I was just making some changes to my blog site when the National Debt clock caught my eye. In less than 4 minutes, we added a million dollars to the National Debt. Now I am not sure exactly how accurate the calculator records the debt and if it is to the minute accurate, but it is inconceivable to me how quickly one million dollars goes!
Stop for a minute and watch the debt climb. Ask yourself, who is going to pay for this debt? Us? Our Children? Our Grandchildren? The answer... YES to all of the above!
One could debate the merits of what our government does for us and what entitlements we are "entitled" to. One could also debate the many financial handouts that immigrants receive when they come here, whether they become citizens or not; whether they ever pay a penny in taxes! But the reality is that our government is giving away the candy store and many of the entitlement programs may go away or drastically change in order to make up for the deficit! Who will pay for the debt?
Our government has contributed to the problem of rising debt and with every problem, they have a solution. Find another way to bring more money to Washington or to the State level... How? The easiest way is to simply raise taxes, right? Well, government has been cutting taxes recently to stimulate the economy, but spending has not been curtailed to equal the lower taxes. So, the debt continues to mount.
But our government has provided an answer for this too. It is called a qualified retirement plan! Take your pick, 401K, 403B, IRA, ... What they have done is suggested that we can put away pre-taxed money into these plans and pay the taxes later. Money managers will tell you that you will be making less when you retire, so you will pay less tax. The problem with this process is we no idea what the tax rate will be when it is time to pay the piper! We can certainly guess that if anything tax rates will be higher than they are today! The question once again, who is going to pay? And, how much will we pay? So do you think it might be better to pay the tax on the seed, the money you are putting away and then never pay tax again on that money? Uncle Sam doesn't! That is why there are qualified plans!
There are some exceptions to my objections to qualified savings plans, such as the Roth IRA, however, you are limited to what you can contribute from year to year. Never the less, it is something better than the traditional plans. The other exception is employer matched funds. If your employer matches your contributions, you might consider contributions to the maximum employer match. That is after all, free money! I would not contribute another dime beyond employer matches, however!
Finally, how much will your estate be worth? If you don't want to see a large portion of it taxed before your children and grandchildren receive their inheritance, protect those assets now or... guess who will pay?
A night of clarity will give you some insight into what I do and how we can assist you in obtaining financial piece of mind. To the right of this post, you will see the image. Click on it and register for the FREE seminar on how privatized banking really works. The time to protect your assets is now! The seminar is free and will help you in making informed decisions about your finances and how much of them will go to the payment of the National Debt!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Improving your credit scores.
Some time ago, I published a post that directed you to the Fed’s guide to credit and protecting your credit. It was a good place to start regarding understanding your credit and how it is reported!
Credit is not an entitlement. We earn the right to have it! And, if we are careless about our spending habits and run up high balances on accounts, we are going to be less likely to get credit in the future, perhaps when we most need it!
It is especially important with the way things have gone in the banking industry over the past few years, that we be mindful of our credit privilege and to preserve it. While it is true that banks are in the business to lend, they have become particular about who they are lending to! Here a a few things that may help you to keep your credit scores high, some very basic, a one or two most do not know.
Although no one really know the exact formula that the credit bureaus use to determine your credit score, but a few things may help to keep them higher. So most of what I say here has been told to me or I have observed and learned from looking at a multitude of reports!
1- Limit your credit spending to what you can afford to pay off at the end of the month when the bill arrives in the mail
2- Limit the number of accounts or trade lines that you have open.
3- If you are not using an account and have no intention of using it, call the lender and close the account, even if there is still a balance. Trust me here, the lender will allow you to close the account and they will still send you the bill until it is paid!
4- It is my experience that you really only need a few credit accounts to build a good credit history. If you own a home, a mortgage is the best account to build your scores. But, one late payment can bring down your scores by fifty to ninety points. That is correct, one late payment.
5- If you have a car loan and two or three other types of credit, installment or revolving, you have enough to build a strong credit history.
