The only ways to get rich:
- Marry
money.
- Inherit
money.
- Exploit
a unique talent.
- Get
exceedingly lucky.
- Own or
lead a successful business.
- Spend less than you make and invest your savings wisely over long periods of time.
It is really just common sense. Our grandparents learned the hard way during the global Depression of 1929-39. You were lucky to have a job. People saved: never spent more than they made. You can become rich by saving 10% of what you make and never going in debt—except to buy your home. You get richer by investing when nobody else will. Working people who get rich don’t try to keep up appearances. We have recently learned that you can’t avoid risk by saving in bank products. Banks make a lot of money from folks who fear taking market risk even though inflation wipes out their 1-2% savings tools. Over time, investing in profitable companies beats inflation and can make you rich. You don’t pay an advisor 1-3% in charges and fast trading. Cost is the best predictor of investing success. Using tax-FREE stock index accounts, you can be rich in time.
https://www.amazon.com/Tax-FREE-Wealth-How-laws-free/dp/1475089236
How is your retirement fund doing?
With the fall in stock market value this year, have you quit saving? Have you automated your saving/investing? Do you track your progress annually with a calculator like Vanguard’s retirement calculator? Do you have a balanced stock/bond portfolio that allows you to sleep at night? Do you have enough saved that you can calculate a future nest egg for your needs? Automatic investment strategies help you buy more shares when prices are low and fewer when high. Will your debt be under control later? Have you made a plan for expenses and income? Have you learned about Warren Buffett’s strategy? Do you take the time to learn how to read your financial statements? Are you buying stocks on sale? According to AARP, over 57 million Americans don’t have access to a workplace retirement savings plan. This access makes you 15 to 20 times more likely to save for retirement. Use a tax-FREE investment accounts. Start a plan today. https://www.amazon.com/Best-Robo-Advisor-Ultimate-Automatic-Management/dp/1537111957
Who pays your bills when you are away?
Automatic investing complements automatic bill pay. My mutual fund trustee debits my checking account every month. My wife’s 403b takes her pension contributions automatically each pay day. My gas and electric are paid automatically by a set up with my bank. My mortgage is always the same amount so it is on automatic. For most bills, I set up payment on the day before the payment is due in advance so I don’t get his with $29 late charge. If I am out of town and don’t have a bill, I can pay via their website. The only time I got hit with the late charge was when I did not get the bill because the credit card had illegally force my account into “no paper statement” mode. I complained and the website removed the charge automatically. I never send money by Zelle or other hackable “peer-to-peer” digital payment services. My only problem is making sure there are funds in the account on time. Most of my income sources are dependable. When there is a goof, my bank account is overdraft protected. I share this info with my kid.
https://www.amazon.com/Give-your-child-leg-manage/dp/1096505355
Which is better—ETFs or funds?
ETFs are good for trading in your brokerage account. Mutual funds are for long-term accumulation. Cost is important to long-term investors since you will kill the “miracle of compounding” with high costs. Both index mutual funds and ETFs can provide investors with broad, diversified exposure to the stock market. Trading an index ETF seems a contradiction to me since the purpose of an index is to take advantage of better investing results by holding quality stocks forever, not missing the highly volatile gains in the market. Fast trading has been shown to be a losing strategy by many unbiased money professionals. Even master investor Warren Buffett recommends using only two low-cost index funds for retirement income. Plus index funds are very tax efficient since the index that they reflect doesn’t change often—buy and hold.
Follow Buffett’s advice: https://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffetts-Vanguard-Funds-Retirement/dp/1496148592
Which life insurance is right for you?
If you have a family or folks who count on you for their income, you need to make sure they will have income if you are not around. Term life insurance is right for you. However, in the past some folks had no way to save for a life-long income, bills, mortgage, funeral and final expenses. So they used permanent life insurance. Since the 70s, whole and universal life insurance are not as good a savings/investment vehicle as low-cost mutual funds. Why—because you get a lot more for your money and you don’t have to die to receive benefits. At average earnings of 11% per year, you can accumulate $500,000 for the same cost of a whole life premium policy. Instead of leaving an expensive death benefit to your family, you can have $500,000 in 35 years of investing. You can then supplement your retirement income and have money to pay for end of life needs. You may be able to leave a larger legacy too.
https://www.amazon.com/Life-Insurance-Need-Save-right/dp/1480002178
Annuities add little value for investors with income plan
A recent Morningstar study concluded that annuities add little value for investors who are well-prepared for retirement. The study looked at failure rates, or the probability of running out of retirement savings. Most retirees need a steady income and the annuity option as part of a 401k or 403b plan is the industry’s solution. However, annuity costs exceed the cost of a trustee-managed IRA payout using low-cost mutual funds. Many trustees offer steady income at no extra cost. The standard IRS tax schedule provides steady income of about 4% per annum. The RMD or required minimum distribution is specified by the IRS based on age and the previous year’s total accumulations. Using a balanced mutual fund, this strategy overcomes the problem of an annuity payout that loses value to inflation. If you have $500,000 in this kind of account, you are likely to receive $20,000 plus a year recalculated for inflation each year. Even better, if you use the tax-FREE retirement accounts, you pay NO taxes on your retirement income and probably none on your SS benefits either.
Plan for NO taxes: https://www.amazon.com/New-American-Retirement-System-Reserve/dp/1461030072
Did you miss FREE money from the IRS?
