Is your advisor/broker taking TWO THIRDS of your earnings?

Is your advisor/broker taking TWO THIRDS of your investment earnings?

According to the new DALBAR QAIB study, “managed” mutual funds returned 3.69% to investors during the past 30 years versus 11% from a stock index fund. Wall Street claims to BEAT the market yet they TAKE 7.42% of our earnings plus fees and commissions. Wall Street doesn’t give refunds when they fail to live up to their promises. NO manager has beaten the market consistently. Instead, trust Buffett’s strategy: http://www.amazon.com/Earn-11%-or-3%-Investments-Your choice/dp/1502412187

Are your 401k fees paying for your employers’ deductible expenses?

Tax-advantaged 401k and 403b plans can help you save for retirement, but you’re probably paying for all the boss’s costs of this “employee benefit”? 76% of large employers have workers pick up all the costs of 401(k) administration, according to Forbes. The mutual funds you use kick back part of their fees to your employer to cover the admin expenses. If your plan has no funding match, you can avoid paying your employers’ fees by starting your own low-cost (0.05%) retirement plan. http://www.amazon.com/Create-Your-Tax-FREE-Financial-System/dp/1466367466

Is this a good time to invest in the stock market?

This is a question I get a lot. There are many famous investors who have answered this question. The one I like the best is by financier, Bernard Baruch:

"Only liars manage to always be "out" during bad times and "in' during good times.”

There were ONLY 40 days from 1950 to 2007 that produced 70% of all the S&P 500 index’s total returns. That is 40 out of 14,528. Warren Buffett, the best of our time, said: "I never have the faintest idea what the stock market is going to do in the next six months, or the next year, or the next two." Use Buffett’s strategy: http://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffetts-Investment-Strategy-Forget/dp/1484822900

GOP crazies

The United States could soon become a large-scale Spain or Greece, teetering on the edge of financial ruin, according to Donald Trump on Fox ‘News’. Donald just filed bankruptcy for the THIRD time so he should know. Now he has time to run for president in 2016. He can highlight Hillary’s birth certificate (age).

Are your …
investments earning less than the market average of 11%?
advisors taking fees without meeting your goals?
trading costs and taxes eating up your profits?
brokers not sticking with your investment policy?
emotions freezing you out of the stock market? 

market timing strategies costing you big time?

stock picks failing to deliver promised returns?
You can correct these mistakes by using the time-tested strategy proven successful by Warren Buffett. Mr Buffett started with $6,000 saved from his paper routes and in 60 years, accumulated $60 billions.

Fix your mistakes now: http://www.amazon.com/10-Worst-Money-Mistakes-Fix-them/dp/1494401223

Are 401k “managed accounts” right for you?

This choice in your employers’ 401k benefits offer sounds good—someone is managing your money for a “better” retirement. However, the accounts are usually just standard portfolio allocations set by your age like target date funds, except more expensive. The GAO Government Accountability Office said providers need to improve offers. For instance, fees can range from $8 to $100 on every $10,000 in a participant's account and providers are not required to show performance and benchmarking data. You are buying a pig in a poke that can take up to 63% of your total fund. Advisers like these accounts because they can distinguish themselves from other advisers and hide the costs. These accounts also help your employer dump the responsibility for providing cost-effective funds to someone else. You can increase your nest egg by 50% by using Buffett’s strategy: http://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffetts-Investment-Strategy-Forget/dp/1484822900

Does your banking relationship cost you more than it’s worth?

$700 in fees is what some people pay according to a recent survey. Unfortunately, when you don’t have much, the bank takes more. So if you keep less than the daily balance, you will pay $18 or more no matter whether you were under the minimum $1 for 1 day or 1 month. You are also charged to loan the bank money. Bank America charges $60 to keep money in their savings (0.01%) account which you started to avoid their $30 overdraft. You can only win the bank game by moving to a credit union. Most credit unions offer all the bank benefits without the costs: http://www.ncua.gov/dataapps/researchcu/Pages/default.aspx

WalMart offers checking with no overdraft, minimums or fees--Mmmm

WalMart offers checking accounts to customers through Green Dot’s banking unit. They are linked to MasterCard debit cards and don’t charge overdraft, minimum-balance or monthly fees when customers use direct deposit. It will be available nationwide by the end of October. Wal has opened centers where customers can cash checks and pay bills, and offers prepaid debit cards, including one through a partnership with American Express and Green Dot. Last year, AmEx added check-writing capabilities and deposit insurance to its Bluebird prepaid cards sold by the retailer.

Another alternative to $700 bank fees?

Younger workers in stocks by default; claim cash is king?

Equities accounted for 81% of the investments in 401k plans for those 25 to 34 years old on average in 2013, second only to adults younger than 25, with 85%, a new report shows. A separate survey showed that 39% of adults 18 to 29 years old said cash was their preferred investment option for money they didn't need for at least 10 years. Of millennials offered 401(k) or similar plans, 71% took part, contributing a median 8% of their salaries, a Transamerica report said. Inertia may be keeping the youth invested despite their reservations about stocks. They may also fear the lack of Social Security benefits down the road. Some choose their own plan: http://www.amazon.com/The-New-American-Retirement-System/dp/1461030072

ObamaCare exchanges will have more choices in 2015

The Affordable Care Act’s state and federal exchanges will have more choices for coverage beginning in 2015. Insurers need to increase revenue. ACA policies are commodity-like plans—Gold, Silver, Bronze must contain specific benefits now.

Buy only what you need since current policies may cost more. http://www.amazon.com/Health-Insurance-ONLY-right-policy/dp/1480125083

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 their own defenses.

Convicted felons avoid their jail time and penalties? 

Yes, if it is a white-collar crime and your theft is big enough. The real The Wolf of Wall Street

Jordan Belfort was supposed to pay $110 million to those he wronged. He’s only paid $11.8 million. He was also sentenced to four years in federal prison, but he only ended up serving 22 months. Only 22% of the penalties for all federal crimes have been collected. That’s over $100 billion of our deficit.

How do they do it? One felon, Paul Bilzerian, has systematically thwarted federal prosecutors by building a web of trusts, partnerships, and corporations established in sketchy tropical locales. He has passed on cash and assets to his sons. He delayed prosecutors for years with bankruptcy. And he has transferred ownership of his 28,000 square-foot home to trusts that were owned by, at various times, his in-laws and his neighbor’s mom. He owes $62 million and paid $3.7 million over 25 years at a collection cost of $8.6 million.

Yes, crime pays—if it is big enough!

“Not big enough” felony

A former financial advisor in Corpus Christi, Texas, was sentenced to 20 years for fraud and 10 years for theft in connection with a Ponzi scheme he orchestrated. William Charlton Mays stole only $102,117 and got 30 years. The Wolf of Wall Street stole $110 MILLION and served 22 months in ‘easy time’ Taft fed camp.

Air force sends plane contracts to Brazil? Jobs?

Brazilian aviation firm Embraer said Thursday that it had delivered the first of 20 light-attack aircraft to the US Air Force, for use in Afghanistan after the NATO troop withdrawal. The A-29 Super Tucano was presented at a ceremony in Jacksonville, Florida where Embraer and its US-based partner Sierra Nevada Corporation are building the aircraft. The awarding of the contract to Embraer provoked a challenge early on from US aviation firm Beechcraft, which alleged irregularities in the bidding process. 

IAN

41 Watchung Plaza, B242

Montclair, NJ 07042

973.746.2014

www.InsuranceAdvisorsNetwork.com

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