6- Know that having high balances on revolving accounts (credit cards) will be detrimental to your credit scores, even if all payments are made on time! Believe it or not, you are better off having three accounts with balances lower that 50% of your high credit limit than you are if you have one account maxed out and two accounts with”0” balances. Best advice here is read number one again! Keep your balances to a minimum or to what you are able to pay to “0” at the end of the month.
7- You do not need to carry balances on your credit cards from month to month to get them to count as active and to contribute to improving your credit status. Using the card and paying the balance in full when the bill comes will work! And by paying in full before the end of the grace period, you get to use the banks money free for a number of days. What could be better that that!
8- Understand that a payment is not considered late in the eyes of the credit bureaus until it is 30 days or more past due. So, always strive to make sure you get your payment to the lender, allowing enough time to post it. I know many clients that use electronic bill paying services and have their payment for their mortgages made on the 14th of the month. Yes the lender says it is due on the first, but there is no penalty as long as it is received on or before the 15th of the month. Auto bill pay can help you preserve your credit!
http://sntk.in/0d783507
Monday, March 21, 2011
Checking your Credit Report!
There are all kinds of companies out there telling you that you should check your credit report regularly and for a fee they will check it for you and report to you any changes. People, you can do this yourself!
First, if you limit access to your information and if you are careful about revealing your personal information to people and companies that really do not need it, you will have less chance of adverse issues with your credit. I am not saying that no one will ever be victimized by credit or identity fraud if you “opt out” of having your information shared, but it will help significantly.
First, you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report each year and you can go directly to the credit bureaus to get it. The bureaus will even run a tri-merge report for you and if you really want to see your scores, you can pay $1.00 for that. Don’t bother though, unless you are checking to see progress of rebuilding your credit.
What you want to do is simply check that all the entries or tradelines as well call them, are in fact your accounts. You also want to check to make sure the report is accurate concerning the payment histories. If it is showing a late payment and you know you were not late and have documentation to prove it, you can and should dispute the erroneous entry. That will make a difference in your credit score. The last thing you should do is look at all of the entries and if you have accounts that are showing as open and you have not used those accounts in a long time or have no intention of using them, call the creditor and close them. The less open credit you have, the less likely you are to have problems down the road and your credit scores could move a little higher as a result of closing the tradeline. More to come on improving your credit scores!
If you need help understanding your credit scores, the bureaus have client relations departments and someone there can assist you. At all costs protect your credit. You will appreciate that you did when the time comes that you really need it!
http://sntk.in/0d783507
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Trigger Leads; What are they and what you can do about them!
For years people have been victims of trigger leads! They either had no idea they had been victimized or had no idea what to do about it! I believe that to be the case today as well. So, let’s start by defining what a trigger lead is!
When you apply for a loan (since my loan expertise is centered in mortgages, we will consider a loan as a mortgage), the lender’s representative will request a credit report from the major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and Trans Union. An inquiry is then generated on your credit report record. The inquiry generates a query from lenders who pay a fee to receive that information. The bureaus sell your information to lenders who order those queries. They now have a “fresh (new) lead”; someone who just applied for a loan!
In an effort to solicit your business, a lender representative from that company will now call you or send a letter to indicate that they are available to provide a loan to you at a very aggressive interest rate! Some companies even do things to make it appear that they are from the same company/bank where you have actually applied for your loan! Deceptive? Perhaps, but they are, with a few exceptions, acting within the limits of the law!
The result is that you now have the lender you chose to assist you in obtaining your loan and one or several other lenders trying to lure you to do business with them! They will tell you they have a better interest rate, lower closing costs or some other enhancement that your chosen lender has not offered. My advise… stick to the company that you researched and chose initially! I have my soap box theories on this type of solicitation, but will keep this post professional! But, the last thing you need or want is someone trying to make you take your eye off the ball when you are involved in a transaction that for many, is the largest purchase you have ever made!