More than nine million people may qualify for tax benefits
but didn’t claim them by filing a 2021 federal income tax return. Many in this
group may be eligible to claim some or all of the 2021 recovery rebate
credit, the child tax credit, the earned income tax
credit and other tax credits. These and other tax benefits were
expanded under last year’s American Rescue Plan Act and other recent
legislation. The only way to get the
valuable benefits is to file a 2021 tax return. Often, people can
get these expanded tax benefits, even if they have little or no income from a
job, business or other source. This means that many people who don’t normally
need to file a tax return should do so for 2021, even if they haven’t been
required to file in recent years. To help people claim these benefits, Free
File will remain open for an extra month this year, until
https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
Who is a real fiduciary?
Not
all financial advisors are fiduciaries
Selling only their firm’s high-cost products isn’t in
your ‘Best Interest’. Regulators have given into the financial sales
industry in the sense that now almost every sales person can call themselves a
‘fiduciary’. A fiduciary is a person who does not profit from the advice they
give. All financial people who work for a firm—brokerage, advisory or trust
company—must sell only what their firm has a contract to offer. Legally these
‘fiduciary’ financial advisors can’t avoid this conflict of interest because
they work under a license provided by their firm. In each of the firms I worked
for, the products and services we offered were authorized by management. As a
member of the product selection committee, I had to provide full due-diligence
on the vendors and products we used. We picked the compensation structure we
needed for our revenue goals. Sales people can be paid by commissions,
quarterly fees, shared-revenue and other means. They can’t offer Vanguard products
and services because Vanguard is owned by its investors. You will know you
don’t have a real fiduciary when you must sign a BICE. A Best Interest Exemption gives the broker/advisor a safe
harbor to recommend an investment product that may benefit them more than it
benefits you, and that is a conflict of interest, no matter how much lipstick
you apply. Use a certified financial
planner (CFP®) for unbiased advice.
Or learn from experts like Warren Buffett, John Bogle, and Burton Malkiel what
you need.
https://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffetts-Vanguard-Funds-Retirement/dp/1496148592
?**********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
assault 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
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
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
Jan 2025 Dictator
pardons himself: his Supremes Agree
How Govt wastes our money:
Shell ExxonMobil
selling CA wells despite high oil prices: we
pay cleanup costs?
Gouging for profits:
Heating
oil up 60% leaves homeowners cold; NYS $5.76
Amount
of taxes owed but not paid is increasing: excess
profits tax now?
Corporate
profits avoid tax to buy elections: no voters: $millions to GOP election
deniers
Can
any citizen get out of jury subpoena from Supremes like Lindsay? Just GOP?
GOP agenda: Medicare
& SS entitlement reform as a way to rein in spending?
SCAMS/SPINS:
Trump terrorist after Pelosi: Suspect
shouted "Where is Nancy?" assaults husband
Trump & Son caught
avoiding being served with lawsuit paper: Judge orders ‘email it’
Trump: “Our
Country is Rigged, Crooked, and Evil” Maybe he should move to
Clarence Thomas was “key” to Trump’s
plan to overthrow government of Biden
Trump
gets his Supreme justices
to hide his taxes from Congress inquiry: above the law
Trump
sues NY Attorney General to delay her suit against his fraud biz ‘Derangement’
Trump to announce 2024 run to avoid
indictment for overthrow of US government
Christian
nationalism has rooted itself firmly in the Republican Party: no more GOP?
Church
political endorsements used to be against the law but Supremes already OKed
The banned book list: what
white religious folks are afraid of most:
Police
have trouble with premitless open carry gun laws: which guy is the bad guy?
School
shooter buys AR-15 privately after failed background check: out of control
guns
We are spending
$1,705 on auto insurance, up 4% from 2021, 17% from 2020: cut
extras.
Plus we are being charged
monthly fee for some extra features on our new car: Oh My!
pharmacy
chains caught mishandling opioid painkillers: drug pushers fined, no jail
CBS Moonves caught
forced multiple employees to perform oral sex on him: fine no jail
Hospital caught
overcharging for procedures and services never delivered: no fine, no jail
Make
sure you are ‘admitted’ not ‘observed’ in hospital visit so Medicare will
pay.
Jobs
400 engineers for Flexport logistics startup
Who owns your account now?
New Credit Score Rule for New Home Buyers: easier or more tape?
New affordable health care: lower premiums, free preventive care, sign up Nov 1
SS 8.7% COLA paid to new claimants but starting early means less for life
Pick Medicare plans by Dec 7: assess your needs: optimize coverage
Best 529 college savings plans: Morningstar ratings: compare state tax benefits
44% of registered voters think US
government controlled by secret cabal
Miracles:
Safe I bonds issued between Nov.
1 and the end of April is expected to drop to 6.89%.
Researchers have
found a new
way to predict and affect how cancers behave.
This coral
reef resurrected itself — and showed scientists how to replicate it
Tool to help find the real cost of health care
at hospital, dental and services
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 a little
Physics Nobel Prize:
“entanglement” 2
particles share info instantly at a 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
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.
Inside protons,
neutrons, it
is the fields of the virtual particles that creates its mass.
“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 election itself.
@
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
www.InsuranceAdvisorsNetwork.com
Alerts available
at http://dankeppel.blogspot.com/
