My Five Truths
.My Five Truths
John Goodell | June 3, 2020
MANY MEMBERS of the military live in a crisis-like state. They’re frequently deployed to dangerous places. Their families often have to move every few years.
Today, that sense of crisis is shared by many others. In fact, with 23.1 million Americans unemployed as of April, a government paycheck seems stable by comparison.
How can families prep their finances for ongoing economic instability? Here are five of the money principles I advocate in my work counseling soldiers, veterans and their families:
1. Instead of expecting 7% to 10% annual investment returns—which may have occurred historically but will likely be less for the foreseeable future—try reducing your living costs by 7% to 10% and investing the difference. The compounding effect on your family’s wealth will be powerful.
You’ll “need” (a word folks use when they actually mean “want”) less to cover your living costs when you’re older, because your expenses will have already come down.
My Five Truths
John Goodell | June 3, 2020
MANY MEMBERS of the military live in a crisis-like state. They’re frequently deployed to dangerous places. Their families often have to move every few years.
Today, that sense of crisis is shared by many others. In fact, with 23.1 million Americans unemployed as of April, a government paycheck seems stable by comparison.
How can families prep their finances for ongoing economic instability? Here are five of the money principles I advocate in my work counseling soldiers, veterans and their families:
1. Instead of expecting 7% to 10% annual investment returns—which may have occurred historically but will likely be less for the foreseeable future—try reducing your living costs by 7% to 10% and investing the difference. The compounding effect on your family’s wealth will be powerful.
You’ll “need” (a word folks use when they actually mean “want”) less to cover your living costs when you’re older, because your expenses will have already come down.
2. If you have debt, pay it off now. If it’s credit card debt, you’re nearly certain to do better paying down that debt than by investing in the stock market.
As Warren Buffett recently noted in his surreal online shareholder meeting, we don’t know where the economy or the market is headed in the short term, but the math is irrefutable: If you owe 18% on your credit cards, zeroing out that debt is virtually guaranteed to be the best return you can get.
3. A paid-off house is better than one with low interest rate payments spread out over time. (In fact, I think it often makes sense for Americans to rent not buy, but that’s a different topic).
In the recent bull market, when we enjoyed historically low interest rates, I saw many people take out mortgages so they could invest more in the stock market, because they believed stock returns would likely be higher. Often, that leverage works—but sometimes it doesn’t. And when it doesn’t, the results can be scary.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
Who Actually Feels Satisfied About Money?
.Who Actually Feels Satisfied About Money?
Joe Pinsker July 21, 2019
“It’s not just how much you have—it’s what you do with it,” says one researcher who studies money and happiness.
These days, not even the rich feel rich. According to a recent survey by the financial-advisory firm Ameriprise Financial, only 13 percent of American millionaires classify themselves as wealthy. Even some of those surveyed who had more than $5 million across their bank accounts, investments, and retirement accounts said they didn’t feel rich. If multimillionaires don’t feel wealthy, who does?
I decided to go to Elizabeth Dunn, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia and a co-author of Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending, with my question: Once people have enough money to cover their basic needs and then some, what would make them feel satisfied—happy, even—with what they have? Dunn said she didn’t know of any academic studies that addressed this question head-on, but she did point to some related research that provides possible answers.
Who Actually Feels Satisfied About Money?
Joe Pinsker July 21, 2019
“It’s not just how much you have—it’s what you do with it,” says one researcher who studies money and happiness.
These days, not even the rich feel rich. According to a recent survey by the financial-advisory firm Ameriprise Financial, only 13 percent of American millionaires classify themselves as wealthy. Even some of those surveyed who had more than $5 million across their bank accounts, investments, and retirement accounts said they didn’t feel rich. If multimillionaires don’t feel wealthy, who does?
I decided to go to Elizabeth Dunn, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia and a co-author of Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending, with my question: Once people have enough money to cover their basic needs and then some, what would make them feel satisfied—happy, even—with what they have? Dunn said she didn’t know of any academic studies that addressed this question head-on, but she did point to some related research that provides possible answers.
First: “Social comparison, we know, is critical,” she told me, meaning, roughly, that if a person is richer than the people he compares himself with, he’s going to feel rich. One 2005 study based on data from Germany looked at how people’s incomes compared with those of people who were similar in terms of age, education, and region of residence, and found that “individuals are happier the larger their income is in comparison with the income of the reference group.”
