Friday, July 11, 2014

Tax evaders leave us with the bill

Tax evaders avoid $ billions of taxes and move jobs overseas
1000s of US corporations that profit from our purchases are not paying taxes on their income like we have to. The Supremes decided corporations are people and have “religious freedom.” Yet they don’t pay taxes on their income no matter where they make it—We must pay no matter where we earn it. Since they don’t pay taxes, we must make up the difference.
Is this fair? 
Microsoft, for example, with $76.4 billion in foreign earnings, said that if it had brought those earnings home in 2013, it would have reduced the deficit by $24.4 billion. MS would have to pay 32% of income just like we do.
Aren’t you tired of paying the tax bill for MS, Google, Apple, Citi, GE, 1000 others?

Is advisor advice right for you?
In a recent survey, 23 percent of respondents weren’t sure why they do not work with a financial professional. Others said they prefer to make their own decisions (24 percent), and they feel financial professionals are too expensive (23 percent). The 35 percent of respondents who do work with financial professionals share some traits. For example, 68 percent are more likely to have calculated their retirement income need; 53 percent are confident or very confident about maintaining their lifestyle through retirement; but only sixty-eight percent of these respondents plan to continue to work with a financial professional through retirement. New tools online can replace advisors for Gen X.
Once you know what advisors do, you don’t need them:  http://www.amazon.com/The-Tax-Shelter-Young-Americans/dp/1500426520


“5 year hiatus in my 401k cost me $250,000”
Tim writes that he stopped investing at work for about 5 years when he was 33. He thought buying a new car was the right thing to do but it cost him about a quarter million in his retirement fund. He was investing $250 a month in his low cost 500 index fund. He now has $570,000. He figures he must keep working for 5 more years to get to his goal of $800,000. Compound interest makes his nest egg double in about 7-9 years. He will move some of his funds to a bond fund for his retirement income just as Warren Buffett does for his family: http://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffetts-Vanguard-Funds-Retirement/dp/1496148592

High tech saves lives and money
Initial results of an analysis of combined crash-avoidance systems in the Honda Accord found they lowered insurance claims for vehicle damage and injuries, according to the Highway Loss Data Institute. Take ALL your discounts: http://www.amazon.com/Vehicle-Insurance-Beware-Double-Coverage/dp/1480027634

Is a longevity annuity right for you?
The Treasury now allows longevity annuities in retirement plans. However, are they a good deal for you? Proponents argue that we are living longer and these deferred annuities insure lifetime income. Most start paying monthly income at age 85. Putting part of your nest egg in a guaranteed income vehicle sounds great but your money isn't liquid anymore. An emergency could require the money. The interest rates at the time of purchase may be low and thus you lock in low income for the rest of your life. Inflation reduces your purchasing power. Most annuity buyers don’t understand the costs and limits of the product. There are better alternatives that should be considered: http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-Annuity-Strategy-Income/dp/1497532019

GOP Crazies
Boehner's announcement that Republicans would sue the President of the United States over the administration's decision last year to delay the health care law's employer mandate has left many feeling CRAZY--Crazy and confused!
That's because the GOP House lawmakers ALREADY voted to do the exact same thing -- defer until 2015 the Obamacare requirement aimed at making businesses provide health coverage to their workers, or pay a penalty. Boehner suing Obama because the President only did what the House already made law. Obama is also carrying out the Bush II law giving children crossing border a place to stay for court date and lawyer and judges. Would they sue if Obama was white? 

  
Photosynthesis on leaves makes food and oxygen in ‘photo’
The photo was achieved by using an X-ray laser to record snapshots of molecules as they split in the reaction- a method know as X-ray crystallography. In photosynthesis, oxygen is created at a metal site, which contains a cluster made up of four manganese atoms and one calcium atom. This cluster is the site that drives the light-driven process of water splitting. According to the study, it takes four light flashes to split one oxygen molecule from two water molecules. The X-ray bounces off the materials projects a picture.

 More wasted tax dollars
In 2013, federal agencies made $97 billion in overpayments, according to agency estimates. Underpayments totaled $9 billion. The amount of improper payments has steadily dropped since 2010, when it peaked at $121 billion. This $100 B does not include over $125 B to corporations as tax-FREE loans or $100 B subsidies to make oil, ethanol, sugar, peanuts, cotton, beef, on and on and also NOTHING at all. Congress people like Bachmann receive money to NOT plant on farms they don’t live or work on. Bachmann is a Swiss citizen. The farm bill cut food stamps to increase crop subsidies.

