Your Unbiased Advisor: gun not knife

Showing posts with label gun not knife. Show all posts

Friday, June 30, 2023

Some “financial” writers just don’t know

“6 Safe and Smart Investments for Retirees” is misleading and mostly wrong. There are no “safe” investments. Even the fixed rate bank CD is subject to loss of purchasing power. That means you can’t buy what you could have 5 years or even 1 year before. Same for “tax-free” municipal bonds since bonds might end up costing you money. Lending to an individual without some security can leave you with a big loss. Peer-to-peer lending is not without risks: the borrower could default. Annuities are touted as a “safe” investment. However, you can lose money since annuities have many costs and conditions. Insurers make sure they don’t lose even if you have an emergency withdrawal. Even government I bonds have risks. The core rates are low and you will be disappointed if inflation is flat. The costs associated with being a landlord of a rental property can include the human toll of constant aggravation from tenant demands. SS benefits include an inflation-adjusted monthly payment that is good for life and backed by the government. Waiting to age 70 to claim means benefits will be much greater for life. So, every one must decide on a balance between risk and reward. Retirees will need more money for a longer period so the risk of not having enough must be addressed by continuing to invest in a diversified portfolio including stock funds.

NO safe investments: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Retirement-Mutual-Funds-retirement/dp/1481114026

IRA: tax-FREE or tax-deductible?

Depending on where you are in your investing life, one or the other IRA is an appropriate source of retirement income. The “traditional” IRA lets you reduce your current income so you pay fewer taxes NOW. The “Roth” IRA lets you increase your retirement income by avoiding taxes then. Thus, you have a significant choice. Given your overall income level, you can reduce income taxes during your whole working life OR you can exclude federal and state income taxes later when you may need more income. This means that depending on how you invest your Roth investments, you could have a potentially greater nest egg to spend and never pay taxes on the withdrawals. In fact you can convert the money in your traditional tax-deferred account to a Roth at a later time when it may benefit you more. The IRA expert, Ed Slott, (IRAhelp.com) can explain why a Roth conversion is his No. 1 tax tip for this year. You may need to use his site to calculate which deal is better for you at your current stage of investing.

Choice: https://www.amazon.com/Create-Your-Tax-FREE-Financial-System/dp/1466367466

Save $1000: maintain your vehicles

Don’t ignore “check engine” light. Keep tires at correct pressure. Change oil and regular maintenance as your manual says not as your mechanic wants. Check your PCV valve, windshield cracks, fluid leaks when parked, and any unusual noises. Save more over your car’s lifetime buy shopping for insurance every 2 years. Insurers change their marketing plan every year and it is easy to $500 every time you shop. Major carriers will cut premiums if you are able to raise your deductible. Many have over 20 discounts your agent may not tell you about (commissions are a % of premiums). Bundling policies (including “Umbrella” cover) may or may not save total premium. I have had home insurance for 30 years and would lose money by combining with other policies.

Shopping saves: https://www.amazon.com/Vehicle-Insurance-Beware-Double-Coverage/dp/1480027634/

Advisors are trying to become psychologists

This advisor says people are asking: Can you help me define the next stage in my life? What’s going to be my purpose? What’s my “aspirational lifestyle”? And how does that guide my financial choices? Sounds like your therapist not your advisor. Almost all advisors have had no training in answering these questions. He thinks people are demanding humanistic advice of their financial counselor, and he thinks he as a wealth manager can use this need to grow his business. His firm partnered with Columbia University to develop an advisor training program that is based on providing a more holistic, “purpose-driven” approach to planning. It’s been incredibly popular with both advisors and clients he claims. This advisor thinks advisors need to help clients “envision their aspirational lifestyle in their next life chapter.” He says people want more financial stability in retirement. This “stability” is usually interpreted by sellers to mean annuity needed. This writer actually works for an annuity company so his remarks support the push for high-commission/fee annuity sales. And most advisors are focused on revenue growth for their firms. In fact, 72% new advisors quit as most of the training programs are very sales-based. Wall Street wants revenue not therapists.

Large nest egg is ‘stable’: https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Future-Insurance-mutual-funds/dp/149355204X/

?**********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 govt overthrow 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

Trump still terrorizing election woman

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

January 6, 2021 “A date which will live in infamy”

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 so ‘I win’

Mar 11 2023 Pence straddles his place in history

Mar 31 2023 Trump indicted misusing election money

Apr 7 2023 One GOP guy decided which drugs we can use

Apr 9 Illustrated Anne Frank book removed by Florida school

Apr 21 Trump: “I am your justice”

May 9 Trump guilty of sexual abuse

Jun 8 Trump indicted by the United States of America

Violation of the Espionage Act

Conspiracy to obstruct justice

Making false statements

Jan 2025 Dictator pardons himself: his Supremes agree

How Govt wastes our money:

Rich get rich: lower tax rates; higher income from assets; NOT taxable income

Feds give away $200 Billion to fraud Covid fakers: at least 17% of funds lost

SCAMS/SPINS:

43 states passed 100 anti-voting laws since Trump attempted to overturn the 2020

Supremes kill GOP move decide our elections: saves marginal Dem voters

Study: when the candidate field is crowded, voters are more likely to sit out than turnout.

