A friend of mine is receiving his first social security check this month and so I’ve been doing some reading on the subject (it is a long way off yet for me … just in case readers had me already over-the-hill!) One of the biggest concerns for those nearing retirement and doing calculations is that […]
In discussing FICA taxes the other day, I discovered just how much I didn’t know about one of the biggest taxes we pay throughout our entire working lives. I’m guessing most Americans are in my shoes? Now “let me be clear,” as President Obama has been known to say, I’m NOT “that” close to retirement […]
If you are the average healthy American who is working or independently seeking a job, you might be as unknowledgeable as I am when it comes to knowing anything about government benefits. I’ve generally assumed that those who are “disabled” are not capable of functioning or were disabled on the job due injury. What I […]
As the self-appoint nation’s problem solver [that’s worth a chuckle], I’ve been thinking about our underfunded Medicare and soon to be underfunded Social Security programs. For those needing a little primer, I will start by regurgitating some background information on these two taxpayer supported entitlements. Both Social Security and Medicare are supported by working citizens […]
Most of America is waiting to hear from President Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney tonight for the first Presidential Debate. The president must defend his 4 years of leadership and stop offering excuses or pointing at Republicans; he needs to either convince the majority that his policies are working or that the changes that […]
Probably more than most of us want to admit: Yes, It Is a Ponzi Scheme – Michael Tanner – National Review OnlinePosted via email from RichC’s posterous
The financial markets continue to hold their own, which considering the continued of negative news we’ve hearing is amazing. Gold and especially silver (at a 31 year high) have become safe haven investments for some investors concerned that the economy will stumble and inflation (or likely ‘stagflation’) will be what we’ll see in the second […]
In a similar vein to yesterday’s post concerning identity information and protecting it from theft, today’s post is a legally challenging one dealing with not having a Social Security number to protect. Maribel Nava Alvarez is in a pickle after winning a radio station raffle in Chicago. Alvarez, according to the Spanish Broadcasting System’s radio […]
Support for socialism has been on the rise in America as I have previously noted and according to trend we have seen and the acceptable rhetoric/terms politicians have been willing to adopt this past decade. Liberals, who now prefer the “progressive” label, have decidedly shifted from resisting the status quo, traditional “right and wrong” norms, […]
Don’t know how serious … but changing your password might not be a bad idea. Nearly 6.5 million passwords belonging to users of the professional social networking site LinkedIn have been leaked online, according to reports. Users are being urged to change their login details over fears that, if confirmed, the leak would compromise vast […]
As Wi-Fi becomes a way of life for many Internet connected notebook computer, PDAs and Smartphones users, there is a tendency to become too comfortable in ‘making the connection.’ I find it almost a necessity in my travel, but nevertheless, I do rethink the places I connect. Coffee shops, restaurants and hotels are pretty regular […]
It’s called the third rail of politics, and in those areas of spending where politicians with the best of intentions dare to talk, nothing gets done. Only a few have suggested finding a solution to our ballooning debt and yearly deficits … or two of the primary drivers: Social Security and Medicare. These programs continue […]
This whiny post is going to ring hollow for those going through serious problems … or even noticing that I was recentlydifficult time adjusting to shifting gears. Brenda and I now have more unstructured time, particularly since Brenda’s surgeries and rehab (although I do still try to do work each day). The earlier than expected […]
Today’s Music Monday song by Looking Glass is one nearly every generation that enjoys pop music would find difficult not to like. Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl) is about as popular as a song can get in the early 1970s. It rose to #1 in the charts in 1972. Interesting tidbit: Following the song’s release […]
Once again, politicians are taking our US SPENDING and BORROWING problem right to the wire. Everyone knows that eventually politicians will just raise the debt ceiling and borrow more. The Republicans want spending cuts and the Democrats want a “clean increase” so as to be able to pay promised liabilities (previous spending) and we all […]
It is stomach-churning to follow the often heard “hold tight” and “stick with the plan” advice often given by financial advisors. If you are currently retired and living off of a fix-income and nest egg, or are trying to prepare for retirement, you are likely worried about times like these. Advisors tell you not to […]