Now you will have no private life at all.

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 have wasted $398.6 billion so far on the F-35 program—they can’t fly safely.
We just can’t afford to pay for everyone else’s defenses anymore.
Japan, Germany and S. Korea can pay for its own defense.


Supremes allow corporations to decide coverage—no more cancer treatments are next?
Supreme Court ruled that the owners of private companies may refuse on religious grounds to offer employees insurance coverage for birth control. Some religions claim that death by natural means is God’s will. Scalia and Co face many NEW requests to cancel health insurance now. Constitution does NOT guarantee equal treatment for all according to Supreme majority. Congress must decide to stop Supreme’s change to Constitution’s guarantee for equal treatment for all.

Commerce caught overcharging
Thousands of Massachusetts motorcycle owners will receive a total of $14.6 million in insurance refunds as a result of a settlement with Commerce Insurance Company after allegedly being overcharged on their policies, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced.

One of Every Seven U.S. Cars Has Been Recalled but Not Repaired
Why? Many times customers found that dealers don’t have the parts so can’t fix even it got appointment. Some customers don’t understand how serious since recall can be for anything. Some customers bought the recalled car used and never heard about recall. Even GM ignition switch recall for safety poor fix rate.

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

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, June 27, 2014

Tax evaders go to PR now

Your broker/advisor now evades taxes in Puerto Rico—Socialism for the rich
Puerto Rico signed a law that creates a tax haven for U.S. citizens. If they live on the island for at least 183 days a year, they pay minimal or no taxes, and unlike Singapore or Bermuda, Americans don’t have to turn in their passports. Stock traders, moguls and entrepreneurs have moved. Billionaire John Paulson is spearheading the tax evasion. So the government gives them all the privileges of citizenship and we pay for their FREE ride.

What do the working millionaires know that your kids don’t?
The Picture Book of Wealth: How to save and invest in pictures and stories

Harvard got taken by its advisors—how about you?
Harvard’s endowment posted annual average gains of just 1.7 percent vs 18.47% (market index fund) in the five years ended June 30, 2013. That compares with annual returns of 6.8 percent at Columbia University, 5.4 percent at University of Pennsylvania and 3.3 percent at Yale University. Advisors are paid even when they give bad advice. Harvard should follow Buffett’s advice—buy good value not advisors: http://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffetts-Investment-Strategy-Forget/dp/1484822900

Will you have enough retirement income?
Use our calculator to illustrate if you will have enough retirement income by earning 8-10% on your contributions. How many years will it take to have enough to live on?
This calculator shows you how much retirement income your accumulation will provide after years of growth. It estimates your future buying power compared to your current one. It assumes you pay no taxes each year and your fees are low. It assumes your current income will rise with 3% inflation and then converts your nest egg into income stated in today's dollars. Your 30-year nest egg should last for 30 years or more:  http://www.amazon.com/Enough-Retirement-Income-Incarnate-living/dp/1500165107

Are Target-date funds for you?
For 5 years, target-date investors earned median annual returns of 15.3% vs. 14% for those managing on their own. The do-it-youselfers also had a wide range of outcomes, with the 25% earning median annual returns of less than 9%. These days more plans are providing guidance in the form of online tools and target date funds: 72% of 401(k) plans offer target-date funds, up from 57% in 2006, according to the Investment Company Institute. Unfortunately, nearly two-thirds of target-date fund users also had other funds and lowered their returns by 2.62%. Target date funds for 2035 and beyond have 90% stock now but reduce the ratio as you near retirement. Since Buffett advises compounding low-cost funds, this choice can be great: http://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffetts-Investment-Strategy-Forget/dp/1484822900

Are alternative investments right for you?
Arguments over the importance of alternative investments in the average investor’s portfolio continue. Meanwhile, their results are not keeping up with more traditional portfolios, according to a new Morningstar study.  Emory University's professor Klaas Baks recently argued in favor of including alternatives in the Wall Street Journal. Advisor George Papadopoulos argued against alternatives. “Exotic assets may make a portfolio seem a lot sexier, but they may not get it to perform better over the long term. Factor in risks and expenses, and alternative investments just aren't worth the trouble,” Papadopoulos explained. The simple strategies work best: http://www.amazon.com/The-Wealth-Tao-Wu-Wei/dp/1499351348

GOP crazies
Nice guy Boehner says he is suing the President but not sure what for, exactly. I thought that was called “impeachment” in Washington. While we are at it, let’s add all of our so-called ‘representatives’ in the suit. They have done nothing while being paid. Isn’t that “breach of contract’ or something? Let’s ask Ms Palin and Mr Calvuto to be the prosecutors. It would be a new “Law and Order” series that would have better ratings than Survivors.  