So what to do? The first thing would be to call and register on the Do Not Call Registry. Some will say you do not need to register your cell phone, but it doesn’t hurt to do so. The National Do Not Call Registry can be found here. https://www.donotcall.gov/register/reg.aspx or you can call 1-888-382-1222 or 1-888-5OPT OUT.
You can also stop or greatly reduce your mail solicitations regarding credit by contacting the major bureaus. Once you restrict your information with them, they can no longer include your information to companies purchasing leads through various queries. The three major bureaus are as follows:
Experian
NCAC
P.O. Box 9556
Allen, TX 75013
Office in TX: 1-888-397-3742
Business: 1-888-211-0728
Equifax Information Services
P.O. BOX 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374
Business Line (also has option for Personal): 1-888-202-4025
Office in GA: 1-800-685-1111
Dispute Fax #: 1-888-826-0573
Business: 1-802-304-0364
General: 1-800-797-6801
TransUnion
Customer Disclosure Center
Trans Union Consumer Relations
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19022-2000
Office in PA: 1-800-888-4213
1-888-259-6845 (6am-12 pacific time)
1-800-916-8800 (consumer relations)
When you apply for a loan (since my loan expertise is centered in mortgages, we will consider a loan as a mortgage), the lender’s representative will request a credit report from the major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and Trans Union. An inquiry is then generated on your credit report record. The inquiry generates a query from lenders who pay a fee to receive that information. The bureaus sell your information to lenders who order those queries. They now have a “fresh (new) lead”; someone who just applied for a loan!
In an effort to solicit your business, a lender representative from that company will now call you or send a letter to indicate that they are available to provide a loan to you at a very aggressive interest rate! Some companies even do things to make it appear that they are from the same company/bank where you have actually applied for your loan! Deceptive? Perhaps, but they are, with a few exceptions, acting within the limits of the law!
The result is that you now have the lender you chose to assist you in obtaining your loan and one or several other lenders trying to lure you to do business with them! They will tell you they have a better interest rate, lower closing costs or some other enhancement that your chosen lender has not offered. My advise… stick to the company that you researched and chose initially! I have my soap box theories on this type of solicitation, but will keep this post professional! But, the last thing you need or want is someone trying to make you take your eye off the ball when you are involved in a transaction that for many, is the largest purchase you have ever made!
So what to do? The first thing would be to call and register on the Do Not Call Registry. Some will say you do not need to register your cell phone, but it doesn’t hurt to do so. The National Do Not Call Registry can be found here. https://www.donotcall.gov/register/reg.aspx or you can call 1-888-382-1222 or 1-888-5OPT OUT.
You can also stop or greatly reduce your mail solicitations regarding credit by contacting the major bureaus. Once you restrict your information with them, they can no longer include your information to companies purchasing leads through various queries. The three major bureaus are as follows:
Experian
NCAC
P.O. Box 9556
Allen, TX 75013
Office in TX: 1-888-397-3742
Business: 1-888-211-0728
Equifax Information Services
P.O. BOX 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374
Business Line (also has option for Personal): 1-888-202-4025
Office in GA: 1-800-685-1111
Dispute Fax #: 1-888-826-0573
Business: 1-802-304-0364
General: 1-800-797-6801
TransUnion
Customer Disclosure Center
Trans Union Consumer Relations
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19022-2000
Office in PA: 1-800-888-4213
1-888-259-6845 (6am-12 pacific time)
1-800-916-8800 (consumer relations)
Friday, March 11, 2011
Will Your Investment Portfolio Survive the Next Market Correction?
Several years ago, my wife and I sat with our younger daughter at a seminar for the entering class of Pre-Med Students. The Senior Pre-Med Advisor stood and addressed the group of approximately 120 students. You could have heard a pin drop after she made the following statement. She said to the entering freshmen; look around the room at your fellow classmates. In four years, when you will be ready to enter medical school, only about twenty of you will be left! I am proud to say that our daughter was one of the twenty-two that entered medical school! Today, we call her Doctor!
