with advisors for years, believe me, they don’t know. So what should you NOT them do? The best unbiased money managers like Warren Buffett say: DO NOTHING. Buffett said that his holding period is “forever.” Your gut is telling you to sell all your investments NOW. But wait, Warren Buffett, world's greatest investor, says, “Most investors, both institutional and individual, will find that the best way to own common stocks is through an index fund that charges minimal fees.... Paradoxically, when ‘dumb’ money acknowledges its limitations, it ceases to be dumb.”

https://www.amazon.com/Snoring-Best-Way-Create-Wealth/dp/1466408928/

Why do wealthy folks keep buying stocks when the market is down 15%?

Those with money have money because they don’t keep their money in banks that pay less the cost of inflation. They have learned over time that the market goes up about 11% per year over time. So if the PRICE of stocks (not the number of stocks or the value of the company they represents) goes down, they buy more. The stocks are on sale in effect. They know the price will rise again. Most of them have lived through this up and down effect. Since 1871 the average return is 11% but some years down 37% up 28%. Rich people don’t need an advisor to buy fewer shares when the price is high and more when shares are low. The wealthy know that paying an advisor for life can reduce their possible nest egg by 63%: OUCH. So they don’t use one. They use a low-cost fund manager like Vanguard’s Windsor Fund and keep on investing the same amount year in, year out.

You can buy like the rich automatically using the best Robo-Advisor available.

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

 

How much is your advisor overcharging you?

Many of my readers are suffering PAPER losses during this 2022 market sell off. The losses are not real unless they foolishly sell. What surprises them is how investors can let advisors continue to take money from folks when they are showing losses. When advisors take their quarterly fees, these are REAL dollars leaving clients’ accounts, not PAPER losses. Readers have learned the hard way that COST is the best predictor of investing success. Success with stock-picking is short lived. The advisor that tries to trade securities to avoid losses or capture gains is doomed to lose money. There are few successful masters of market timing. Listen to Warren Buffett: "The stock market is a device for transferring money from the IMPATIENT to the PATIENT." According to an unbiased Morningstar study, low-cost funds beat high-cost funds PERIOD.  “In every single time period and data point tested, low-cost funds beat high-cost funds.” Over time advisors can take up to 63% of your potential nest egg. Use low-cost fund vendors.

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Predictor-Investment-Success-Cost/dp/1502524082

 

 

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

 

 

Like 1776, this period is a test of democracy—We rejected an "American fascist" once

 

 

The Path to Dictatorship: 2010-2030

 

Jan 21 2010 Corpor­a­tions’ election-spending unlim­ited

 

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 assault failed: guns & bombs ready

 

Trump engaged in a "criminal conspiracy" to stop Biden

 

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

 

Trump “detached from reality”

 

Trump used mafia intimidation on the defenseless

 

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 limit” J6 comm threat

 

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

 

 

Nov 8 2022 Trump’s “national revolution”

 

 

 

How Govt wastes our money:

Will any of the J6 coup instigators ever get tried and go to jail? Rich have all the lawyers

Sedition: If GOP wins 2024, Dems can overthrow GOP govt: no law/order in fascism

The SS phone messages deleted not SOP unless guilty of aiding a coup attempt

Can Trumpists try to overthrow an elected government and get away with it: no jail time?

Trump vows to install his “Brownshirts” in government positions ending civil service

 

Election deniers are running to control Dem voting: GOP determines 2024 election

Can America prevent the next GOP coup? Is GOP now the “terrorist overthrow” party?

GOP brainwashes county sheriffs to investigate elections: voter ‘fraud’ is widespread.

New Georgia voting law reduced ballot drop box access in places that used them most

 

Christian Nationalists strive to get their religion into schools: states push favorite prayers

Congress gives another $280 billion subsidy to those who need it least: Intel

Climate polluters asked to help pay for cleaning environment they soiled; big profits too

 

SCAMS/SPINS:

Private Advisor Group caught overcharging for mutual funds shares 12b-1 fees forever.

Adam Thomas Marquardt caught moving client money resigned failed hearing: defrocked

Ishan & Nikhil Wahi Sameer Ramani caught insider trading Coinbase: Twitter user saw it

 

Former Rep Stephen Buyer (R-IN) caught insider trading: nonpublic information: no jail

SCAM: New Crypto App: setting up a website that mimics a well-known financial firm

U.S. Bank caught illegally accessing credit reports, open fake accounts, fake sales: fine

 

Hyundai caught giving inaccurate information to credit bureaus; fail to fix: fine, no jail 

J.P. Morgan, UBS, TradeStatn caught operating failed identity theft prevention programs

 

SCAM: 76 fake charities using names of legitimate-sounding nonprofits: check first

 

FCC orders phone companies to block auto warranty scam robocalls

Putin orders Google to stop showing Ukraine war video/interviews: fine $374 M

Hackers use the "forgot your password?" tool to trick into giving up their login

 

Hackers use “YouTube”keywords to link fake Windows Defender tech support: ransome

Albacore white tuna contains three times the amount of mercury as skipjack light tuna.

