Freedom of Choice: Big Banks vs. Community Banks and Smart Financial Advice vs. RISKY Advice

Freedom of Choice: Big Banks vs. Community Banks and Smart Financial Advice vs. RISKY Advice

An associate brought this ABC News report to my attention. The gist is that average, everyday folks who feel taken advantage of by some of the "Big Banks" have decided to fight back. The movement is known as "Move Your Money," and their beef is that these banks are nickel-and-diming them unnecessarily, by raising credit card rates without any merit whatsoever and hitting customers with a $30 fee for a $5 overdraft.

On the one hand, it could be argued that we live in the land of freedom where the markets are supposed to dictate pricing. So it’s our responsibility to understand what we sign up for with these banks. And we are all free to leave whenever we feel we can get a better deal elsewhere, or for whatever other reason impels us. I think there's a saying that goes something like, “One man’s meat is another man’s poison.” Isn’t that the whole idea behind the free market system?

On the other hand, though, we can also argue that if any institution in a free market system thinks it is OK to take advantage of unsuspecting clients by trying to outsmart them with hidden garbage, that institution should be heckled as hard as possible and punished by the consuming public who takes their business elsewhere. And if such a trend leads to the demise of the institution, so be it. That is also how the free market system is supposed to work.

I am pretty sure my economics professors would be incredibly proud of me right now. Seems like I did pay attention, after all! Well, whichever school of thought you subscribe to, you’re welcome here!

A Question More Worthy of Exploration

How come no one is standing up to question the conventional financial planning industry when they encourage Americans to simply dump their funds into variable investments and wait for the day when they will retire in peace with milk and honey? When in fact every time the stock market experiences a correction, tens of millions of retirees, as well as those on the brink of retirement and those just starting out and those in midstream, experience complete devastation as their life savings are diminished – in some cases to as little as 50 percent of its original value?

Is this inevitable? Of course not! Those working with financial professionals who apply common sense and reality to their investments do not lose when market dips. It seems, for now, as though the storm has subsided, but who knows when it will rear its ugly head again? Could it be just as YOU are preparing to retire?

In this free market system, some choose to pursue investment strategies that protect them against any losses when the stock market tanks; there are also those who continue to follow a strategy whereby their future retirements are completely at the mercy of the unpredictable stock market. Which movement do you belong to?

PS: You’ve seen the images and heard the horror stories. Please reach out to assist those in need in Haiti in any manner you can. While you should be extremely mindful of scammers who prey on international incidents like this to take advantage of your generosity, there are excellent organizations that work hard to ensure that your contributions actually reach those in need. If you need help finding such an organization, please let me know in the Comments Section below and I’ll get you some names.

Please note that the simplest act of kindness can go a long way. If someone you know is experiencing emotional pain, simply letting them know that you care and are praying for them might help enormously. At the end of the day, we all belong to one big family – humanity. Thank you.
-------------
For your free, no-obligation consultation regarding how you can better plan to withstand the ups and downs of the market, please visit LaserFG.com or call us at 301-949-4449.

Financial Experts, Including Mellody Hobson, Continue Encouraging Investors to "Wait It Out." WRONG!!

Financial Experts, Including Mellody Hobson, Continue Encouraging Investors to "Wait It Out." WRONG!!

A few days ago, I was glancing through the January 2010 edition of Black Enterprise, a monthly magazine. An article authored by Mellody Hobson drew my attention because it covered something of great interest to me: people’s investments. The article is titled “Apocalypse Then: Lessons from the Crash.”

According to the bio that accompanied the article, Hobson is a big Kahuna, president of Chicago-based Ariel Investments and a regular contributor to ABC’s Good Morning America. (OK, the Kahuna part is not in the bio: that’s mine.)

Before I continue, let me reiterate that my goal with this blog is NOT to engage in personal attacks. Rather, my goal is to educate and equip you with proven, secure, common-sense tools so that you can actually break the inadvertent poverty cycle that seems to plaque the majority of retirees, many of whom continue to fall prey to financial advice and guidance that amounts to little more than myths.

