Friday, May 22, 2015

Use the Buffett strategy to maximize your pension

Which investment option do you use for your 401k, 403b, IRA, any pension?
Use the Buffett strategy to maximize your pension. Avoid fees that can take up to 63% of your total accumulations.
Maximize your pension: http://youtu.be/taCOTU067qs (my first video)

Banks caught rate fixing and get NO jail time
Citibank and JPMorganChase as well as Barclays and Royal Bank Scotland pleaded guilty to antitrust violations stemming from their collusion to manipulate prices in the foreign exchange market over the course of five years, the Department of Justice said on Wednesday. Those banks and UBS have agreed to pay a total of $5.8 billion in fines. Citigroup and JPMorgan will keep their banking licenses and that criminal guilty pleas to collusion are not expected to have a material impact on their operations. Payments to the DoJ and Fed, are paid by stockholders, not the criminals. No punishment at all!

Supremes vote for worker—Employer must not screw us on fees
GOP-led court decided it was NOT appropriate for a multi-billion dollar plan to offer retail-class mutual funds that were way more expensive than comparable institutional-class funds. Employers, as 401(k) sponsors, have an ongoing fiduciary duty to monitor plan investments and remove imprudent ones. “The average person doesn’t necessarily know about the difference between institutional and retail fund fees; the fiduciaries are held to standards of knowing these matters; they’re the ones who should be monitoring and selecting funds with institutional fees,” says Jerome Schlichter, the plaintiff’s lawyer. “There are still billion-dollar-plus plans using retail funds.” Workers paying excessive fees over long periods reduces their potential nest egg by up to 63% according to John Bogle, Vanguard founder.
Low-fee funds beat high-fee funds at all times: http://www.amazon.com/Your-Retirement-Mutual-Funds-retirement/dp/1481114026

ObamaCare vote by GOP-led Supremes may cut 10 million American’s benefits
As many as 10 million Americans in 37 states could be affected by the widely anticipated ruling, which is expected late June. GOP plans to limit tax exclusions on employer-provided health insurance to $12,000 for individual coverage and $30,000 for family coverage, dismantle Medicaid expansion and disallow us from purchasing health plans across state lines, according to The Washington Times.
Will the million-uninsured July march on Congress to keep their ObamaCare working?

GOP crazies
Leader Boehner’s disdain for questions of Congress inaction on train safety is proved wrong. GOP did NOT give Amtrak power to install safety system in Philly. GOP cut more than $1 billion from President Obama’s $2.45 billion Amtrak funding request the day after the derailment. Congress failed to provide the railroads access to the wireless frequencies required to make the [safety] system work, so Amtrak was forced to negotiate for airwaves owned by private companies that are often used in mobile broadband. But the railroad struggled for four years to buy the rights to airwaves in the Northeast Corridor that would have allowed them to turn the system on. Congress guilty!

Jeb says we can use Apple watch instead of ObamaCare. "You're diabetic, you can't do that," Bush said, mimicking what the watch says, for example. "Obamacare makes that journey even harder," he said, calling for the law to be repealed and replaced. "It's so complex and so big." Yet, Jeb and his donors have no alternative.
Will Bush pay the $800 for my health care watch? What if I have to go to hospital?

GOP candidates deny warming but are they smarter than NASA scientists?
NASA thinks another Antarctic slab as big as Scotland will melt by 2020. Will a GOP prez just ignore the NASA science? What about asteroid heading for earth? Would GOP even tell us if they don’t believe in astrophysics?

GOP in Ohio want to bring back poll tax made illegal by Supremes in 1966
A bill introduced last week would require many Ohio residents to pay an actual poll tax  $8.50 in order to vote citing voter fraud. But there have been only 17 of 5.6 million cases in Ohio 2012 election. As in PA, GOP says they can’t win unless they suppress the votes.

AZ dumps 2,700 kids from welfare—“get back to work”
Arizona will drop at least 1,600 families — including more than 2,700 children — from the state's federally funded welfare program on July 1, 2016. The cuts of at least $4 million reflect a prevailing mood among GOP lawmakers that welfare, Medicaid and other public assistance programs are crutches that keep the poor from getting back on their feet. Lawmakers can't live on $7.50 either. 
GOP looking to bring back child labor sweat-shops?

GOP Jindal will use Obama-style order to allow discrimination
Jindal (R) will sign an exec order to implement Louisiana’s proposed Marriage and Conscience Act which failed in the state’s house. Last year, Jindal ripped Obama for issuing executive orders:  “This is an arrogant, cynical political move by the President, and it’s why so many Americans no longer trust this President to solve the problems we face.”
But is it OK for Jindal?

GOP Christie living in another universe
Polls say his 65% negative rating among NJ residents was because they want him to stay as Gov.??!! After claiming “I knew nothing” of the bridge closing by his secretary and appointees, he tells NH voters that he knows the truth about Social Security. At dinner, he says he doesn’t give a sh___ about any of this.     

