Best last minute January tax
saving move
Tax filing begins next week—Jan 29—even
though all the forms are late in arriving. If you find you owe tax instead of
hitting the refund button this year, you may still be able to claim your refund.
You can reduce your income up to April 17 and receive a tax credit. Credits reduce
your taxes dollar for dollar. In effect, Uncle Sam can help you reduce taxes
AND save for retirement at the same time. On line 32, Form 1040 or line 17, Form
1040a, you can enter up to $5,500 ($6,500 over age 50) per person IRA
contribution to reduce your income. If you meet the qualification, a credit
will show up on Line 51, Form 1040 or Line 34, 1040a. You
subtract this credit from your tax. EG: Income $66,000: tax refund is $3,335,
without IRA contribution. With the contribution, the refund is $4,392 or $5,553
if you both make the contribution. Credit against tax is $400.
How did your advisor/broker do
last year?
There were some lucky
advisors/brokers out there last year. I settled for 21.1% total return but
some clients got 62.8% return on their picks. Did your advisor/broker pick
United Rentals, Avery, Marriott, Cadence Design, or Estee Lauder? These had 60%
plus gains. Of course, for some of those returns, you had to NOT
sell the year before when the stock cratered 60%. Trouble is only one or two
people actually bet the ranch on one of these high flyers and got rich and they
were ‘insiders.’ And what do you do for next year? Unless you have insider
information, your advisor/broker is unlikely to pick the new winners for
2018. You have a 1
in 7,000 chance. In fact, studies show the annual winning
managers are almost always next year’s losers. Again, if
you were lucky you had these 4 top pickers: Steven Wymer, Larry Puglia, Paul Viera, or Henry
Ellenbogen. This is why legendary manager, Charles Ellis calls stock picking
the Loser’s
Game and Warren Buffett recommends his SIMPLE
strategy to NOT pick stocks.
IRS free tax filing sites to avoid
$300+ cost of filing
Commercial tax prep sites offer
expensive loans as advances on your refund but you can keep
your whole refund using the IRS free filing partners. Refunds can be in
your account within 2-3 weeks.
The average refund is over $3,000. You can create a tax-free retirement fund of
$500,000 with that amount each year. If you need free tax preparer service, use
AARP Tax Aides near you. https://www.aarp.org/money/taxes/aarp_taxaide/
Start your tax-FREE IRS approved
account today: https://www.amazon.com/Tax-FREE-Retirement-code-lifetime-income/dp/1475206976
Buffett's SIMPLE Strategy Beats Wall Street
The Master of investing, Warren
Buffett, proved it, again. You do NOT need Wall Street 'professionals' to
reach your financial goals. In fact, if you use them, you may give up 63% of
your potential accumulations because of trading, charges, commissions and fees.
Buffett’s SIMPLE strategy earns over
11% per year. DALBAR keeps track of returns and found that
the average
managed-account equity investor earned just 3.79% a year over 30
years. The
benchmark returned 11.06%. You and I can start beating Wall Street with one
phone call. Earnings are tax-FREE after age 59 ½ in special account too.
Earn 11% a year with Buffett’s
SIMPLE strategy: https://www.amazon.com/MasterClass-Buffetts-SIMPLE-Strategy/dp/1983485268
Trump uses religion to maintain
control over constituents
Where did Trump offer his anniversary
inaugural speech? Not in the Congress where our Reps need to hear again why we
are the United ‘states. No, he made it to the small sect of GOP
regionists who follow
only one god—anti-abortion and religious Intolerance.
While claiming to fight for religious freedom, they mean ‘freedom’ to legally
force all Americans to follow their creed—NO reproductive choice—sex for
procreation only. Trump, as the poster boy for the ‘women
as sex objects’ ideology, creates religious propaganda to unite his
followers. This is the same Trump who proclaimed his lack of respect for women:
he gropes them, claiming they let him grab by the pu**y because of fame. This
is the same Trump who pays
prostitutes for sex and for silence in front of his wife and daughters and sons.
There is no celebration of life by this immoral
devil. Can you imagine how they feel after being insulted and then hear his
“pro-life” speech?
Surely, this person has separated
himself from the God of love in order to have power.
What happened to the America that was founded on the freedom of EVERY citizen to be
free to follow
his own conscience and his own religion. That was a guarantee that we adult
citizens don’t have to be bound by any religion/belief—we can be agnostics. Americans
believe in taking responsibility for themselves, NOT in have GOP religionists
decide what we do with ourselves.
We don’t need a self-righteous
bully, a devilish man-child telling us what to do.
Morgan Freeman: “I tell kids the surest way to lose is to quit.”
When you have a sizable portfolio,
you don’t want to lose it to a downturn, especially if you are living on the
principal for income. If you are 10 years or more from living on a fixed
income, you can stay invested the whole time and not suffer great loss.
Actually, by staying in the market you are going to benefit when the rebound
comes. No one has yet figured out how to time the market to get back in for the
highest gain. However if you don’t have the 10 years for recovery, you must be
prepared. The
market fell in ’08 big time—37%. It then gained 27% and 14% and eventually
you got back what you lost if you stayed around. Now we have had a 22% gain
after 12%. Since no one (even the geniuses) knows what is going to happen,
consider how you can be ready. Some of us anticipate the fall and our lack of
time to make it up. So some have gone to a low-cost balanced fund for the bulk
of our lifelong nest egg. Vanguard presents a viable strategy in its Wellesley
Income Fund. It
has returned 9.85% since 1970 with 60% bonds. Even though past is not the
future, what about its record for market corrections? In
’08 this fund lost 10%. Some of us can live with that 10% correction since
the fund has done well overall. And if we are using the tax-FREE trust account,
we don’t have to pay tax on a bad year’s gains. I am ready for a correction,
are you?
