Your Unbiased Advisor: Trump coup

Showing posts with label Trump coup. Show all posts

Friday, November 11, 2022

help dealing with your nest egg after working?

Wealthy discover new way to avoid taxes: we pay the deficit

Rich are keeping the tax benefits of philanthropy while delaying for years actually giving to those in need. A small but growing number of wealthy Americans have discovered how to bypass rules designed more than a half-century ago to ensure philanthropists stay accountable for the billions of dollars in tax breaks they receive each year. The key is the donor-advised fund, or DAF, which is so flexible that charitable dollars can sit in one’s account indefinitely. And no one needs to know either way. In the past they set up private foundations to obtain tax benefits but they are required to pay out 5% of their assets annually and report each charitable gift; publicly. Donor-advised funds, which are considered charities, satisfy that mandate, so they’re an ideal way for foundations to postpone their giving. For example, Tesla’s Elon Musk, who built up $3 billion in a foundation, could report that he met the requirement for moving out money only because he transferred tens of millions of dollars to DAFs in recent years. We will never know if or who he gave the money to but he still gets the tax benefits. In more than 1,000 instances, foundations would have fallen short of their required payout for the year were it not for contributions to DAFs, according to Bloomberg’s analysis. We must make up the deficit or our children/grandchildren will.

You have options: https://www.amazon.com/Tax-FREE-Wealth-How-laws-free/dp/1475089236/

Portfolio for a recession

Most readers are about HALF & HALF: bonds and equities. Many have their retirement funds in Vanguard: specifically the Vanguard Wellesley Income Fund. They have some in the 500 Index, energy index and other indexes as well as Buffett's firm. They did not sell all securities for cash because they plan on living longer and need growth and income to pay their taxes. They will survive the economic train wreck because American capitalism is not dead. Some still have a mortgage. Many have a large emergency fund. Some use a HELOC since they have equity in their homes. Others have rental real estate. Most have a diversified portfolio since they do not know what is coming in the future.

https://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffetts-Vanguard-Funds-Retirement/dp/1496148592

Careful shopping in a recession

Find the cheapest gas station since all gas comes in the same pipeline. Find the least expensive grocery house-brand. Yes, you can eat well on the same food with a new label. If you must travel try one night in the cheapest hotel/motel in the area. You can splurge at the eatery where the locals go. You are probably overpaying for car/home insurance and premiums are going up. Save by increasing deductibles and paying premium upfront. Cut out roadside and AAA if you have these credit card benefits. Cut comprehensive cover for older cars and medical if you have health coverage already. Using free streaming for entertainment or Amazon if you have Prime. Best deal: drop your advisor/broker save $3,000 a year. Invest in low-cost index funds or ETF for better results.

https://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Guides-Discount-Financial-Services/dp/143480593X/

Where can you get help dealing with your nest egg after working?

Most people want more help from their employers, according to an Invesco study, especially when it comes to how to cope with that big pile of money they’ve accumulated after decades of stashing cash. More than three-quarters of employers claim they give their workers info about how to transition from saving to spending a nest egg, but across all age groups, almost half of employees say they’ve received no advice. Employers typically expect the retirement plan administrator to answer questions about retirement. However both the administrator and the employer don’t want to take on the responsibility or liability for employees’ money matters. Most employees don’t have a clue as to how to manage their money. Some employers favor making an annuity product an option in their retirement plans. This thrills the insurers, but this may not be the best way to accomplish one’s goals. Without an unbiased advisor, most employees will not maximize their options. Financial planners don’t rely on products so they may be unbiased.

https://www.amazon.com/Buy-only-what-you-need/dp/1720321531

Trumpists take House: vow to cut the benefits we already paid for

Some active politicos have promised to cut our benefits as soon as they oust or kill Pelosi. They will use the debt limit as leverage to arrange retirees program downsizing and continue paying subsidies to big oil, agriculture and corporate largess. Since we have already voted, there is little we can do to change this trend. One thing we must do now is plan for reduced benefits in the future. How can we save for the future? Health and food costs are unlikely to come down any time soon so we will have to slow spending and stick with saving. The history of saving and investing illustrates how investing 10% of our pay can help us prepare for the lean times. Over most periods, stocks values rise about 11%. Our strategy of investing $250 a month (avoid new car purchase loan) for 10, 20, and 30 years, can provide $55,000, $218,000, and $708,000. This assumes you use a stock market index fund costing 0.04% not an industry salesperson costing 1-2%. That can rob you of up to “63 percent of what you would have had”.

Use the Buffett strategy: https://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffetts-Vanguard-Funds-Retirement/dp/1496148592

?**********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”

Jan 2025 Dictator pardons himself: his Supremes Agree

How Govt wastes our money:

Fed product safety slow to take deadly products off the market: needs court order so slow

Will election deniers be counting votes and accessing vote machines? Long recounts?

Instead of excess profits’ tax, gov raises rates to 5% so we lose jobs and stop spending

SCAMS/SPINS:

Only 1 GOP said he’ll “absolutely” accept the results in Tuesday’s vote

Voters rejected effort ‘to bring Trumpism to Mass.’

PA Supremes invalidated thousands of mail-in ballots: a Republican trick, not American

SPIN: GOP promises cut Medicare & Social Security benefits: 300 mil Americans lose

Manchin wants to help GOP ‘fix’ SS and Medicare funds: fewer workers, fewer benefits

Boomers fear cuts in earned benefits more than anything in retirement challenges

What Christian Nationalists (new GOP) want: power to have it all their way!

Trump: “J.D. is kissing my ass; he wants my support so much,”

CA, VT, MI, KY voters on abortion: “You got to have a little choice there”

5 states still to decide on slavery: Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont.

