Showing posts with label lottery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lottery. Show all posts

Friday, October 26, 2018

Tax-FREE retirement is winning the 'lottery'


Tax-FREE Roth 401k or Roth IRA?
If you are lucky enough to have the Roth 401k offered by your employer, you must understand the pros and cons of both Roth accounts. In both, you never pay tax on your retirement accumulations. So if you can aggressively fund your Roth 401k, you could easily reach $1 million tax free because your $100,000 total contributions over time can COMPOUND at 10% by age 67. If you can invest just $9 a day, $250 a month, you can still have $1 million tax free at age 67, you just have to start earlier. If you can’t do a Roth IRA because of limits, try a ‘back-door’ Roth. COMPOUNDING at the long-term stock market rate of 10% means your money doubles every 8-10 years. Look at the https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/retirement/roi-calculator.aspx. Most of your tax-free balance will be accumulated capital, not contributions: FREE MONEY.


Winning the $1 million ‘lottery’
$1 million tax free. You can spend it all—no taxes. Usually you must pay HALF your winnings to fed and state gov. $1 million can provide over $100,000 per year for life. Everyone who plays this ‘lottery’ will win. This $1 million lottery is not awarded every week. You must wait. Each week you buy $9 worth of ‘chances.’ You don’t win every week or month but you WILL win eventually. This lottery is a sure thing eventually because you actually are buying a piece of the profits of many successful companies. Some companies make a profit every year and some make a huge profit some years. Over time the ‘chances’ you buy get more valuable. Think about all those tickets of your past losses in the drawer. They are worthless because you did not win and every week you will lose—almost guaranteed. Thank god, you have a better chance of being hit by ‘lightning’ than winning any week. This lottery is not a lottery but a sure way to own $ million worth of all the companies you buy things from—groceries, electronics, toilet paper, electricity, cars, everything. You own Apple, Google, Microsoft, J&J, Facebook, Exxon, Morgan Chase,  Disney, and more. The value of your ‘chances’ go up and the profits the companies pay buy more ‘chances’. Buy from the largest ‘chance’ seller.

Are songs royalty streams right for you?
For those who have a crystal ball, buying the right to receive music royalties might be the alternative investment you have been looking for. Winning bidders typically get royalty payments on a quarterly basis, with a rate of return Royalty Exchange says is often in the double digits. The longevity of the royalty rights varies. Some royalty rights are limited to 10 years, while some offers include copyright ownership, which means the payments can last for decades. Some investors think royalties can never end. Royalty Exchange, the middleperson, launches three to five new auctions every week. Songwriters have a tax incentive for selling. Under the law, the money songwriters make from selling all or parts of their catalogs is treated as capital gains, taxed at 0, 15, or 20%. Royalty revenues, meanwhile, are treated as ordinary income, taxed as high as 39.6%. "There are people whose only real assets are their royalties," he said. "Their financial security is based around how they leverage those things."

Does your broker/advisor live in these states?
Connecticut, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, and other states have passed laws or proposed regulations that mirror some of the federal rule's requirements to treat you with respect. Even though Trump cancelled the Fiduciary Rule—you receive advice/product that is BEST for you not for the institution—these states have or will protect you from outrageous commissions and fees, inappropriate products, and misleading information. Obama said without this law, you and I could give up thousands of dollars when we moved our retirement money (401k, 403b, IRA, pensions). My industry (financial:  http://dankeppel.blogspot.com/) can’t make $millions and $millions by giving you advise without putting our own high-cost products in front of you. In fact, most advisors and their firms don’t even carry the best products for you because they must make money to survive. Everything has changed in the last decade: discount brokerage, discount mutual funds, discount insurance, etc. My friends and I have left the old industry model.

Vital steps to buy a house
Don’t even look for a house before you understand the process. No use frustrating your family if it can’t happen now. Offerings and loan rates change daily. First, check your credit scores at www.myfico.com and errors at www.annualcreditreport.com. Check rates on trial amounts at your bank and then shop around at www.bankrate.com and https://www.quickenloans.com. I used them—very fast and efficient. Big banks have 10 plus people handling your loan and it takes 3 times longer. Second, find out ‘how much can you borrow?’ The final answer depends on your income and the lender, but usually it is monthly costs (mortgage, insurance, and property taxes) can’t exceed 28% of your gross monthly income. Fannie Mae increased its maximum DTI ratio to 50 percent, up from 45 percent, in July 2017. Third, the standard down payment is 20% but you may find exceptions: Federal Housing Administration or the Veteran’s Administration. Fourth, your lender may want you to pay down debt or temporarily reduce spending. If your family helps with the down payment, let it ‘age’ in your account for a few months. Now you know what houses you can afford and can ‘lock in’ a rate/terms. I used www.realtor.com and found a 2 family to help me pay for the mortgage. Timing is everything. Get your loan approved BEFORE you shop so you can pounce.

