Showing posts with label state pension fees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label state pension fees. Show all posts

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Pay less tax

Teach your child how to pay less tax
Show your child how to invest like Warren Buffett. Use a tax-FREE account. Earn over 11% a year just like Mr Buffett. Use a special IRS account and grow $20,000 into $1 million tax FREE. A picture is worth a thousand words.   
The Picture Book of Wealth: How to save and invest in pictures and stories

Warren Buffett’s secret to wealth:
Compound high earnings over time. Some clients’ use these low-cost Vanguard funds and receive over 12% a year. So far 2014 is on track.

2014 Total Return       Fund                Long-term Return*  
  7.1%                          500 Index                    11.1%*            since 1976
14.1%                          Energy                         12.8%              since 1984
  6.1%                          Extended Market Idx   11.3%              since 1987
14.5%                          Health                          17.3%              since 1984
  2.3%                          International Growth   11.1%              since 1981
  9.9%                          PRIMECAP                 13.8%              since 1984
  6.5%                          Small Cap Index          10.9%              since 1960
  5.9%                          Wellesley Income        10.2%              since 1970
  8.9%                          Windsor                      11.6%              since 1958
  7.6%                          Windsor II                   11.2%              since 1985
  8.3%                          Average                       12.1%
*Average Annual Returns as of 6/30/14.



Could your IRA beneficiaries lose their inheritance?
Yes, they can and did for one man who named his legal will instead of his kids as beneficiary. His kids fought in court to recover the money, but the court awarded the $400,000 in the IRA to their father’s wife (married just 2 months). Check your will and retirement plan NOW: http://www.amazon.com/Your-Retirement-Spending-Plan-enough/dp/1461084016

More tax evaders and cheats
Illinois gave Walgreen $46 million in tax credits in exchange for a pledge to create 500 jobs and invest in upgrading its offices. The state also provided $625,000 in training money and $875,000 in other tax incentives. Now CEO Wasson says Walgreen is denouncing US citizenship. The same chief executive who said he was so “proud of our Illinois heritage” is now moving the company’s headquarters to Switzerland as part of a merger with Alliance Boots, a European drugstore chain. WAL also reaps $ billions directly from the government; it received $16.7 billion from Medicare and Medicaid last year. Go tax-FREE before you have to pay for Walgreen’s share: http://www.amazon.com/Go-Tax-FREE-Investing-Income-Forever/dp/1482633280


“So sue me” Obama tells critics of his “do something” strategy
“Middle-class families cannot wait for Republicans in Congress to do stuff," Obama said.  "So sue me.  As long as they are doing nothing, I am not going to apologize for trying to do something.”

Gun-totters not welcome by businesspeople: Why?
Guns on humans are deadly
Starbucks, Chipotle and now Target all quietly ignored their armed patrons at first, but eventually asked customers to leave their guns at home. Many restaurants, bars and theaters are quietly Tombstoning their places. Even the OK Corral gunfight site bans the real things. Wyatt and Doc were initially charged with murder unlike Zimmerman. Actually, Tombstone has a higher crime rate NOW with all the packers than in Wyatt’s 1880. Lead kills.

GOP Crazies
Conservatives are learning the lesson of the 20s again—when you cut taxes for the rich, revenue and jobs go DOWN, not up. Kansas is in their 2nd year of learning that giving the wealthy more does NOT produce jobs—it produces more wealth. The wealthy don’t hire people when the have more money—they hire when there is demand. And then they use “other people’s money”—banks—to expand. They don’t risk their own money on a not-sure-thing—the economy. Only venture capitalists do that. And they are not in Kansas anymore. Cutting taxes leaves the state roads and schools worse off and no capitalist wants to live in such a community. How many times do they have to learn this?

Presidential Candidate cut taxes to rich and now steals state worker money
His record as fiscal steward has been dismal. Time and again, he has used dubious strategies to avoid raising taxes (sparing him from inevitable criticism by party conservatives), even when increasing taxes would be the right thing to do. Such tactics have not helped the state. New Jersey’s bond rating took another hit when Mr. Christie, facing a big budget shortfall, rejected the usual remedies — cutting costs, borrowing money or raising taxes — and instead cut state contributions to the public employees’ pension fund. Christie won office on promise to STOP doing what Dems do—AND blew $ millions on Bridgegate cover-ups and his son’s game helicopter.

