Did you lose money by selling into
the down market?
Most Vanguard mutual fund owners did
not follow Wall Street’s advice to sell to avoid losses. Amid concerns that
passive index fund investors would sell out of their positions at the first
sign of a correction, clients at Vanguard showed little response to the stock
market volatility of the past few weeks. Long-term investors (not speculators)
don’t panic. They don’t do brokerage program
trading. Vanguard announced that it had passed $1 trillion in 401k plan
assets as of the end of 2017. Vanguard’s advice: Stay diversified.
Tune out the noise.
Control what you can—costs.
Revisit your asset allocation.
Set realistic expectations.
Maybe we all should listen. Stocks
are on sale: https://www.amazon.com/Vanguards-Top-Ten-mutual-funds/dp/150073909X
Why did Trump claim his wealthy
friends hate him for the new tax law?
Most tax analysts say he lied
about this claim. In fact, some project that Trump saved himself over
$11 million with the stroke of his pen. The new bill allows people to
deduct up to 20% of the income they get from pass-through businesses. Real
estate investors like Trump obtain special benefits from the law. Most of
Trump’s friends will benefit greatly from the elimination of the AMT and estate
tax. Using estimates from his 2005 return, Trump would save $31 million each year.
Plus his wife
and kids get to spend all of the $3-10 billions he leaves instead of just
60% of his net worth. Wow, that is huge for most of his friends. We must
conclude that Trump’s statement was ‘fake news’—he and his friends will pay
less for years and run up our debt so much that we will need to pay more taxes
after 2026. His plan gives permanent breaks to friends but ours
would end in 2025.
Protect your future income using an
IRS Tax Shelter: https://www.amazon.com/Trump-Tax-Shelter-Avoid-taxes/dp/1985448300
Many corporations close US
locations even with $millions in subsidies/incentives
Trump promised to bring back or
save jobs for those with skills of the old America Kansas plan despite pleas from Congress. Why? Sales are down.
1000 of people will be affected. This was their American Dream—work for a great
American company and enjoy the community built over the last 20 years. Even
with foreign sales growth, net income plummeted by more than 80-percent in the
fiscal fourth quarter of 2017. The Kansas output will move to York PA Israel China and the rise of robots are to blame for millions of
the missing jobs. Other popular scapegoats, such as immigration, food stamps
and Obamacare, did
not even move the needle.
For those who found new jobs, the
pay is awful. For instance, Ford will add 1,200 jobs in Chicago at HALF the pay current workers made when they started. Many
people will lack the money needed to buy all the goods and services the economy
can produce. The
economy will slow and the Trump tax revenue will not meet his promises. Our
taxes will need to go up to pay for the wealthy tax cuts.
Protect your income: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Tax-Haven-Tax-FREE-Americans/dp/1482659441
Buffett’s SIMPLE investment
strategy beats Wall Street’s best traders
He beat Wall Street
‘professionals’ with his strategy of just owning the market. Buffett's
index fund gained 94% over 10 years. Protégé's selected funds gained 24%.
His strategy provided over 11% since 1976. Your money doubles
every 7 years. 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
Will your 401k provide enough
income in retirement?
Trump promised everyone would have
more money from his new tax law. Will this help you have enough later on? Since
our lower tax rates will be eliminated by 2026, you need to use your extra
income to boost retirement savings now. Most Americans will NOT end up with
enough to continue their present lifestyle after they stop working. Even now we
see more workers re-entering the labor market because they need money. Surveys
say 55 to 64-year-olds have an average of $104,000 and those 65 to 74 have $148,000
in savings. If that money were turned into a lifetime annuity, it
would only amount to $310 and $649 respectively per month. Adding SS
benefits of $1,342
a month would mean about $2,000 a month. Can you live on that?
The folks that have enough
retirement income are those that put their investing on automatic: They had
their pension, 401k, or IRA trustee debit their paycheck so that they were not
aware of saving/investing monthly. Some employers even give them money. Our
government lets us deduct these contributions during our lifetime so we avoid
tax as we save. These folks have $5,000 a month not $2,000 a month to spend
using automatic.