 

Facebook groups create the fake reviews for money:

Uber caught overcharging disabled: $ millions to settle lawsuit

Trident Mortgage caught redline intentional discrimination Philly families: fine, no jail

Wawa caught failed to use 'reasonable' security measures to stop hackers: our data

 

SCAM: “good deed homeless man” trick on social media: scam netted around $367,000 

SCAM: why food basics rose so fast: grain merchant ADM profits up 74%

 

TX doctors not sure how to help pregnancy with complications: legal delays can kill

GOP wants to end freedom to use contraception: some want to end legal sex activity

Republican donors still paying for Trump’s tax and political crime defenses

Another Trumpist “does not recall” what they said on J6 to WH staff: convenient!

 

People in GOP counties higher death rates than Dem counties: health policy deniers die

Predictors of long COVID: obesity and hair loss at the time of infection, USC study

6-year-old boy fatally shot 5-year-old sister in their home: parents taught boy to shoot!

 

Jobs

In 2009 dollars, minimum wage has fallen over the past 13 years to just $5.27 per hour.

 

Who owns your account now?

Home: typical down payment, 7% or $27,400 keeps average renter out of home

I Bonds: inflation continues so great to keep for 5 years to get best rate: $10K limit

Women money managers take less risk and don’t sacrifice return: consistence vs trading

Lemonade buys Metromile pay per mile insurance

 

Miracles:

Finally, USPS buying EV instead of gas: Trump’s postmaster forced from his oil shares

Glaciers vanishing at record rate in Alps following heat waves

 

New gene therapy could finally cure hemophilia B

Blood test allows the detection of Alzheimer's 17 years in advance

HIV patient is effectively cured after stem cell transplant

Alcohol directly accelerates aging, an extensive genetic analysis reveals

 

Kyiv nightlife comes back amid urge for contact. “This Is the cure.”

Monkeypox named a global health emergency after it reached over 70 countries. 

Congress to help veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange in 1961-71 Vietnam.

 

13-year-old is headed to medical school year after graduating high school: memory cells

 

 

The oldest galaxy we have ever seen in the universe: light from 13.8 billion years ago

 

 

 

 

 

 

@

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 in universe: galaxies to stones made of subatomic energy ‘vibrations’

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

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

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

“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.

 

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

www.InsuranceAdvisorsNetwork.com

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

 

Investment behavior research and your biases

How do teachers and civil servants reach over $1 million retirement fund?

Teachers and civil servants with life-long salaries of under $100,000 have always amazed me in their account accumulations. Whether they invest via their pensions or IRAs, they seem to stick with a buy and hold strategy to save over $1,000,000 for retirement. I got a hint about how they did it from a study by Fidelity: customers that did the best were the ones that forgot they had an account. Also, the customers that were dead. The strategy is the one ascribed to Warren Buffett: buy and hold. You don’t sell—no balancing or trading or market timing. Buffett bought and holds stocks like Coke, AmEx, GEICO. He never sold them. The secret to ending up with enough retirement money is to buy and hold stocks like these at low cost. According to the rating firm DALBAR, a stock market index returned 11% at year. So any person could accumulate a million during their working years: investing $250 a month for 35 years may earn $1.1 million. And that is exactly what Buffett and Bogle, Vanguard founder, recommend. Bogle was a fiduciary. The Bible called it being a steward of assets: The Bible’s parable of talents.

https://www.amazon.com/Buffett-Bogle-Holy-Bible-Investment/dp/1523693045

Wall Street firms ignore SEC mandate to give investors the facts

A new survey found that most firms just ignore the mandate. 1,300 firms failed to disclose the misdeeds of their advisors. Trump made regulation irrelevant early in his administration by canceling Obama’s Fiduciary Rule. Instead of brokers/advisors being under the rule to give us the best products, Trump made it clear they were free to fleece us again: regulators would not prosecute bad advice. Result: Wall Street is now free to sell risky “private placement” investments in our pension accounts. Our 401k holds our serious money not our speculative money. Instead of a stock market index with steady 11% growth over time, Wall Street can offer us ‘take a flyer’ like MCI WorldCom or Enron. Insider trading is NOT prosecuted unless the perp is followed in the press. We investors are not protected in the TrumpWorld. We must protect ourselves.

