Showing posts with label Bogle's gift. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bogle's gift. Show all posts

Friday, June 5, 2020

What are the 3 most important rules of investing?


What are the 3 most important rules of investing?
1. Invest just 10% of your income for $1,000,000 nest egg
2. Invest automatically in a stock index fund every payday
3. Use a tax-advantaged account to avoid income taxes

We pay more taxes: Congress allows wealthy to avoid paying
Congress cuts funds. The IRS is letting hundreds of thousands of high-income individuals duck their tax obligations, according to a government watchdog report. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that 879,415 high-income individuals who didn’t file returns cumulatively failed to pay $45.7 billion in taxes from 2014 to 2016 and that the agency hasn’t tried to collect from many of those taxpayers. The IRS didn’t put 326,579 of the cases into its enforcement system, and it closed 42,601 of the cases without ever working on them. “In addition, the remaining 510,235 high-income nonfilers, totaling estimated tax due of $24.9 billion, are sitting in one of the collection function’s inventory streams and will likely not be pursued as resources decline,” said the report, released Monday. Among those who haven’t paid their taxes are approximately 1,891 individuals who owe the IRS more than $1 million, according to the report. Trump is proud he does not pay his fair share. The number of people who have been failing to file tax returns -- a crime that could come with steep penalties or as many as five years in prison -- has been increasing in recent years. The average U.S. household is paying an annual surtax of more than $3,000 to subsidize taxpayers who aren’t paying all they owe.

We subsidize drug development; drug firm owners take the profits
We paid $ millions to develop remdesivir, but Gilead Sciences owners get all the profits. This has been the pattern for 100 years. Drug companies claim high prices are for development of new cures but we pay for the science behind new drugs. Drug companies control the manufacture, marketing and distribution and so can charge whatever they like. We have no say even though we paid $ millions for the startup. Drug prices are pushed up even if they are not new—just the marketing and packaging. Drug firms manipulate patents so that low-cost generics are kept out of our hands.

If you stayed in the market
Many long-term investors did NOT sell in the downdraft in March. Their portfolio is now at the level it was in January 30. What will happen next? No one knows despite all the high-priced fortune-tellers on radio and TV. As we have seen, if you had timed the market and missed 30 or 40 best days, you would have lost money. Over time, including recessions over the last 30 years, your stock investments have averaged 11% in a low-cost account. Timing the market—selling and buying—in any form: rebalance, single stocks to ‘sector rotation’ usually fails over time. Sure, some crystal balls do shine a light for a short time but you can’t be sure the next time. Ponzi schemes can look very impressive and confound all the critics, but not forever. Bernie Madoff’s $65 billion scam lasted longer than most because many so-called professionals went all in on the con. They were getting rich too. Remember Bogle’s favorite line: Stay the course.


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

Ordering the military against civilian protesters: King George

The Mob: Cotton calls for “an overwhelming show of force


Mobster: I will use "most ominous weapons" if protesters breach WH



Mobster: I decide which facts are real: Twitter: NO you don’t


Mobster: I decide who gets virus drug remdesivir first and who doesn’t



How Govt wastes our money: Congress gives 3.7 Trillion to the wealthy! 
EPA: water pollution allowed by biz: states have less control
Trump built The Wall around his bunker to keep Americans OUT: $ ½ million waste.

SCAMS/SPINS:

Trump ends police reform program: “we need to dominate the battlespace.” 
GOP second thoughts on their Leader: https://twitter.com/RVAT2020

With Eighteen conduct complaints filed against him, MN murderer allowed to kill!
White nationalist group posing as antifa called for violence on Twitter: chaos

Trump steals image of astronaut and her son: sends wrong message & it’s illegal


BoA Merrill caught overcharged us for mutual fund transactions: repay $ 2.7 millions
Fake health app, masks, sanitizer: Everest Microbial Defense, Ebay masks, Vivoo app
Approved Cash Advance, Main Street Personal Finance caught holding overpayments
Price-fixing by chicken producers: What about toilet paper, towels, disinfectants, masks?