Have enough: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Retirement-Spending-Plan-enough/dp/1461084016
Have enough: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Retirement-Spending-Plan-enough/dp/1461084016
Is it time to claim Trump’s 20%
free profit with rental real estate?
The Trump tax law offers a unique
opportunity to participate in tax-free earnings from real estate investments. Home
values are climbing in most places but 2018 is not 2008 and you need to
know the new rules. Smaller lenders want to lend if you have a 740+ credit
score and over 20% down. Owner financing and HELOC loans are alternatives. Shop
for foreclosure bargains. Make sure the rents cover ALL your expenses. Line up
handymen for help. Hands-on owners usually have greater success. Use LLCs to
protect your assets and collect your 20% tax-free profits. You may not benefit
from the end to the AMT or estate tax like Trump, but rental real estate is one
of the favorites of working millionaires. You can create a stream of income that
can keep pace with inflation.
Avoid the GOP tax increases: https://www.amazon.com/Tax-Free-Living-strategies-build/dp/1477452702
Best last minute tax saving move
Tax filing began 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 2017 income 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) as 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. IRS checks to see you have IRA.
Why some
Americans can’t file … yet
Congress
had second thoughts about their “well-crafted” tax law and so on Feb 9 they
passed a 2019 budget with some extra “extenders”
which expired in 2016-17 but were made retroactive in 2018 for 2017. Yes, they
can do that. Anyway, if you have three of the ‘outlawed’ deductions, you will
have to wait to file or file an amendment. The IRS was baffled saying, the IRS
is “reviewing the legislation signed Feb. 9” and will provide information when
they can. Meanwhile, if you bought storm windows and doors like I did, you wait
for a new 1040 form. Currently, that line says "Reserved for future use."
The IRS will have to destroy millions of forms and instructions to get it
right. 18 million tax returns have been received and processed. GOP seems eager
to waste as much tax money as possible given The Don’s tank parade and tax
forms that could have been avoided. The parts that most
likely impact us include extensions for:
- exclusion from gross income of discharge
of qualified principal residence indebtedness [mortgage modified/forgiven]
- mortgage insurance premiums
treated as qualified residence interest
- above-the-line deduction for qualified tuition and related expenses
- credit for nonbusiness energy property
- credit for residential energy
property
- credit for new qualified fuel cell motor
vehicles
- credit for alternative fuel vehicle refueling
property
- credit for 2-wheeled
plug-in electric vehicles [Zero’s “massive torque”]
If you
own horses or a mine, there are goodies just for you here.
If there
is a bigger refund or a cut in your bill, you can ask your preparer to fix it with
a 1040X. You need to
recalculate your old return and tell the IRS the changes only.
Congress
was so busy last year repealing our health care, they didn’t have time for
these.
I will
file late for a couple of $ hundred extra. Congress ran up debt further to $21T.
I used to be a Young Republican but they changed their beliefs, morals, ethics,
standards.
I use my
own system to avoid tax: https://www.amazon.com/Create-Your-Tax-FREE-Financial-System/dp/1466367466
IRS free filing sites avoid $300+
cost of filing taxes
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.
Remember: IRS does NOT call you. The average refund is over $3,000. Check your
refund: https://sa.www4.irs.gov/irfof/lang/en/irfofgetstatus.jsp
You can create a tax-free
retirement fund of $500,000 with that amount each year. If
you need free tax preparer service for your 1040, use AARP Tax Aides near
you. Bring last year’s return and ID: https://www.aarp.org/money/taxes/aarp_taxaide/
Use your refund to fund your
tax-FREE IRS approved account: https://www.amazon.com/Tax-FREE-Retirement-code-lifetime-income/dp/1475206976
New cars lose 40% of value—are new
cars worth it?