Use a Fiduciary advisor: https://www.amazon.com/Fiduciary-Rule-BEST-dont-anymore/dp/1530980275

Investment behavior research and your biases

Why do we hold on to losers and sell winners? Why do we engage in vigorous trading when studies show we lose money? New studies about our way of thinking about money have provided some guard rails that may keep us from big mistakes. Fact: we spend more time planning a vacation than planning for our financial future. People with money have a plan—investment and retirement plan. People who most NEED a plan don’t think they need one. Set goals, find strategy, set up plan. List financial goal priorities. Know your biases and avoid them with help. For example, we buy a stock or fund that just went up. It goes down but we don’t face it and lose more money. Or if the stock goes up we feel we must sell to win. Instead of diversifying a portfolio for safety, we buy more of the same. Many keep buying their own company stock. We know this strategy is risky so we worry instead of investing in a plain index fund. Even with new information, investors stick with their original purchase. We tend to think we are super brilliant when our purchase does well. Most of us mistakenly rely on past performance. Usually winners become losers during the next period. Buffett’s strategy beat best advisors.

Let Warren Buffett be your advisor: https://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffett-Your-Investment-Advisor/dp/1518690963

Is a FREE financial plan right for you?

Schwab is now offering Schwab Plan, a free digital financial planning capability that assists investors in establishing and staying on track towards financial goals. You must have an account—any account. After completing a 15 minute questionnaire, you can model how changes might impact your lifetime financial picture. You can see the probability of reaching goals with Monte Carlo simulations. Changes and updates to the financial plan are dynamic – when you update your plan, you will automatically receive an updated probability of reaching your goals. A similar service is available at other fund complexes including Vanguard’s Nest Egg Calculator. You can play with the factors that determine your total accumulations: time, stock bond mix, age. The challenge is to know what your data means. Unless you have $ millions or $1,000 one-time fee, you don’t have a professional planner to customize your plan.

Try it yourself FREE: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Plan-Live-Age-100/dp/1548180793

Is using your bank’s online bill-pay safe?

Is electronic bill pay safer than personal checks? If you are using a well-established bank with FDIC insurance, you can be assured that your bank is aware of the risks. Given the Trump mandate to slow the mails, you are at greater risk using personal checks. Your check may end up in a pile of mail at a sorting center. Some sorting machines that are used to speed those printed bill payment vouchers have been removed. If your check is inside those thin voucher envelopes they can easily get stuck on other mail or literally fall through the cracks in sorting tables. I have been using bank bill pay for 10 years—hundreds of bills paid with no late fees. Most banks will actually pay the late fee if they are responsible for the late payment. Most banks use ACH (Automated Clearing House) which is a network that coordinates electronic payments and automated money transfers. I usually enter the bill amount and date to actually get to the vendor when I receive the bill. Then I don’t have to worry about remembering to send it on time. Most banks use electronic transfer—my payment, account number, etc—and send payments in a batch with others to each vendor on date I enter. So my utility bills are always paid on time. I don’t give my bank info to the vendor to let them take the money from my account. I tried that once but they messed up and I had trouble fixing it. The downside to this arrangement is that I have to keep a balance in the account to make all transactions free. I feel it is worth it since I don’t have buy stamps and I don’t have any more late fees.

https://www.amazon.com/Leahs-Money-Book-control-money/dp/1448654408

What experienced investors do when uncertain?

When there is a crisis or the future looks uncertain, savvy investors go back to basics: diversification and low cost. They confirm why they are investing in the assets they own: stocks for the long term and cash equivalents for the short term. Every investor that has weathered the storm of 2007-8 has learned that a balanced portfolio helps maintain their long-term accumulation goal. They know that stocks earn 11% over time and yet bonds and other assets can offset temporary downturns. By weighting these assets, experienced investors stayed fully invested during the 2007-8 time of crisis. They benefited from the bull market: doubling their money since 2011. They recognized that earning less than 2% on ‘safe’ investments costing 1-2% was really a losing proposition.

Hold the Best: https://www.amazon.com/Vanguards-Top-Ten-mutual-funds/dp/150073909X

Women want more control of their money

59% believe they lacked sufficient financial and investment literacy, and 13% believe that they are not very or not at all knowledgeable about finance and investing. Most women don’t have time to learn about finance. Women don’t feel well-served by advisors. Perhaps it is because there are few women advisors to hire. Women who feel they control the money they earn are not considered in charge of finances by their spouse. Women who work have retirement as their primary goal. Their spouses don’t agree with their goals and thus there are disagreements. Thus divorce after age 50 is on the rise. The burden of divorce after age 50 falls heavily on women especially since many say they are not prepared to control their money and assets. Pension benefits and retirement accounts must be divided equitably—women are entitled to part of the payouts. Several calculations are necessary to determine the correct division of assets—current and future.

Women will have more money in the future but lack the knowledge to manage it.
“An unprecedented amount of assets will shift into the hands of women over the next three to five years, representing a $30 trillion change of ownership. Few women have trustworthy advisors so many fortunes will be guided by salaried groups at large fund families. The trend to passive low-cost investment will accelerate. The age of the single investment ‘gun-slinger’ is over. Most women will seek security not market beating advice from ego-centered men. Wall Street gurus have lost their allure.