Back to the article. Hobson concludes her piece with the following:

Many of you might be mentally pushing back: Sure, Mellody, but how did you know when the market would push back? I didn’t. Nobody did. With investing, the great thing is, you don’t have to know exactly when things will turn. You just have to have the time and patience to wait.

Eloquent and cute, isn’t it? And doesn’t it sound all too familiar to you? That’s because this is the message just about every so-called financial expert has been telling the scores of worried investors whose retirements have either been delayed or completely destroyed by the recent turmoil in the stock market: just have the patience to wait it out.

I Completely Agree with the First Part

Hobson is not completely wrong. In fact, she is spot on with her admission that nobody can predict the market’s exact movements. I have been writing and speaking that very message for years.

However, I Vehemently Disagree with the Second Part

Hobson loses credibility with her admonition that “just” having the time and patience to wait will solve the problem.

Follow Along with MY Explanation

We can’t predict when the market will – to borrow Hobson’s words – push back. But we can predict with 100% certainty that it will fluctuate – both up AND down. So why would you expose your serious cash, earmarked for your retirement or your kids’ college, directly to the market with no downside protection when, in fact, you don’t have to? Because there is a proven means by which you can make strong returns when the market is up and completely avoid losing any value when “the market pushes back.”

Many folks have worked hard, made sacrifices, and accumulated their retirement nest eggs over the past 25, 30, or even more years. Some of them are already in retirement, and some were planning to retire in 2008 or soon thereafter. However, due to the recent market setbacks – get this – in 2008 alone, millions of these individuals lost 20, 30, or even a greater percent of their entire life’s savings!

So, is Hobson really telling these folks to “just have the time and patience to wait”? And what exactly are they waiting for? Are they supposed to wait another 10 or 20 years before retiring? Or they are being asked to have the patience to deal with the fact that they may eventually be dead broke – if they aren’t already?

Try Common-Sense; It Always Works!

Here’s what I want to know: Do any of these gurus know that it is completely unnecessary for investors to lose even a dime of their investments’ values when the market “pushes back”? So why do they continue exposing people’s futures to what are really nothing more than unnecessary risks?

Any investor who followed the simple, proven, and common-sense strategy we teach and implement for our clients DID NOT lose even a penny during the recent stock market crash. Therefore, they do not need to have the patience and time to wait for their portfolios to rebound.

In fact, our investors actually made money at the exact same time that so many others’ retirements were delayed or destroyed, the result of which is that Hobson and all the other experts are now urging their followers to have the patience to wait it out.

My one-word answer to all the preachers of patience is, SERIOUSLY?!

My Very Real Challenge

I have been making the case for common sense for years now. In fact, I discussed this very issue in my August 3, 2009, blog post and this article on our website.

To you the investor: please, please, please stop falling for all that emotional nonsense when it comes to your money! Wake up soon so you can smell the coffee! And remember, your biological clock does not have the patience or time to wait; get sound advice today so that your nest egg can grow and reflect reality!

To Ms. Hobson and all the experts selling the patience and waiting game: please let me know where I am wrong.

-----------------------------

PS: We have only a few seats left for our workshop this Saturday – and, yes, I will be the speaker. Reserve your seat here or call (301) 949-4449.

Why Pay Income Taxes When You Can LEGALLY Avoid Them?

Why Pay Income Taxes When You Can LEGALLY Avoid Them?


First of all, Happy New Year! And Decade! And Century! Wow! Did you notice we are now officially living in the 21st Century? No doubt, 2009 was a challenging year for many – but with all those challenges behind us, we still have the privilege of being alive. And, things will definitely get better!

Now that the celebrations are officially over, everyone is focused on dealing with our favorite uncle – Uncle Sam – at least until April 15. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is looking for ways to minimize their taxes and pay the least amount possible. Who wouldn’t like to keep as much of their hard-earned money as possible – unless, of course, they are absolutely nuts?