Woke: term to denigrate anyone who believes in further advancement of equality and human rights

American Airlines caught overcharging for bag fees: co-brand credit card “free” denied

Dollar General caught overcharging at cashier: baiting at shelves: fine

Vonage caught charging fees & not canceling: refunds from FTC more paperwork
Powerball delayed “technical reasons”: Pity the winner-overdose, divorce, theft, bankrupt

8 former French bishops accused of sexual abuse: sex abuse of 14 yr old girl: no arrests

Listeria killed 1; six East states illness; deli is source

WellsFargo caught customer mistreatment in lending & consumer deposit accounts: fine

Crypto complaints and scam records: how they do it to us: why US can’t stop it

Jobs

700 IRS clerk & customer service jobs: good pay; good benefits

Who owns your account now?

Some banks pay 3.5% but inflation is 8.2%: Vanguard Energy Index Fund ETF: up 60%

Bitcoin has fallen: $47,750 to $17,400 year-to-date, lost two-thirds of its value.

Funeral homes could soon have to post prices online: a big party costs under $7,000

Car bargains at half original price

“Extra” benefits are offered by individual Medicare Advantage plans for 2023

Spending over $50 a month for streaming services is now the norm

Many veterans are unaware of a range of other benefits

Miracles:

GOP pays for God to do a DeSantis commercial: leverage Christian Nationalism https://twitter.com/CaseyDeSantis/status/1588539069243473924

Dems win PA, OH, CA, NH, VA, CO, NJ, MI, WI, NY, MD

GOP win NC, GA, OH, FL

Fiber alters the microbiome. It may boost cancer treatment

Warming: EU trees are producing new growth even before shedding their autumn leaves.

Arctic “megafires: thaw, then greater vegetation growth and increases fuel availability

Doctors Treat a Fatal Genetic Disease Before Birth

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

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.

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/

Friday, September 30, 2022

Your RMD--Correction

Will a $250,000 retirement fund be enough?

CORRECTION

Last week: “Your RMD will tell you how much you need in retirement” blurb was misleading. RMD is the required minimum distribution from your deferred retirement accounts (401k, 403b, other pension) so that income taxes can be assessed. The amount of your RMD is calculated by your mutual fund or brokerage from IRS tables based on your age and deferred accounts total at the end of the previous year. Because we all must withdrawal our amount, use an RMD calculator to test the total amount we will need to live on in retirement: our nest egg. https://www.aarp.org/work/retirement-planning/required-minimum-distribution-calculator.html For instance, if I need $833 a month, $10,000 a year for my basic needs, I use this calculator to estimate how much of a fund to accumulate. Based on this estimate, I will need to accumulate at least $250,000 in order to cover my basic spending. The IRS tables and our life expectancy changes so don’t use this calculator to determine your RMD for yourself. You can take your RMD out of one account, or take bits from each one, so long as you withdraw the required minimum amount. You can take more but it is taxed.

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

Stocks are on sale but you must be patient

Stocks represent ownership of a company. If you are patient, the value of what you own can grow significantly. Some stocks produce dividends (profits) that are taxable and some don’t. For instance, if you had purchased one share in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway in each year since 1965, you would be a multimillionaire. You would own parts of 50 profitable companies. Each share is worth over $500,000. The value of your stocks grew at 20% a year on average but you had to be patient. (Annual report, p 3) You lost 48% of the value in 1974 but gained 129% in 2 years. Buffett does not pay dividends so you would have paid no taxes on this stock each year. You pay when you sell. However, you could borrow from your broker with stock as collateral if you needed quick money. The stock is down 10% —HALF of the broad market index decline YTD. There are many stocks that retain earnings (no dividends) so you have your choice of assets without paying tax on growth every year. You choose when to pay taxes.

No-tax alternative: https://www.amazon.com/Tax-FREE-Retirement-code-lifetime-income/dp/1475206976

Best Way to Withdraw From Your Retirement Accounts

When we retire we are faced with decisions that we should have planned before the day of retirement. Based on our goals for the future, we should have decided in advance which accounts to hit first, second and third. We should have already decided to transfer our tax-deferred accounts from our employer and former employers to one trustee—a mutual fund or brokerage. We should have already decided to take Social Security or wait to maximize our benefits. Some wait to their age 70 to receive almost double the amount at age 62. We should have already calculated our basic spending needs so that we would know we would use only the required minimum distribution not our Roth IRA or our individual securities. We should have already calculated how much tax we would pay on our RMD, Social Security and pension benefits. If we use fixed income assets like CDs and annuities, we may owe tax on these accumulations. You may have other issues and questions about the sequence of spending so a fixed-fee financial planner may be the best option at this time. A one-time fee is cheaper than 1-2% annual fee for 30 years.

https://www.amazon.com/Your-Retirement-Spending-Plan-enough/dp/1461084016

You don’t need an advisor to accumulate a $1,000,000 fund

Saving and investing is not as hard as the financial industry makes it out to be. The folks who are successful in accumulation for retirement follow a few simple rules that they learned early, usually from their parents. Schools don’t teach basic investing. They teach how to open a bank account to spend a pay check. Employers can’t give us good advice since that makes them liable for our mistakes. Rule 1: start early—use your first employer’s tax advantaged plan. Rule 2: invest in low-cost stock index mutual funds inside a tax-deferred of tax-FREE account—use an IRA if your employer’s options cost more than 0.15%. Rule 3: invest the same amount each payday. Market timing and stock picking do not work over time. Rule 4: Cost is the best predictor of success. You can plan for retirement the correct way and have a $1 million when you need it.

Use Buffett’s advice: https://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffett-Your-Investment-Advisor/dp/1518690963