Supremes reverse Constitution on religious freedom!
5 Old White Men support religious bias—to control certain women and births—just like in the Nazi period and in the Muslim world today.
The decision means employees of those companies will have to obtain certain forms of birth control from other sources.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, ...".  GOP “small” government decides our birth control choices. Next—color and sex of children we can have?
Constitution reversed—employees must live according to corporation’s religion.
Two Americas: one for employees of your favorite religious views and one for employees having freedom of religion. The majority of Americans oppose letting employers, based on their religious views, exclude certain contraceptives from workers’ insurance coverage. Before Scalia & Co, the court specifically held before that “[W]hen followers of a particular sect enter into commercial activity as a matter of choice," they cannot superimpose their “conscience and faith” onto laws that everyone else must follow. Now they can and every corporation will use this loophole!
Our Constitution formerly guaranteed religious freedom for ALL not just GOP. The women Supremes dissented: “decision of startling breadth.” Changes America.

Supremes help GOP “small” government break the unions
Supreme Court said personal home-care employees cannot be forced to pay dues to a union. In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court said personal home-care employees cannot be forced to pay dues to a union. Unions will soon be out of business and employees will have to take whatever employers offer.

Supremes halt suit against terrorists’ supporters
Thousands of victims of the 9/11 terror attacks have lost their bid to revive a class-action lawsuit for allegedly providing material support to al Qaeda. Among the defendants are al-Qaida, its members and associates, along with charities, banks, front organizations, terrorist organizations and financiers. Among those dismissed were four bin Laden relatives who purportedly managed the Saudi Binladin Group, one of the largest companies in the Arab world. Gee, could oil be involved?

Insurers flock to FL to sell ObamaCare 2015
About a dozen health insurers filed documents by Friday's federal deadline indicating they intend to sell marketplace plans in Florida next year. The list includes returning big players like Florida Blue, Aetna, Cigna and Humana, as well as United Healthcare, which did not participate in the marketplace this year. Each insurer can sell multiple types of plans, and rates can vary across the state. Buy only what you need: http://www.amazon.com/Health-Insurance-ONLY-right-policy/dp/1480125083


Hospitals now paid to keep people OUT of ER
Hospitals now get penalized if you come back to the emergency room too frequently and if a hospital isn’t meeting certain patient quality and health outcomes and insurers are following the same mold too. Insurers no longer want to pay for hospitals that are just doing more and more test and procedures over and over again and they want to be paying for quality so hospitals are going to be held accountable if patients are too sick if patients are coming to the emergency room too frequently.

1.5 million worker’s retirement plans at risk—check yours
Retirement plans covering roughly 1.5 million workers are severely underfunded, threatening benefit cuts for current and future retirees, a federal watchdog agency warned. The Pension Benefit Guaranty said multi-employer plans, which are collectively bargained retirement plans maintained by more than one employer, are most at risk. "Plan insolvencies ... are now both more likely and more imminent than in our last report," the report said. At the same time, the agency said single-employer pension plans — covering just over 30 million participants — are on firmer financial footing and are likely to remain so at least over the next 10 years. Check your plan: http://www.amazon.com/Your-Retirement-Spending-Plan-enough/dp/1461084016

Surprises in 2014 initial quality ratings for new cars
Korea has more contenders this year. http://autos.jdpower.com/ratings/quality.htm
Buy American-made—Camry, Honda, Toyota, F-150. Fewer and fewer even qualify as partly “made in America.”  Jobs went overseas.

SCAMS           Why are we still paying $700 Billion a year for WWII deployments?
We are paying for 164,253 of our active-duty armed personnel to be in 150 countries around the world. We have about 50,000 in Japan and 50,000 in Germany.
Are we preparing for WWII again? There are 1,208,083[1] armed personnel in the United States. Our taxes pay for about HALF of the WORLD’s military expenditures every year.
We just can’t afford to pay for everyone else’s defenses anymore.
Japan, Germany and S. Korea can pay for their own defense.