Particularly dear to my heart are our retired seniors, many of whom are faced with sky rocketing health care and other expenses and could use all the income they’ve worked so hard to accumulate over the years. Yet the IRS is not, well, particularly friendly in that respect – as in, you have to pay what is due OR ELSE.

But It’s Completely Preventable

Under current tax laws, there is a means by which you can accumulate and access your money, completely tax-free! Even before you reach age 59½ By tax-free, I mean zero taxes. I know this because our clients use these vehicles, so I am 100 percent sure of the information I am imparting here. In fact, I just reviewed the IRS’s 2009 Publication 525 (Taxable and Non-Taxable Income) and this information is right on target – the law is the law!

Just so we are clear, I never engage in discussion of tax loopholes because I personally think seeking them is a big fat waste of your time. As always, I am talking about a legitimate way you can create a zero percent tax bracket, year-after-year, based on current law.

Your Chance to Discover

If you are in the greater Washington, D.C. area, I will be teaching a workshop on Saturday, January 16, at 11:30 a.m. to discuss in clear, concise language how you can achieve this very scenario. Regardless of where you are in your planning process – or even if you are already retired – you will want to attend this event! Please feel free to share this information with your family and friends as well.

By attending this seminar, you’ll also receive a complimentary copy of my latest book – yes, another one! – “Is Your 401K a Trap?”

Wouldn’t this be one of the most worthwhile ways to begin a new chapter in your financial life? Learn to KEEP your money instead of – unnecessarily – giving it to the IRS! Click here to reserve your seats now. 

P.S. Please note that seating is extremely limited and are on a first-come/first-served basis.

Again, Happy New Year!
_________________________________
If you live outside the greater Washington D.C. area and are interested in the workshop but cannot attend, please call us at (301) 949-4449 or contact us via our website  for your complimentary one-on-one consultation.

The ONLY New Year’s Resolution You’ll Ever Need

The ONLY New Year’s Resolution You’ll Ever Need

Right about now, hundreds of millions of people in America – and probably another gazillion worldwide – are gearing up for 2010 with their resolutions, ranging from quitting smoking to giving up poor eating habits to stopping overspending and starting to save money to religiously and regularly showing up at the gym. Year in and year out, those are the big 3: quit smoking, lose weight, get on track financially.

I have no doubt that all of these, as well as the countless other resolutions we make, are for good causes, as no one in their right mind would knowingly resolve to do something that harms them.

My point, though, is that ALL RESOLUTIONS ARE A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME WITHOUT DISCIPLINE ALL YEAR ROUND! So to keep it pithy, all you need is DISCIPLINE. If you’ve got discipline, trust me, you won’t need to try to stay in shape or quit smoking for the eighth year in a row, as some are preparing to attempt right about now.

Here’s How I See It

Recognizing that you have “bad” habits is hugely important, because without admission, no problem can be corrected. But the thing you also need to understand is that ABSOLUTELY NOTHING magical will happen at the stroke of midnight on December 31, 2009 – or any other year, for that matter. So hurrying up to smoke or eat all you can before midnight on New Year’s Eve and “wishing” without discipline is simply a mind game – that’s why the average New Year’s resolution has a lifespan of about three weeks, to be generous.

However, with DISCIPLINE – which I would unofficially define as “the resolve to be dead serious” – you do not need to wait for December 31 to get started on any change you desire to make. But if starting for the New Year will make things “easier,” that’s OK. On the other hand, you can achieve whatever resolution you set your mind to whenever you set your mind to it, with discipline. So if you run a little short in the discipline department – and, frankly, who doesn’t? – work on that instead of wasting your time and repeating the whole exercise twelve months from now.

If something REALLY needs to be changed or accomplished, why wait until January 1 of next year to start? Honestly, the whole concept of New Year’s resolutions has never made any sense to me at all.