6 shot outside of a club in Houston: shooter escaped

72% new advisors quit as most of the training programs are still very sales-based

Imposter scams: fake authority figures scare us into paying $ billions

Recall: 7.5 million Baby Shark bath toys cut or stabbed children

FL ‘freedom’ gov. bans all direct car sales: protects high-cost dealers from competition

Business man lost $340,000 to a crypto scam. Such cases are on the rise

Moving Company Scams: no licenses OK—steal our goods; AG can’t do a thing

Army allows its financial advisors to exploit Army families/survivors: wild trading

ACI Worldwide caught improperly initiating unlawful mortgage payment transactions

Insurers deny tens of millions of claims every year but we don’t get stats: why, how, who

Sending money using Zelle^® /payment platforms to those you don’t know is dangerous

Ray Brewer caught stole 9 million claimed turn cow manure into green energy 6 yrs jail

Shvartsmans, Garelick caught $22 million insider trading on Trump’s firm going public

Wilson Baston NY caught stole $10 million real estate scams: convicted 2^nd time

Where do Congress people go for abortion if own state outlawed it?

GOP to rewrite history: House to expunge Trump impeachments: dictator’s clean slate

Trump’s Supremes change our lives: college, student loans, religion, speech, LGBTQ

Trump’s Supremes: colleges go back to “old boy network” for new students: $$ win spot

Trump Supremes strengthens protections for religious rights at work: religion for politics

Trump’s Supremes: “harassing posts” on media are protected as free speech

Trump’s Supremes: use religion to discriminate against anyone you don’t like

Trump’s Supremes: even unemployed students must pay $400 billion in loans

Trump delays paying sexual abuse victim Carroll by suing her for ‘defamation’

Jobs

Military AI technology to spy on civilians, particularly in the workplace, sold to owners.

Working from anywhere: nomad visa right for you?

Chip maker TSMC hires 4,500 in AZ: culture barriers

Who owns your account now?

In Europe’s empty churches, prayer and confessions make way for drinking and dancing

Best fixed income products: compare T bills, TIPS, annuity

Home insurers don’t like these dogs: liability increases premium or cancels

Farmers and AIG quit insuring FL homeowners

Getting an FHA home loan: check if it fits your needs

Jersey City is now the nation’s second-priciest rental market: $3370: 2^nd to Manhattan

Changing landscape of wealthy folks allocations to real estate

Fastest-growing demographic groups

44% voters to consider third-party/independent candidate if Biden-Trump are nominees

DeSantis to close IRS, Commerce, Energy, Education

Top Robo-Advisors Ranked From Worst to Best

Miracles:

Scientists Say They’ve Reached ‘Turning Point’ in Cancer Research With Vaccines

Drug in trials helped people lose 24% body weight or about 58 pounds: no more diets

Diabetes metformin protects against long-Covid

Intermittent fasting is as effective as counting calories:

Study: AI predicts pancreatic cancer risk based on patient’s medical records.

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

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

In place of atomic lattice, light waves used to create an optical lattice with same geometry

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

Quantum mechanics violates local realism: two objects behave as single system at 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

Strange state of physics that allows energy to flow frictionlessly through a material.

Bending light from extreme gravity reveals largest black hole so far

Curved SpaceTime: heavy masses and simultaneously quantum effects become visible

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: created our time.

Our planetary system: rarest system: only 1% of all systems with same number of planets

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

Gold made from neutron stars: collisions produce more neutrons:79 protons,118 neutrons

The proton is so complicated science still finds new energy entities/forces every year.

“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 electron itself.

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

starts-with-a-bang/universe-expansion-not-accelerating/

Physicists knew black holes eventually disappear particle by particle. Now they think everything else does, too

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

http://www.theinsidersguides.com/

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

Friday, December 3, 2021

Why do investors “settle” for the ‘average’ (market index) returns?

Most advisors and brokers have used this statement to convince their clients to give them all their money to manage. Most investors don’t know that this is a trick question. They don’t know what the average annual index return is AND their sales person does not tell them that they will never earn more than the index return over time. Many advisors can show a year when they did better than the index but 95% can’t do better over time. Despite bad news, my market index fund is up 29%. Over time, the actual data shows managed funds earn 3.79% vs 11% for index funds. No sales person is going to tell you that the appliance they sell is cheaper at the discount store. Unfortunately, most folks don’t learn the facts about managing money in school. But this is actual index return since 1991. And using a low-cost fund, you can earn this return too:

2020 18.38

2019 31.74

2018 -4.41

2017 21.94

2016 11.93

2015 1.31

2014 13.81

2013 32.43

2012 15.88

2011 2.07

2010 14.87

2009 27.11

2008 -37.22

2007 5.46

2006 15.74

2005 4.79

2004 10.82

2003 28.72

2002 -22.27

2001 -11.98

2000 -9.11

1999 21.11

1998 28.73

1997 33.67

1996 23.06

1995 38.02

1994 1.19

1993 10.17

1992 7.60

1991 30.95

Over time, your "Average" return is 12.22 %. This beats most professional returns because fees and poor market trading costs 1-2% every year. Your advisor takes the fees off the top so you never actually see the bill for ‘managing’ your money. Annualized return after inflation (Real inflation-adjusted return) is 10.72 %. So your $250 a month would have grown to $1,049,991 not $664,555.