What a sobering reality though! The Professor's comments were right on and something that needed to be said. Each one of the students left that room wondering if they would be one of the twenty or one of the one hundred that watched as the others moved on! I want to use that analogy with regard to our investments.
This morning, I read an article in the WSJ “The Dow’s Plunge: Should You Be Worried?” The article suggested that stocks are overpriced and perhaps ready for another correction…. Again? The author gave ten reasons why she felt that the bull run might be over. Over? Didn’t it just get started? The article suggested that individuals like you and me usually invest at or near the market highs and pull our money out at or near the lows! So…The few institutional investors, the professionals (and not all of them, I might add!) are making money and we see our investments either move sideways or diminish. Either way, we lose if you consider the rising cost of living!
So, my question to you then is...Look around your office; which one of you will retire when you want to? And, which of your investment portfolios will survive the next market correction? Perhaps not as sobering as the medical school advisor's question, but.... sobering when you realize that you may be working for several years more than you had planned! Statistics tells us that about 65% of us will be broke at retirement! Getting more sobering now?
So, for the older generation still in the work force, the first of the baby boomers, there may not be a lot of time left to reorganize and take a different path, right? Well, I disagree. There are still ways to take hold of your financial situation and make changes that will suit you well in the retirement years! For the younger generation and the youngest in the work force, now is the time to take a good hard look at what you are doing and to do something now before retirement is around the corner for you!
I urge you to take an hour of your time and set it aside to learn something about banking that you may not know. One hour! If I am right, you will have the insight to move forward with a very small class of people who retire and are able to maintain the lifestyle they desire. If I am wrong, you lost one hour of your time! So, do you want to continue doing what you are doing now, or do you want change in your financial status now, as well as in the future? I am working toward being among the class moving forward. I hope that you will join me!
Click on the icon to the right tilted "Night of Clarity" and register for the next FREE privatized banking seminar and if nothing else, your eyes will be opened to how banks operate and why their names are on the biggest buildings in town!
What a sobering reality though! The Professor's comments were right on and something that needed to be said. Each one of the students left that room wondering if they would be one of the twenty or one of the one hundred that watched as the others moved on! I want to use that analogy with regard to our investments.
This morning, I read an article in the WSJ “The Dow’s Plunge: Should You Be Worried?” The article suggested that stocks are overpriced and perhaps ready for another correction…. Again? The author gave ten reasons why she felt that the bull run might be over. Over? Didn’t it just get started? The article suggested that individuals like you and me usually invest at or near the market highs and pull our money out at or near the lows! So…The few institutional investors, the professionals (and not all of them, I might add!) are making money and we see our investments either move sideways or diminish. Either way, we lose if you consider the rising cost of living!
So, my question to you then is...Look around your office; which one of you will retire when you want to? And, which of your investment portfolios will survive the next market correction? Perhaps not as sobering as the medical school advisor's question, but.... sobering when you realize that you may be working for several years more than you had planned! Statistics tells us that about 65% of us will be broke at retirement! Getting more sobering now?
So, for the older generation still in the work force, the first of the baby boomers, there may not be a lot of time left to reorganize and take a different path, right? Well, I disagree. There are still ways to take hold of your financial situation and make changes that will suit you well in the retirement years! For the younger generation and the youngest in the work force, now is the time to take a good hard look at what you are doing and to do something now before retirement is around the corner for you!
I urge you to take an hour of your time and set it aside to learn something about banking that you may not know. One hour! If I am right, you will have the insight to move forward with a very small class of people who retire and are able to maintain the lifestyle they desire. If I am wrong, you lost one hour of your time! So, do you want to continue doing what you are doing now, or do you want change in your financial status now, as well as in the future? I am working toward being among the class moving forward. I hope that you will join me!
Click on the icon to the right tilted "Night of Clarity" and register for the next FREE privatized banking seminar and if nothing else, your eyes will be opened to how banks operate and why their names are on the biggest buildings in town!