Is tax lien investing right for you?
Risk you must understand for this kind of game of chance. When a property owner fails to pay property taxes, the municipality in which the property is located can sell its tax lien — the right to foreclose on a property when the owner has failed to pay taxes. So you can force payment plus costs plus profit by threatening to take your neighbor’s house away and sell it. Most tax liens purchased at auction are sold at rates between 3% and 7%. If the owner does not pay you, you get to foreclose which can cost over $10,000. “It’s complicated. You have to understand the details,” according to an observer. Each state is different, so buying and collecting on a lien is how amateurs fail. Compare alternative assets like owning diversified real estate funds: REITs.

Mandate to have health insurance still exists
If you have been without insurance this year because you heard Trump cancelled the mandate, surprise—the mandate penalty is subtracted from your refund unless you qualify for various exceptions. So if you are not owed a refund for 2018, there will never be any consequences for not paying the penalty tax. Trump won’t collect it now. Trump has dismissed comprehensive coverage in his special ‘short-term’ policies. He has made buying coverage without protections easier so that he can claim his plans are “cheaper and better.” Trump does not understand—he has always had it. It is not magic—his plans do NOT cover pre-existing conditions and have payout limits. You may be denied or cancelled. You may have premium increases. Most Americans like ACA now that they have it. If you are lucky, you live in a state that maintains the guarantees of ACA. Before ACA you could buy cheap policies—they were junk and didn’t cover you when you needed it. You can’t buy insurance after you get sick or have an accident. Like car and home insurance, it is a way to share the risk of a huge loss. You pay premiums all your life for a catastrophe you hope won’t happen. The alternative is bankruptcy or destitution.
You need full coverage: Trump has it, why not us?: https://www.amazon.com/Health-Insurance-ONLY-right-policy/dp/1480125083

Consumer Reports: Most reliable vehicles
Your vehicle ratings by brand are not unusual but look closer at all brands for the type—SUVs popular still (even Porsche has one??). Some specific models were dropped from the CR list altogether. Biggest ranking drop: Honda, Chrysler, Volvo, and Tesla. Volvo is now Greely (Chinese), Chrysler is now Fiat and Tesla is still working out the kinks. Vehicles are now mobile entertainment units not transportation. If you need quality reliable transportation not TV screen gadgets, go for a 3 year old thoroughbred like 2016 Lexus or Toyota from $12,500 to $30,000.




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Make America, “The Don”, Great Again

Two Americas: A Banana Republic? Do we really want an infant king? Daddy Putin!

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Trump breaks 1987 Reagan arms treaty to spend more on weapons of mass destruction.
GOP promises 2nd tax break as teaser for midterm election of more spendthrift GOP.

TX GOP closes voting sites-long lines and DEMs must take off work. Voting rights?


SCAMS/SPINS:
Chris R. Kubiakk, WI  stole $270,000 from clients’ accounts for personal use.
John G Schmidt OH caught stealing $1.6 million retirement funds from boomers.
Cash Express caught threatening loan collection it can’t make against consumers.

Christopher Faulkner, Breitling, stole $23.8 million promising oil/gas profits.

23andMe’s health reports are dangerously incomplete, geneticist says.
Cancer care marketing misleading—big biz budgets add spin for profits.
Why drug prices keep going up—It costs $200 million to stop Congress from acting.

Trump to close all borders, ports, tourism, trade—any non-white immigrants.

Trump to pardon Charlottesville Nazis?? Neo-Nazi caught trying to flee from law

GA to suppress votes of 1 million ‘non-matching’ voters: aims to erase non-whites.


Saudis kill 100s every day in Yemen—Khashoggi is just a ‘fist fight’—hospital record?


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The Mob Boss can never go to jail: Trump has Kava as Supreme so no indictment.
‘No man is above the law’ … well up till now. Dictators nullify courts first, then votes.
Supremes protect Don’s mob -- Ross’s legal deposition canceled.
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Jobs:

Who owns your account now?
Trump defines gender from now on: you lose free choice—no 2nd Amendment for that.
DIY repair outlawed by GM, Deere, others: we buy it but they own circuits/algorithms.

You can’t uninstall—they own algorithms: track you after ‘uninstall’ Can’t cancel Uber.

