Your Wealth Reserve: Where to invest when the election has no outcome?

Where to invest when the election has no outcome?

Some think we will be lucky to have an ‘elected’ president by January 20, the official start of the new regime. Some say both sides have already hired lawyers to have the new GOP 6-3 Supremes decide who won. Last time, GOP Bush had Supreme Scalia on his side. Scalia gave the election to Bush because he claimed, contrary to the Constitution, that FL couldn’t count the votes correctly. Scalia, claiming to know the Constitution, decided for us. But he never showed us voters where it says that the Supremes will choose presidents. He ignored the 12^th Amendment: if no winner “the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President.” Since we don’t know what will happen, we have to go with our best information. The markets may be biased in favor of those who have faster computers, talented analysts, large leverage, more influence, or more insider information. We only have the unbiased advice of the greatest investing master, Warren Buffett, who bet $1 million the Vanguard 500 Index Fund would beat the 5 hedge fund picks of a Wall Street guru. We own 500 large growth firms at low cost with few taxes. They produce 11% total return over time. Buy on sale now.

Fact investing: https://www.amazon.com/Money-Ball-Investing-Winning-unfair/dp/1548831409

Is it right for your broker/advisor to be your legacy representative?
Some so called ‘professionals’ in financial services have been caught taking on the roles of executor, beneficiary, trustee and power of attorney for customers. This is so wrong that brokers/advisors are going to extraordinary lengths to get around this most obvious conflict of interest. Honestly, do we need a rule for these salespeople? They should be in jail. “FINRA, the ‘self-regulator’ for the industry, observed situations where registered representatives tried to circumvent firm policies, such as resigning as a customer’s registered representative, transferring the customer to another registered representative, or having the customer name the registered representative’s spouse or child as the customer’s beneficiary.” "These conflicts of interest can take many forms and can include a registered person benefiting from the use of undue and inappropriate influence over important financial decisions to the detriment of a customer. The brokerage firms are just now making this rule due in February. Hire a fiduciary who is sworn to treat you right. https://www.amazon.com/Fiduciary-Rule-BEST-dont-anymore/dp/1530980275

Is a deductible IRA contribution right for you?

The rules changed for 2020: IRA contributions after age 70½ are now permissible.

The SECURE Act repealed the age restriction for Traditional IRA contribution eligibility. Effective for 2020 and later taxable years, individuals with earned income can make Traditional IRA contributions at any age, not just for years before reaching age 70½.

For 2020 and later, there is no age limit on making regular contributions to traditional or Roth IRAs if you have earned income. If you had self-employment income or W-2, that income qualifies. If your spouse had income and you did not, that qualifies too with some limits depending on participation in a retirement plan. Spousal IRAs: If you file a joint return, you may be able to contribute to an IRA even if you didn’t have taxable compensation as long as your spouse did. Each spouse can make a contribution up to the current limit; however, the total of your combined contributions can’t be more than the taxable compensation reported on your joint return. See the Kay Bailey Hutchison Spousal IRA Limit in Publication 590-A. If neither spouse participated in a retirement plan at work, all of your contributions will be deductible. The annual contribution limit for 2020 is $6,000 or $7,000 if you're age 50 or older. For many of my tax clients, this means they can reduce their income and thus their taxes for 2020 due April 15, 2021.

Alternative tax-FREE IRA: https://www.amazon.com/You-Can-Afford-Retirement-FEE-FREE/dp/1517738253

Which fund is best for your retirement nest egg?

We have learned that we can trim the risk of market upheavals by using a ‘balanced’ approach—stocks for growth and bonds for ballast. Since 1970 one fund has continuously provided retirees with total returns (income plus capital return) of over 9%. Since 9% is greater than inflation of 3% over time, our nest egg can maintain our purchasing power even though we may live long and prosper. Insurers sell their annuities to offer this same ‘longevity insurance’ but at a higher cost. If we don’t take the income each year, we can actually double our money in 10 years. So if we have other income (SS plus pensions plus RMD forced IRA distributions), we can provide a legacy and or have a large medical contingency fund at the end of life. To some of us, this beats every annuity plan that brokers offer.

Forget their annuity: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Buy-That-Annuity-Guaranteed/dp/1466494573

Earn a guaranteed 12% to 24% return

“Guarantee” is the third rail to financial service advertising: it means fraud since there is no ‘guarantee’ in investing. However, consider paying down credit card debt of 12% to 24%. The average rate is 19%. If we pay 24% per year, charged every month, as most cards do, we would be wise to make card interest our ‘investment’ of choice. Most of us are unlikely to earn more than 11% on our investments over time so paying off high interest debt is our best ‘investment’ choice. When we are finished with the debt payment of $100 a month, for instance, we can use that $100 a month to accumulate over $20,000 for our home down payment or college or new car. Instead of making credit card bank investors rich we can help ourselves by investing that monthly payment.

https://www.amazon.com/Millennials-Investment-Strategy-BEST-journey/dp/1533079242

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Like 1776, this period is a test of democracy—do we really want a Dictator?

Supremes decide election … again?

Dictator: “It’s going away.”

Dictator’s staff: “It’s out of control:” 236,000+ dead

Dictator’s ‘music’: Crowd chants Fire Fauci

Dictator: “I am the only one who can make America truly great again.”

Dictator: “Stand by” Domestic terrorists

Dictator build his Wall around our White House

Dictator has mail delayed and has Supremes void all votes received after Nov 3!

Dictator sends armed troops to intimidate vote counters