As Christmas cards arrive and the 15th of December hits, it is time to start winding down my business year and thinking about 2022 (BTW, we mailed our cards this week). One thing I have noticed this year is that more cards are from people who are now retired or are retiring. Hm … does […]
For those of us living in a post-pension world, planning for retirement comes down to how much can be saved in 401K and IRAs … and how to make it last once retired. Most people rely on the “multiple buckets approach” to coming up with enough dollars to pay for bills and “hopefully” live comfortably […]
By now we all have heard and know about the TRILLIONS we have borrowed and continue to borrow as a nation in deep debt, but few are willing to make any changes to the status quo before this house of cards comes tumbling down. What we don’t really thing about quite as much are the […]
I’ve purposely put off posting anything to MyDesultoryBlog as the worldwide spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (#COVID19) began. Partially since it is challenging to separate the unfounded fears and panic from the real threat since the reporting varies based on news sources (Information from China is particularly questionable but western media sources aren’t all […]
Forgive me for being a bit redundant in worrying (again) about the hot tech stocks like Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Tesla (TSLA) and Netflix (NFLX) among others as the Dow Jones Industrial Average flirts with 29,000 in mid-January 2020 (even a broken clock is right twice a day! ― Marie von […]
As the cost of education, health care, cars, etc. goes up, it should be no surprise our financing habits change in order to pay for priorities like higher education … or luxuries like newer and more reliable cars. Paying for semi-essentials is significantly more expensive than in the past and we now extend paying for […]
Americans are finally working again and the U.S. is once again the place for businesses to expand, hire, give raises and grow. For all the questionable rhetoric from the far right and left extremes … and yes, from President Trumps’ "tweets" and biased media reporting … the actual governing under his administration and a GOP […]
Americans are struggling once again with carrots, sticks and tariffs event though throughout our history we have always been advocates for "free trade" … believing that in the end open trade wins. Unfortunately it isn’t always that simple when it is your job, your house and your life on the line. It is understandable that […]
A conversation this week about "when to retire" after I mention attending my brother’s early retirement lunch lead to the question "how much do you need to have saved to retire?" Of course we ALL know the answer to that … "it depends." Yup, very helpful #sarcasm … yet so true, considering the differences in […]
While reading a bit this past week about retirement savings and planning, it really hit home when realizing just how lifespans have changed in the past 100+ years. Did you know: •In 1900, the average life expectancy was 47 years. Only 100,000 Americans lived to age 85. •By 2010, the number of people over 85 […]
So much for the "good news" that tax cuts will eventually providing revenue by helping the economy grow. The "hope" is that over time the economy growing will put more people to work (it is) and that the snowball would eventually grow paychecks (it is) AND that we could begin to reduce our country’s yearly […]
Well, well, well … perhaps this is the correction many watching the financial markets have been looking for as a 4.6% drop on the DOW in a day is a rather large one. It was another day of selling on Wall Street helped by computerized programmed trading and likely the relatively new ETF broad based […]
Snipped parts and archived a TDAmeritrade educational article … Americans used to count on a pension plus Social Security to get them through those “golden years.” These days, people change jobs more often, rely on dual incomes, and manage their own retirement funds through defined contribution plans. By most estimates, you’ll need between 60% and […]
My favorite news network shared 20 excellent tips for saving money (by Daniel Kline, who writes for the Motley Fool). I highlight a favorite below. Saving money takes discipline It means forgoing things you want and making tough choices, which can be tough in our consumption-focused society. However, saving money can make it easier to […]
Well the FTC has some simple advice for those "still" receiving robocalls even when on the Do Not Call List or Registry. Most of us continue to receive unwanted calls on landlines and cellphones, even we are on the registry (and have renewed). It is illegal unless you have giving the caller written permission. Many […]
We still have a week of trading before closing the books on 2016, but those last few DJIA psychological points to 20,000 have proven evasive. Thursday’s 23 point decline, after the steady climb since the election, has a few gurus thinking the Trump Rally may be ahead of itself? Some are looking at current corporate […]