Save $ HALF: Compare drug prices in your area: https://www.goodrx.com



Miracle:

Do we really want to keep immigrants out of US? We need new ‘blood’ to survive!

IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
MontclairNJ   07042
973.746.2014
Alerts

Friday, June 1, 2018

Pay less; keep more--faster way to wealth


Buy only what you need; become financially ‘comfortable’ faster
$1,100,000. This is the amount of money most of us say it takes to be "financially comfortable," according to a recent survey. However, only a few of us ever get there. Why? The main reason most of us are not 'comfortable' is that we don't plan to have a million dollars ... ever. Most of us settle for a 'fantasy' $ million—playing the lottery every week. A $1 million is not hard to reach with a plan and TIME.
         Now we can create wealth for our family— $1,100,000 and more—by using new wealth-building tools from industry DISRUPTORS. We don't need expensive brokers, advisors or agents to buy the essentials of an efficient financial plan. We don't need a lot of money to start building wealth. All we need is TIME and a plan. Pay less; keep more.


Other ways the wealthy avoid paying their fair share of taxes
The tax code was written by lawyers and accountants for lawyers and accountants, NOT for us. Here are some of the ways WE do not get to hide our income and assets from taxation. Preferred stock and trusts can create dynasties and avoid current and estate taxes. The Caymans are home to more tax shelters than people. You can’t eat stock options but you can hold them without taxes. Are your assets owned by a company that only exists on paper to avoid taxes? Do you live on money borrowed against your assets? Are your living expenses deductible by your own branded corporation so you pay less tax? What about private placement life insurance to hold hedge funds and avoid taxes. Or set up a non-profit ‘religious’ organization and fly in your own private jet?

Is a lottery win right for you?
Yes many dream but few are chosen. Most of our bets go to the government but are not tax-deductible. How about this: Mr Post won $15 million in PA. But he would be $500,000 in debt within just three months of his 1988 win, in part because he bought a twin-engine airplane (though he had no pilot’s license). OK, so we all think we would never do anything so stupid. We are not average, we thought. Ms Adams won the lottery TWICE for over $4 mil. She lost most in casinos and her kin hated her. Now she works 2 jobs making ends meet. Mr Whittacker won $170 million in 2002. He gave a lot away but lost his wife to divorce and his granddaughter to mysterious circumstances. He drank and ended up with 400 legal problems. The list goes on. Becoming wealthy slowly over time allows you to plan and use money wisely. Instead of buying lottery tickets or casino chips each month, put your money in the investment Warren Buffett recommends.



What to do with your RMD: How much will you spend?
Your RMD or required minimum distribution is the amount the IRS calculates for income tax purposes from your retirement accounts annually after your turn age 70½. You may want to invest part of it for the future or cut the amount in your IRA that you will pay tax on in coming years or contribute to legitimate charities. I help you answer these questions now: Will you have enough? How will you invest? How much will you spend? Explore 17 alternative uses of your RMD. Create tax-FREE income from your IRA while reducing future RMD. Take advantage of the miracle of compounding: $100,000 may become $500,000 in 15 years. Create an investment plan for 30+ retirement years. Self-insure and self-fund all your financial needs. Social Security to cut benefits in 2034 so you may need more income later. You have time to do something about the future.

SCAMS: Beware the ‘pump and dump’ scheme
Customers of Greg Bercowy, St. Petersburg, FL were victims of his story of a tiny mineral exploration firm in NV. Greg bought millions of shares of Aureus with money taken from a relative. This sent the shares soaring in 1 month and induced others to buy while Greg sold. He pumped the price up by fast buying and selling and left others with stock worth much less than they paid. The SEC fined Greg $1/2 million. The pump and dump scheme formed the central theme of two popular movies, "Boiler Room" and "The Wolf of Wall Street," both of which featured a warehouse full of telemarketing stockbrokers pitching penny stocks. In each case, the brokerage firm was a market maker and held a large volume of stock in companies with highly questionable prospects. Brokers earned large bonuses when the firm would sell the worthless stock after its investors poured money into it.
Avoid unknown low-priced stocks: https://www.amazon.com/Pimps-Wall-Street-money-middlemen/dp/151525254X


How much are you losing by NOT following Buffett’s advice?
Warren Buffett bet a million dollars that a low-cost index fund would outperform a collection of hedge funds over the course of 10 years. This week he won that bet and gave $2.2 million to his charity called Girls Inc. Over the course of the bet the S&P 500 index fund returned 7.1% compounded annually, significantly more than the average of 2.2% for the experts. Buffett has advocated putting the bulk of our investments in a low-cost index (he said Vanguard’s 500 index). For those who follow his advice, this bet confirmed his statement that “a very low-cost index is going to beat a majority of the amateur-managed money or professionally-managed money.” Why don’t more smart people follow this advice? He thinks it is because they think they are smarter than everyone else. Instead, low-cost beats high-cost every time studies show.