It’s about control: https://www.amazon.com/Leahs-Money-Book-control-money/dp/1448654408

Middle-class retirement in jeopardy of losing living standard

New study: “40% of households in the top third of the income distribution are at risk of not being able to maintain their standard of living [in retirement].” So taxes do make a difference. The retirement spending strategies in the study did not yield much difference in tax rates. Further, this study did not include state taxes, which could raise tax burdens by 25%. In short, a $1 million nest egg does not go as far as it used to given that 85% of Social Security benefits and 100% of the required minimum distributions from our pensions and IRAs are taxed. The wealthy have always found ways to avoid paying the IRS statutory tax rates. Even billionaires like Warren Buffett have disclosed that they pay less tax than their employees. Unfortunately, most of us do not use strategies that allow a tax-free retirement.

Use legal tax havens: https://www.amazon.com/Tax-FREE-Retirement-code-lifetime-income/dp/1475206976

**********ACCOUNTABILITY**************

Like 1776, this period is a test of democracy—do we really want ‘low-IQ’ Mobster?

Philly DA: we have an “authoritarian dictator."

GOP platform: I could shoot someone on 5^th Ave and pardon myself

Dictator: Police state and vigilantes assure re-election

Murder trials avoided: Dictator decides

Dictator: I win; mail-in votes don’t count

Dictator’s police kill protestor

How Govt wastes our money: Congress gives 3.7 Trillion to the wealthy! 

We borrowed from China to pay refund interest of $18 to 14 million: bill is on the way

Trump EPA endorses new regs for more coal pollution in our lives: OK to pollute!

GOP pushes budget deficit to a record $3.3 trillion with wealthy tax breaks/PPPloans

SCAMS/SPINS:

Facebook aided terrorists in Kenosha: encourages terrorists: bring mass-killing weapons

Vigilante mobs with automatic weapons are NOT militias: militias are trained to help army fight.

Trump supports Kenosha terrorists: he blames us Americans for protesting police killings

Trump’s doc tells him herd immunity wins: Herd immunity if people are immune; more will die

Trump promised to pay for virus patients recovery: he failed and patients get bills

Trump’s SEC allows insider trading: computer shows it as it happens: no regulation

Trump’s eviction moratorium not working: no legal authority over landlords

Trump tell NC voters to vote by mail and in person: illegal voting cancels vote for him

Trump Tower Vancouver goes bankrupt: "extremely stable genius" 7^th bankruptcy!

Dennis Jali Smart Partners caught Ponzi $27 million on church: offered 6-42% returns trading FX

Virtual apartment rental scam: check landlord; visit and listen in neighborhood

Avoid senior scams: home, ID, fake check, fake trouble, romance, invest, tech support

Debt collector scam: don’t avoid; fight back

PayPal account hold scam: email asks me to click email to ‘confirm’ my info to scammer

Oportun debt collector caught intimidation lawsuits over high interest loans

Trans-Fast Remittance caught deceiving; violating problem resolution rules: fine no jail

Accelerate Mortgage caught making false, misleading, and inaccurate statements no jail

Service 1^st Mortgage caught misleading deceiving offer statement mailers; fine no jail

Hypotec FL caught false, misleading, and inaccurate statements in mailers; fine no jail

Facebook info infiltrated with thousands of Russian accounts: election battleground

CA unemployment scam: someone else receives your benefits Hackers steal your data

Liberty Auto: “only pay for what you need”: every agent would starve if they did that 

WellsFargo advisors cost retirees $ millions: fees and charges moving to costly items

PlanGap Annuity uses fear of SS benefit drop in 2035 to sell expensive products

Matthew Clason CT caught stealing $300,000 fake bank expenses, promised investment

Steven Sexton CA caught participating in Ponzi of Woodbridge illegal sales

Corporations co-opting ‘religion’: marketing brand with fake ‘religious’ rituals: worship idols?

Is it a scam?  Check AARP scamline 877.908.3360. Check IRS: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/dirty-dozen-part-1-taxpayers-should-be-on-the-lookout-for-these-scams

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/dirty-dozen-part-2-thieves-work-all-year-to-scam-taxpayers

Jobs

Giving up citizenship for a job? Tons of paperwork

Best states to work in: virus and health protections for employed and unemployed: WA

Who owns your account now?

Student loan blues: starting college at community college cuts lifetime debt in half

Miracle:

Our new Toyota flies: you can afford a used one: 2030

Religionists to defend Kenosha AR 15 terrorist: Killer glorified by some ‘Christians’

CA will produce generic drugs to save citizens money: GOP supports private profits.

CO has been on all-mail voting system since 2013: “it’s a system that works …” no fraud

IAN

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