Friday, May 2, 2014

Best Grad Gift: tax-FREE money

Best graduation gift: $2 million tax-FREE
Your monthly gift could provide your grandchild with real "social security:" their own tax-FREE money. You take advantage of the miracle of compounding over time. Your gift becomes a $2 million retirement fund. You could reduce your taxable estate by $500,000 for each grandchild. 
Your grandchild will NEVER have to pay taxes on the money either. Social Security will exhaust its funds in about 2033, according to 2013 projections. Start today!
Every year you delay costs your favorite kid $100,000 later.
http://www.amazon.com/Give-your-Grandchild-000-Lifetime/dp/1456433105

Tax cheats cost us each $2,000 
State governments are finally going after the $2 TRILLION hidden offshore. When we buy an iPhone, our money goes to workers in China and bankers in Barbados. None goes to pay for the roads, bridges and cops Apple uses here in US.
GE tax rate 0% and still keeps cash overseas
Corps like GE cite high US tax rates when asked why they evade tax on their $5 trillion stashed in tax shelter. GE reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in theUnited StatesIts American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.

The tax benefits of an HSA are significant if you don’t itemize tax return
Your contributions to a Health Savings Account are tax deductible up to $6,550 (family). This account can pay for co-payments, deductibles, Med Part A & B, and most medical expenses including over-the-counter drugstore products. Funds not withdrawn to pay for qualified medical expenses remain in the HSA and grow from year to year in an investment account whose earnings grow free of tax like an IRA. Best of all, you avoid the 10% of income (up from 7.5%) hurdle on itemized deductions.

Another tax evasion strategy we must pay for
What happens if America’s largest drug company, Pfizer, and America’s drug store, Walgreen's, both execute deals that mean they no longer will be domiciled in America, and as a result will pay far less in American taxes? Could mergers done for the sake of dodging taxes become a key issue in the upcoming midterm elections?
That’s a key question for all investors this morning as New York’s Pfizer, the largest drug company in the U.S., publicly detailed a bid to purchase AstraZeneca for $100 billion, 70% of it in stock and the rest in cash. Pfizer says the deal is being driven by the complementary nature of the two drug giants’ stables of products and by the costs it could cut, but it would also move its tax domicile to a holding company in the U.K. and therefore pay a significantly lower tax rate. This is known as a “tax inversion.”

Drivers save $426 in J.D. Power survey
On average, customers saved $300 when switching insurers in the past 12 months. The longer customers had been with their previous insurer, the greater the savings when they switched carriers. Customers who were with their prior insurer for 11 years or longer before switching save an average of $426 per year on their premiums, compared with $291 among those who had been with their previous insurer less than two years before switching. Moreover, satisfaction among customers who had been with their insurer 11 years or longer prior to switching is higher than among those who were with their insurer fewer than two years. Drop your duplicate coverage: http://www.amazon.com/Vehicle-Insurance-Beware-Double-Coverage/dp/1480027634

Wal-Mart endorses autoinsurance.com for auto cover
Wal-Mart said the service will save customers money. The company cited a pilot program survey it conducted last year in Pennsylvania, where customers who purchased policies from autoinsurance.com on average said they saved $1,168 a year. Online offerings include the standard carriers. The service is already available in eight states -- ArkansasLouisianaMississippiMissouriOklahomaPennsylvaniaTennessee and Texas. Wal-Mart plans a nationwide rollout in the coming months. Buy only what you need:http://www.amazon.com/Vehicle-Insurance-Beware-Double-Coverage/dp/1480027634

Young waited to sign up for ObamaCare
A late surge of enrollments by 1.2 million young adults helped push signups for coverage on the health insurance marketplaces past the previously announced total of 8 million.
The signup deadline was March 31, but some people were allowed to finish applications until April 19 because of previous website enrollment problems. Sebelius reported that for the full enrollment period, from Oct. 1, 2013, to March 31, 2014, more than one-fourth -- 28 percent -- of people who selected marketplace health policies were in the coveted 18-to-34 age group. The federal department said 85 percent of plan purchasers through the marketplaces selected a plan that provided financial assistance in the form of a federal subsidy. One NJ plan listed at $393 cost $149.
The next Enrollment Period is November 15, 2014. Individuals may also qualify for Special Enrollment Periodshttps://www.healthcare.gov/how-can-i-get-coverage-outside-of-open-enrollment/#part=2
You can apply for Medicaid or CHIP at any time of the year.

