Some “financial” writers just don’t know

 

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. 

Popular steroids could mess up some cancer treatments

 

 

 

 

 

 

@

 

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/

 

 

Why is the boring target-date fund right for you?

 

Your advisor is costing you $8,800 or more

Do you know how much your advisor is costing you in terms of long-term accumulation? Most folks do not know because their advisor does not publish the benchmark returns that compare their returns to published statistics. Folks who use index funds automatically see how they are doing with their ultimate goals. So far this year, their account has grown by about 19%. Over the last 10 years, they have advanced over 16% per year. If they have been contributing their tax refund—about $3,000 a year—they have accumulated another $75,500. The average advisor costs run 1-2% a year between annual expenses, trading fees and bad market timing. Depending on your situation, you may have lost $8,800. Because of compounding over time, you may end up with only $569,000 instead of $882,000 using advisor cost averages. That is a lot to give your advisor: your $313,000 pays for their children’s education. But then who pays for yours?

Earn more automatically: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Robo-Advisor-Ultimate-Automatic-Management/dp/1537111957

 

Is auto-home ‘bundling’ right for you?

Sounds good but most folks find it is not right for them. Why? Bundle benefits go to the insurer not to you. Buying both auto and home insurance from the same company assumes one insurer can provide the best deals for you. That just doesn’t happen. Insurers price their products differently depending on their financial needs. You can save $ thousands over time by taking advantage of their shifting marketing strategies and also changes in your needs. For instance, insurers in CA and WA have had to raise rates as more fires got worse in recent years. If you have the same insurer in AZ your rates have also gone up. On the other hand, driving and commuting have been reduced so your rates are now found in the ‘leisure’ category. If your credit score has improved, your rate could be lower but only if you shop your vehicles to other carriers. Insurance agents don’t have an incentive to call you when your rates could be lower. Or they don’t know that you now have a minor on your policy or that you now have a dangerous dog. You can’t know you could be paying less for 10-20 years unless you compare rates often. Each insurer has their own set of discounts so you may qualify for more with a new insurer.

Drop the extras: https://www.amazon.com/Industry-Insiders-Guides-Buying-Insurance/dp/1466435712

 

Is your family member a scam target?

Certain folks are more likely to be scammed than others. Consider how the results of this study may impact your family members. The scam target is not likely to ask questions of an offer or product or agent. Researchers propose that mental frames governing compliance, opportunity, intelligence, and order may have affected the way that interviewees interpreted what scammers told them. Individuals were more likely to lose money if they believed that:

• Authority should not be challenged.
• Financial opportunities are a zero-sum game with clear winners and losers.
• The world is organized in a way that rewards good people.
• Asking too many questions can make a person seem ignorant.

Study participants explained how scammers reached out with promises of easy money or lucrative investments. Others described receiving phone calls from fraudsters posing as IRS agents and demanding payment of back taxes. Some scammers pose as eager lovers who promise to pay you back. Natural disaster victims are especially vulnerable to scammers since desperation makes us perfect prey.

Educate your family: https://www.amazon.com/Money-Scams-2014-insurance-financial/dp/1505437962

 

Is prepaying your funeral right for you?

Covid deaths—now over 700,000 and counting—have some folks thinking about the future. What is new is paying for your departure in advance to a lay-a-way company with no track record. Funeral homes have had their own ‘pre-need’ accounts for centuries. Of course your prepaid account may not last long enough: there are business failures. However, like buying life insurance for final expenses, paying for a funeral on a lay-a-way basis is not the best solution for this expense. Some plans offer a price ‘guarantee’ but how do you know they will provide the expected services. Some new ones offer affordable monthly payments in advance. Some claim they will hold the money in a bank and move the money to a funeral anywhere in their system. A better way is to designate some of your legacy for your final appearance. Since you don’t know about costs in advance, you may want to leave a note with your will explaining what kind of show you want and how much to spend. You need to designate a trusted executor to follow thru on your plan. My plan is cremation by the medical school when they are done with me. God knows what is on my tombstone. Relatives may want to give a toast at the final dinner.

Your plan or their plan: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Plan-Live-Age-100/dp/1548180793

 

Why is the boring target-date fund right for you?

