Friday, June 13, 2014

Taxes from advisor 'rebalancing'?

Tax increase due to advisor “rebalancing”?
Advisors promote this buy and sell activity to justify their quarterly fee charges. Is it really helpful to you? You pay more tax. Vanguard did a test of many types of rebalancing strategies. None were superior. Selling your winners and buying your losers creates taxes, fees and commissions. It lowers your annual total return as well as your overall volatility. The costs reduce the total return so this strategy seems to have only one result: fee generation. Quarterly rebalancing also justifies your advisor’s lifestyle. ‘Doing nothing’ is hard to justify for a fee.  
A better strategy—‘Do Nothing’ as Warren Buffett says. http://www.amazon.com/The-Wealth-Tao-Wu-Wei/dp/1499351348

Advisers NOT telling total costs so we lose up to 63% of earnings
The average total cost their clients actually pay is 1.83% of assets, the survey of 159 advisers found. Total costs include the adviser fee, administrative fee, platform fee and product fee. Most advisers are required to list their fees but don’t. The costs that some advisers don't fully account for include administrative fees, which can be buried in prospectus documents, and platform fees, Mr. Carson said. John Bogle, Vanguard founder, estimates we can lose 63% of possible nest egg to costs.
No need to lose up to 63% of your TOTAL accumulations: http://www.amazon.com/Keep-More-What-Earn-Diversification/dp/1479293474



401k up 12.7% (if you left your money alone)
Vanguard reports that the average 401(k) account balance rose from $56,000 in 2008 to $102,000 in 2013. And even factoring in contributions, Vanguard research analyst Jean Young reports that one study of 401(k) participants, conducted by the firm, showed an average annual return rate of 12.7% over the same five-year period. Household income averaged up much less at the current median figure of $52,959. Tune up your 401k: http://www.amazon.com/Tune-your-401k-EARN-Tax-FREE/dp/1490591028


American Dream dead?
CNN/ORC International poll in 2014 showed that 59 percent of Americans believe the
American dream is impossible, compared to 40 percent who say they believe it is. College grads under age 30 have huge student loan payment at gouge rates and can’t find jobs that can carry the debt. Some have gone home to parents. Many share rooms. Some work many part time jobs. Some try starting new business with no money. Few average students are making their way. Fewer still are starting their savings/investing plan. Starting early is key to having enough tax-FREE: http://www.amazon.com/New-American-Retirement-System-Tax-FREE/dp/1461030072

Advisers escape responsibility for mistakes by filing
“Bankruptcy offers advisers a chance to transform a crisis into an opportunity — not just to clear their financial slate, but to better relate to clients' struggles with money.” So says adviser industry.
What about our money? Their opportunity—but our losses.
Wealth without Wall Street’s fees, commissions, expenses, charges, etc: http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Killers-commissions-expenses-Tax-FREE/dp/1489573828


Wall Street exec sees another tax payer bailout!
BlackRock Inc.'s Laurence Fink, who oversees the world's biggest ETF lineup, said leveraged ETFs are a structural problem and have the potential to "blow up" the industry. These index funds (exchange-traded funds) are becoming popular with advisors because they can earn fees/commissions. Leveraging (using bank money) creates bigger losses or gains.

Smart investors earn 13% a year
A survey of defined contribution investors (401k) shows that simple rules of investing pay off. Savvy savers use only low-fee, high-yield compounding accounts. The study found the more financially literate held a greater share of stocks in their portfolios and more volatile holdings than the less knowledgeable. Keep more of what you contribute and earn: http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-every-school-graduate-century/dp/1466427906

GOP crazies say God helped him stop amnesty for kids
“God acted through people on my behalf,” new tea party winner Dave Brat said on Fox News shortly after his victory over House leader Cantor. Cantor wasn’t exactly caught sleeping. He spent $1 million in the weeks leading up to the primary on television ads calling Brat a “liberal college professor,” and sent out mailers boasting he’d blocked “amnesty” on Capitol Hill. Apparently not enough. Far right voters saw those 47,000 kids in prison camps awaiting deportation and didn’t want the House giving them amnesty. So we are giving the kids lawyers so they can fight! Where are the embassies?

MN Uninsured Has Plunged 40 Percent Under Obamacare
Minnesota has seen its uninsured rate plunge by more than 40% since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, according to a new study released this week. 
The study, released by researchers at the University of Minnesota, provided the first look at Obamacare's effect on a single state's insured rate. It found that the number of uninsured in Minnesota fell from 445,000 (about 8.2% of the population) to about 264,500 (about 4.9% of the population).
The decrease is similar to the effects in Massachusetts after similar healthcare reforms were implemented there in 2006. It's a larger increase than the Congressional Budget Office has projected for the entire United States — a drop from 54 million under previous law to 42 million under the Affordable Care Act.

Insurers now racing to join ObamaCare
Ten insurers are seeking approval to sell 504 separate health plans next year on the Illinois health insurance exchange, a dramatic increase from 2014, Illinois said Thursday. The surge in interest in the Illinois exchange allays widespread concerns that carriers would walk away from offering coverage under the Affordable Care Act next year because sicker-than-expected pools of patients would sign up and raise financial risks associated with participating. Last year, just six insurers offered 165 policies in Illinois.
More insurance companies are expressing an interest in selling policies on Kentucky's health-benefit exchange next year -- a move state officials say will benefit consumers.
All five insurance companies that sold policies this year on the exchange known as Kynect want to come back for 2015, and at least one other -- CareSource -- wants to join them. State officials said they are optimistic that several other insurers will file in the next few weeks to sell policies in the coming year on the exchange. Kynect is an online insurance marketplace offering health insurance plans for Kentuckians. It was created last year by Gov. Steve Beshear, as called for in the federal Affordable Care Act.

Unbiased car insurer for vets picks best value cars
USAA unveiled its fourth-annual Best Value list identifying the top 2014 automobiles rating highest in safety, reliability and affordability. The 2014 Best Value vehicles are almost all made in USA but designed (ignitions too) by others.

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.

SEC says Scott Valente convinced 80 investors in upstate New York to turn over $8.8 million in the last four years. SEC is closing him.


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