DEM crazies
Hillary’s baggage is heavy. What about Bernie and Liz?
Bernie introduced legislation to make college tuition-free. "We live in a highly competitive global economy and, if our economy is to be strong, we need the best-educated work force in the world. That will not happen if, every year, hundreds of thousands of bright young people cannot afford to go to college, and if millions more leave school deeply in debt," The plan will provide tuition-free higher education to students at four-year colleges like European nations. 
Bernie and Liz have no big donors so they will never get elected, but … .

Are you ready to retire?
The average American’s assets less liabilities not counting their home totals less than $50,000 by age 65. Most of our net worth is tied up in our house. The median net worth for a person aged 70 to 74 drops to $31,823 from $181,078 when home equity isn't included. That means our home is usually paid for but we must live on average SS benefits of $1,294 a month or $15,500 a year. If we are married, that’s $30,000.

Workers plan to “work till I drop” but don’t
Gallup survey found that only 1/3 workers aged 67-68 are still working. Many can’t find work or are unable to work, even part-time. Modern medicine has increased the life expectancy so living 30 years on Social Security and savings is becoming the norm.


Is dumping the debt (bankruptcy) right for you?
Business failure and health care expenses are the reasons for many older Americans picking this option. Chapter 7 erases debts that can never be paid back but the stigma can last. Despite learning to keep it secret from family and friends, your new life can eliminate the stress of collections. And bankruptcy is not the end of the world. One client paid $2,500 in deductible legal fees to discharge credit card debts totaling about $200,000 and was able to refinance their home mortgage at 3.25% and obtain new limited no fee credit cards just 5 years later. They had family income of about $80,000. They were able to keep their home worth $500,000 with mortgages of $300,000, two older cars and all their retirement accounts of about $550,000. They could not discharge their two mortgages or student loan debts. Each state has different laws about what is “exempt” property so a special lawyer is necessary.

IRS tax bill can be negotiated
If you prove you can’t pay now, IRS offers several solutions. Skip the private company offers to help you and go directly:  http://www.irs.gov/uac/New-IRS-Fresh-Start-Initiative-Helps-Taxpayers-Who-Owe-Taxes. You can stop some of the collection steps. http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Offer-in-Compromise-1

Does your auto insurer overcharge you?
Most of us pay too much because we don’t shop and don’t ask for discounts. 84% of us don’t even ask. There are over 15 discounts from most insurers. Avoid duplicate coverage--life insurance, towing, low deductible, coverages you never collect on. Discounts can mean $22,000 over 10 years. I pay less every time I shop insurers.


Star Trek depictions might be true!—matter goes in and comes out in other galaxy
Scientists think quantum paradox (particle pairs “talk” across galaxies) may explain how two black holes could be connected through far reaches of space through “wormholes.”
Read more: https://www.quantamagazine.org/20150424-wormholes-entanglement-firewalls-er-epr/#ixzz3aJGAcYZb

Nissan SUV tops crash tests but Leaf tops wholesale value loss list


Cancer charities take Americans for $187 millions
The charities — the Cancer Fund of America, Cancer Support Services, Children’s Cancer Fund of America and the Breast Cancer Society — were created and controlled by the same network of people and led by James Reynolds Sr., the F.T.C. says. They stole $187 million in donations for personal expenses, in one of the largest charity fraud cases ever. Always check with Charity Navigator before giving.
Is life-term as bed-pan orderly at Gitmo too severe?

SCAMS           Why are we still paying $700 Billion a year for WWII deployments? That is 27 cents of each dollar in taxes—the largest part of our money—and we aren’t even at war. We could pay off our debts and fix our schools, roads and bridges!
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.

We are building another military base for Japan at Henoko. Air Force Gen. Ronald Fogelman admitted that the Marines “serve no military function there. They don’t need to be in Okinawa to meet any time line in any war plan.”
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.
JapanGermany and S. Korea can pay to defend themselves.

The War on Terror requires special forces attacks on top terrorists at their homes like Obama’s al-Amr May14 Abu killIraq proved converting a nation to Western-style republic doesn’t work. The troops we trained ran away. Former Saddam army now ISIS. We are wasting $4 billion a year on Afgan tribal rivalries; paying ransom to Al Qaeda; supporting corruption with our money.

Regulators fine PayPal
Regulators charge PayPal a fine for illegally signing up consumers for its online credit product, PayPal Credit, formerly known as Bill Me Later. The CFPB alleges that PayPal deceptively advertised promotional benefits that it failed to honor, signed consumers up for credit without their permission, made them use PayPal Credit instead of their preferred payment method, and then mishandled billing disputes. 

Taking $3 million gets you 9 years; but crashing US system gets 0 years
A St. Louis-area investment advisor and financial radio show host Bryan Binkholder was sentenced to 9 years in prison for losing just $3 million that investors gave him to use as loans to real estate developers. Wall Street firms (big Congress donors) brought the system to the brink and not one of them went to jail. Median household wealth fell 35% from $106,591 to $68,839 between 2005 and 2011.[32] Even the most visible criminal, Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide, taking $470 million paycheck, got no jail time.
Hell yes, big crime pays!


IAN
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