Jobs
Small biz loans aren’t working: too short-term and lack of re-opening crowd demand.
House is out of session this week: more vacation time! Senators out of their minds?
Protesters told to ‘get a job’ by armed militia along route: intimidation speaks  

Who owns your account now?
Which debts does your executor have to pay? Surprisingly few must be paid by heirs.

Best bank mortgage deal? Reduce rate or costs; long or short term; best of 3 estimates

Miracle:
Newer drugs control cancers: lung, prostate, colon: can we afford them w/o insurance?

Christian nationalism: “It’s about identity, enforcing hierarchy, and order.” Not religion at all
Racist Rep King still got 36% of the vote!: Can IA still be 1/3 racist GOP?

IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
MontclairNJ   07042
973.746.2014
Alerts 

Friday, September 27, 2019

Are you being scammed?


Best evidence you are being scammed
A cold call, unsolicited letter or email! Think of it. You have been ‘chosen’ out of billions of people to receive an offer that sounds too good to be true. If the offer requires you to send money to get money or if it is heavily charged with emotion, you can’t possibly make a rational decision by yourself. You need help—any friend or advisor can help. The money strategy is complicated but scammer sounds like they know what they are talking about. Even Harvard endowment fund is fooled by bad direct investments. Scammer has your detailed personal info so they must be authentic agent of govt agency. You find a charge on your credit card you don’t recognize. Credit card charge is small $1 and you ignore it. Check out how much info you can find on yourself on the internet—just type your full name. You will be shocked to see a lot more than you want floating out there. Most of it can be used to rob you. You should go after every firm that offers to sell your data. It is said that scammers can buy your whole profile for less than $100.

Will you have enough?
How do you know whether your investments will provide enough money for retirement? Your advisor may not be a financial planner or have access to the calculators that can make an estimate. You should do a little homework just to make sure you know how you are doing since your advisor is unlikely to be around in 25 years. Retirement calculators like Vanguard’s Retirement Income Calculator and Vanguard’s Nest Egg Calculator can give you a feel for your accumulation progress. The value of these kinds of calculators is that they include the Time Value of Money. For instance, if you are due to have a pension of $1,000 a month when you retire in 20 years, it is sobering to know that it will be worth about HALF or $500 a month in purchasing power. Inflation of 3% is assumed in Vanguard’s projections so you understand that if you use bonds or CDs paying 3% a year as your investments, you will have NO real gains in 20 years. Only stocks with 10-12% total return can overcome inflation. Compounding is the name of ‘money earning money on itself’ when invested in companies like those in a low-cost market index fund. Compounding is how you can reach a $1,000,000 nest egg by investing $250 a month for 35 years. It is TIME, not stock-picking that wins according to Warren Buffett. When you avoid high-cost advisors, you earn 11% not 3.79% the average for ‘managed’ money.

What you own in your 401k stock fund
Many 401k participants make their contributions to low-cost stock index funds or Target-Date index funds. What do you really own? You own shares of a fund that owns stocks that make up the market. You own them through your share of parts of these firms:
1          Microsoft Corp.
2          Apple Inc.
3          Amazon.com Inc.
4          Alphabet Inc.
5          Facebook Inc.
6          Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
7          JPMorgan Chase & Co.
8          Johnson & Johnson
9          Exxon Mobil Corp.
10        Visa Inc.
Over time, you receive gains and dividends that provide a total return of 10-12%. In this manner, you can accumulate $1,000,000 with as little as $16,000. All it takes from you is patience. As Buffett proved in his win over 5 hedge funds, no person or computer can foretell the future. Buffett used John Bogle’s invention to win: “Don’t look for the needle in the haystack. Buy the whole haystack!” And the haystack gives you more!

