Is auto-home ‘bundling’ right for you?

 

Should You Pay Off a Mortgage Before Retiring?

Selling your home if you are going to move or downsize provides money to repay your home loan without having to deplete savings. No reason to pay off mortgage. Some keep their home for seasonal rental and use. Rents pay mortgage. Paying down high-interest loans/credit cards are a better use of your cash. Retirement may leave you cash poor. Some folks earn more toward their retirement income goal than they would save by paying off a low-cost mortgage. Cash from an emergency fund takes priority over paying down a low-interest mortgage. Mortgage interest may help you lower your current income tax bill. Each family must run through the solutions to learn the best strategy before and after retirement. Once you pay off a mortgage, if you need cash you can always use a HELOC to tap home equity for cash. Some cost nothing to acquire. Another alternative is a reverse mortgage. But consider the costs. 

https://www.amazon.com/Reset-Your-Retirement-Income-retirement/dp/1512304344

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

The Path to Dictatorship: 2010-2030

 

Jan 21 2010 Corpor­a­tions’ election-spending unlim­ited

 

Nov 2020 Wealthy discredit election process

 

Nov 21 2020 Trump’s Plans for a Coup: criminal

 

Nov 21 2020: Trump plan: US Marshals seize voting machines

 

Jan 6 2021 Direct assault failed: guns & bombs ready

 

Trump engaged in a "criminal conspiracy" to stop Biden

 

“I don’t f—ing care that they have weapons”

 

Trump was “detached from reality”

 

Trump used mafia-style intimidation on the defenseless

 

Parscale: “a sitting president asking for civil war.”

 

Trump: “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me” 

 

GOP fascism: “RINO hunt armed; no bagging limit” J6 comm threat

 

Trump’s Supremes END personal rights & state laws except for weapons WMDs

 

Fascism: GOP to stop women leaving state for abortion

 

It’s not a court. It’s a junta: Two Americas

 

Trump: President is 'enemy of the state'

 

 

Nov 8 2022 Trump’s “national revolution”

 

Jan 2025 Dictator pardons himself

 

How Govt wastes our money:

NASA wasting money: make Mars safe for rich trips: we need desalination system

DeSantis voting police arrest voters confirmed by state: political stunt sours Dems

New state laws could trip up voters: 30 new voting restrictions since 2020 voter ID

 

GOP says OK for Trump to keep secret docs lying around his club

FL school lessons teach media bias ‘Dems stole election’: teach kids not to trust media

Book Bans threaten public library funding, building use, existence: state controls minds

 

 

SCAMS/SPINS:

Trump: Biden 'enemy of the state': Nazis term for everyone they didn’t like

Military leaders affirm allegiance to Constitution NOT politician: Trump Bible walk

 

Where did that extra $1 a gallon gas go? Oil co record profits for the quarter.

Facebook developed AI that can “hear” our brainwaves.

 

Alito: Supreme sees pre-1960 Constitution as the authority to reshape our lives

 

TX Gov Abbott now Dr Abbott prescribes plan B for abortions

Christian Nationalist stop US child deaths but not 1.4 million dying kids in Somalia

80,000 former Scouts filed abuse claims against national BSA: abusers go on

 

Trump: ‘Fox now Dem’ propagandist; he made CNN offer to become his mouth

Terrorists are actually police & military who hate America’s new direction: list

 

Trumpist Bannon caught: stole $1 million in The wall donations. The Wall

 

Recall: Ford recalling 200,000 large SUVs: fan motors can catch fire.

Tips to help you spot online fraud: everywhere and ever changing

 

Instagram caught mishandling of teens’ data: millions at risk. Fine $403 million, no jail

Recall: products with problems you might want to return

BEWARE: robotaxi Cruise crashed making a left turn recall 80 vehicles software update

 

Trumpists caught trying to change voting outcome: personal visits intimidate counters

 

YouTuber caught scam followers $55 million in foreign exchange trading: promised 35%

Aventura Capital caught overcharged clients 12b-1 and sweep fees. Fine no jail

Erika Lynn Muller FL caught neglect, deception forgery insurance settlements: defrock

Nicholas Spagnoletti caught distribution of child pornography: defrocked.

Roderick Whited caught stole $44,000 in charitable donations for a pediatric cancer

Robert Louis Cirillo CA caught fraud on low-income Latinos: fine $3.9 million, prison

SCAM: Venmo Zelle transfer money “accidentally”, you send your real money back

John Woods Horizon Private Equity Oppenheimer caught Ponzi guaranteed interest

Elon Musk caught pyramid scheme in cryptocurrency Dogecoin $258 billion racketeering

 

 

What did Trump do with classified docs? Sell, Blackmail, Jan6 Gifts, toilet paper

Judge Cannon a Trump appointee, blocked prosecutors: ‘master’ lets him delay to 2024

 

Jobs

Advertising executives: least trusted professionals, just above politicians

Union wins: Amazon failed to stop Smalls and union from organizing

Some employers attract employees or contract workers with plan to get pay instantly  

 

Workers are more productive: employers take more of the wealth created.