Tests and surveys have consistently shown that steady contributions—the same amount each month—to these low-cost index funds provides the best chance of reaching the maximum accumulations over time. This boring investment strategy beats any advisor or computer-run strategy because the market swings are unpredictable. Most investors and their advisors think they can do better than the market index funds. Hubris was identified early in human history as being the cause of one’s downfall. Morningstar, the investing analyst, ran some extra simulations and DCA (dollar cost average) does possibly account for some of the gap in returns, but a perfectly-steady DCA investor still outperformed the real-world investor in 6 out of 7 fund categories. DCA can’t be helped if you are simply investing what you can, when you can, but there is still extra trading in and out that appears to only make things worse. Market timing, the effect of using ANY investing strategy, has no benefits for you except maybe in the short term. Warren Buffett advocates this “dumb” way of investing because it succeeds.

Go with Buffett: https://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffett-Your-Investment-Advisor/dp/1518690963

 

Help your child or grandchild learn to manage money

Instead of buying your child or grandchild life insurance to make sure they have coverage in the future, buy them financial literacy. Give them a leg up with money making skills. The old advice still works: Give a person a fish, you feed them for a day. Teach them to fish and you feed them for life. Make sure you teach your kids how to create wealth the easy way. My parents were not investors. At my first job, I had no clue which investment option to use for my 401k contribution and company match. The HR person told me to put it into the 'safe' stable value fund. That was the worst choice at my age I learned later when I got my securities licenses. If I had followed their advice I would have ended up with $150,000 instead of a Wealth Reserve of $877,233 about 33 years later. We have used this 'Wealth Reserve' as I call it to have funds to use low-cost high-deductible insurance, to buy two homes and 5 cars with higher down payments or cash, and now to receive $2,500 a monthly in retirement supplement. Advisor fees take HALF your funds.

Follow 3 steps: https://www.amazon.com/Give-your-child-leg-manage/dp/1096505355

 

 

**********ACCOUNTABILITY**************

 

 

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

 

Our Jan 6 ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’

 

Subpoenas for Trump’s failed government overthrow

 

Domestic terror double foreign terror

 

Another terrorist of failed Coup guilty

 

Trump’s overthrow plan in 6 steps

 

 

How Govt wastes our money:

Longest war is over so why give Pentagon $24 B more? Peace dividend for more bombs?

GOP to let America default on debt to show Dems who’s the boss: win at any cost!

Domestic terrorists, real threat, evade our $52.6 Billion intelligence and legal systems

 

Debt ceiling acting out: how can we take these squabbling kids in Congress seriously?

Why the national debt keeps going up: some Americans don’t pay their fair share

Manchin not support infrastructure bill since coal-use rules to reduce climate change

 

SCAMS/SPINS:

GOP confirms Biden win: $6 million AZ recount found more votes for Biden

62 ships but no trucks: transport costs rising and we pay higher prices for items

Car warranty scam: third-party warranties not worth it: don’t cover many repairs

 

Caught: Never give your kids work files: they might save evidence of your fraud

TX taxpayers to fund Trump request to see if he really won in 2020: Biden won TX?

CA allows every voter to mail-in ballot from now on just like Trump does, not like TX

 

Federal bankers caught: insider trading: bankers bought what they voted Fed to buy

“Brand ambassador” scam: you get promo exposure if you buy product but it’s broken

Fake media is so easy to make we have to check with other sources.

 

Employers are embracing software that allows them to track workers online. 

Colonoscopy center charged ‘facility’ fee $345 despite Medicare’s FREE screening.

$54,000 TX Covid tests: America’s health system will bring socialism eventually

 

OK is tops in death by police: 84% of police killings since 1980 were unreported 

Get out your guns: Murder rose by almost 30% in 2020: if everyone packs, no murder?

London police warn women to be wary of lone officers after Sarah Everard murder

 

Supremes claim not political: decisions to reverse Roe v Wade, gun control, vote rights!

 

Jobs

High-paying jobs that don’t require long experience record: $56-66,000 a year

Police and fire in LA spread Covid to public: LAPD ‘freedom’ beats your safety/service

State workers would rather quit than take vax: brain washing complete!

 

NC hospitals need vax ready med staff: fired 175 Monday: more have warning

13 Home-based jobs certain careers: high pay

United Airlines Prepares to Fire Employees Who Refuse Covid-19 Vaccinations

 

Who owns your account now?