In fact, the study found that “the income of the reference group is about as important as [one’s] own income for individual happiness.” Similarly, a more recent paper found that middle-income people were less satisfied financially if they lived in American states with higher levels of income inequality.
These dynamics play out on a much smaller level, too. Research that looked at fine-grained data from Canada found that when people won the lottery, their neighbors were more likely to run up their debts and file for bankruptcy—the idea being that they tried and failed to keep up with their lucky peers. In a different study, not as focused on such an extreme outcome, people tended to be less happy the more their neighbors earned.
“If you live in a neighborhood where everybody has about the same as you do, then you don’t feel as perpetually behind as [when] you’re in a place where it’s more diverse economically,” says Keith Payne, a psychology professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who studies the mental effects of inequality.
Dunn also noted a couple of variables, other than peers, that might lead people to feel richer. She brought up a 2016 study that found people’s bank balances—viewed separately from just spending, or investments, or debt—to be, in its authors’ words, “of unique importance to life satisfaction.” “One reason why middle-income people might feel pretty good about their level of income is if they just happen to be living their lives in such a way that even if they don’t actually have a lot of net worth, but they always have 8,000 bucks in the bank,” Dunn speculated.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/07/who-feels-rich/594439/
The Reason Many Ultrarich People Aren’t Satisfied With Their Wealth
The Reason Many Ultrarich People Aren’t Satisfied With Their Wealth
Joe Pinsker December 4, 2018
At a certain point, another million dollars doesn’t make anything newly affordable. That’s when other motivations take over.
As the number of millionaires and billionaires in the world climbs ever higher, there are a growing number of people who possess more money than they could ever reasonably spend on even the lushest goods.
But at a certain level of wealth, the next million isn’t going to suddenly revolutionize their lifestyle. What drives people, once they’ve reached that point, to keep pursuing more?
There are some good explanations, I found, after talking to a few people who’ve spent significant amounts of time in the presence of and/or researching the really, really rich. Michael Norton, a Harvard Business School professor who has studied the connections between happiness and wealth, had a particularly elegant model for understanding this pattern of behavior.
The Reason Many Ultrarich People Aren’t Satisfied With Their Wealth
Joe Pinsker December 4, 2018
At a certain point, another million dollars doesn’t make anything newly affordable. That’s when other motivations take over.
As the number of millionaires and billionaires in the world climbs ever higher, there are a growing number of people who possess more money than they could ever reasonably spend on even the lushest goods.
But at a certain level of wealth, the next million isn’t going to suddenly revolutionize their lifestyle. What drives people, once they’ve reached that point, to keep pursuing more?
There are some good explanations, I found, after talking to a few people who’ve spent significant amounts of time in the presence of and/or researching the really, really rich. Michael Norton, a Harvard Business School professor who has studied the connections between happiness and wealth, had a particularly elegant model for understanding this pattern of behavior.
Norton says that research regularly points to two central questions that people ask themselves when determining whether they’re satisfied with something in their life: Am I doing better than I was before? and Am I doing better than other people? This applies to wealth, but also to attractiveness, height, and other things that people fret about.
“But the problem is,” Norton says, “a lot of the things that really matter in life are hard to measure. So if you wanted to be a good parent, it’s a little hard to know if you’re being a better parent now than you were a year ago, and it’s also hard to know if you’re a better parent than the neighbors.”
So people turn to dimensions of comparison that can be quantified. “Money is a terrific one,” Norton says. “If I need to know if I’m doing better than I was, the easy thing to ask is, Am I making more money? or Does my house have more square feet? or Do I have more houses than I used to?”
This instinct to measure and compare doesn’t disappear once people have an obscene amount of money. “The problem is, Am I doing better than I was? is only [moving people in] one direction, which is up,” Norton says. And if a family amasses, say, $50 million but upgrades to a neighborhood where everyone has that much money (or more), they feel a lot less rich than if they had stuck to the peer comparisons they were making tens of millions of dollars ago. Hence the ever-shifting goalposts of wealth and satisfaction.