Pay less; Earn more: https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Financial-Advisors-Told-alternatives/dp/1478281545

You don’t need an annuity—you already have one.

When your advisor offers a “guaranteed lifetime income” using an annuity, you need to get the facts about this option before you sign the contract. You can’t cancel an annuity once you sign because there are surrender charges—up to 12%—decreasing over time. You already have an annuity with your retirement money in an IRA or rollover IRA from your 401k or 403b money. The custodian of your IRA is required to distribute your account according to IRS rules called Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) so you will have earned income which is taxable. You got tax-deferral with your retirement plan at work and now you must pay tax on the deferred earnings. These monthly or annual distributions are calculated using an IRS table that takes each year’s IRA balance and calculates a percentage each year you are alive. If you have set your IRA portfolio to keep growing, your RMD may be higher over time. Most annuities don’t do that—most offer fixed amounts that ignore the inflation bite. Within 20 years, that amount might have HALF the buying power for you.

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

How to guarantee a monthly income for a disabled adult child

When a reader asked me how to make sure their adult child could have an income for life guaranteed, I suggested an immediate annuity. The reader thought they could just leave their 401k to the adult child with the beneficiary designation. This is not a good idea. When a person inherits a 401k, the funds typically must be distributed in 10 years or lump-sum depending on the 401k plan. In either case this may result in an immediate tax liability for the beneficiary. Immediate annuities are low-cost contracts set up with an insurance company to pay a certain amount each month for life. This immediate annuity cannot be cashed in if someday their disabled adult child decides to spend the premium in one lump sum. A 40 year old female annuitant can receive over $600 a month for life for a premium of $200,000 today. This 75 year-old parent can pay more to have the amount keep pace with inflation. Another option is to buy a contract with a cash-refund provision in case of early death. Another option would be to buy another immediate annuity to boost the monthly income after inflation reduces the buying power in 10 years. A more expensive option would include making a formal trust either now or at death. The reader does not need an advisor to buy this low-fee annuity so the monthly benefit is more.

https://www.amazon.com/Internet-Money-Smarts-More-Less/dp/1493643223

Wealthy use bankruptcy for benefits and avoid responsibility

Bankruptcy was supposed to help people get back on their feet after a disaster not of their own making. It was termed a “fresh start” so that we do not have to spend our lives in debtor’s prison. Instead, it has become a way for the wealthy to take good assets out of the company they drove into the ground and leave those hurt with nothing. Bankruptcy has turned capitalism into a means of screwing us. Take the case of the Sacklers: their Oxy pills killed over 500,000 people and they take $10 BILLION from a bankrupt company and gain immunity from prosecution. Most states and victim families get $4.5 billion to split. Another example is the king of bankruptcy: Don Trump. Trump has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy for his companies six times. Trump "put up little of his own money, shifted personal debts to the casinos and collected millions of dollars in salary, bonuses, and other payments.” Trump did not pay his bills and put many small businesses out of business. "The burden of his failures," according to the NY Times, "fell on investors and others who had bet on his business acumen." Bankruptcy is also a way to avoid paying taxes. Trump claimed company losses against his personal income for years. The wealthy have learned to turn the American system into Socialism for the Rich.

Privatize profits; socialize losses: https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Socialism-Rich-little-people-pay/dp/1535218584

Another reason NOT to pay an advisor: portfolio tricks

At a recent advisor conference, they were told, “Technology can make clients feel like they’re getting a customized portfolio experience, even though it’s standardized behind the scenes.” To make more money, panelists at the CFA Society of Philadelphia’s annual Private Wealth Management Conference said, “advisors are going to have to free up some capacity to accelerate their growth, and introducing some standardization into the investment process can help them do that.” Fidelity analyst: “One of the most the common things we see is that advisors have 100 clients with 100 different portfolios with about 300 different investments or security tickers. You got to ask yourself the question, how many investments can you keep track of as a fiduciary?” Another presenter said advisors should keep it to nine model portfolios. So your advisor is charging you 1-2% a year for a ‘tweaked’ standard model. An advisor’s presentation can “make the client feel it’s customized, but at the end of the day, it’s very systematic and structured in the background.” Now you can avoid the portfolio trick. Use the ultimate automatic robo.

Pay less; get more: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Robo-Advisor-Ultimate-Automatic-Management/dp/1537111957

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

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

The Path to Dictatorship

“The Coup is ongoing”

GOP voters pay Trump’s personal bills

Party of Lincoln deletes voting rights

GOP Supremes to delete women’s rights

How Govt wastes our money:

$ Billions building bases in Guam, Australia, Pacific: China wants Taiwan back

More aircraft carriers for Pacific at $13 billion each but wealthy avoid taxes

China, Russia attacking satellites with lasers, radio frequency jammers and cyber attacks