Are you willing to wait for your $1 million?
You can accumulate $1,000,000 with as little as $16,000. All it takes from you is patience. But most of us have no more patience. Three quarters of those surveyed said they believe the dominance of digital technology, such as smartphones and on-demand TVs, are to blame for this ever growing lack of patience. Respondents reported becoming frustrated after just 25 seconds of waiting for a traffic light to change. Life moves at such a fast pace, we just don’t believe that it is TIME, not stock-picking that beats expensive money managers. Very few of us believe that just by avoiding high fees and trading, you can earn 11% not 3.79%. The facts and actual results don’t make an impact on most investors. We don’t learn about compounding in school so we assume saving in a high-interest bank account is the only way to become rich. Actually, the rich keep 60% of their assets in stocks compared to only 18% for US. Fidelity studied their most successful investor accounts: Best were forgotten—never traded, hedged, rotated, or churned. If you were running a business, you would NOT sell (trade) it every 6 months or year. You would keep working it to be rewarded over time. Like Buffett, just buy and buy more: https://www.amazon.com/MasterClass-Buffetts-SIMPLE-Strategy/dp/1983485268

Is a Health Savings Account right for you?
First, you must buy a high-deductible health care policy from your employer: Deductible must be over $1,350 for individuals and $2,700 for families. Second, you need to have the money to establish and maintain a special savings account for your medical expenses. It is tax-advantaged so to help you, you must have sufficient income to need a tax deduction. Your employer can make the contributions for you. While your 401(k) contributions are subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes, contributions to your HSA are not. If you have HAS money left over you can let it grow year after year. After age 65 there is no penalty on non-medical withdrawals. Third, your HSA institution may charge fees. Fourth, depending on your medical expenses, you may pay more for health care coverage than using a traditional plan.

Converting IRA to tax-free Roth IRA?
You can amass a sizable tax-free income later in retirement by paying the tax due on your IRA, moving the money to a Roth IRA so that future earnings are tax FREE. There is no withdrawal penalty if you begin after age 59.5. However, after age 70.5 you must take certain annual amounts from your IRA so Uncle Sam gets the income tax you didn’t pay during all those accumulation years. It is called your RMD and it amounts to 3-4% of your overall IRA total. If you take it as monthly income, according to the IRS formula, be aware that the RMD must be recognized BEFORE the IRA conversion can take place. The RMD amount is first out in any given year. So if you take $2,000 a month as your $24,000 RMD, you can’t take $10,000 to convert to a Roth in the middle of the year.

Can you really save with ‘behavior’ car insurance?
Since everyone is different, we can’t tell without trying it. The app down-loaded to your phone records HOW you drive for 2-3 weeks. Hard turns and quick stop and go driving will dissuade from the low-cost rates. A quiz sets up the coverage you want. You get a quote: usually if you are an infrequent careful driver, you win. You must live in a state where it is available. Most large insurers offer some form of behavior-driven coverage. Savings depend on a host of other policy options.


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This period is a test of democracy—do we really want it or not?
Queen and PM unlawfully shut Parliament on crucial issue: Democracy challenged in UK too.

Trump gives Saudis our forces: we already gave them planes and missiles—let them fight

American’s income is growing farther apart: Average worker’s income has not grown!
More welfare to Trump’s people: $28 Billion plus wasted in global competitive market!
Each state wastes $ millions: claims it ‘created’ jobs: NJ shows how Christie did it.

What happened to Trump’s Taliban ‘deal’: $2 TRILLION wasted so far
Trump's wall is 'totally absurd': Congressman climbs over to show how easy to scale.



SCAMS/SPINS:
We can’t avoid tax on retirement funds just by not cashing check: ‘Dog ate it’ not excuse
Moscow Mitch plays both sides: give states money to ‘fix’ election machines for USSR.
Trump rolled back legal clock to the 1860s: Destroy 13th, 14th, 15th, Roe, Voting Rights


Six annuity sellers caught replacing deferred annuity with immediate: cost $1.8 million

BEWARE: Brokers pushing ‘calendar risk reversal’ options—bet only what you can lose
Hidden costs of ETFs: these index funds are not always cheaper than the traditional.
Chris Kubiak caught stealing from elderly clients in Ponzi-type scheme: 2 yrs jail time.

