Start now to cut taxes during 2018 and beyond
Trump’s new tax law may change your strategy for 2018. If
you are in a high property tax state, your deductions may be reduced causing
you to owe more tax. Prepare by reducing the number of allowance you declare to
your employer on a W-4 form. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf.
You may pay less tax with more children in 2018 since that credit was increased.
Poor
families will not get the Rubio increase.
You may start saving money now in January for a whole year’s
benefit. First, PMI, the insurance you pay on your mortgage to protect your
lender, is NOT deductible for 2018. (It is not for 2017 either) You can eliminate
your PMI if you have paid down your loan so your home equity is over 20% of the
value. PMI costs you 1 percent or more of the loan value each year. Ask your
bank to remove the monthly PMI if your home has appreciated and or your loan
balance is lower. The GOP also cut your energy credits for new appliances, windows and doors,
tuition and fees deduction, and other special programs. Trump has told the diminished
IRS staff not to worry about ACA penalties since the individual mandate is
repealed for 2018 so
refunds will not be held up. The
mandate is in effect for 2017 tax year. The IRS says you won’t get some of
your ACA forms until March (p 51, 1040). Despite promises for a ‘great health
plan’ the GOP will allow less expensive insurance with fewer benefits to be
sold. So-called ‘junk’ insurance caused thousands to go into bankruptcy from
medical expenses.
Among Americans 65 and older, more than 5
million would get no tax break in 2019 and 5.6 million would see no tax
decrease by 2027, according to an AARP Public Policy Institute analysis. In
fact, cuts
to Medicare and SS benefits are in the works for us so it is important to
continue or start investing more to pay for the 2018 tax cuts for the
wealthy.
Avoid the coming tax increases with your tax-FREE account
using your refund: https://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Tax-FREE-Wealth-Reserve/dp/1456505041
Best last minute tax saving move
Tax filing begins next week—Jan
29—even though all the forms are late in arriving. If you find you owe tax
instead of hitting the refund button this year, you may still be able to claim
your refund. You can reduce your income up to April 17 and receive a tax
credit. Credits reduce your taxes dollar for dollar. In effect, Uncle Sam can
help you reduce taxes AND save for retirement at the same time. On line 32, Form 1040 or line 17, Form
1040a, you can enter up to $5,500 ($6,500 over age 50) per person IRA
contribution to reduce your income. If you meet the qualification, a credit
will show up on Line 51, Form 1040 or Line 34, 1040a. You
subtract this credit from your tax. EG: Income $66,000: tax refund is $3,335,
without IRA contribution. With the contribution, the refund is $4,392 or $5,553
if you both make the contribution. Credit against tax is $400.
Experts say best retirement income strategy is ….[what]?
Academics looked at how to assure yourself you will have
enough money in retirement. By looking at many ways to reach your goal, you can
plan for a more successful financial life. Perhaps you think that you pay an
advisor to worry about this problem. However, studies show advisors are not the
best advisors when it comes to predicting your future behavior. Academics
assume too much in this study. First, they assume everyone can wait to age
70 to take SS benefits. Most people actually can’t. They can’t afford to use
their own nest egg until then. Second, cut back on spending during this period.
But usually most people are most active just after retirement and want to do things
like travel around the world or take 2 weeks on the beach in Hawaii .
Third, we have no choice in the amount of income from our retirement funds like
401k, pensions and IRAs at age 70. The IRS tells us what amount we must take so
Uncle Sam gets his cut before we die. You can’t use your nest egg at your own
pace. Academics assume the perfect world.
Don’t leave this decision to advisors or academics: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Retirement-Spending-Plan-enough/dp/1461084016
IRS free tax filing sites to avoid
$300+ cost of filing
Commercial tax prep sites offer
expensive loans as advances on your refund but you can keep
your whole refund using the IRS free filing partners. Refunds can be in
your account within 2-3 weeks.
The average refund is over $3,000. You can create a tax-free retirement fund of
$500,000 with that amount each year. If
you need free tax preparer service for your 1040, use AARP Tax Aides near
you. Bring last year’s return and ID: https://www.aarp.org/money/taxes/aarp_taxaide/
Use your refund to fund your
tax-FREE IRS approved account: https://www.amazon.com/Tax-FREE-Retirement-code-lifetime-income/dp/1475206976
Buffett's SIMPLE Strategy Beats Wall Street
The Master of investing, Warren
Buffett, proved it, again. You do NOT need Wall Street 'professionals' to
reach your financial goals. In fact, if you use them, you may give up 63% of
your potential accumulations because of trading, charges, commissions and fees.
Buffett’s SIMPLE strategy earns over
11% per year. DALBAR keeps track of returns and found that
the average
managed-account equity investor earned just 3.79% a year over 30
years. The
benchmark returned 11.06%. You and I can start beating Wall Street with one
phone call. Earnings are tax-FREE after age 59 ½ in special account too.
Earn 11% a year with Buffett’s
SIMPLE strategy: https://www.amazon.com/MasterClass-Buffetts-SIMPLE-Strategy/dp/1983485268
Fidelity raises fees on its
Vanguard funds offering
In a surprise, the Johnson
family is claiming it does not get paid enough to process Fidelity
customer accounts so it is raising fees on those that hold Vanguard funds.
Instead of competing on price like Schwab and others by lowering fees, Fido
will go against the growth wave of low-fee funds. Since the largest index funds
often carry a net expense ratio of 0.10% or less, they simply can't afford to
pay for distribution unless they raise fees on all of their investors. Vanguard
eschews the practice of paying for distribution, preferring to keep costs low.
