| |
| |
| CLICK TO GET BACK TO INDEX STOCKS MUTUAL FUND INFORMATION | |
|
|
|
Social Insecurity
Just about everything you have been told about Social Security is an obfuscation. That is a big word for convoluted truth or lie. In a recently published obscure government document by the presidential Social Security commission there are two pages that expose the truth. Neither Democrats nor Republicans want you to read this. Shining the light of truth on the weirdness of politicians seldom makes them happy; however, you owe to yourself to know the truth. When they take out from your paycheck for FICA - that's the SS deduction - the money is sent to the Social Security Trust Fund. Your money is held in the fund for some future date when it is returned to you upon retirement. During that time it is gaining interest at about 2%. Pretty shabby, but better than nothing. This is all well and good as long as the money is really there, but it isn't. What? Now follow me with this beautiful bit of political sleight of hand. The money is invested in U.S. Treasury bills. Good, sound and safe as it gets. Right? Wait. Let's understand what has happened here. The Federal government has issued pieces of paper called Treasury bills which they have created out of thin air and replaced your real money. The Fed has borrowed your money in the "trust fund" and given you a promissory note in the form of a Treasury Bill. That money has now been transferred to the General Fund where our honest politicians spend it on whatever piece of pork they want. That does include necessities such the Army, Navy and Marines, welfare recipients and government employees like Senators and Congressmen. Let's jump ahead to your retirement date maybe 20 or 30 years from now. You and thousands like you have been putting in billions for all these years and Uncle has been printing T-Bills. Now you want your money back. Shucks, anyone knows you just cash in the T-Bills. Where does the money come from for the T-bill? From the government that created it. That means those funds must come back out of the General Fund, which is composed of taxes. But they already spent it. It's gone. Something is wrong here. The Fed took your money and put a piece of paper in its place as a promise to pay when the time came, but they did not back it up with anything except a promise to pay. All returns to SS retirees comes back out of payments by others now paying into SS. But what if there is less money being deducted for FICA at that time? It is called a shortfall. What the Fed has created is a giant Ponzie scheme where the first people who invested in it get paid, but those who came in later get less, little or maybe nothing. As long as there is a Federal surplus or a balanced budget you are OK, but when that disappears it means taxes on everyone must be raised to pay for the SS benefits. Smoke and mirrors. Politicians don't want you to be able to invest any of your own money because it means they will have less to spend and could care less what happens 10, 20 or 30 years from now as they will be long gone. That is the truth about your Social Security "Trust Fund". There isn't any and never has been. Perhaps we were asking the wrong questions this past election. Our Senators/Congressmen do not pay into Social Security, and therefore they do not collect from it. Social Security benefits were not suitable for them. They felt they should have a special plan. Many years ago they voted in their benefit plan. In more recent years, no congressperson has felt the need to change it. After all, it is a great plan. For all practical purposes, their plan works like this: When they retire, no matter how long they have been in office, they continue to draw their same pay until they die, except that it may be increased from time to time by the cost-of-living adjustments. For example, former Senator Bill Bradley (New Jersey) and his wife may be expected to draw $7,900,000 over an average life span, with Mrs. Bradley drawing $275,000.00 during the last year of her life. Their cost for this excellent plan is zero, nada, zilch.This little perk they voted in for themselves is free to them. You and I pick up the tab for this plan. Our tax dollars at work! From Social Security, which you and I pay into every payday for our own retirement, with an equal amount paid in by our employer, we can expect to receive an averageof $1,000 per month. We would have to collect our benefits for 68 years and 1month to equal the Bradley's benefits. Imagine for a moment that you could structure a retirement plan so desirable, that worked so well, that Railroad Employees, Postal Workers,and others who were not in the plan would clamor to be included. This is how good Social Security could be, if only one small change were made. That change would be to jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan out from under the Congressmen & Senators. Put them into the Social Security plan with the rest of us. Watch how fast they fix it! If enough people receive this message, maybe a seed will be planted and maybe good changes will evolve. Our girl Hillary Rodham Clinton now comes under this Congressional Retirement Plan. Sspeaking of the Clinton's, it's common knowledge that in order for her to establish NY State residency, they purchased a $million-plus house in upscale Chappaqua, NY. Makes sense. Now, they are entitled to Secret Service protection for life. Still makes sense. Here is where it becomes interesting. A residence had to be built in order to house the Secret Service agents. The Clintons now charge the Secret Service rent for the use of said residence and that rent is just about equal to their mortgage payment, meaning that we, the tax payers, are paying the Clinton's mortgage. And it's all perfectly legal. Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know. Copyright 2005
MORE RESOURCES:
Stocks-Mutual-Funds - Google News |
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
