Some “financial” writers
just don’t know
“6 Safe and Smart
Investments for Retirees” is misleading and mostly wrong. There are no “safe”
investments. Even the fixed rate bank CD is subject to loss of purchasing
power. That means you can’t buy what you could have 5 years or even 1 year
before. Same for “tax-free”
municipal bonds since bonds might end up costing you money. Lending to an
individual without some security can leave you with a big loss. Peer-to-peer
lending is not without risks: the borrower could default. Annuities are touted
as a “safe” investment. However, you can lose money since annuities have many
costs and conditions. Insurers make sure they don’t lose even if you have an
emergency withdrawal. Even government I bonds have risks. The core rates are
low and you will be disappointed if inflation is flat. The costs associated
with being a landlord of a rental property can include the human toll of
constant aggravation from tenant demands. SS benefits include an inflation-adjusted
monthly payment that is good for life and backed by the government. Waiting to
age 70 to claim means benefits will be much greater for life. So, every one
must decide on a balance between risk and reward. Retirees will need more money
for a longer period so the risk of not having enough must be addressed by
continuing to invest in a diversified
portfolio including stock funds.
NO safe investments:
https://www.amazon.com/Your-Retirement-Mutual-Funds-retirement/dp/1481114026
IRA: tax-FREE or
tax-deductible?
Depending on where
you are in your investing life, one or the other IRA is an appropriate source
of retirement income. The “traditional” IRA lets you reduce your current income
so you pay fewer taxes NOW. The “Roth” IRA lets you increase your retirement
income by avoiding taxes then. Thus, you have a significant choice. Given your
overall income level, you can reduce income taxes during your whole working
life OR you can exclude federal and state income taxes later when you may need
more income. This means that depending on how you invest your Roth investments,
you could have a potentially greater nest egg to spend and never pay taxes on
the withdrawals. In fact you can convert the money in your traditional
tax-deferred account to a Roth at a later time when it may benefit you more. The
IRA expert, Ed Slott, (IRAhelp.com) can
explain why a Roth conversion is his No. 1 tax tip for this year. You may need
to use his site to calculate which deal is better for you at your current stage
of investing.
Choice: https://www.amazon.com/Create-Your-Tax-FREE-Financial-System/dp/1466367466
Save $1000: maintain
your vehicles
Don’t ignore “check
engine” light. Keep tires at correct pressure. Change oil and regular
maintenance as your manual says not as your mechanic wants. Check your PCV
valve, windshield cracks, fluid leaks when parked, and any unusual noises. Save
more over your car’s lifetime buy shopping for insurance every 2 years.
Insurers change their marketing plan every year and it is easy to $500 every
time you shop. Major carriers will cut premiums if you are able to raise your
deductible. Many have over 20 discounts your agent may not tell you about
(commissions are a % of premiums). Bundling policies (including “Umbrella”
cover) may or may not save total premium. I have had home insurance for 30
years and would lose money by combining with other policies.
Shopping saves: https://www.amazon.com/Vehicle-Insurance-Beware-Double-Coverage/dp/1480027634/
Advisors are trying
to become psychologists
This
advisor says people are asking: Can you help me define the next stage in my
life? What’s going to be my purpose? What’s my “aspirational lifestyle”?
And how does that guide my financial choices? Sounds like your therapist not
your advisor. Almost all advisors have had no training in answering these
questions. He thinks people are demanding humanistic advice of their financial
counselor, and he thinks he as a wealth manager can use this need to grow his
business. His firm partnered with
Large nest egg is ‘stable’:
https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Future-Insurance-mutual-funds/dp/149355204X/
?**********ACCOUNTABILITY**************?
Like 1776, this
period is a test
of democracy—We
rejected an "American
fascist" once
The
Path to Dictatorship: 2010-2030
Parallels of this era in the past
may hint at our future: democracy breaks apart legally
Billionaires
paid $881 million for votes in 2022
midterm elections
Nov 2020 Wealthy
discredit election process
Jan
6 2021 Direct
govt overthrow failed: guns
& bombs ready
Trump
engaged in a "criminal
conspiracy" to stop Biden
“I
don’t f—ing care that they have weapons”
Trump was “detached
from reality”
Trump
used mafia-style intimidation on the defenseless
Trump still terrorizing
election woman
Parscale: “a
sitting president asking for civil war.”
Trump:
“Just
say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me”
GOP fascism: “RINO
hunt armed; no bagging limit” J6
comm threat
January
6, 2021 “A
date which will live in infamy”
Trump’s Supremes END
personal rights & state
laws except for weapons
WMDs
Fascism: GOP
to stop women leaving state for abortion
It’s
not a court. It’s a junta: Two Americas
Trump: President
Biden is 'enemy of the state'
Christian
Nationalist Party (CNP) replaces
GOP
Apr 9 Illustrated
Anne Frank book removed by Florida school
Apr 21 Trump: “I
am your justice”
May 9 Trump
guilty of sexual abuse
Jun 8 Trump
indicted by the United States of America
Violation
of the Espionage Act
Conspiracy to obstruct
justice
Making false
statements
Jan 2025 Dictator
pardons himself: his Supremes agree
How Govt wastes our money:
Rich get rich: lower
tax rates; higher
income from assets; NOT taxable income
Feds
give away $200 Billion to fraud Covid fakers: at least 17% of funds lost
SCAMS/SPINS:
43
states passed 100 anti-voting laws since Trump attempted to overturn the
2020
Supremes kill GOP
move decide our elections: saves
marginal Dem voters
Study: when the
candidate field is crowded, voters are more likely to
sit out than turnout.