GOP-led Supremes cut Obama recess appointments
Ronald Reagan made 232 recess appointments during his eight years in office. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush each made well more than 100. To date, Obama has made only 32 recess appointments. The recess appointments power was more pertinent when senators left town on "horseback," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, but the Supremes didn’t act in 1900 when Washington had cars.
Can we undue Reagan-Bush-Clinton appointments too? Only fair, right?

Supremes back Cheney’s Halliburton against shareholders—the corporate elites
Supreme Court limited shareholder class actions; stopping short of abolishing such cases altogether, in a case involving Halliburton which still pays Cheney. The Houston-based energy and engineering company, supported by business groups, asked the high court to overturn a 1988 precedent establishing “fraud on the market” that supported shareholder class actions. Cheney lied in 2003 about his  ties to his old company. Supreme’s Scalia is his hunting buddy and got him in with Bush in 2000. 


FL insurers raise rates for all to cover Wild West shootings
Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill saying insurers cannot deny coverage or charge more because of gun or ammunition ownership in Florida. GOP bill interferes with the free market—force insurers to charge all for gun-related risks. Bill biased against women and minorities. The Florida Insurance Council, warned as the bill was being debated it could have unintended consequences. Ask for the no-guns, dogs, art, jewels, pool-discounts: http://www.amazon.com/Homeowners-Insurance-Beware-Coverage-Policy/dp/1480100870


Supremes split on gun-buying deceit—Lying is OK according to 4 of 9.
Justice Scalia noted that it is permissible to buy guns as gifts, for later resale or as raffle prizes. The majority erred, he said, in interpreting the law to make it “a federal crime for one lawful gun owner to buy a gun for another lawful gun owner.” Roberts, Thomas and Alito joined Scalia in allowing buyers to lie on application about ownership and let them sell or give to others. Let buyers decide who is “lawful” owner—Really?

NJ business insurers lower rates
Horizon BCBS NJ new small employer plans slash premiums 15 percent and waive deductibles for network doctors. Horizon faces strong competition in the under-50 group market. Buy only what you need: http://www.amazon.com/Health-Insurance-ONLY-right-policy/dp/1480125083

Two Americas--end of middle-income
Since 2000, jobs traditionally done by teenagers, such as retail and food service, are increasingly shifting to older workers. The number of people aged 20-24 working in retail has risen 24%, while the number of those in food service has shot up 57% during that time. Meanwhile, the number of teens working retail jobs has plunged 47%. And the shares of people 65 and over working in retail and food service are up 52% and 55%, respectively, over that period. Because jobs in areas like restaurants and retail are lower-paying, those who start their adult careers in such industries may be doomed to a lifetime of lower wages. And closing off opportunities to younger people while leaving older ones stuck in place stifles economic mobility. The promise of college has always constituted what Shierholz calls "an implicit contract." If job gains continue to be concentrated in low-paying, low-skilled areas, that contract may have to be rethought.

Your advisor doesn’t even know how much they charge you?
Nearly 63 percent of advisors surveyed underestimated their fees. The advisors believed their fees were below 1.5 percent of assets, while the actual average was about 1.83 percent. In addition, Cerulli says that 60 percent of clients do not understand how their financial advisor is charging them.
Your advisor can take up to 63% of your nest egg over time. Use Warren Buffett’s secret: http://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffetts-Investment-Secret-Steeple/dp/1484189809

Did you already suspect?
Watching television isn't just slowly killing your brain cells, it may be slowly killing you. Researchers found that people who watched three or more hours of television a day were at twice the risk of an early death than those who watched less. The study found a correlation to television watching time but found no significant association with computer or driving time. "If you're driving or using a computer for working, you are stressed." The study took 8 years so it was too late to warn those who died from TV.


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.

Your IRA money may now go to creditors—not beneficiary
Thanks to a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, IRAs no longer have the same level of bankruptcy protection as some other retirement assets. In the case of Clark v. Rameker, the land's highest court said that “the term ‘retirement account’ is narrowly-defined,” explains attorney Edwin Morrow, wealth specialist with Key Private Bank. Translation: “retirement account” does not apply to assets you receive from someone else.

Obama set to allow crude exports—higher gas prices likely—switch to electric?
1975 law banning exports may be relaxed so big oil can sell at higher prices and refiners of gasoline will need to pay more on world oil markets.


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