Our client’s Top Ten funds
extended their 11.7% annual returns
for another year. For the last 20 years, clients who picked these low-cost
funds did very well. Over time earning over 11% has created $ million accounts
for their retirements. Investing can be easy. They bought these funds during
their working lives and have maintained their annual average of over 11%. Solid
returns and they avoided all the brokerage fees too with The Vanguard Top
Ten.
2017 Total Return Fund Long-term Return Longevity
21.7%
500 Index 11.1%* since
1976
3.2%
Energy 10.7%
since 1984
17.9%
Extended Market 10.9% since 1987
19.6%
Health 16.5%
since 1984
42.9%
International Growth 10.8% since 1981
29.5%
PRIMECAP 13.9% since 1984
16.1%
Small Cap Index 10.7% since
1960
10.2%
Wellesley Income 9.9% since 1970
19.1%
Windsor 11.5%
since 1958
16.8% Windsor
19.7%
Average 11.7%
*Average Annual
Returns as of 12/31/17 .
You
enjoy high returns with less volitility too: https://www.amazon.com/Vanguards-Top-Ten-mutual-funds/dp/150073909X
How the GOP will take away the
Medicare benefits we paid for
What can Trump say NOW?: here is
what Trump said back in 2013 on the topic of cuts: “It’s
not unreasonable for people who paid into a system for decades to expect
to get their money’s worth – that’s not an ‘entitlement,’ that’s honoring a
deal.” But now Ryan and the GOP millionaires, flush with their $1 Trillion
extra income, are claiming they must stop paying our Medicare bills. The GOP’s
2018 budget resolution calls for $500
billion in Medicare cuts, largely by adopting Speaker Ryan’s privatization
scheme: we will be given vouchers that do not pay full premiums for
traditional Medicare or private health insurance. Since the GOP will control
the voucher amounts, we will be forced to use our SS benefits which will also
be cut starting in 2034. Rising
health care costs will leave us without coverage in some situations. Ryan also
wants to hike
the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67. Congressional
millionaires just assume that the promises America made to its citizens can be broken rather than make cuts
to a bloated
defense industry and industry
subsidies. Congress relies on these donor groups for their election money
so the only place left to cut is US citizens. We are not represented in this
process. We lose.
Rich take from the poor because
they can: https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Socialism-Rich-little-people/dp/1535218584
Where do you keep your money when
you need it in a year?
Short-term savings vehicles are
easy to find. Lots of CDs provide guaranteed
return of about 2%. However, what if you want more? Taking a calculated
risk with a diversified bond fund may be your best bet. A low-cost government
and corporate bond fund that offers
3-4% is a solid foundation. You can access your money quickly and you are
not paying a redemption/penalty charge. You pay 0.05% a year not the average
bond fund cost of 0.75%. You are paying for fund maintenance not for ‘star’
fund managers. Or, depending on the amount, you can hedge with a set or ladder
of longer-term CDs which provide money using climbing interest rates. If you
are in retirement, low-cost annuities can be laddered so that you stay ahead of
inflation in future years.
Know your risks: https://www.amazon.com/Annuity-Laddering-Inflation-proof-Retirement-Income/dp/1484849663
****************
Make “The Don” Great Again
“I have absolute right to do what I want to
do with the Justice Department,”
(Court
judges in Reich were instructed to submit lists of lawyers who would be
trustworthy. The main requirement was absolute political reliability. Hitler’s
Justice)
Art of the Deal
does NOT work in government: too many power players
“Trump
can’t be a racist: he had a TV show”
“Why are we having all
these people from shithole countries come here?
Trump creates religionists
agency to justify discrimination
The Don’s election
money from Russia via NRA
‘I was elected President.’
GOP
to destroy FBI investigators and rule
of law to save their mob boss
Dictator’s great weapon is fear: Dems
are evil TV ad
How Govt wastes our money:
Party politics brings end
to American democracy and Reps get paid to do it. $6.5 biln/wk
We pay
and train Afghan units implicated in “gross
human rights violations”
SCAMS:
Kushner, in
hock up to his ears to China investors, is meeting in secret with the
Chinese.
Chase
gives raise to 9% of employees; Disney gives 1 time bonus to some.
Propaganda!
Trump’s
lawyer: Trump didn’t mean he will actually answer FBI questions truthfully
Hey he’s The Don.
Jobs:
Trump’s Labor proposal: employers
to pocket their workers’ tips if pay minimum wage.
Trump’s new
solar tax eliminates 23,000 jobs
Trump’s
white nationalism keeps tourists away and 40,000 lose jobs.
Who owns your account now?
PA considers ending
property tax: fund schools via sales and income tax.
Miracle:
“Fake news is a sign
of intolerant and hypersensitive attitudes, and leads only to the spread of
arrogance and hatred.
That is the end result of untruth.” Pope Francis
IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
973.746.2014
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