The research Norton has conducted illustrating this phenomenon is dispiriting. In a paper published earlier this year, he and his collaborators asked more than 2,000 people who have a net worth of at least $1 million (including many whose wealth far exceeded that threshold) how happy they were on a scale of one to 10, and then how much more money they would need to get to 10. “All the way up the income-wealth spectrum,” Norton told me, “basically everyone says [they’d need] two or three times as much” to be perfectly happy.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/12/rich-people-happy-money/577231/
Why So Many Americans Don’t Talk About Money
.Why So Many Americans Don’t Talk About Money
The taboos vary by class, job, and circumstance.
Joe Pinsker March 2, 2020
Americans love to talk about how Americans hate to talk about money. Indeed, recent surveys from financial and market-research firms have found that in 34 percent of cohabiting couples (married or not), one or both partners couldn’t correctly identify how much money the other makes; that only 17 percent of parents with an income above $100,000 a year had told (or planned to tell) their children how much they earn or their net worth; and that people are “more comfortable” talking with friends about marital discord, mental health, addiction, race, sex, and politics than money.
These results seem to point to a society-wide gag rule that discourages the discussion of financial details. But there are caveats. The companies that tend to publish findings like these stand to gain from persuading people to talk more about their money, if not with their loved ones, then with a professional financial adviser. They’re also, therefore, more likely to be interested in the psychological drama of people who make $100,000 a year than in that of people who make less.
Why So Many Americans Don’t Talk About Money
The taboos vary by class, job, and circumstance.
Joe Pinsker March 2, 2020
Americans love to talk about how Americans hate to talk about money. Indeed, recent surveys from financial and market-research firms have found that in 34 percent of cohabiting couples (married or not), one or both partners couldn’t correctly identify how much money the other makes; that only 17 percent of parents with an income above $100,000 a year had told (or planned to tell) their children how much they earn or their net worth; and that people are “more comfortable” talking with friends about marital discord, mental health, addiction, race, sex, and politics than money.
These results seem to point to a society-wide gag rule that discourages the discussion of financial details. But there are caveats. The companies that tend to publish findings like these stand to gain from persuading people to talk more about their money, if not with their loved ones, then with a professional financial adviser. They’re also, therefore, more likely to be interested in the psychological drama of people who make $100,000 a year than in that of people who make less.
Many Americans do have trouble talking about money—but not all of them, not in all situations, and not for the same reasons. In this sense, the “money taboo” is not one taboo but several, each tailored to a different social context. Money taboos are absent, or much weaker, in many countries and cultures outside the U.S., but when the conditions present in those societies exist in certain pockets of America, silence can give way to relative openness. Americans, in other words, are hesitant to talk about money—except for all the times when they aren’t.
When I asked Rachel Sherman, a sociologist at the New School, why Americans are reluctant to talk about income and wealth with their friends and families, she responded with her own questions: “What does it mean to ‘talk about money?’ Does it mean saying amounts of money, like [how much you earned last year in] numbers? Because I think that is taboo. But I also think we are kind of constantly talking about money.”
She pointed out that everyday conversation is filled with questions about what people buy, what they do for a living, where they went to school, and other subjects that serve as proxies for class position.
In fact, money taboos vary a lot based on class. Sherman told me that “people often just feel bad about how much money they have,” so “not talking about it makes that feeling of badness go away.”
In interviews with wealthy New Yorkers for her book Uneasy Street: The Anxieties of Affluence, she heard people say that they kept financial details private to spare their friends or children from feeling bad. She suspects that although this rationale is genuine, it’s also “a justification for silence” that prevents people from having to confront the unpleasant fact of their own wealth in an unequal society—that is, they’re ultimately sparing themselves.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/03/americans-dont-talk-about-money-taboo/607273/
Find The Financial Confidence You Need To Make Smart Money Decisions
.Find The Financial Confidence You Need To Make Smart Money Decisions
March 10, 2020 By Cash For Tacos
Making financial decisions, and feeling confident about them, is no easy task. The decisions we make for our money can have long term effects on our financial well-being. And that can be a terrifying realization.
Decisions like: How much mortgage can I afford? Is this the best price I can get on airfare? How much should I be saving? Do I invest my savings? What do I invest in? Can I quit my job? Do I have enough money to retire?
These are all tough decisions, and it’s easy to stress out about making the “right” choice. If we aren’t a financial professional, money expert, or a travel hacking guru, we may not believe we have the expertise needed to make smart money choices. And this makes feeling confident in our financial decisions hard.