Where is your long-term and short-term money?

Phone companies required to block any incoming traffic on list: will they bother? 

 

Miracles:

Permian mass extinction: rapidly rising CO^2 from volcanic eruptions in Siberia

Ugly buildings: contest to see how bad it can be

Iceland has elected first female-majority parliament: future of Congress working?

 

Berlin’s first female mayor Fran after historic electoral gains for her center-left party. 

Let’s talk about courage: Zion knows: when you feel frustrated to continue.

Retirement fund build up: Stones back on the road working for more cash

 

Custodian Chris, no car, walks miles to work so teachers bought him used Chevy`

Biden finally reverses Trump: penalties for killing birds confirmed

 

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/

 

Wisdom comes only thru suffering Aeschylus

 

IAN

41 Watchung Plaza, B242

Montclair, NJ   07042

973.746.2014

www.InsuranceAdvisorsNetwork.com

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

 

Best Graduation Gift?

Best Graduation gift? Help them start investing early!

Parking lot attendant Earl Crawley started early with $100 and now has $500,000:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD0svDGyLWU 

Starting early is the easiest way to assure your grad of living well.

All it takes is $9 a day and 1 hour to set up a tax-FREE account.

Accumulate $1,000,000 with NO taxes EVER.

Compounding stock dividends is how millionaires double their money. http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-every-school-graduate-century/dp/1466427906

Tax deadline advice

The IRS has some advice for taxpayers who missed the tax filing deadline. File as soon as possible.  If you owe federal income tax, you should file and pay as soon as you can to minimize any penalty and interest charges. There is no penalty for filing a late return if you are due a refund. Free File is still working.http://www.irs.gov/uac/Free-File:-Do-Your-Federal-Taxes-for-Free

Will Obama’s budget change your retirement plan?

There are good, bad and ugly here: http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/planning-to-retire/2013/04/10/how-obamas-budget-impacts-retirement-savers

You have to make up for cuts in Social Security benefits. We need to grow our tax-FREE income NOW while we can: http://www.amazon.com/Tax-FREE-Income-Replaces-Social-Security/dp/1484129539/

What will the “CPI in chains” do to your SS benefits?

Over time, the new increases will NOT keep up with inflation since most older folks need to buy medication and health care. These items have been increasing at twice the rate of inflation NOT less. The loss of benefits is estimated to grow quickly: http://seekingalpha.com/article/1334361-the-chained-cpi-how-big-of-a-difference-does-it-make?source=yahoo

401k fee disclosure just as undisclosed as before—fees can cost 40% of nest egg?

Most employees were supposed to learn in clear English, how much they were paying for administration, record-keeping and accounting as well as investment and operating expenses. The disclosures have been problematic for investors while creating more paperwork for employers and plan-management companies. Regulators are tracking claims to see if we are still intentionally misled. However, the point is that we still don’t know how much in total is taken from our money. We can learn a lot from Brightscope’s ratings of plans: EG Google: http://www.brightscope.com/401k-rating/367778/Google-Inc/372789/Google-Inc-401K-Savings-Plan/

Buy only tax-FREE low-cost retirement funds: http://www.amazon.com/Your-Retirement-Mutual-Funds-retirement/dp/1481114026

Long-term care costs rise: is insurance right for you?

Study shows a continued upward trajectory when it comes to the cost of obtaining long term care services. The cost of receiving care in a setting such as an assisted living facility or nursing home is dramatically increasing, while the cost to receive care at home through homemaker services or a home health aide is rising at a much more gradual pace. The median annual costs have gone up from $65,200 to $83,950, increasing at more than four percent a year. The better news is that costs for homemaker services and home health aides have remained relatively flat. Since 70% of Genworth's first time long term care claimants choose in-home care, these costs have remained more manageable. Learn what the alternatives to insurance are:http://www.amazon.com/Long-term-Care-Insurance-better-alternatives/dp/147006877X

GAO says some pension plans in trouble: Can you prepare?

