Only 3 Options Exist to End America's Fiscal Crisis – the Likely Answer Will Affect YOU!

Only 3 options exist to end America's fiscal crisis – the likely answer will affect YOU!

Remember a couple Mondays ago when I shared my thoughts on the Congressional Super Committee? Well, Thanksgiving has now passed, and official news of the outcome of several weeks of super-special negotiations is, in one word, nothing – as in they failed to cut even a dollar of their $1.5 trillion target. Yep, zero!

From day one, I expected nothing other than what is referred to in legislative terminology as a stalemate for the outcome, and boy do I feel like a genius now. But if you really looked at the dots, it was pretty easy to draw the connections: You have a Congress that is fully responsible for this country’s fiscal mess to begin with. Some of the esteemed statesmen and women have been in Congress for as long as I have been alive, or just a little less.

My point is that this current situation, which is completely unsustainable, didn’t just happen. It’s been a long time coming. Even though this same Congress had something of a change of heart, the entire 535-member body couldn’t come up with a solution to fix a “serious” problem, yet they believed a 12-member committee would be able to nail it? Really?

Meanwhile, the debt/deficit problem is growing much, much worse by the day. And it will have to be fixed, one way or the other, or else… As I have said all along, this is not as big an issue as it is being made out to be, in the sense that we have three options:

Option #1: Cut spending, only.

Option #2: Raise more revenue, only.

Option #3: Make some spending cuts and some revenue increases.

That’s pretty much it for our options!

Politics aside, I call on our dear Congressional leaders to muster the courage to find us all a real solution, because day in and day out of pandering is only making things worse for us the folks, the very same folks they are charged with looking out for.
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Contact a financial professional at Laser Financial Group today to schedule your complimentary and no-strings-attached consultation to discuss how the inevitable tax increases will affect your bottom line, and the steps YOU can take to hold on to more of your money. LaserFG.com or 877.656.9111

In Gratitude...

In gratitude...

As we pause to celebrate Thanksgiving Day 2011, on behalf of the selfless professionals here at Laser Financial Group and myself, I'd like to say a gigantic THANK YOU for being part of our family. Besides being thankful to the good Lord for our health and sound mind, we want you to know that we appreciate our association with you and will do all in our power to maintain your trust in us.


As you partake in the celebrations, don’t forget President Abraham Lincoln’s reason for proclaiming a Thanksgiving Day right in the midst of the Civil War:

“To heal the wounds of the nation and restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.”

Life sometimes gets very challenging, but even in the face of every unpleasant circumstance we have encountered, let’s not forget that the gift of life itself is a great blessing.

Happy Thanksgiving!! Have a blast.

Is Your Financial Advisor Inadvertently Sending You MIXED MESSAGES?

Is your financial advisor inadvertently sending you MIXED MESSAGES?

Most financial professionals are good people who want the best for their clients – because it would be, literally, only a complete jerk who’d do the opposite. If that’s the case, don’t you find it quite odd (as I do) that on the one hand, you have investors who painfully look on helplessly as their lives savings erode – not because they are spending it, but because the stock market tumbles for whatever reason – and on the other hand, you have financial advisors who believe that’s the best approach for those investors when it comes to their nest eggs? 

The vast majority of retirement investors in America seem to be in a constant struggle, so to speak, with their financial advisors – the advisors encouraging them to stay the course without panicking. My question is: Why do we have this constant battle IF everyone knew exactly what they signed up for? Wouldn’t it be an ethical violation if a financial advisor hadn’t clearly explained the upside and the downside possibilities of their client’s choices?

Many in the financial profession, either intentionally or unintentionally, tend to magnify the upside possibility of gains associated with the stock market and, quite frankly, downplay the risk of loss. But does that sort of hope change the reality? It’s true that you can make a lot of money in the stock market, but it’s also true that you can lose a lot of money, including some or all of your seed money.

While I cannot exactly quantify it, the error of failing to put all the pieces on the table when it comes to saving for retirement has ruined (and will probably continue to ruin) more retirement dreams than the stock market itself.

How often does your advisor discuss the downside with you?

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For a realistic alternative to investing directly in the volatile stock market, contact a financial professional at Laser Financial Group TODAY. Schedule your complimentary, completely no-strings-attached consultation and learn how you can protect your nest egg and existing investments while continuing to grow your retirement funds. LaserFG.com or 877.656.9111.

Regardless of Super Committee Decision, Your Taxes are Probably Going UP!

Regardless of Super Committee decision, your taxes are probably going UP!


The story goes like this: a few months back Republicans and Democrats in Congress struck a deal (the key word here is deal) just in the nick of time to avert the Federal Government having to shutdown. You may remember that drama in D.C. 

The deal was, essentially, that a 12-member committee made up of six Republicans and six Democrats from guess where? – Congress – would come up with a $1.5 trillion deficit reduction plan for the next decade by November 23. Remember, this group came into being as a result of Congress not seeing eye-to-eye on exactly how to fix our deficit mess – whether to cut spending or raise more revenue. Well, long story short, it’s early November, and from what we know, see, and hear, the Deficit Reduction Super Committee is nowhere near (as in, hasn’t even begun to scratch the surface of) their $1.5 trillion target. 

What surprises me is that anyone is surprised by this outcome. Come on, are you kidding me? As I wrote on July 25, Americans should remember that we are in this fiscal mess because Congress (made up of both Democrats and Republicans) has proved to us again and again in unequivocal terms that they cannot embark upon any credible spending cuts.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve been hearing politicians campaign that, “America needs to put her financial house in order, the status quo is unsustainable, and we need to restore fiscal sanity.” Yet over each Congressional session and White House administration, for some strange reason – or, is it? – spending has always found a way to increase.


When Congress talks about cutting spending, what exactly do they mean? Social Security and Medicare? And that would be whose Social Security and Medicare? The same citizens’ who voted for them on Election Day? Notice that the whole of Congress could not come up with any credible cuts, so what are the chances that the 12-member Super Committee can pull it off by Thanksgiving? I think it would take a truly SUPER Committee to cut spending.


Let’s get realistic here. No politician – Democrat or Republican – wants to cut any spending in real life, because it could very well affect their constituents. On the other hand, it’s much easier to raise more revenue by taxing “only the ultra rich,” since most folks don’t consider themselves rich and think such raises will not affect them. After all we’re talking about “the rich people,” so taxing them more will not cause much harm. The problem with that hypothesis, as history tells us, is that most of us (the average folks, so to speak) end up paying for the revenue increases. Just look at history.


From where I’m sitting, here’s what I would tell retirement investors: If your nest egg is in the form of a yet-to-be-taxed program like a 401K or an IRA, you should seriously rethink your strategy by talking to a savvy financial professional who understands America’s current economic landscape – not one who goes along with the media frenzy of the day.


The fact is, no credible expert would argue other than that taxes are going up! Because that’s what “more government revenue” means in simple English. But for you, as a retiree, that translates to lower spendable income. Did you know, however, that some folks have their money in programs that, under existing tax laws, are completely insulated from tax rate hikes?
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Contact a professional at Laser Financial Group today to find out how to legally protect your retirement income from future tax hikes. 877.656.9111 or LaserFG.com.