Relax – it’s not my intent to lecture you. I am nowhere near perfect and have my issues, too. My point is simply that if we can switch our focus to DISCIPLINE, instead of one-off resolutions that we will likely break regardless of how good our intentions, things will be a lot easier by the third week of January, every single year.

I think I am beginning to understand why at a speaking engagement the other day, the host introduced me as the in-your-face,-straight-talking-financial guy. Should I apologize for that? Come to think of it, shouldn’t you want your financial professional to be straight-talking?

Look, you’re going to do what you’re going to do. Declare those resolutions if they make you feel better. Then call us at (301) 949-4449 or visit us on the web to schedule your free consultation today! Any year now, I’m confident you will put an end to your financial resolutions, once and for all.

Wishing You a Lovely Christmas

Wishing You a Lovely Christmas

Ho, ho, ho! This is the week you're probably going crazy with last-minute stuff. For some, this is actually the week to start and finish all the holiday errands.

Good luck. Be safe. Enjoy the company of your family and friends.

And remember: we live, we learn, and we give so we can earn true wealth.

Merry Christmas! See you next week.

P.S. For those who've been looking for a reason and/or way to make Christmas more meaningful, here's a little video I just stumbled upon by a group known as Advent Conspiracy. They invite you to ask yourself how spending a little less money can bring a lot more meaning to this season of peace, love, and joy.

If you like this video, I invite you to pass it on. That's how these viral campaigns get their wings!

Three Christmas “Did You Knows” to Make You the Smartest Kid on Your Block

Three Christmas “Did You Knows” to Make You the Smartest Kid on Your Block

I wanted to share three quick, simple, and interesting facts about Christmas: 

• Did you know that Christmas wasn't a holiday in old America – I mean way-back-when. In fact, Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the country's first Christmas under the new constitution. Christmas wasn’t declared a federal holiday in the United States until June 26, 1870.

• Any idea how many – real – Christmas trees are sold in the United States each year? Between 30 and 35 million! Christmas trees usually grow for about 15 years before they are sold.

• Did you know that Rudolph, “the most famous reindeer of all,” was “born” more than a hundred years after his eight flying counterparts? In 1939, Robert L. May wrote a poem about Rudolph to help lure customers into the Montgomery Wards department store.

You see? I told you it’d be quick – and you’d be the latest Christmas smarty pants! And just so you know, I adapted this information from the History channel.

OK - now you're smart about Christmas. But if you want to get smarter about your finances, that's where we can help! Call us at 301-949-4449 or come see us on the web to schedule your free consultation so that you can get your 2010 started on a smart, proven financial path!

Double-check Those Holiday Shopping Receipts

Double-check Those Holiday Shopping Receipts

As you embark on your holiday shopping expeditions – and afterwards – please pay particular attention to a trend that has been reported by some shoppers. Some people have noticed that additional amounts, ranging from $10 to $40 (at least according to the incidents I have heard about) were included in their final bill as “cash back” they had requested, when in fact they had requested no such money.

Some believe this is part of a new scam whereby unscrupulous employees at some retail chains are taking advantage of busy, unsuspecting shoppers during this hectic time of the year. Others explain these episodes as simply the malfunctioning of the payment processing machines.

Either way, no one should be out by even one cent in this manner – charged for something you did not request, let alone receive. Not to mention that credit card companies usually impose higher interest rates than usual on these types of cash advances.

Yes, it’s easy to get extremely busy, especially during the holiday season – but please, please, please do yourself a huge favor and take a moment to look closely and carefully at those pads, screens, and/or paper receipts before signing them. And also double-check your receipts afterwards just to be sure you paid for exactly what you intended to purchase.

Just remember to move aside while doing this, particularly if there are others in line behind you, because you know what can happen if you hold someone up, right?

Happy shopping, and be safe out there!
___________________
For other smart tips and bits of financial wisdom that will help you make the most of your money, visit our website, or call us for a complimentary consultation at 301-949-4449.