FL insurers can’t charge more for gun users despite extra costs
Florida bill that would forbid insurance companies from refusing to serve or charging higher rates to applicants based on their ownership of a firearm has been sent to Gov. Rick Scott to sign.

Bogle says our mutual funds taking more of our money
John Bogle, founder Vanguard funds, says expense ratios of major U.S. equity mutual funds (excluding Vanguard, which has lowered expense ratios to 0.17 percent) have risen from an average 0.62 percent in 1951 to 1.15 percent in 2013. He has said that our 401k pensions may be cut by up to 63% because of high-fees over time. Tune up your pension choices: http://www.amazon.com/Tune-your-401k-EARN-Tax-FREE/dp/1490591028


Do you trust your broker/advisor? Make sure
In the wake of revelations that hundreds of registered advisors have failed to publicly disclose personal bankruptcies, criminal charges and other potentially damaging information, FINRA is moving to toughen the reporting requirements for BrokerCheck. Brokers are salespeople, first and foremost. You can use Warren Buffett’s strategy and avoid another Madoff: http://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffetts-Investment-Strategy-Forget/dp/1484822900

Gulf Coast losing people but taking more tax dollars for oil development
A new report says commuting statistics indicate that coastal parishes are losing residents because of coastal erosion. And it says those left behind tend to be those who cannot afford to move. In Plaquemines Parish, 72 percent of all workers commute into the parish, up from 69 percent in 2004. “Coastal populations facing rising sea levels are moving to higher ground,” according to The Data Center’s report. “Repeated flooding, frequent evacuations and inability to get insurance are all factors that have contributed to residents’ decisions to migrate inland. The population left behind is on average older, poorer or otherwise vulnerable.” The oil and gas industry is expecting more federal tax dollars to support industrial development along the river. Expanding oil and gas activities will give currently vulnerable areas in the southern part of the parish a better shot at gaining federal protection (subsidies).
Long-term care premiums to rise
A 55-year-old couple, for example, can expect to spend about $3,275 in annual premiums for $164,000 of coverage for each that grows by 3% a year. If you need help by age 85, the average age of claims, you will have paid over $200,000 (premiums go up). If you had just invested your $6,000 for 30 years, you could accumulate $1,200,000 in a balanced fund. Remember, the policies are complicated and the business is in a state of flux, with carriers raising prices and exiting the business. Check the alternatives before you buy—there are no refunds if you don’t need it: http://www.amazon.com/Long-term-Care-Insurance-Updated-Edition/dp/148274001X


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.
DoD head Hagel proposes budget cut but still pay for Lockheed F35 plane failures.

Current $1.35 a month grazing fees is a steal; private land grazing costs $16-20
Rancher Cliven Bundy owes the American taxpayers in excess of $1 million. He had his day in court—THREE times. Why is this guy NOT in jail? Most of us would be.
We must make up his shortfall with our taxes.
Gold miners, lumberjacks and farmers receive similar subsidies when they harvest public lands.  Unlike coal and oil extraction, gold, silver, platinum, etc mining companies do not pay any royalties for deposits claimed on federal public lands. See General Mining Act of 1872.

Congress agrees to continue corporate loopholes—runs up deficit for our kids
House Ways and Means Committee sent a package of bills to the House floor that would cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars over the next ten years by making permanent tax provisions multinational corporations use to avoid U.S. tax. GOP passed the "active financing" provision GE uses to pay $0 tax, the “Apple” loophole corps use to send profits to tax havens, the "Research Credit" for offshore jobs, and small business deductions.

Another outrage of wasted tax dollars we pay for
Medicare paid $5 billion to ambulance companies in 2012, more than went to cancer doctors or orthopedic surgeons. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has identified ambulance service as one of the biggest areas of overuse and abuse in Medicare -- companies billing millions for trips by patients who can walk, sit, stand or even drive their own cars. 

IAN
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