You might want to use that old wire line phone number or better yet, a Google Voice number for “all things” requiring a phone number. A mobile number can be even more valuable than a Social Security number, since it’s tied to so many databases and connected to a device you carry with you. Source: […]
What is the goal? More and better paying jobs, profits for companies and growing tax revenues to fund government services, entitlements and improved ability to pay down our nation’s debt. How do we accomplish this? There are two ways government helps to create jobs in the US. The current Democrats remain focused on #1, while […]
We often hear the “firing on all cylinders” comment when talking about fiscal execution in managing companies … well the U.S. and World economy is not currently firing on many cylinders. Countries in Asia have been taking their lead from the 2008 model enacted by the US Fed which devalues currency in relation to other […]
If you’ve been watching the “easy money” policies from central banks around the world (following the U.S. Fed’s lead), you may being wondering just how much money can be infused by government without suffering an economic calamity? So far, those investors “borrowing” at low interest rates in order to participate heavily in the stock market […]
There is a populous push coming from Democrats and the Obama administration to increase the Federal minimum wage … instead of letting markets to set the proper levels. It’s understandable with all the negatives facing the Whitehouse and failing policies being pushed by Democrats to create jobs, that politicians resort to simpleton tactics that appeal […]
The year 2014 is turning up to be the year of the data-breach. It seems every month another high profile company reports that their clients and customer data has been compromised. JP Morgan Chase is the most recent and perhaps the largest loss of data – a information from a “mere” 76 million households and […]
I regularly eyeball the government’s reported CPI inflation data (although question the applicability for real living in America?), and am concerned for those planning or already retired living on their “conservatively” invested savings. Many that I’ve talked with moved to cash positions after the 2008 recession or moved to much more conservative investments. Others hold […]
The much publicized Obamacare, Target and Neiman Marcus security issues are an in-your-face reminder (receive my email from Target last week) that individuals need to be wary and take precautions with their financial, medical and personal identity information. Having been through the nightmare of ID theft back in the 1990s, before companies or banks were […]
In my pile of books, I’m reading one co-authored by Robert Wiedemer called “Aftershock Investor” and he is anticipating, after he accurately pinpointed the housing bubble, that we are nearing two additional bubbles. First, he highlights the dollar bubble as the Fed’s “quantitative easing” continues … followed by the government debt bubble as at the […]
I find it difficult to listen to “the sky is falling” coming from special interest groups with the politicians looking out for them … or for that matter President Obama “crying wolf” once again. If it is so difficult to trim a few percent federal budget (something that was suppose to be done several years […]
The coming government cuts, either by choice or sequester and their economic impact is bound to be felt by all of us. The President for his part Tuesday night in the State of the Union address offered a warning, but little that addressed the ominous across the board cuts coming on March 1st if nothing […]
While following the Kabuki Theatre between President Obama and congress in Washington DC focused on increasing the top tax rate, cutting government spending and dealing with what has become known as the “fiscal cliff,” it was interesting to hear what European’s think of our latest governing hurdle. The BBC offered up a video interview with […]
Said tongue in cheek, just to be clear … Without big government, individuals and their businesses couldn’t build anything, according to President Obama. I suspect if he had his way we’d even have more government funded federal programs and bureaucratic agencies to oversee innovative and productivity. (Wake up America … take a look at how […]
WSJ This Morning Podcast (MP3 Snippet) – “outdated notion of two parents” Every once in a while there is a morning when I wake to read, or in this case half-listen to the news and think, “I must have over-slept … by a couple generations!” The WSJ This Morning podcast (MP3) relayed an article […]
For those wondering about the government’s Constitutional power to tax as it relates to “Obamacare,” here’s an excellent history lesson OpEd. In 1935, Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins was fretting about finding a constitutional basis for the Social Security Act. Supreme Court Justice Harlan Fiske Stone advised her, “The taxing power, my dear, the taxing […]
The tax season is upon us and many take this opportunity to take account of our retirement strategy (at least those who are thinking ahead). Years ago … in the days of the company pension, confidence in Social Security and Medicare and the assumption that one would retire at 65 after a lifetime career with […]