Find The Financial Confidence You Need To Make Smart Money Decisions
March 10, 2020 By Cash For Tacos
Making financial decisions, and feeling confident about them, is no easy task. The decisions we make for our money can have long term effects on our financial well-being. And that can be a terrifying realization.
Decisions like: How much mortgage can I afford? Is this the best price I can get on airfare? How much should I be saving? Do I invest my savings? What do I invest in? Can I quit my job? Do I have enough money to retire? These are all tough decisions, and it’s easy to stress out about making the “right” choice.
If we aren’t a financial professional, money expert, or a travel hacking guru, we may not believe we have the expertise needed to make smart money choices. And this makes feeling confident in our financial decisions hard.
We stress about making the right decision and afterward spend way too much energy worrying about whether or not we made the optimal choice. And sometimes our fear prevents us from making a decision at all.
It’s a struggle I face all of the time. Especially since I’ve surrounded my online self with people who, in my own head, appear to be making all of the right financial decisions.
How the heck can this Food Scientist (that's me) have the knowledge needed to make smart financial choices? There are way too many “what ifs” to consider! What if I make the wrong decision?
This limiting belief, an idea about myself that constrains me in some way, has me at times convinced that I am not capably of making smart financial decisions. And battling this limiting belief has been a challenge. But through the years, I’ve started to build that needed confidence. And, boy, does it feel good.
With a few strategies, I’ve been able to grow confidence in the financial decisions I’ve made while feeling and being ok when they don’t work out as planned.
If your eyes glaze over and you feel paralyzed when it comes to making financial decisions, here are a few ways to help you build the financial confidence you need to make smart money decisions.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.cashfortacos.com/the-financial-confidence-to-make-smart-money-decisions/
Financial Abuse – How Do You Identify It and Who Can Help?
.Financial Abuse – How Do You Identify It and Who Can Help? [Resources and Hotlines]
By Women Who Money Co-Founders, Vicki Cook and Amy Blacklock
Note: This post may contain triggers for those who have been in abusive relationships or been through sexual assault.
What is Financial Abuse?
Financial abuse is when the person ‘in power’ – the abuser – controls their victim’s access to money, including:
Controlling their spending
Stealing their money, credit, property, or identity
Denying them access to financial accounts and credit cards
Hiding assets from them
Keeping them from getting or keeping a job or pursuing education or training
Essentially, it’s a control tactic 99% of domestic/intimate partner violence abusers use to keep their victims trapped.
Financial Abuse – How Do You Identify It and Who Can Help? [Resources and Hotlines]
By Women Who Money Co-Founders, Vicki Cook and Amy Blacklock
Note: This post may contain triggers for those who have been in abusive relationships or been through sexual assault.
What is Financial Abuse?
Financial abuse is when the person ‘in power’ – the abuser – controls their victim’s access to money, including:
Controlling their spending
Stealing their money, credit, property, or identity
Denying them access to financial accounts and credit cards
Hiding assets from them
Keeping them from getting or keeping a job or pursuing education or training
Essentially, it’s a control tactic 99% of domestic/intimate partner violence abusers use to keep their victims trapped.
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month in the U.S.
“Each year, more women are touched by domestic violence than breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and lung cancer combined.” ~ Purple Purse, Allstate Foundation
One in four women is known to be a victim of domestic violence sometime in their life. This means we all likely know someone, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a co-worker, neighbor, friend, or ourselves, who has experienced physical, emotional, and financial abuse.
Domestic Violence Does Not Discriminate
Anyone of any race, age, sexual orientation, religion or gender can be a victim – or perpetrator – of domestic violence. It can happen to people who are married, living together or who are dating. It affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels.
Domestic violence includes behaviors that physically harm, arouse fear, prevent a partner from doing what they wish or force them to behave in ways they do not want. It includes the use of physical and sexual violence, threats and intimidation, emotional abuse and economic deprivation. Many of these different forms of domestic violence/abuse can be occurring at any one time within the same intimate relationship. ~ NDVH
Recognizing the Signs of Financial Abuse
If you can answer yes to even one of these questions, you may be a victim of financial abuse. If you find yourself nodding yes to more than one, you’re very likely in a financially abusive relationship.
Does your partner:
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
Why the Economy Will Struggle to Restart
.Why the Economy Will Struggle to Restart
April 16, 2020 By Keith Taxguy
Restarting the economy is going to be more difficult than it was stopping it. A vigorous discussion on the topic is desperately needed as many feel talking about opening the economy is akin to reigniting the infection rate when in reality the discussion is needed to formulate an appropriate and workable plan.