$70 Billion wasted ammo—Arms dealers benefit
The Government Accountability Office found that the military's poor tracking of its $70 billion worth of conventional ammunition had left it with an extensive stockpile destined for destruction, including some munitions that could still be used by troops. For instance, the GAO found instances in which troops retrieved workable missiles from its scrap heap to meet their needs. Another problem: the services' inventory systems cannot share data directly despite working for decades to develop a single database.

Big Brother testing its power
Facebook manipulated the emotions of hundreds of thousands of its users, and found that they would pass on happy or sad emotions, it has said. The experiment, for which researchers did not gain specific consent, has provoked criticism from users with privacy and ethical concerns. For one week in 2012, Facebook skewed nearly 700,000 users’ news feeds to either be happier or sadder than normal. The experiment found that after the experiment was over users’ tended to post positive or negative comments according to the skew that was given to their newsfeed. What Zuckerberg does for fun?

GM recalling rest of products
½ million more cars and trucks back to dealer. Service your own car now. Dealer full.

CEOs $ millions in pay enabled by his/her friend-directors
New study shows when corporation board consists of CEO friends, they cut future development to give boss an unearned raise. And it makes no difference if the shareholders know it--Directors paid by CEO. Even the Supremes have sided with the CEOs against shareholders’ ability to sue as a class.  

Both sides of his mouth
Senator Rand Paul has warned Republicans of being too close to rich people, but he is also hoping to pick up some of Mitt Romney's Wall Street donors. “We cannot be the party of fat cats, rich people, and Wall Street,” the Kentucky Republican told the audience at the Freedom Summit in New Hampshire in April. “Corporate welfare should once and for all be ended” [“--Except for me.”]
At the same time, the founders and employees of Mason Capital Management, a $13.6 billion New York hedge fund, have become leading contributors to Paul’s political aims. Company co-founder Kenneth Garschina has also given $250,000 to America’s Liberty PAC, a so-called super political action committee run by longtime supporters of Paul. In all, 17 of the company’s 33 employees have given at least $75,000 to Paul and funds he controls since he started his first U.S. Senate campaign in 2010.

Who owns your account now?
Conseco Life to Wilton Reassurance

IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
Montclair, NJ 07042
973.746.2014
Alerts 

Friday, December 6, 2013

Use Buffett's winning strategy

Warren Buffett’s strategy has outperformed all others
New study finds Oracle of Omaha has outperformed every long-lived U.S. stock and mutual fund. Looking at all U.S. stocks from 1926 to 2011 that have been traded for more than 30 years, a paper published this week by the National Bureau of Economic Research calculated that Mr. Buffett's so-called Sharpe ratio is 0.76 since 1976. That was about twice the stock market's 0.39. Invest like Buffett: http://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffetts-Investment-Secret-Steeple/dp/1484189809

Tax credits this year
Energy credits for improvements such as insulated hot water heaters, insulation, double-paned windows. Install them before year end. The items that qualify for this special tax treatment will be marked by the manufacturer. Keep this documentation in your tax file in the event of an audit. http://www.irs.gov/Credits-&-Deductions
Tax-free charitable distributions directly from an IRA to a qualified nonprofit organization by persons age 70 ½ or older. Without itemizing, you can have your charity give you a deduction for part of your IRA distribution.
Filing joint rather than as two single individuals now legal for LGBTs.
Education credits continue but the tuition deduction expires after 2013.
Student loan interest deduction and employer-provided education assistance benefits.
Dependent care and Earned Income Tax credit remain.
Child Tax and Saver’s credits.
Estate tax exemption is $5,250,000 with a top tax rate of 40%. Couples $10,500,000. 
Free tax prep by IRS-trained volunteers at AARP: http://www.aarp.org/money/taxes/info-2004/about_aarp_taxaide.html