Well I was going to wait until closer to the Republican primary in Ohio (3/6/2012) to decide which candidate was best to run against the president, but after seeing recent polling, the candidate is obvious. When polls pitting Newt Gingrich against the sitting President Obama, the numbers indicate the President may have an easy re-election, […]
I’ve been thinking about the big entitlement (negatively charged word?) issue when it comes to how the U.S. structured our senior citizen’s healthcare and retirement living expenses. Having never really fully understood the cost … and inching closer towards that eventual day … I do recognize while looking at my own health and insurance costs […]
Press Conference President Obama 07/19/2011 A surprise jolt of bipartisan support emerged Tuesday for a $3.7 trillion deficit-reduction plan that had been in development for months, though it was thought to be dead just several weeks ago. Roughly half of the Senate’s 100 members sat through an hour-long briefing on the plan, which was designed […]
It’s not often the AOL/HuffPo finds fault with Obamacare … but it looks like this costly oversight even has liberal universal healthcare lovers questioning the new law: President Barack Obama’s health care law would let several million middle-class people get nearly free insurance meant for the poor, a twist government number crunchers say they discovered […]
The Republican heavyweight contender (at least in raising campaign funds) has announced his candidacy for presidency today at an event in New Hampshire. It was an expected move from a somewhat calculating and predictable politician/businessman – perhaps something the country needs? Former Governor Mitt Romney, a hardened campaigner, made the announcement at the Bittersweet Farm […]
Since the President delivered his budget in a speech during mid-day, I didn’t get the chance to listen to President Obama unveil his ‘updated’ budget … after the one he submitted two months ago. I had thought he might get serious about taking a bipartisan leadership position in deficit reduction and realized that most Americans […]
It does seem a little early, but it is nearing the time we’ll find out who is a viable and electable 2012 Republican candidate for President. As I look at the current field of previous GOP presidential candidates, a couple of them seem to be getting their names out early. One well known political hopeful […]
Now that President Obama has delivered his 2012 budget, many conclude (even the President’s own Fiscal Commission), that there is a lack of leadership coming from the Whitehouse in dealing with America’s compounding debt. Obviously the problem isn’t going to go away without some control over how much money the US government spends and borrows, […]
There are two opposing mindsets when dealing America’s deficit and correcting America’s struggling economy; it is pretty black and white when it comes to opinions. There’s the liberal Democrats position, expressed by the Nobel Prize winning New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who recommends dealing with our deficit by raising taxes and continuing to increase […]
Once upon a time I thought I had our family’s banking and credit card use figured out … but between the bureaucrats sticking their noses into banking and the greedy bankers themselves wanting to make money hand over fist off the backs of the financially irresponsible like they did a few years ago, a wrench […]
Books about fixing America’s dysfunctional economy are trendy again and partisan finger pointing is probably the most notable component in most books. The book by David M. Walker called Comeback America is no exception when it comes to the frustration and anger he shares when in particular chastising President George W. Bush. Irritation aside, Walker […]
Although I rarely forward emails since I dislike the spam filling up my box, I do once in a while get the urge to share. Here’s a snippet worthy of thought as the our elected representatives continue in a direction to take over reform health care. Will they break their streak and run it efficiently […]
For those citizens trying to follow the political goings on in Washington DC, it is irritating to trying to figure out just what is being debated and discussed by those we elect to “do the people’s business.” The current health care debate and varies bills being proposed in the House and Senate are prime example […]
Its hard to tell what the future will hold, but from the sound of things (CNBC intro below), there are is a significant number in America not preparing properly for retirement. No … I’m not talking about only the unemployed and ‘working poor’ … I’m talking about people living paycheck to paycheck picking up their […]
I was hesitant about a site designed to cross reference known stolen ids with personal private information after a friend sent me a StolenIDsearch link, but thankfully he include a Dark Reading article that eased my concern. After reading it, I felt a little less skeptical and as you probably guessed just could help myself. […]