Sprint caught taking subsidies for low-income Lifeline service not being used
Chrysler Fiat caught lying about emissions AFTER gov indicted VW

Boeing 737 inspectors were NOT really qualified to test pilots: led to 346 deaths

BEWARE: your ETF could disappear: 25% have folded; 7% lost big; fees hurt
Joseph Pratt caught insider trading on clinical trial info w/o notice to Wells
Trump to cancel $235,000 Duke grant: not enough emphasis on his fav religions!

Jobs
Community College for the 1st year to get used to the routine of costs, class, study, work.

Who owns your account now?
ME to let customers decide which cable channels to buy: industry horrified by choice
Trump to end CA IRA: employers want to help workers save but broker fees left out.
Review: Vanguard new robo investing service is low-cost automatic investing

IRS is looking for your amended tax return: virtual currency needs new reporting.
Trump: broker/advisors beat you in any dispute: you can’t sue if you are mistreated
But Trump sues NYState—no mandatory arbitration for him! No rights for us!



Miracle:
Another 16 year old picks up VW for life: "I just thank God for putting me in the position and giving me the strength to do that."
Teach kindness: mindfulness and kindness actually alter the behavior of genes: mind therapy?

IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
MontclairNJ   07042
973.746.2014
Alerts available at http://dankeppel.blogspot.com/


Friday, March 1, 2019

Cut taxes and build retirement income by April 15


Not too late to cut taxes and build retirement income
You may owe the IRS this year or receive a smaller refund. You can change that by increasing your deductions by $12,000 for a joint return; $6,000 for single. Open and fund a traditional IRA at your bank, mutual fund or broker by April 15, and you can reduce your income, thus lowering your tax obligations. A traditional IRA will also grow tax deferred so you pay taxes on the income and its accumulations when you retire. Hopefully you tax bracket will be lower then. If building retirement income sounds like a great idea, how about using your refund to create a nest egg of as much as $1 million. The average refund is about $2,900. Investing in a low-cost broad market index like the Vanguard S&P 500 for about 34 years will provide about $1,000,000. This is the perfect way to have the money when you need it even if your employer does not offer a 401k account. You can set up automatic investing from your checking so you never miss a market rise. You just keep investing year after year—no trading, no broker fees, nothing! Your future $1 million is in your refund: https://www.amazon.com/401k-IRA-Tax-FREE-Tax-Deferred-retirement/dp/1475057938

Our new taxes are going to GM refund: $104 million refund in 2018, ’19 ’20 …
We are not fooled by Trump’s claim that his tax law changes were for the middle class. Our taxes go to many large profitable firms like GM, Ford and others. They haven’t paid taxes in years just like Trump. Even after bailing out their bad management decisions in 2007-8, they don’t pay taxes on sizable profits now. They still cut jobs and send them to other countries. For instance, GM and Ford have decided they will not make cars HERE anymore. Also, GM's former CFO, Chuck Stevens, said last year that because of the tax credits GM had, the company would not be paying any U.S. income tax "for the next several years.” This can go on forever because a “business cannot know how many loss carryforwards it will need each year to offset the taxes.” This is like us spending more than we make and using our debt, credit card and student loan debt, as an offset to future taxes. We would never pay taxes if our reps had written the tax code for us instead of for large corporations. When they make poor decisions, they get a tax credit for future years.

Why John Bogle’s invention is so important to us
Bogle just died. He created the Vanguard Group of mutual funds as a kind of Co-op: we, the investors, own the Vanguard Funds. His investment invention, the Vanguard 500 Index, was offered in 1976. It allowed us to own the stocks of most of the large companies in this economy at low cost. He noticed that the money management industry provided profits to the fund owners whether or not investors made money. As the industry got bigger, the costs went up instead of down as in most industries. He compared the returns of the managers of the funds to the returns of an index of all large stocks. The index gave more consistent returns—not too high and not too low. Investors were able to estimate returns within a close range—10-12% per year over time. Test it yourself: moneychimp.com/features/market_cagr.htm. Bogle’s index fund offered every investor the chance to do well with lower costs. When investors pay 2% of their nest egg EVERY year, they give up 63% of the total possible accumulation over time. As Bogle put it, “the tyranny of compounding costs” is overwhelming—over HALF of our money is going to our brokers, staff, owners, marketers, and others. It is COSTS that determine how we do.