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
A Market that Takes Intestinal Fortitude and "A Just in Case Portfolio" ???
Today, I read an article titled a "Just in Case Portfolio" in the Wall Street Journel. I have posted a small part of the article here; can read the whole thing if you want at wsj.com, but for me and the point I want to make, the snipit below says it all!
A Just-in-Case Portfolio
By SHEFALI ANAND
Despite a more optimistic economic outlook and a stronger stock market, investors can't afford to sit back and relax, says Richard Smith, a financial adviser from Richmond, Va.
."Investors really need to be more prepared for a higher frequency of financial shocks than we have seen in the past," says Mr. Smith, president of Capital Advisory Group LLC, which manages $1.1 billion in assets.
While the U.S. and several foreign governments have taken a variety of steps to revive their economies, including flooding them with money, it isn't clear what will happen when that money is withdrawn, says Mr. Smith.
He also says financial markets have become highly correlated in recent years, meaning a problem in any part of the world can hurt markets everywhere. "Nobody is insulated from these financial shocks no matter where they resonate," says Mr. Smith. "We can't let our guard down."
So, why is it that you would want to have your retirement money invested in the markets? It seems to me that with the uncertain times and the uncharted territory the markets seem to be in, it would take a lot of Intestinal Fortitude to endure the ups and downs of the markets! And, can we afford to just sit back and wait for our money to grow? Eventually it will, right? For the answer to that question, take a look at the long term rates of return on the markets!
So as the article indicates, now they are creating another distraction for you; the "Just in Case Portfolio"! Is this the fix everyone is waiting for or just another we hope we can show a positive return on the money invested by or clients? I don't mean to sound harsh here. The portfolio managers are doing their jobs to the best they are able, I am sure. But the markets are turned upside down and inside out with just about any bad news anywhere in the world! And lately, there is lots of bad news!
So, I will ask once again, why is it that you would want to put your money to work in a market with such uncertainty when there are guaranteed growth options without the market risk or need for intestinal fortitude? !! If you are wondering the same thing, I suggest you click on the picture at the top of the right margin and register hear about how banking is made simple!
A Just-in-Case Portfolio
By SHEFALI ANAND
Despite a more optimistic economic outlook and a stronger stock market, investors can't afford to sit back and relax, says Richard Smith, a financial adviser from Richmond, Va.
."Investors really need to be more prepared for a higher frequency of financial shocks than we have seen in the past," says Mr. Smith, president of Capital Advisory Group LLC, which manages $1.1 billion in assets.
While the U.S. and several foreign governments have taken a variety of steps to revive their economies, including flooding them with money, it isn't clear what will happen when that money is withdrawn, says Mr. Smith.
He also says financial markets have become highly correlated in recent years, meaning a problem in any part of the world can hurt markets everywhere. "Nobody is insulated from these financial shocks no matter where they resonate," says Mr. Smith. "We can't let our guard down."
So, why is it that you would want to have your retirement money invested in the markets? It seems to me that with the uncertain times and the uncharted territory the markets seem to be in, it would take a lot of Intestinal Fortitude to endure the ups and downs of the markets! And, can we afford to just sit back and wait for our money to grow? Eventually it will, right? For the answer to that question, take a look at the long term rates of return on the markets!
So as the article indicates, now they are creating another distraction for you; the "Just in Case Portfolio"! Is this the fix everyone is waiting for or just another we hope we can show a positive return on the money invested by or clients? I don't mean to sound harsh here. The portfolio managers are doing their jobs to the best they are able, I am sure. But the markets are turned upside down and inside out with just about any bad news anywhere in the world! And lately, there is lots of bad news!
So, I will ask once again, why is it that you would want to put your money to work in a market with such uncertainty when there are guaranteed growth options without the market risk or need for intestinal fortitude? !! If you are wondering the same thing, I suggest you click on the picture at the top of the right margin and register hear about how banking is made simple!
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