How much is $250 a month worth after 30 years?
One of the reasons people don’t save is that the quick results are not impressive. I look at my balance after 2-3 years and I don’t feel rich. My account looks pathetic--$9,272. My investment account looks better but … $10,923 is just underwhelming. But Fidelity looked at its retirement accounts where the owner died or the owner forgot they had an account. Those accounts were the most successful. Buffett says the same: he does better when he is ‘snoring’ than when active. After 30 years, my $2,000 a year invested at work—different 401ks is worth $606,882. Stock index funds grow at very different rates—+38% and -37%. They average over time between 10-12%. The financial industry average was 3.79% for advisor-managed accounts for 30 years. If I had used a broker I might have just $112,000. Buffett bet $1 million that a simple stock index could beat the best of Wall Street gurus. He was correct: 7% beats 2% during this 10 year period. So what is $250 a month worth after 30 years? No one knows—between $570,000 and $880,000—but if the earnings from my money has to pay 1-3% for a fortune teller, I will gladly follow Buffett’s FREE advice to buy 2 Vanguard’s funds.



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Make America, “The Don” Great Again






Trump thinks the govt is ‘conspiring against him.’
Trump: I decide which crimes are minor fines; lets criminals go.

Trump gives Putin control of election: eliminates U.S. cyber advisor
Treason definition: ‘giving them aid and comfort within the United States

Fake ‘Witch Hunt’ produced 5 guilty; 17 indictments.


The election is going to be rigged—I’m going to be ‘honest’” 

Could Trump postpone Nov 2018 election using excuse of Putin meddling needs fixing?


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NH spent $ thousands on Trump’s voter fraud claim and found nothing.
Trump tariffs cost his voters more for cars, appliances; farmers lose sales to allies

SCAMS/SPINS:
Fiat Chrysler recalls 5.3 million vehicles that lock cruise control! Hacked computers?
Echo Amazon NSA CIA etc are listening to your every word; hacking locks and lights?
Trump pardons criminals highlighted on Fox; crimes Trump knows; signal to Manafort.

GregoryBercowy, St. Petersburg, FL caught in pump & dump penny stocks scheme.
Fifth Third Securities caught misleading customers exchanging annuities for $2 million
Steven Pagartanis, NY, caught stealing $8 million for fake land develop Canada.

Jobs:
Trump cracking heads of union members in gov. Orders meant to demean workers.
            But you can’t kneel at game using 1st Amend right to protest racial killings.
Jobs that no one wants—this is why automation is cutting jobs every year.
Trump tariffs kills 40,000 auto jobs; farmers lose foreign markets

Ivanka’s brand business given 13 Chinese trademarks in return. U.S. loses in both deals.
Walmart to pay for college degree in biz at 3 colleges


Who owns your account now?
Property tax deductions over $10,000 using charity accounts in 33 states
New tech ‘auto-locate’ helps you find your old 401k and moves it to your new account.
Monsanto to Bayer AG
Bare Foods to PepsiCo
Due diligence on annuity companies—not doing well?  
Broker/advisor don’t pay your arbitration award when you win 1/3 of the time: Law

Can we trust Ari Melber to explain the legal case against POTUS?

Miracle:
Second 1,000-year rainstorm in two years engulfed Ellicott City MD. Why?


FoxNews: Trump is wrong about ‘spy’ in election—Trump himself asked for FBI tail!

IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
MontclairNJ 07042
973.746.2014
Alerts 

Friday, December 21, 2012

Tax-FREE is better: Where you put your money does matter


Tax-FREE is better: Where you put your money does matter
If you are not using a tax-FREE account for your investments, you could be losing 12%.
A popular fund, PIMCO's Fundamental IndexPLUS Total Return fund, shows what taxes can do. The fund's 19.9% annualized return over the past three years is reduced to just 7.24% annualized after adjusting for taxes. That's 12 percentage points of return lost to Uncle Sam each year. Big money you could be using in a tax-FREE Wealth Reserve. http://www.amazon.com/The-New-American-Retirement-System/dp/1461030072

Vanguard took in over $130 billion in 2012—set record with low-cost funds.
Investors are moving to Vanguard’s low cost funds; giving up on Wall Street fast talkers. "Investors have flocked to low-cost index funds when investing in equities and we can see Vanguard provided both," said Tom Roseen, head of research services at Lipper. 
Some avoid both taxes and commissions:
Tax-Advantaged Wealth: 10 Mutual Funds for a Tax-FREE Life,
+Grow your wealth with NO taxes or commissions.
+Use 10 mutual funds that have earned over 10%.
+Use a special tax haven for your earnings and gains.