Pensions for state workers underfunded
Illinois is the state with the worst funded public employee pension system in the nation. Estimates are that they are underfunded by a hundred billion dollars. The situation’s so serious that, according to one recent report, about twenty cents of every taxpayer dollar inIllinois is now used to pay for pensions.  These public workers and these retirees spent their careers paying into retirement systems, holding up their end of the bargain while the state did not, and that it’s unfair for them to cut their benefits to the degree that they’re being cut. Many other states have already dealt with these problems and are fighting them out in the courts right now. Illinois’s constitutional protection is a particularly rock-solid one, compared to how the language is written into some other states. Don’t rely on your employer for future income. They may go bankrupt. Make your own: http://www.amazon.com/New-American-Retirement-System-Tax-FREE/dp/1461030072

CA goes ahead with employer ObamaCare
California has opened an online insurance exchange for small business. The program that's part of the national health overhaul was launched formally Monday, two months behind the state-run exchange for individuals and families, known as Covered California.
It's voluntary — companies with up to 50 full-time workers are not required to provide insurance for workers. Officials say the site will offer affordable choices to small businesses that want to offer attractive compensation packages, including health care. Some owners could qualify for tax credits. https://www.coveredca.com/small-business/

Investors BEWARE! Sales people can still sell bad-for-you products
The Investor Advisory Committee, a SEC advisory panel, has called on the SEC to move forward with a rule that "would require brokers to act in the best interests of their clients when providing retail investment advice"...the same standard that investment advisers meet.  While the SEC has included investment-advise standards for brokers on its 2014 regulatory agenda, it is slated for "long-term action" without a specific timetable. Trust but verify your broker/advisor’s advice: http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Way-Seems-Wall-Street/dp/1492752916/

Internet advisors growing
Cerulli Associates say Internet-based financial advisers are winning over investors and are serious competition for conventional advisers.  More than 100 startups for personal finance and investment are aggressively pursuing younger investors. The number of retail investors using direct-to-investors online platforms run by discount brokerages has nearly doubled since 2008.  Shop and save on insurance/investments: http://www.amazon.com/Internet-Money-Smarts-More-Less/dp/1493643223/


401k statements to include monthly income projections
Labor Dept will require your plan provider to include income projections on your statement so that you have a more realistic expectation of your future retirement situation. Studies show that those who receive quarterly projections increased their saving by 29%. The information worked best for those already motivated to save. It also helps those that are considering retirement versus those that are less informed. Workers were most successful when their employer installed automatic enrollment and increases in small amounts. Workers still prefer a fixed pension managed by the employer’s plan provider. However, most employers are phasing out such plans. Tune up your 401k and have more for retirement: http://www.amazon.com/Tune-your-401k-EARN-Tax-FREE/dp/1490591028

GOP leader calls Pope a Marxist
“This is just pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the pope.”

Are you ready for a Second Job “Retirement”?
Working retirees’ trend: the proportion of partially retired workers has risen from virtually zero to 15 percent for 60 to 62 year olds, and is over 20 percent for 65 to 67 year olds, up from 5 to 10 percent in 1960, according to the University of Michigan study. Multitudes of workers in their 50s and early 60s have been laid off or forced into early retirement. Workers now have the flexibility to take retirement benefits anywhere between 62 and 70 from SS and old employers. Higher-paid workers work more years. Many workers keep their part-time jobs until age 70 or beyond to make up for lost wages earlier in their career instead of taking full retirement at 65 or 66. A study found that a high inflation rate results in a slightly higher retirement rate, because wages lag inflation and therefore lower the rewards of working. Make Tax-FREE income:  http://www.amazon.com/How-Retire-Tax-FREE-Income-increases/dp/1484156951/

Your scripts can cost half what you pay
Shopping for your drugs can be shocking. I checked the price of my scripts on 10 different sites. They were all different.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16172438 The most useful sites were http://www.consumerreports.org/health/best-buy-drugs/index.htm and http://www.goodrx.com/. Savings over years can be significant. Some buy from Canadian pharmacies and save even with shipping. Check the pharmacy reviews first. Buy only what you need: http://www.amazon.com/Health-Insurance-ONLY-right-policy/dp/1480125083


SCAMS           “Deficits don’t matter” Republican Godfather, Dick Cheney, 2002
Bush wars increased the debt by $4-6 trillion to $16 trillion. 1985 debt $3 T, same as 1945.