6
shot outside of a club in Houston: shooter escaped
72% new advisors quit
as most of the training programs are still very sales-based
Imposter scams: fake
authority figures scare us into paying $ billions
Recall: 7.5 million
Baby Shark bath toys cut
or stabbed children
FL
‘freedom’ gov. bans all direct car sales: protects high-cost dealers from
competition
Business man lost
$340,000 to a crypto scam. Such cases are on the rise
Moving Company Scams:
no licenses OK—steal
our goods; AG can’t do a thing
Army
allows its financial advisors to exploit Army families/survivors: wild
trading
ACI Worldwide caught
improperly initiating unlawful mortgage payment transactions
Insurers
deny tens of millions of claims every year but we don’t get stats: why,
how, who
Sending
money using Zelle® /payment platforms to those you don’t
know is dangerous
Ray Brewer caught
stole 9 million claimed turn cow manure into green energy 6 yrs jail
Shvartsmans,
Garelick caught
$22 million insider trading on Trump’s firm going public
Wilson Baston NY caught
stole $10 million real estate scams: convicted 2nd time
Where
do Congress people go for abortion if own state outlawed it?
GOP
to rewrite history: House to expunge Trump impeachments: dictator’s clean
slate
Trump’s
Supremes change our lives: college, student loans, religion, speech, LGBTQ
Trump’s Supremes: colleges
go back to “old boy network” for new students: $$ win spot
Trump Supremes strengthens
protections for religious rights at work: religion for politics
Trump’s Supremes: “harassing
posts” on media are protected as free speech
Trump’s Supremes: use
religion to discriminate against anyone you don’t like
Trump’s Supremes: even
unemployed students must pay $400 billion in loans
Trump
delays paying sexual abuse victim Carroll by suing her for ‘defamation’
Jobs
Military AI technology to spy on civilians, particularly
in the workplace, sold to owners.
Working
from anywhere: nomad visa right for you?
Chip
maker TSMC hires 4,500 in AZ: culture barriers
Who owns your account now?
In
Europe’s empty churches, prayer and confessions make way for drinking and
dancing
Best
fixed income products: compare T bills, TIPS, annuity
Home
insurers don’t like these dogs: liability increases premium or cancels
Farmers and AIG quit
insuring FL homeowners
Getting
an FHA home loan: check if it fits your needs
Jersey
City is now the nation’s second-priciest rental market: $3370: 2nd
to
Changing landscape
of wealthy
folks allocations to real estate
Fastest-growing
demographic groups
44% voters to consider
third-party/independent candidate if Biden-Trump are nominees
DeSantis to close IRS,
Commerce, Energy, Education
Top
Robo-Advisors Ranked From Worst to Best
Miracles:
Scientists Say
They’ve Reached ‘Turning Point’ in Cancer Research With
Vaccines
Drug in trials helped
people lose 24% body weight or about 58 pounds: no more diets
Diabetes
metformin protects against long-Covid
Intermittent
fasting is as effective as counting calories:
Study: AI
predicts pancreatic cancer risk based on patient’s medical records.
Popular
steroids could mess up some cancer treatments
@
Our Universe is Mind-Blowing
Light is both
a particle and a wave depending on how we look at the light.
I
don’t think that there is any such thing as a position or a velocity of a
particle.
Everything (galaxies
to stones) in universe made of subatomic
energy ‘vibrations’
A subatomic ‘particle’
is the smallest possible vibration (quantum) of a quantum field.
Mass–energy
equivalence: E=mc^2. At the smallest
level; Everything is moving
Energy into matter: scientists
converted light energy directly into matter in one step
In place of atomic
lattice, light
waves used to create an optical lattice with same geometry
Physics Nobel Prize:
“entanglement” 2
particles share info instantly at a distance
Quantum
mechanics violates local realism: two objects behave as single system at
distance
“It may be that gravity and quantum mechanics are
exactly the same thing,” Leonard Susskind
Gravity
might induce the collapse of quantum vibrations into 1 quantum state—our
world
Strange state
of physics that allows energy
to flow frictionlessly through a material.
Bending light from
extreme gravity reveals largest black hole
so far
Curved
SpaceTime: heavy masses and simultaneously quantum effects become visible
There is no TIME at this
level because of force fields come and go in all directions.
Universe expanding: events
may not come together like they did before: created our time.
Our planetary
system: rarest
system: only 1% of all systems with same number of planets
Inside protons,
neutrons, it
is the fields of the virtual particles that creates its mass.
Gold
made from neutron stars: collisions produce more neutrons:79 protons,118
neutrons
The proton
is so complicated science still finds new energy entities/forces every
year.
“Empty space is a
boiling, bubbling brew of virtual
particles that pop in and out of existence in a time scale so short that you
can’t even measure them.” Space expanding.
The electricity we use comes
from the field around the wire not from electron itself.
Scientists
build 'baby' wormhole as sci-fi moves closer to fact: inside quantum
computer
starts-with-a-bang/universe-expansion-not-accelerating/
Physicists knew black
holes eventually disappear particle by particle. Now they think everything
else does, too
@
We can apply for
Medicare online: https://blog.ssa.gov/apply-for-medicare-online
We can apply for Social
Security online: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/
We can apply for
health care online: https://www.healthcare.gov/
IAN
973.746.2014
http://www.theinsidersguides.com/
Alerts available at http://dankeppel.blogspot.com/