So far, the model is working, as the fund company frequently ranks among the
top of the pack for investor inflows, proving that investors want low fee
funds, even if they have to go out of their way to get them. For many types of
assets, Vanguard maintains low-fee structure since it has no owner. Funds are
owned by the investors themselves. A study by BrightScope found that stock
funds in 401(k)s with fewer than 100 participants carried average expense
ratios that were roughly 50% higher than plans with 5,000 to 9,999
participants.
Pay less; get more: https://www.amazon.com/Robbing-You-Blind-401k-fees/dp/1493588966
Which cars do mechanics claim are
“crap”?
Asking mechanics about the cars
they have worked on may have biased results because they have their personal
favorite brands. However, when you ask enough mechanics, the same answers keep
coming back. These are really bad reviews and they are sometimes specific: EG:
Ford’s Ford
Fiesta or Focus [automatics] are S@&$ and class-action suits are
pending. Even expensive Porsche do not pass the smell test. Great
comments: Spending $90K+ on what is essentially a 40-year-old tractor with nice
leather seats.” Mechanics like cars that are reliable and if they break, are
easy to get the parts and fix.
Get reliable and easy to claim
insurance: https://www.amazon.com/Vehicle-Insurance-Beware-Double-Coverage/dp/1480027634
Ask your preparer about these tax
CREDITS
A tax credit is more valuable than
any deduction: a credit
cuts your tax dollar for dollar and increases your refund. Even if you do
not need to file a return, some credits will pay you for filing anyway. You may
be eligible for up to $6,318. Use the EITC Assistant tool to find out if you qualify. If you
qualified for health care premium tax credit you won’t know until you file.
There are two child tax credits—one reduces tax and the other increases your
refund. Credits to $2,500 are available to help you pay for post-secondary
education for 4 years. The average refund is $3,000 and can pay for your
retirement. Refunds may be delayed since lower withholding [2018 tax cut] means
less
Fed revenue.
Your tax refund can complete a
$500,000 tax-FREE nest egg: https://www.amazon.com/Tax-FREE-Retirement-code-lifetime-income/dp/1475206976
Is portfolio rebalancing right for
you?
This is the time of year when your
paid advisor/broker will call you to rebalance—sell and buy. Could it be that
is how they earn a living--sell and buy? Didn’t John Bogle say: unless you are
heavily into foreign equities, rebalancing is not productive? Yes, if you worry
about being too heavily into stocks and fear correction like '08, perhaps your
portfolio is not balanced correctly in the first place. Bogle made the
observation that many S&P 500 firms are actually rebalancing all the
time--they earn 1/2 revenues overseas and they balance their treasury funds
every day with hedging and government bonds. A well diversified
portfolio actually rebalances itself. Many clients earn over 11%
nominal using what we call the Vanguard Top Ten. Some
"rebalance" by switching their 'dollar cost averaging' contributions
to the fund with the smallest gain. One of our authors, Zhou Wang, wrote
about this strategy in his book, https://www.amazon.com/Vanguards-Top-Ten-mutual-funds/dp/150073909X
As Mr Buffett has declared: you
only need two funds for investing long-term. Another of our authors, Ian
Sender, explained the Buffett strategy: https://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffetts-Vanguard-Funds-Retirement/dp/1496148592
So we say, when you rebalance you
are doing what Buffett says not to do--buy and sell. Trading is what keeps Wall
Street owners wealthy: https://www.amazon.com/Pimps-Wall-Street-money-middlemen/dp/151525254X
****************
Make “The Don” Great Again
“I have absolute right to do what I want to
do with the Justice Department,”
(Court
judges in Reich were instructed to submit lists of lawyers who would be
trustworthy. The main requirement was absolute political reliability. Hitler’s
Justice)
“Trump
can’t be a racist: he had a TV show”
“Why are we having all
these people from shithole countries come here?
Trump creates religionists
agency to justify discrimination
Trump to FBI head McCabe: ask
your wife how it feels to be a "loser".
‘I was elected President.’ (and you weren’t)
Dictator’s great weapon is fear: Dems
are evil TV ad
How Govt wastes our money:
$24
million for 2 refrigerators for The Don’s ride.
The
Don’s family donor gets Chilean post but can’t speak Spanish; only m o n e y!
Defense Dept report: 50%
F-35 can’t fly, bad helmet, can’t refuel in air, 1000 glitches.
Trump’s Housing
Sec gives contract to family for private gain--NEPOTISM
SCAMS:
Is it that easy to kill? The
accidental death of a player in an online video game sparked a Los Angeles man to place a deadly prank
call that sent police to shoot a Kansas man.
Self-driving cars
do not recognize human on motorcycle.
Advisors James Polese & Cory
Peterson Boston stole
$500,000 of their client’s money.
Jobs:
GOP
donor Koch tells Trump not to change the immigration rate “Immigrants are
essential to the success”
HI
worker who sounded false alarm has been doing it for a while
Who owns your account now?
Miracle:
If Trump can last after he ordered
special prosecutor fired in June after fired FBI director. Then lied. Now
disparaging FBI and investigators. No law and order left? No morality or truth
left? No credibility left in case of real emergency. Are our ‘representatives’
asleep?
12-year-old’s
pack fell and two were shot by her hidden gun. Miracle they are not dead.
IAN
41 Watchung Plaza, B242
973.746.2014
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