Madoff 30-year scam never questioned by SEC or regulators
Bernard L. Madoff’s former finance chief, who pleaded guilty to aiding the con man’s $17 billion Ponzi scheme, said the company was using fake trades to trick investors in the 1970s when he started working there after graduating high school.
The fraudulent trading went on “for as long as I could remember,” Frank DiPascali, 57, told a jury in Manhattan federal court today at the trial of five ex-colleagues. “It was virtually impossible not to know what was happening.”

MetroNorth train kills 4 – No “Dead Man’s Brake”
"I zoned out"
Last year’s near accident on MetroNorth—engineer ignores “alerts” and reads paper.
All trains are supposed to have this safety device:
The “Alerter” is an alarm designed to stop the train if the engineer doesn’t respond within a few seconds—a “dead man’s brake.” As we spoke, Tony, the engineer today, smacked a large red button to silence the racket. After a few moments of blissful quiet, the blasted honking started again. Tony would whack the big button once more. Honk, HONK, HONK, WHACK. Honk, HONK, HONK, WHACK.  http://www.rsbpress.com/resume/montrealer.htm

On April 27, 2010, a motorman on a NY subway ‘G’ train apparently suffered a fatal heart attack at the controls, activating the so-called dead-man feature, which stops the train when the motorman takes his hand off the controller.
Unfortunately, MetroNorth did not have either feature on its lead-car train.

John Thomas scams customers
The SEC charged the former CEO of John Thomas Financial with negligent activity, alleging the firm steered customers into proprietary hedge funds and influenced a fund adviser and manager to breach fiduciary duty.

IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
Montclair, NJ 07042
973.746.2014

Friday, July 6, 2012

GOP will not implement Supreme's decision


GOP-controlled states will not implement ObamaCare despite decision—Seniors at risk

At least 20 states have passed binding legislation opposing broad elements of health care reform --states including Pennsylvania -- likely will not expand Medicaid since the U.S. Supreme Court removed the threat of federal penalties, analysts said.

That decision would be critical because of Pennsylvania's growing senior population and the high costs of skilled care for older people, said Linda Rhodes, a former secretary of the state Department of Aging.

"Medicaid has become a safety net for the middle class," Rhodes said.

Pennsylvania hasn't spent any of its $33 million federal grant to develop the marketplaces, department spokeswoman Roseanne Placey said.

ObamaCare is the law but states ignore Supreme’s law of the land.




Romney says Supremes motivated by politics—OH REALLY!

Mitt Romney suggested "political consideration" rather than legal judgment may have played a major role in why Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold President Barack Obama's health care law last week. "It gives the impression that the decision was made not based upon constitutional foundation but instead political consideration about the relationship between branches of government," Romney told CBS News. "But we won't really know the answers to those things until the justice himself speaks out—maybe sometime in history."

What about the Bush II “election” overturning FL voter count?

And voting to allow corporations to influence elections?

Mitt is right and we all agree the Supremes are political decision-makers like Congress.



House GOP to cut food stamps for 46 million Americans—sugar and cotton subsidies up

Conservatives in the Republican-led House are certain to demand greater cuts in the food stamps program, which makes up about 80 percent of the nearly $100 billion a year in spending under the farm bill. Senate Democrats are equally certain to resist more cuts in a program that now helps feed 46 million people, 1 out of every 7 Americans.



Older clients get taken by advisors—Again

New study shows younger clients get better discounts even though they are more likely to cancel their accounts. Even though older clients have larger transactions, advisors are assuming that the old brokerage model will lead to greater business in the future. However, younger clients know they can do all their investing online by themselves now. Eventually they will figure out that they don’t need the advisor. They can invest for FREE. Wealth Without Wall Street explains the new model: http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Without-Wall-Street-Commissions/dp/1442168137



States’ pensions not disclosing fees and special deals

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has developed revised standards in accounting rules that will soon force cities, states and other local-government entities to disclose pension obligations that previously were hidden. Existing rules have been criticized for hiding the real cost of public pensions.