Are you paying auto rates based on miles driven?
A survey of North American property and casualty insurers indicate that 75% of insurers believe usage-based insurance (UBI) will fundamentally alter the auto insurance industry between now and 2020.

Men charged more for auto insurance than women
Survey showed that if a man and a woman with the exact same driver profile (except for their sex) got quotes for the exact same coverage, the man's quote would be higher 62 percent of the time. Young men included in the analysis ended up seeing the biggest sex-based price discrepancies. For drivers under 25, the average sex-based price gap was $676 a year. "It's important that consumers understand the things that determine how much they pay for insurance, and gender is one of the least understood of those factors," says OAI manager Cesar Diaz.
Men need to shop around for the insurer that gives all the discounts: http://www.amazon.com/Vehicle-Insurance-Beware-Double-Coverage/dp/1480027634/

Sandy destruction may mean new insurance policy for shoppers
New Jersey's already pricey auto insurance premiums may edge up as insurers take into account Sandy's tremendous costs.

Family car beats the luxury in tree crash test
Of 18 moderately priced midsize cars tested from the 2013 model year, 13 were rated good or acceptable in a new kind of crash test engineered by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Only three of 11 midsize 2012 luxury cars tested earlier got those ratings.
The "narrow offset" test involves crashing a car so that its front corner — 20% of its front end — strikes a vertical, thin object such as a pole or a tree at 40 miles an hour. It is a more severe frontal test than those in the battery of government crash tests. Safer cars used more high-strength steel, which also reduced the car's weight.  Surprisingly Toyota's Camry and Prius V hybrid were rated "poor". Lexus ES and IS, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Audi A4 rated "poor." http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2012/12/19/iihs-honda-accord-suzuki-kizashi-family-cars-safer/1780427/





SCAMS           “Deficits don’t matter” GOP banner

Vice President Dick Cheney told former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill that "deficits don't matter" when the latter voiced concerns about the size of the federal bill. Cheney later fired O'Neill, presumably for thinking deficits actually mattered.
Still, Cheney was true to his word, as the White House of George W. Bush raised the federal deficit every year it was in office.
During the Bush Administration, the national debt went from roughly $5 trillion in 2000, to $14 trillion in 2008. Bush grew government spending by 8%. Total US government spending in 2000 was $1.5 trillion. Total USgovernment spending in 2008 was $2.9 trillion. Government spending doubled under the Bush Administration.

What ever happened to lottery winners?
Instant wealth touched two families last week. Will they end up like many others—wishing they had never won? This winner lost everything dear to him:

Too big to jail?
Critics question why big banks, execs don't face money laundering jail time
When the Justice Department announced its record $1.9 billion settlement against British bank HSBC last week, prosecutors called it a powerful blow to a dysfunctional institution accused of laundering money forIranLibya and Mexico's murderous drug cartels.
But to some former federal prosecutors, it was only the latest case of the government stopping short of bringing criminal money laundering charges against a big bank or its executives, at least in part on the rationale that such prosecutions could be devastating enough to cause such banks to fail. Bank execs have green light for more profits!
If it were you or I, we would be on death row

Perry doesn’t rule out another presidential run and warns against ‘knee-jerk’ reactions to Newtown.
Perry reiterated his support for carrying weapons on public property in Texas.
"You should be able to carry your handgun anywhere in this state," Perry said to wide applause. TX wishes to succeed. 

UBS’s $1.5 billion fine for rigging global interest rates expands the scandal to include bribery and highlights the influence of a trader in Tokyo who colluded with other banks. This broker paid $25,000 to rig rates from 2006-2009. NO one has been arrested. At least 45 bank employees, including some managers, knew of the “pervasive” practice and a further 70 people were included in open chats and messages where attempts to manipulate the Libor and Euribor loan rates.
UBS stock rose 1.3 percent to 15.44 francs Swiss market. Sharesholders benefit?

Madoff gets 10 years!
Crime does pay. The largest ponzi crime in history and all he gets is 10 years. He could have given up his brother 20 years ago and would have been a hero. What happened to morals?

Who owns your account now?
Sun Life Financial annuity and life insurance to Delaware Life (Guggenheim Partners)
MetLife Bank to GE Capital Retail Bank


IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
MontclairNJ 07042
973.746.2014