Talking about restarting the economy is good policy. Shutting down large swaths of economic activity was necessary for public health. And for the most part it was a fairly easy process: governors gave the order and their state ground to a halt as people sheltered in place, giving COVID-19 no viable path to propagate. The same happened around the world. It is The Day the World Stopped.
The spread of COVID-19 had slowed and in many countries has all but stopped. Concerns the virus is picking up steam where social distancing is relaxed is still a real risk. However, policies designed to slow the spread of the virus appear to be working. Multiple medical therapies hold promise and a massive effort to develop a vaccine are in progress. A vaccine would be a game changer, but realistically that is still as much as 1 ½ years away before it becomes available. The economic price would be too high, and the resulting harm to human health from lack of services, too damaging to wait over a year before reopening the closed parts of the economy.
Why the Economy Will Struggle to Restart
April 16, 2020 By Keith Taxguy
Restarting the economy is going to be more difficult than it was stopping it. A vigorous discussion on the topic is desperately needed as many feel talking about opening the economy is akin to reigniting the infection rate when in reality the discussion is needed to formulate an appropriate and workable plan.
Talking about restarting the economy is good policy. Shutting down large swaths of economic activity was necessary for public health. And for the most part it was a fairly easy process: governors gave the order and their state ground to a halt as people sheltered in place, giving COVID-19 no viable path to propagate. The same happened around the world. It is The Day the World Stopped.
The spread of COVID-19 had slowed and in many countries has all but stopped. Concerns the virus is picking up steam where social distancing is relaxed is still a real risk. However, policies designed to slow the spread of the virus appear to be working. Multiple medical therapies hold promise and a massive effort to develop a vaccine are in progress. A vaccine would be a game changer, but realistically that is still as much as 1 ½ years away before it becomes available. The economic price would be too high, and the resulting harm to human health from lack of services, too damaging to wait over a year before reopening the closed parts of the economy.
Reopening the economy can begin in as little as a few weeks to a month if handled properly. Germany has made signs they are ready to slowly restart economic activity. China, the first to suffer the scourge, has already reopened much of its shuttered economy.
The real question now is: How well will it work? If the virus takes off again it will set us back. However, if enough people have built an immunity while social distancing is still practiced, many parts of the economy can reopen.
Turning economic activity back on will not be like flicking a light switch. There are several issues when restarting an economy after such a brutal and abrupt stoppage. We will now turn our discussion to an appropriate and safe way to reopen a shuttered economy. Even more important than opening closed businesses is how to get money flowing again. If nobody shows up for the party we are no better off.
A Plan for Reopening Shuttered Industries
While it is true the current economic downturn may be the most abrupt (fastest) and deepest decline in modern history, it isn’t the first time an economy had to plan on restarting after such a shock to the system. The situation (and rules) are different from rebuilding after the destruction from war; the rules, however, have many similarities, albeit on a much smaller scale.
After World War II, Germany and Britain were in ruins, along with much of the rest of Europe and Japan and other areas of the Far East. While a contagious virus wasn’t running wild, a plan was developed for rebuilding the destroyed areas. Without the Marshall Plan, Europe would have suffered much longer as they worked to rebuild. A similar reconstruction plan was instituted in Japan.
We don’t need anything as drastic as a Marshall Plan today. But the lessons can still be learned. For example, you didn’t start rebuilding a war torn Britain by investing in industries that heavily rely on infrastructure before the infrastructure was funded and well on its way to becoming operational. In other words, there has to be an order to the reopening of an economy.
It can happen fast. The Marshal Plan was a 4-year plan to fund investment in rebuilding cities and industries, and remove trade barriers between European nations and those nations and the United States.
We do not need 4 years to reignite our economy! Still, it will take time and it will not always be a smooth process. Prior to a vaccine for COVID-19 there stands a strong chance there will be pockets of infection flareups. Fear will be the common enemy.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://wealthyaccountant.com/2020/04/16/why-the-economy-will-struggle-to-restart/
Arsonist Burns Down Church For Breaking Lockdown Rules - This Week’s Absurdity
.Arsonist Burns Down Church For Breaking Lockdown Rules
Notes From The Field By Simon Black May 29, 2020 Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico
Are you ready for this week’s absurdity? Here’s our Friday roll-up of the most ridiculous stories from around the world that are threats to your liberty, risks to your prosperity… and on occasion, inspiring poetic justice.