One member asked the State of NJ about fees on her pension and Treasurer refused to give answer. CA tried to reduce fees but private-equity fund managers often charge up to 2 percent of assets and 20 percent of profits. If the state earns 8% and gives away 2% plus profit (managers have 2% profit already) then you earn 5.6%. Vanguard charges only 0.05% for pensions.

What a special deal for Wall Street!



IRS goes after savers after losing $ millions to Swiss court

IRS is coming after you for IRA infractions that are technical but not very lucrative. The agency lost its bid to bring home revenue from American tax-dodgers hidden in tax haven Switzerland, so it needs to justify itself to Congress. The really big revenue loss is to corporations like Exxon and most of the Fortune 500 that keep profits overseas in foreign subsidiaries.

Check your IRA documents. IRS makes mistakes too, so check your backup: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304441404577480690440266320.html



Why your banker/broker/advisor/agent CAN’T give you the right products

It is impossible for your seller to give you the right products. They can’t sell them. The employer picks the products based upon revenue targets. Senior management wants to be rich not right about your long-term wealth. Example: Morgan Chase employees tell about selling their own bad funds. The bank actually changed the returns in marketing materials, according to JPMorgan documents reviewed by The New York Times. In 2011 they actually got caught and paid a fine and are still at it. Use our unbiased advisors: http://www.amazon.com/Unbiased-Advisors-Network-helps-tax-FREE/dp/1470106841



Insider reveals hedge funds returns a mirage—worse than owning Treasuries

His research shows returns have dipped substantially since the 1990s; compensation eating into payouts. Simon Lack, a former hedge fund executive at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and author of the just-published “Hedge Fund Mirage”  finds that investors would have done twice as well with boring Treasuries over the past decade than being in the high-status, hard-to-research investments they find so captivating.



You may be sued when your parents go to a nursing home

States are out of money so Medicaid state funds are not paying the bills for indigent parents. A judge can force you to pay if they think you can pay. Twenty-nine states have "filial support" laws that could be used to go after patients' adult children for unpaid long-term-care bills. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303506404577446410116857508.html

In at least one of those states, Pennsylvania, nursing homes have started routinely using the law to prod families into paying their elders' bills or completing Medicaid paperwork on their behalf.




Drug company pays $3 Billion for $29 Billion to sell unlawfully—no one goes to jail

GSK allegations: "Some people are concerned that marketing by pharmaceutical companies may exert undue influence on doctors, that sales representatives may not always give doctors full information about the products they are promoting, or that there may be promotion of medicines for unapproved uses."

Dr got vacations for writing scripts not permitted by law

Execs were paid $ millions for sales not permitted

Children got drugs not permitted

Americans pay 2-3 times the price Canadians pay for same drugs

And everyone lived happily ever after?



SCAMS           “Only the little people pay taxes.” Leona Helmsley



States are losing $ millions of revenue to tax haven in Delaware.

PA has lost $400 million a year because companies have TAX loophole. GOP claims US corporations have highest tax rate: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/business/how-delaware-thrives-as-a-corporate-tax-haven.html?pagewanted=all





Taxpayers are NOT protected by DoddFrank so Morgan Chase’s $20 B losses are just the beginning. Banks can make bad investments with our money still.




Bankers use email codes to fix interest rates for whole economies!

"As always, any help wd be greatly appreciated," the trader wrote.

"I am going 90 altho 91 is what I should be posting," came the reply.

This is how they “earn” the big bonuses--$200,000+




Bankers avoid jail even when insider whistleblower wins lawsuit

Countrywide fired one exec for refusing to make up a legal document. CEO Mozilo took $ millions after Countrywide bankruptcy. No one went to jail. Whistleblower waiting.






IAN

41 Watchung Plaza, B242

Montclair, NJ 07042

973.746.2014