 

Who owns your account now?

average FICO credit score 716: Check reports for new scams: only at FREE site

Sports betting goes mainstream, addiction experts fear: Lives and livelihoods at risk

"zero down payment" loans for first-time homebuyers with certain income requirements.

 

Borrowers in 7 states may be taxed on their student loan cancellation

 

 

Miracles:

Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier melting, capable of raising sea level by several feet

Many coastal properties lost to the sea: 8.7% Louisiana’s total land area+TX, FL

Photo life of Queen Elizabeth II — from childhood to the throne

 

wave energy generator had 99% uptime: 1 GW of wave energy systems by 2035

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@

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!

There is no TIME at this level because of force fields come and go in all directions. 

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

“Empty space is a boiling, bubbling brew of virtual particles that pop in and out of existence in a time scale so short that you can’t even measure them.” Space expanding.

The electricity we use comes from the field around the wire not from election itself.

 

 

We can apply for Medicare online: https://blog.ssa.gov/apply-for-medicare-online

We can apply for Social Security online: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/

We can apply for health care online: https://www.healthcare.gov/

 

IAN

973.746.2014

www.InsuranceAdvisorsNetwork.com

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

 

 

 

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/

 

Your Tax Haven

Your Tax Haven

The Best Tax-FREE Account for Working Americans: Better than Mit’s Cayman Island tax shelter

Your total return in 2012 could have been 15.3%, better than Warren Buffett’s “poor” 14.4%. Using your Tax-FREE account, that is equivalent to earning 23.3% because you will never pay taxes—no federal, state, capital gains or dividend taxes. Start yours today for free. 

http://www.amazon.com/Your-Tax-Haven-Tax-FREE-Americans/dp/1482659441/

Are prepaid funerals right for you?

"I really don't think prepaid funerals are a good idea." Tom Waggener remembers how pleased his parents were when they told him 15 years ago that they'd prepaid for their own funerals. But after Waggener's mother died in 2006, the funeral home gave his family a bill for more than $10,000. It attributed the extra cost to a special order for the casket she had chosen, which was no longer in stock. There are better alternatives: http://www.amazon.com/Lifestyle-Insurance-refund-build-tax-FREE/dp/1482516411/

Why have health care charges exploded?

It is a tale that defies logic. 

http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/

Why pay more?

Vanguard keeps lowering its fees. It is now rated the best fund by Morningstar. Other brands have to pay top salaries, marketing and owner’s shares. Vanguard is owned by its own shareholders like a cooperative. Perhaps it is time to move your retirement funds to Vanguard so you can keep more.http://www.amazon.com/Your-Retirement-Mutual-Funds-retirement/dp/1481114026

Get paid for saving?

Saving for your retirement can make you eligible for a tax credit worth up to $2,000. If you contribute to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, such as a 401(k) or to an IRA, you may be eligible for the Saver’s Credit. The saver’s credit can be claimed by:

• Married couples filing jointly with incomes up to $57,500 in 2012 or $59,000 in 2013;
• Heads of Household with incomes up to $43,125 in 2012 or $44,250 in 2013; and
• Married individuals filing separately and singles with incomes up to $28,750 in 2012 or $29,500 in 2013.

http://www.irs.gov/Credits-&-Deductions

Do you still have your taxes prepared by paid preparers?

Answer a few questions online and see how easy it is. Tax prep sites listed by the IRS charge nothing for the federal filing. States’ returns can cost $10. http://www.irs.gov/uac/Free-File:-Do-Your-Federal-Taxes-for-Free

NC homeowners see rate hike

North Carolina insurance companies and the top state regulator have agreed that homeowner's insurance policies can rise by a statewide average of 7 percent starting in July.  Time to shop for value:http://www.amazon.com/Homeowners-Insurance-Beware-Coverage-Policy/dp/1480100870

Sandy victims still waiting for reimbursement

As of Feb. 28, there were 73,917 flood insurance claims made in New Jersey in connection with Sandy. Four months after the storm, more than 20,000 claims have not been closed. People are living elsewhere or in the cold, some still without money to pay contractors. Banks wait for repair confirmations but contractors wait for payment—Catch 22. Banks profit from victim’s insurance money.

Long-term care coverage sales by GE in California have halted

Genworth Financial GE said it is suspending sales of individual long-term care coverage inCalifornia. Genworth has been requesting rate increases from state regulators on existing policies and said today that it’s working with California’s insurance overseer as it seeks to introduce a new long-term care offering. Alternatives: http://www.amazon.com/Long-term-Care-Insurance-better-alternatives/dp/147006877X

States start health exchanges

Michigan, New Hampshire and West Virginia are the final three states to receive conditional federal approval to run state partnership health insurance exchanges under the 2010 health care law.

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

IAN

41 Watchung Plaza, B242

Montclair, NJ 07042

973.746.2014

www.InsuranceAdvisorsNetwork.com