Church burnt down for ignoring lockdown rules
“Bet you stay home now you hypokrits [sic],” read the misspelled graffiti outside of a burnt down church in Mississippi. That graffiti, of course, is suspected to have come from the unidentified arsonist. The motive: the church ignored the city’s lockdown rules, and continued holding services.
Arsonist Burns Down Church For Breaking Lockdown Rules - This Week’s Absurdity
Notes From The Field By Simon Black May 29, 2020 Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico
Are you ready for this week’s absurdity? Here’s our Friday roll-up of the most ridiculous stories from around the world that are threats to your liberty, risks to your prosperity… and on occasion, inspiring poetic justice.
Church burnt down for ignoring lockdown rules
“Bet you stay home now you hypokrits [sic],” read the misspelled graffiti outside of a burnt down church in Mississippi. That graffiti, of course, is suspected to have come from the unidentified arsonist. The motive: the church ignored the city’s lockdown rules, and continued holding services.
This same church sued the city of Holly Springs over the lockdowns after being cited for holding mass despite city restrictions on how many people could gather, and non-essential businesses.
The lawsuit cites religious freedom guaranteed under the First Amendment, and claims the congregation only held services inside when weather prevented outdoors services. And even then, proper social distancing methods were followed.
But it seems the arsonist took the mainstream media bait. The prevailing attitude is that you’re hurting others by going about your normal life, and not cowering in fear inside your home.
This arson is not front page news because it doesn’t support the mainstream narrative.
It wasn’t the armed protesters who became violent. It was some Quarantine-Karen who thinks your freedom is more dangerous than arson.
Click here to read the full story.
Senate wants to ban coronavirus hate speech
A resolution introduced by Kamila Harris in the US Senate condemns “the increased use of anti-Asian rhetoric” which “has resulted in Asian Americans being harassed, assaulted, and scapegoated for the COVID–19 pandemic.”
The resolution claims that “the use of anti-Asian terminology and rhetoric related to COVID–19, such as the ‘‘Chinese Virus’’, ‘‘Wuhan Virus’’, and ‘‘Kung-flu’’, have perpetuated anti-Asian stigma.”
According to the resolution, words like these have allegedly (and only anecdotally) led to an increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans.
The resolution doesn’t actually do anything, except call on public officials to condemn the anti-Asian rhetoric.
It also encourages law enforcement to investigate actual crimes against Asians, which hopefully they were already doing, since that’s their job.
The resolution demands law enforcement compile statistics about anti-Asian bias, starting at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
Surely next the Senate will introduce resolutions condemning anti-religious rhetoric related to the coronavirus lockdowns.
You wouldn’t want people to, say, burn a church to the ground because of the media/ political hysteria.
Click here to read the resolution.
Woman arrested for sitting on the beach with “We Are Free” sign
A woman went to a beach in Miami, and sat down in the sand with a sign that read: “We Are Free.”
Three police officers promptly responded to show the woman, no, you are not.
Miami police arrested the protester because it is currently illegal to sit on the beach in Miami.
Just think about this. Three police officers woke up that morning and went to work in the “Land of the Free.”
At work these officers ripped a “We Are Free,” sign out of a peaceful citizen’s hands, physically restrained her, and brought her to jail, because she was sitting on a beach.
These officers’ will enforce any arbitrary lockdown rule, however absurd or unconstitutional.
Neighbors Inform on Jewish School in NYC
A private Jewish school in New York City shut down with the rest of the city to slow the spread of coronavirus.
But a couple weeks to slow the spread turned into a couple months with life on hold.
Eventually, students returned to the school, without the permission of NYC.
But later the same day, the school was promptly shut down.
Neighbors called the police to report dozens of teenage students gathering on the premises. Some were not even wearing masks– the horror.
This is one of the latest confrontations between NYC officials punishing Orthodox and Hasidic Jews for flouting the lockdown rules, and continuing to exercise their First Amendment rights to practice religion, and peaceably assemble.
Somehow, turning in your Jewish neighbors for violating arbitrary laws sounds eerily familiar…
Click here to read the full story.
Michigan government employees will be paid $600 per week to take a day off
Michigan will usher 31,000 state employees into a federal Work Share program.