The formalities of electing a new Speaker of the House took place in Washington DC today as Nancy Pelosi from California took the gavel from Ohio Congressman John Boehner. The ceremony was the place to be today in our nation’s capital, as for the first time in our nation’s history a women was elected to […]
I have put off buying diesel fuel for the Kubota mower and John Deere 330 as long as possible … but inevitably the reserve of 25 gallons stored in fuel jugs gets used up. It looks as if it is time to pay $$$ the inflated prices on fossil fuels — elections have consequences (pre-Russia invasion […]
The surprise increase in blog traffic corresponded to my taking a few more security measures such as locking down more of the personal content to only logged in readers … but I’m not sure that had anything to do with increasing earnings? Still, I noticed upward change (more than doubling) of Google Adsense earnings and […]
As years of your personal information accumulates on servers across the Internet, do you ever wonder just how much of your data has evolved from a generic interpreted sketch, to a colorful painting with specific details … to now a high resolution gigabyte sized photo of you and your life? Well it is past due […]
It has been a slow process in giving up on Facebook … now Meta. I really never used it much as a social media platform, but stayed in touch with family over the years with it. The past few years I’ve tried to check in monthly and may have posted update every other month or […]
After seeing this photo of someone workbench screwdriver holder, I don’t feel quite as bad about my multiple tool boxes and workbench racks. Without a doubt, I do have my share of tools and gadgets, but I’m not sure how many screwdrivers it is necessary to have in one holder? The Facebook photo above aside, […]
Since Ford once-upon-a-time paid a solid dividend, it was one of those stocks I felt comfortable trading in and out of or just sitting on for a while … but after the company suspended the dividend in March of 2020, I had to re-think $F stock. Owning Ford in 2020 and so far in 2021 […]
A technology friend of mine, Scott Bilik (who was considered my Twitter “Godfather in 2007), has recently wiped some of the mud from his hypothetical digital footprints and is systematically freeing himself from Big Tech’s shackles. This current Silicon Valley monopoly has increased its political clout and has enticed or entrapped most of us in […]
One of my favorite January traditions is looking at the Lake Superior State University’s Banished Words listing that get posted on December 31. I can’t believe LSSU has been doing it since 1976 and it is fun to look at their archives! For the year ending 2020 (or 2021’s list), LSSU selected COVID-19 as the #1 […]
After all the hate during the 2016 Trump vs Clinton election, most Americans were relieved the contentious campaigning was finally over … but it was not. The political left, assisted by much of the media, celebrities and activists, continued to encourage elected Democrats to fight on, impeach President Trump on fabricated information and “resist” any […]
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The long time investigative correspondent for CBS, Sharyl Attkisson did an excellent job of “fairly” building a timeline in the “Collusion against Trump” details on her website. If you really want to understand what we know so far regarding the Russian connections, it is worth at least skimming the points below. On a separate note, […]
Somewhat timely shared archived New York Times newspaper clipping (click image for larger) from 100 years ago. The February 6, 1918 article (tweet below) had me thinking about those in our country handling information that puts operations and the security of our many service personnel and undercover operatives at risk when politicians, intelligence bureaucrats in […]
As someone who politically grew up at a time when Ronald Reagan instilled optimism in America and in Americans, I am disgusted and embarrassed to to watch and vote for the “least worst” person running for president. On this coming Tuesday, or for many mailing in absentee or early voting, we’ll be doing just that […]
I wrote and email the other day explaining my thoughts to someone commenting that they were impressed with the Democrats and and not so impressed with the Republicans after watching three recent debates by 20+ different candidates. Since I put a little time and thought into my reply, I figured it might be blog-worthy … […]
For the past few weeks I’ve been enjoying a quick read each morning summarizing the previous day’s news from theSkimm.com. Currently it is a free subscription and is delivered to your email box and worded in a light and easy to comprehend way. For those interested in more of a business news update, check out […]
Archiving a bit of text (Chapter 5 in Miss Your Lovin by Ann Elizabeth Pfau) in researching some WWII Pacific history. See the Gutenberg link above but text saved below. American veterans of the Pacific war still remember Tokyo Rose. She was the most dangerous and seductive of the enemy radio announcers who broadcast propaganda […]