What To Buy? Now that you have some money burning a hole in your pocket and the stock market is going up you have decided to buy some stock or maybe a mutual fund, but you have the momentous decisions to what to buy.At this point you have three decisions to make besides which equity to buy:1. Ignore Stock Market Talking Heads You should ignore analysts on TV, the radio, the newspaper and all other TALKING HEADS when it comes to investing! What stocks do they talk about? - The same old group, every day of every year - Why? Because they don't know any better, they are sheep like the general public, repeating what every economic textbook says and every other economist tells them to say. Everyday, the same companies are highlighted on the evening news -WHY?They aren't going anywhere. A Triple Dipper: How to Make 3 Profits on 1 Stock Trade This is a rather simple strategy with which I am sure a lot of seasoned traders are very familiar, possibly under some other name with which I am not familiar. I wanted to write about it because I don't see anyone talking about it anymore. Option Spread Trading Spread trading is a technique that can be used to profit in bullish, neutral or bearish conditions. It basically functions to limit risk at the cost of limiting profit as well. What is the Most Important Indicator of All? Most stock market traders have a favorite technical indicator.The one that they have the most confidence in. Forecasting the Stock Market Every day I see in the financial section of newspapers how to forecast what the market will do in 6 months, 12 months, several years. "Ten stocks that will double in the next 6 months. Trading Tips No 6: The High Cost of Low Cost Stock Market Information It has been said that low cost or even free stock market information or trading advice can be the most expensive advice you can get. The meaning is clear. 12 Basic Stock Investing Rules Every Successful Investor Should Follow There are many important things you need to know to trade and invest successfully in the stock market or any other market. 12 of the most important things that I can share with you based on many years of trading experience are enumerated below. Market Experience of a Naïve Stock Operator Sometime in the third quarter of 1997, someone told me that I should play the stock market. Knowing nothing about the stock market, I turned to some colleagues to seem to know a lot about it. The Surgeon General The Surgeon General of the United States says that smoking cigarettes is harmful to your health. It is printed on every pack of smokes you buy. Choosing a Stock Broker If you were to find that you had some severe illness that required surgery, would you attempt to perform that surgery upon yourself? What if your car broke down and needed a valve job? Would you get out the Craftsman tool set you got for Christmas three years ago and start tinkering under the hood even though you know absolutely nothing about engines? Of course you wouldn't do either of these things because there are times in life when we know we must seek the assistance of a professional. So why is it that so many people try to make their own investment decisions without consulting a professional stock broker?A stock broker is a trained financial professional who knows how to watch the trends of the stock market, is kept up to date on financial developments by her brokerage firm, and knows how to make wise and sound investment decisions. Stock Valuation using the SMP Model Disclaimer: Please note that I do not necessarily purchase, own, or partake of any of the securities or other financial instruments mentioned in this article. I also do not take any responsibility for any actions resulting from any actions taken by anyone who reads this article. My Stock - Right or Wrong We all know the expression, "My country, right or wrong", but have you ever thought about the stocks or mutual fund you own and said to yourself, "My stock - right or wrong" and held on to your position even as you saw your hard-earned money disappearing?This is the Buy N Hold strategy and, in case you haven't noticed, lost from 40% to 60% and more of investors' money from 2000 to 2003. Fortunately, for the past year stock markets around the world have gone up and folks have recovered about 25% to 30% from those low numbers. How We Eluded The Bear Of 2000 The date October 13, 2000 will forever be embedded in my mind. It was the day after our mutual fund trend tracking indicator had broken its long-term trend line and I sold 100% of my clients' invested positions (and my own) and moved the proceeds to the safety of money market accounts. Market Timing? The recent criminal fiasco in the mutual fund industry is being used by Wall Street to persuade investors that market timing is a bad thing. The late trading by Janus, Bank America and several other well known mutual funds is falsely being called market timing. Zero Sum Game Most people think the stock market is a zero sum game because there is a buyer for each seller and seller for each buyer so each cancels the other and everything is equal. Not quite. Does Japan Matter? For the last 12 years we have seen the Japanese stock market slowly sinking from a high of 38,000 to about 8,000, more than a 75% loss and very close to the price of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Why should we care about their stock market?Please understand that the stock market price is a reflection of the overall economy of a country. VIX No, this is not a symbol for some Latin number. The Wall Street mavens talk about this market timing device as if they knew how to use it to determine which way the stock market is going - up or down. Oil Stocks As A Long Term Investment The demand for world oil is increasing while world reserves are decreasing. This is a known fact. Which Way The Market I am hearing predictions by brokers, financial planners, talk show hosts and the talking heads on TV that the market is going back to its old highs - DOW 11,700 and NASDAQ 5000 here we come.It seems to me that in 2000 I heard these same people saying there was no top to the market and were looking into their crystal balls for DOW 30,000 or some other fantastic number.
|
|
|
| Index | Sitemap
TOS | PRIVACY | DISCLAIMER | Copyright © 2007 Paulo Daniel
domainsdaniel.com |