The state will “lay off” these employees for one day per week until July. That will save the state $80 million on payroll.
But because workers are technically “laid off” for one day per week, that allows them to be compensated with Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation of $600 per week.
That’s right, it has become the responsibility of the entire nation to chip-in and pay these Michigan government employees $600 for each day they take off, stay home, and relax.
That’s what heroes do these days, right? They do nothing. Stay home and watch Netflix, because the government told them to. So heroic.
Click here to read the press release, and here for the unemployment fact sheet.
And to continue learning how to ensure you thrive no matter what happens next in the world, I encourage you to download our free Perfect Plan B Guide.
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You’re making a high-stakes bet that everything is going to be ok in that one country — forever.
All it would take is for the economy to tank, a natural disaster to hit, or the political system to go into turmoil and you could lose everything—your money, your assets, and possibly even your freedom.
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To your freedom & prosperity, Simon Black, Founder, SovereignMan.com
https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/arsonist-burns-down-church-for-breaking-lockdown-rules-27835/
Should I Borrow From Savings To Pay Off $17,500 In Credit Card Debt?
.Should I Borrow From Savings To Pay Off $17,500 In Credit Card Debt?
May 30, 2020 By Catey Hill
Have a question about retirement? Email chill@marketwatch.com
I’m 40, will get a pension and have $60,000 saved for retirement. Should I borrow from it to pay off $17,500 in credit card debt?
Dear Catey, I am a 40-year-old law-enforcement officer and hope to retire in 13 or 14 years. At that time, I will have 30-plus years on the job with a pension giving me 70% of my current income with a cost-of-living annual percentage increase around 2% or 3%.
Additionally I have a little over $60,000 in a 457(b) plan. But I also have $17,500 in credit card debt with interest ranging from 9% and 16%. Is it a good idea to borrow from your 457(b) plan to pay off credit card debt? I think doing so would mean I was stress free from debt, plus I’d be paying myself back with interest on a five-year plan. What’s the right move? Thank you, Frank
Should I Borrow From Savings To Pay Off $17,500 In Credit Card Debt?
May 30, 2020 By Catey Hill
Have a question about retirement? Email chill@marketwatch.com
I’m 40, will get a pension and have $60,000 saved for retirement. Should I borrow from it to pay off $17,500 in credit card debt?
Dear Catey, I am a 40-year-old law-enforcement officer and hope to retire in 13 or 14 years. At that time, I will have 30-plus years on the job with a pension giving me 70% of my current income with a cost-of-living annual percentage increase around 2% or 3%.
Additionally I have a little over $60,000 in a 457(b) plan. But I also have $17,500 in credit card debt with interest ranging from 9% and 16%. Is it a good idea to borrow from your 457(b) plan to pay off credit card debt? I think doing so would mean I was stress free from debt, plus I’d be paying myself back with interest on a five-year plan. What’s the right move? Thank you, Frank
Dear Frank,
You’re not alone in your struggle with credit card debt: More than half (55%) of U.S. adults who have credit cards say they also have debt, a survey from CNBC and Morning Consult revealed in 2019. And those debt levels have been rising -- last year, “credit card balances retouched the 2008 nominal peak,” wrote the New York Federal Reserve.
Having that credit card debt can take an emotional toll, too: Six in 10 people with credit card debt say they find it stressful, one survey revealed. So should you rush to pay it off with your retirement funds? We asked the experts.
In general, “taking a loan from any retirement account should be treated as a last resort option,” says certified financial planner Bobbi Rebell, host of the Financial Grownup podcast and co-host of the Money with Friends podcast.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
Glossary of Personal Finance Terms
.Glossary of Personal Finance Terms
When you begin taking control of your money and reading about personal finance, you may come across terminology you aren’t familiar with. This can end up frustrating you or lead to mismanagement of your funds. And we certainly don’t want that!
Below you’ll find a fairly comprehensive list of definitions to help you grasp numerous personal finance terms. Words in color are linked to articles we’ve written on the term. Since we’ll add to this resource as time goes on, bookmark it or pin it for easy reference.
These definitions are for informational and educational purposes only. Please discuss any specific financial questions with an investment professional.
Glossary of Personal Finance Terms
When you begin taking control of your money and reading about personal finance, you may come across terminology you aren’t familiar with. This can end up frustrating you or lead to mismanagement of your funds. And we certainly don’t want that!