Are you paying for 401k plan kickbacks to Fidelity?
Fidelity has been sued by a 401(k)-plan participant for accepting "secret payments" from certain retirement-plan business partners. In this so-called pay-to-play scheme, Fidelity required mutual funds and other investment products offered through its FundsNetwork platform to make "kickback" payments if the revenue-sharing payments (such as 12b-1 fees) they made to Fidelity fell below a certain level, according to the class-action lawsuit. Fidelity makes $ millions from the payments, which are not disclosed and are "deceptively characterized" to retirement-plan clients, according to the lawsuit. The payments allegedly harm retirement savers by increasing the costs of the mutual funds. Fidelity started requiring kickbacks in 2017 when 401k-plan participants chose index funds with no revenue sharing from plan record keepers. 401k fees reduce our retirement savings.

Is a trust the right beneficiary for your IRA?
If you have a sizable IRA account, you may be concerned about leaving the whole thing to one child or couple (community property states). Heirs who inherit an IRA directly — not through a trust — lose the IRA protections. Trusts shield IRA assets in the event of lawsuits, business failures, divorce and creditors, for example. Heirs have access to the assets but the access may be designed to limit complete disillusion. For parents of a spend thrift adult child, the trust may be the only way to protect them. Naming the spouse as beneficiary just delays this decision. Spouses can roll over the decedent's IRA assets into their own IRA tax-free. The spouse has the burden of how to pass on assets. Finally, a trust is costly to maintain so the size of assets must be substantial to warrant a trust. There are rules to follow closely. The RMDs would still be required for the IRA. You must select the proper type of trust: "see-through" or "look-through" trust. The RMDs are smaller since the lifetime of the trust bene is longer. However, trust fees can eat up the actual payout to an heir.

Trump’s new taxes allow wealthy to buy planes
The new tax regulations were supposed to cap the extra perks used by executives of any company including their own private jet. However, once again, their lawyers and accountants have found a way around the tax law. The “bonus depreciation” creates sizable business losses that are now capped. They can avoid the limit on “excess business losses” by changing the name of their revenue stream thus soaking up the sizable business loss that buying an airplane usually creates. They can thus avoid a capital gains tax bill on their income and ordinary taxes on their fees. While this avoidance trick doesn’t affect investors like pension funds or foreign individuals and businesses, it can hurt U.S. individual investors—us. The new cap on losses was supposed to raise nearly $150 billion over a decade, according to Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation. Now we taxpayers will need to make up that $150 billion loss by paying more taxes on wages.
 
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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! 

Will we have to pay Trump’s legal bills in Scotland? Using debt to get a refund from us


SCAMS/SPINS:

Health industry profits already lobbying our Reps against Medicare for All.
Mount Carmel Hospital, OH, Husel, caught giving fentanyl: 15th wrongful-death lawsuit 


Robo calls up 46%: We get more than 10 a week—govt powerless to stop scams.

Mob Boss’ fixer’s confession: The Boss is a ‘racist, conman, cheat.’ MOBSTER
Mob Boss’s new attack dog rips Cohen family then says not threat on eve of confession.

Trumper says he plans to use social media to spread fake news about Dems follows Putin
GOP effort to delete 60,000 DEM voters in TX halted by Fed judge: Can’t win so purge!


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:
Smollett was upset about $100,000 per show. Others got more and less.
Wages in top earner’s group grow; wages in middle and bottom fall backward still $7.25!
WalMart offers telemed $40 visit cost $4 by phone: Future is here!
Gun slinger to replace Harris in NC election redo after GOP caught stuffing ballot box.

Who owns your account now?

Low credit scores and finding a mortgage: Lenders that may take your money.


Miracle:
Pope tells criminal abusers and their cover up leaders to just stop doing it: no jail time–except in Australia. Iowa list of abusers has only dead priests—Current abusers stopped?



IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
MontclairNJ   07042
973.746.2014
Alerts