Many cars just
last longer. Some
claim 70% of their cars are still on the street. Used luxury cars have a
history of reliability
and safety. The first cars with disc brakes and all around airbags were
luxury brands. New
cars have more problems because of innovation and technology that may
attract new buyers. Without a warranty, the consideration must be: how much
time can you afford to spend without your ride? If we can spend or finance $16,000
for transportation, we
have great choices. Shopping could not be easier. You don’t need to be good
at haggling since all the information you need is online. Thus you get an idea
of what your trade-in is worth at https://www.kbb.com/whats-my-car-worth/
and then look at the JK Power dependability stats at http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/jd-power-2018-us-vehicle-dependability-study.
Look up the best values in your area at https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/instantMarketValue.action
and https://www.edmunds.com/. You can
test drive anywhere but you may want to travel 60 miles to pick up a bargain.
Is gas mileage or comfort your important criterion?
Don’t forget discount insurance: https://www.amazon.com/Vehicle-Insurance-Beware-Double-Coverage/dp/1480027634
Why some people ‘buy back’ a state
pension
A client worked in a state agency
for years and left to take another job. 14 years later she got back into the
state public education system. After another 14 years, she was about to retire
but her pension would not have been as great as if she had stayed in the very
lucrative state pension system. She was offered a chance to buy back the years
she missed so her pension amount would be greater. At age 65 she had to pay
$95,000 to get back those 14 years worth of pension credits. How did she do it?
She used her one asset—mortgage-free home valued at over $250,000—to obtain a
HELOC with no closing costs. Now her pension monthly income covers the HELOC
and she may receive over $300,000 extra during her lifetime payout. Plus, the
home equity loan interest is deductible.
Use the Buffett strategy for
retirement: https://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffetts-Vanguard-Funds-Retirement/dp/1496148592
****************
Make “The Don” Great Again
Bannon admits the Trump-Russian
meeting was “treasonous”
Trump Is 'Doing
Putin's Job for Him' by Attacking our FBI: McCain
Mueller
indicts 14 more conspirators for illegally helping Trump win election
How many other
people can Trump blame for Putin’s meddling?
Trump’s co-conspirators
take secrets without clearances. Traitors?
GOP
House will never impeach their ‘Savior’
“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)
FBI doing its job following Kremlin ‘advisor’, Page,
a suspected Putin spy
“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 defends sex assaulter and predators because … he is one
‘I was elected President.’ (to
destroy ‘the state’)
Dictator’s greatest weapon is fear: Dems
are evil (TV ad)
Anyone
who did NOT clap for my speech is a traitor
How Govt wastes our money:
Cutting regs means we pay for Black
Lung treatment rising in miners again.
Trump gives military more than
they asked for to prepare
for nuclear war!
2,400 Americans have died; $1
Trillion helping Afghanistan fall into continuous war.
This is how
big companies bend our govt reps to give them a better deal: fake
testimony, staged events, fake
publisher, revolving govt service, fake supporters, etc.
Train & qualify
gun-shooting “teachers and retired Marines” to kill automatic fire?
Intruder
fires 15-20
bullets a second but it takes over 2 seconds to shoot back.
SCAMS:
GOP
cuts disabled person’s right to sue: protects businesses.
Digital
Altitude/Aspire caught stealing
$14 million from victims of MLM scam.
Apollo
Mental Clarity endorsed
by Ben Carson Trump’s Housing Sec. is snake oil.
SS is underpaying
widows and widowers by $224M: they can claim survivor benefits
Many in
the White House have been unable to gain full security clearance. Putin payoffs?
Jobs:
School
safety money slashed in Trump budget--$25 million cut ends guard jobs.
Who owns your account now?
MetLife
has failed to pay pensions to retirees: MetLife got money to pay $86
billion but kept the money.
Buy your next car at Costco? Yes, they
offer fixed prices from a local dealer. No haggle.
Miracle:
Unless Americans use absentee
ballots, Putin
will change votes in elections again.
Neighbor
protecting domestic violence victim killed by husband
Aaron
Feis gave his life so that others might live.
Prevent school children’s deaths. Hunters
kill innocent animals instead.
IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
973.746.2014
Alerts