Below you’ll find a fairly comprehensive list of definitions to help you grasp numerous personal finance terms. Words in color are linked to articles we’ve written on the term. Since we’ll add to this resource as time goes on, bookmark it or pin it for easy reference.
These definitions are for informational and educational purposes only. Please discuss any specific financial questions with an investment professional.
401(k) Plan – A popular, tax-advantaged retirement plan offered by many employers.
403(b) Plan – Similar to 401(k), but for employees of non-profit organizations, such as public school teachers and government employees.
457(b) Plan – A deferred compensation retirement plan, available for specific state and local governments and some tax-exempt non-governmental organizations.
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Accrued Interest – Interest that has been earned but not yet paid out.
Adjustable-Rate Mortgage (ARM) – A home loan with an interest rate that can change periodically based on certain economic conditions.
Adjusted Cost Basis – A tax accounting term that represents the net cost of some asset (Original cost – Depreciation +Capital Expenditures).
Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) – The sum of any earnings – salary, wages, interest, dividends, etc. – less specific deductions, detailed on your federal income tax return.
After-tax Investment Account – A tax-advantaged account funded with already-taxed contributions. The tax-advantage part comes from not having to pay taxes on any earnings on your invested funds.
Alternative Investment – An investment that strays from typical investments (think stocks and bonds) such as commodities or cryptocurrency.
Amortization (debt) – The spreading out of a debt/loan into principal and interest payments over a specific period of time, i.e. a mortgage would be amortized over a 20 or 30-year period. More interest and less principal is paid in the early years of the loan. As payments progress the amount of interest paid decreases and the amount paid towards principal increases.
Amortization Schedule – The amortization schedule details the amount of interest and principal being paid on a loan with each scheduled payment made. It clearly shows the rate at which the loan balance decreases. How quickly it decreases depends on the term of the loan.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://womenwhomoney.com/glossary-personal-finance-terminology/
Are My Financial Fears Common? [How to Overcome 17 Money Worries]
.Are My Financial Fears Common? [How to Overcome 17 Money Worries]
By Women Who Money Co-Founders, Vicki Cook and Amy Blacklock
You probably didn’t stress out about money as a kid. If you got an allowance, earned money, or received cash as a gift, it usually meant you could buy something you wanted.
Even if your parents made you save part of it or set aside money to donate to others, spending money was exciting and made you feel grown-up.
As an adult, your enthusiasm for money and spending may have faded. You may be anxious and concerned about your finances if you are paying for all the stuff – housing, transportation, insurance, student loans, food, utilities, clothing, and more.
Common financial fears include:
Are My Financial Fears Common? [How to Overcome 17 Money Worries]
By Women Who Money Co-Founders, Vicki Cook and Amy Blacklock
You probably didn’t stress out about money as a kid. If you got an allowance, earned money, or received cash as a gift, it usually meant you could buy something you wanted.
Even if your parents made you save part of it or set aside money to donate to others, spending money was exciting and made you feel grown-up.
As an adult, your enthusiasm for money and spending may have faded. You may be anxious and concerned about your finances if you are paying for all the stuff – housing, transportation, insurance, student loans, food, utilities, clothing, and more.
Common financial fears include:
Never getting out of debt - Not understanding financial concepts - Losing your job - Discussing money with a romantic partner - Inability to work - Losing all your money - Not saving enough for children’s education - Having to declare bankruptcy — Identity theft - Running out of money in retirement - Having to support your parents
While there are plenty of reports that paint a scary picture of people not preparing for their financial futures, women often have more financial fears than men. This is because we tend to live longer and may face gender gaps related to income and investing.
Women also get “sandwiched in” more frequently. When women should be focusing on saving for retirement, they may have financial and caregiving responsibilities for both their children and aging parents.
Since financial fears and stress can hurt your health and wellbeing, you should accept that your concerns are valid. And take action to face your money worries. While it takes work to develop and follow a plan to tackle money woes, overcoming them may not be as hard as you think.
Reading an article and realizing other people worry about money and have similar financial concerns too, can be comforting. But when your fears cause stress, impacting your physical, emotional, or financial health, you need to face them.
Here’s how to slay 17 common money fears that might be causing you financial anxiety.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://womenwhomoney.com/common-financial-fears-overcome-money-worries/