Government Accountability Office acknowledged that the most severely distressed multiemployer plans have taken significant steps to address their funding problems. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's financial assistance to multiemployer plans continues to increase, and plan insolvencies threaten PBGC's insurance fund's ability to pay pension guarantees for retirees, the GAO noted. Since 2009, the PBGC's financial assistance to plans has increased significantly, primarily due to a growing number of plan insolvencies. The PBGC estimated that the insurance fund would be exhausted in about two to three years if the projected insolvencies of either of two large plans occur in the next 10 to 20 years. By 2017, the PBGC anticipates the number of insolvencies to more than double, further stressing the insurance fund. Build your own guarantee fund: http://www.amazon.com/The-New-American-Retirement-System/dp/1461030072

Are you prepared for medical costs in retirement?

While a man retiring in 2020 will have a 50-50 chance of having all his future out-of-pocket medical expenses exceed $109,000, a new study found that men's median estimate of those costs is just $60,000. For women, the median estimate of out-of-pocket costs is just $30,000. But partly because they tend to live longer, they have a 50 percent chance of having their future expenses exceed $156,000.

"Medicare only covers 60 percent of health care in retirement," study director Hoffman said. "Even with a Medigap policy or an employer sponsored retiree plan, people are still going to have out of pocket expenses. The hardest thing for people to plan for is to find the balance between the right level of coverage and the right level of what they might spend out of pocket." Retirees do have the option of a high-end Medigap policy that covers more, but that can be expensive protection. Premiums aren’t refundable.

Learn about options: http://www.amazon.com/Long-term-Care-Insurance-better-alternatives/dp/147006877X

Why are employers picking high-deductible plans?

Mercer report says the number of employers switching to high-deductible health plans increased from 12% in 2010 to 26% last year. Moving even a small number of employees out of a more expensive plan into a CDHP can result in significant savings for an employer. The cost of coverage in a CDHP with a health savings account is about 20% lower, on average, than the cost of PPO coverage – $7,833 per employee compared to $10,007. Employers are also looking at “self-insuring” their plans to control costs and benefit from cost reductions directly. Large employers have been self-insured for years, saving the capital insurers take from premiums. Use our Guide to buy only what you need: http://www.amazon.com/Health-Insurance-ONLY-right-policy/dp/1480125083

Congress hides its stock trades AGAIN—only bill GOP and DEMS agree on!

Congress rushed through a bill to exempt federal government employees from having to disclose their financial dealings online. Critics said this law eviscerates part of last year's Stock Act, designed to stop insider trading by federal officials. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced the bill on Thursday and had the chamber vote on it late that evening. The House took the bill up on Friday afternoon and passed it by unanimous consent, with no members objecting.

Most Congress people get richer by investing in firms they know will benefit from laws they pass. It is illegal for Americans to use insider information but Congress was exempt until last year. Now, no one will know if they do illegal trading. The median net worth of a U.S. senator was $2.63 million in 2010, the most recent year for which financial data are available. That was up 11% from the year before. Studies by Alan Ziobrowski at Georgia State University conclude that our ‘reps’ regularly outperform the markets by large amounts due to the “significant information advantage” they derive from their jobs. 

You need an Investment Edge too: http://www.amazon.com/Your-Investment-Edge-Tax-FREE-Account/dp/1482695677

SCAMS           “Deficits don’t matter” GOP grandfather, Dick Cheney, 2002

Gas prices remain high despite US producing more oil/gas here--No energy independence pay off!

American refiners export more than 3 million barrels per day to other countries, which are willing to pay more than we are. Also, U.S. shipping interests have made it more costly to move fuel between U.S. ports. This in particular hurts the Northeast, which is struggling to meet its fuel needs after several refineries closed in the last two years. As a result, it’s often cheaper for a Gulf Coast refiner to send gasoline to Brazilthan to New York. Despite the hype, Venezuela doubled its imports in 2012.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-28/why-abundant-oil-hasnt-cut-gasoline-prices

Bank America sued for taking kickbacks from insurers

Bank of America must face claims by homeowners that it took kickbacks from private insurers. ThreePennsylvania homeowners sued the bank last year claiming its pay-to-play reinsurance scheme cost borrowers $284.7 million between 2004 and the end of 2011. That’s the amount Bank of America allegedly collected from private mortgage insurers as its share of insurance premiums for referring borrowers, according to the complaint.  Home buyers who take out mortgages with less than 20 percent down payments are typicallyrequired to purchase private mortgage insurance at closing. The premium paid by the borrower protects the lender in the event of a default. Bank collects twice with no risk.

IAN

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