Month: July 2015

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6 Career Lessons – They are a SCREAM!

ScreamCaution, some of these are a tiny bit naughty …. but they are really funny.

 1. Critical information. 

“A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor.

Before she says a word, Bob says, ‘I’ll give you $800 to drop that towel.’

After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob. After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves.

The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, ‘ Who was that?’

‘It was Bob, the next door neighbor,’ she replies.

‘Great,’ the husband says, ‘did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?’

Moral of the story: If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.”

 2.Knowledge is power.

“A priest offered a Nun a lift. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.

The nun said, ‘Father, remember Psalm 129?’

The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again . The nun once again said, ‘Father, remember Psalm 129?’ The priest apologized ‘Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.’

Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.

On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, ‘Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.’

Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

  1. Listen to others before you speak.

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, ‘I’ll give each of you just one wish..’

‘Me first! Me first!’ says the admin clerk. ‘I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.’ Poof! She’s gone.

‘Me next! Me next!’ says the sales rep. ‘I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas, and the love of my life.’ Poof! He’s gone.

‘OK, you’re up,’ the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, ‘I want those two back in the office after lunch.’

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.

4.Aim high.

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, ‘Can I also sit like you and do nothing?’

The eagle answered, ‘Sure, why not.’

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

5. Maintaining your position.

A turkey was chatting with a bull. ‘I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree’ sighed the turkey, ‘but I haven’t got the energy.’

‘Well, why don’t you nibble on some of my droppings?’ replied the bull. It’s full of nutrients.’

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.

The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story: Bull shit might get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there.

  1. When in shix…

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Moral of the story:

[1] Not everyone who shixs on you is your enemy.

[2] Not everyone who gets you out of shix is your friend.

[3] And when you’re in deep shix, it’s best to keep your mouth shut!

Directly copied from: http://diply.com/omg-facts/moral-story-life-lessons-learned/158835/2

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Tip to Save Taxes on a RMD – Transfer “In Kind” Stock

StocksWe are all faced with the dilemma of taking Required Minimum Distribution from our IRA accounts when we turn 70 years old. If you have accumulated large IRA’s (including transferred 401K accounts), this can be a problem:

  • You may not need the approx. 4% annual amount
  • The RMD when added to your pension and Social Security might put you in a much higher tax bracket, Social Security might be taxed at a higher rate
  • You have to pay income tax on the RMD as “ordinary income”, not getting any preferred tax rate break

There are a few ways to help minimize taxes with your RMD. For example, you can use an actual “in kind” stock transfer. This works really well when you have good quality stocks held in your IRA that are currently depressed. Instead of taking the RMD in cash (or selling stocks for cash), just transfer the actual stock “in kind” to your taxable account. You will still pay tax as ordinary income on the RMD stock value, no way around that. However, the appreciation of that stock in your taxable account will be under the Capital Gains tax rate, today 15%.

Here is an example:

A 71-year-old man in the 30% tax bracket takes an in-kind RMD of a stock position worth $50,000 at the time of the distribution. He’d owe $15,000 in taxes on the distribution. His cost basis on that stock in the taxable account would be $50,000. If the stock goes up to say $80,000 in the next three years and he decides to sell, his tax bill would be $4,500–his $30,000 gain multiplied by the 15% capital gains rate.

However, let’s say that same person keeps the depressed stock in the IRA and takes a distribution of $50,000 in cash from the IRA instead. His tax bill on the RMD would be the same–$15,000. But if he were to then sell the same stock 3 years later from the IRA at a market value of $80,000, his tax bill on that distribution would be $24,000.

The tax savings would be substantial, a $19,500 tax savings.

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Beware of Issues with Your Will and IRA/Stock Market Account

191rsejjt85zljpgIt should be really simple, a loved one dies and the heirs would like to get access to the loved ones account. But wait, there is a growing trend with some brokerage firms that make it much slower and harder to get any information. A story in the Wall Street Journal indicated a qualified beneficiary waited almost one year to get access to funds they were entitled to. These firms have tight federal guidelines that may keep them from even providing statements or summary of holdings.

So what can you do to improve this situation?

  1. The most important step is to make sure beneficiary information on all taxable, IRA, Roth IRA and 401K accounts is completely up to date. Keep in mind that if the will beneficiary is different than the one shown on the account, the account rules NOT THE WILL!
  2. Tell your beneficiaries ahead of time that are named, no need to give them all the amounts or % details, just that they are listed.
  3. You might want to just put the brokerage account into a trust, therefore a trustee can just deal with it without the hassle and delays of probate.
  4. It is also helpful to put somewhat recent copies of all account statements in files along with other important papers.

Last but not least, make sure you have an “In Case of Emergency” documents as I outlined in my January 2, 2015 posting.

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You Have a $800,000 – $1,400,000 Bond – Understanding It

StocksAs a retired investor I continually analyze my portfolio and look for ways to balance risk vs. returns. One thing that many investors might ignore in their portfolio balance is their $800,000 – $1,400,000 bond. It’s called Social Security.

Investors should value their Social Security benefits as a bond in determining their portfolio mix. I’ll give you a way to determine what your Social Security is worth. You might have decided that at your age you want a 50/50 split between equities vs. fixed income (bonds, CD’s etc.) So, how much is my Social Security really worth?

Today if you are 66 years old, plan on delating your Social Security until age 70 (which I highly recommend), have a spouse who will take “spousal benefits” at age 66 your Social Security the maximum payment you’ll get at age 70 (both spouses) is $58,600. This assumes a very modest 2% annual inflation adjustment rate.

Therefore, what size bond do you have if your annual distribution is $58,600? Well that depends on the interest rate of the bond.  Let’s look at some examples:

Annual Distribution = $58,600

Bond Rate           Value of Bond

7%                          $837,143

6%                          $976,667

5%                          $1,172,000

4%                          $1,465,000

Today a bond paying 7% is probably “junk” rates and very risky, although a few years ago these bonds could have easily been AAA+ rated.

So, my point is that if you look at your Social Security as a “bond”, in your investment mix you might decide to allocate almost all of your other investments into equities, depending on the size of your total portfolio.

My current recommendation is to stay almost 100% in equities until the Fed raises interest rates and you can get either a 30 year Gov’t bond or a AAA corporate bond at 5 -7 % and then start to ladder into a bond mix. In the meantime, stay out of bonds.