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Attention: Property investment can seriously improve your wealth (Part 3)

When you are looking to make money, the old adage holds true: “Buy low, Sell high”. In other words, “You make your money when you buy, not when you sell”.

This is a fundamental concept that you must grasp in order to be a successful property investor. You must always buy your real estate for a low price, never for the full market value. Never forget this simple yet crucial rule and you’ll always make money. You may think that is all well and good but wonder how to go about doing it.

 

Well the great thing about real estate is that it has no absolute, set price. No one can say for definite what a piece of real estate is worth because valuation is an art not a science. Contrary to a popular misconception, estate agents don’t dictate the price of real estate. When you arrange a valuation with an agent, they’re just giving their best guess as to what they think people will be prepared to pay for it. The true value is whatever someone is actually willing to pay for it. For example, someone with an emotional attachment to a property might be willing to pay lots more for it than everybody else. In contrast, an investor might only be willing to pay less than other people would pay for it. Do you see what I’m getting at? The value of any given piece of real estate is very much an unknown quantity until the point of purchase. Different groups of people, for their own individual reasons, will value any given property differently.

 

So the emotionally driven buyer might pay, for example, £50,000 more than the majority of people are prepared to pay, in order to secure it for himself. Consider an analogy with an art lover at an art auction.

Fortunately for us, it’s not only vendors who can benefit from the fact that property values are not absolute. Indeed, vendors are human and can be emotional too. Therefore they might sell their property for less than it is generally considered to be worth. There are many reasons for this which I will discuss in other articles. Wouldn’t you like to be the lucky buyer who snaps up that cheap property? I certainly would.

 

You should never buy property from anyone who is not motivated to sell to you at a discount. If you ignore this advice and buy at full market value you will run out of money very quickly and find it difficult to make a profit. If you don’t know how to find these emotional vendors and their great deals you should use the web to get some free property investment education.

 

So, when you find a great deal, how are you going to finance it? If you were buying equities, you would have to use your own money. No bank will lend you mortgage money to buy equities because they know how volatile the market can be. No. They are happy for you to take that risk alone. In contrast, when you want to buy land, houses or apartments, you can do so using the power of a mortgage. You borrow and use “other people’s money” i.e. the bank’s, to buy an asset that will make you money forever more! Amazing!

 

You see, they know that real estate is a safe, reliable investment and that as time goes by their investment grows ever safer. From their point of view, if things go sour they can sell your asset for a lot more money and get their mortgage money back. Banks aren’t stupid. They demonstrate their faith in the property market to the public every day by lending on property purchases. We’ve all heard the expression “as safe as house”, right? If the banks class property as a safe investment, shouldn’t that tell you something? Now don’t get talking about the credit crunch and all the trouble that banks are in. That is nothing to do with them lending money to responsible people like you and I to buy safe, solid investment properties. They made mistakes in other areas of their business but we’re not going to get into a discussion about the credit crunch and overpaid bankers. Let’s get back to the magic of real estate.

 

Compare buying real estate with equities (shares, bonds etc). There is a fixed market price for those assets and if you want them you must pay full price just like everyone else. There are brokers fees to pay and tax on any profits with no breaks available from the tax man. Your values of your equities are probably volatile and could rapidly decrease in value. You can probably only hope to hold a very small percentage of the total number of shares on the market. With such a small voice you have no realistic, practical say on the running of the company that you have invested in so you can’t influence the value of your investment.  Compare this to property investment, with the ability to buy below market value, add value and the many generous tax breaks available. Surely the evidence is weighing up in favour of property investment vs stocks and shares.

 

So I hope that you understand why real estate is such a good investment in comparison to some of the other choices out there. You probably want to learn how to use mortgages like the pros to finance your next investment. You probably want to learn how you can become rich in real estate. If so, I recommend that you look at the next article in this series and hope that you find it useful.

Dr Bradley Tomkins is an enthusiastic property investor and webmaster at WWW.PROPERTYINVESTMENTEDUCATION.COM
His comprehensive website is dedicated to providing a wealth of FREE articles and educational resources for the new or experienced property investor. He writes a FREE educational newsletter on a wide variety of property investment topics, which you can subscribe to.
You can get everything you need to become successful in the world of real estate investing FOR FREE at WWW.PROPERTYINVESTMENTEDUCATION.COM.

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FreedomWorks Vice-President of Strategy, Kent Lassman and Ken Hogland from Americans for Fair Taxation discuss the feasibility of 2008 Presidential Candidate Senator Fred Thompson’s Flat Tax proposal on Fox Business.
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Posted on February 25, 2011 by , Reply

Crisis in World Economy and the Proposed New Model for Sustainable Development

Crisis in World Economy and the proposed New Model for sustainable development.

The ongoing turmoil in world economy raised the doubt that present model of capitalism cannot be sustained for environmental and social reasons. Respected thinkers and scientists have pointed to this reality. Now we should look ahead to a new system that is sustainable and humane. Otherwise whatever wealth is created would be wiped out by environmental disasters and social upheavals. Whole system is complicated by lack of transparency. It is not clear where all the money gets invested. Hedge funds are cloaked in secrecy- even bailout money has disappeared with no effect to the economy. Even now nobody knows which are the real bad toxic assets, so stock market is also not recovering.

In this treatise some key issues in this crisis are discussed and a new  model is proposed that will engineer a balanced global society  globally conscious, active and sustainable.   

Regarding overpaid CEOs

Let us ponder over some news those captured the attention across the globe. Washington Mutual Chief Executive Alan Fishman could walk away with more than 18 million dollar in salary, bonuses and severance after less than three weeks on the job as golden parachute from flight WaMu in danger, according to the terms of his employment agreement. Lehman Brothers was handing out 23 million dollar to three executives just days before it collapsed. It paid 2.5 BILLION dollar bonus fund after failing. CEO of American Express saw his pay go up much more than double although shares price nosedived. Hewlett Packard CEO destroyed half the wealth of her investors and yet still earned almost 100 million dollars in total payments. Exactly same is the case with Informix Software CEO. The list goes on and on. It means what?  This isn’t a diatribe against CEO pay. Point is failure has become a recipe for financial success of CEOs especially in America by virtue of their intelligent manipulation and abuse of power.  Martin Whitman, economist and the great advocate of capitalism opined that apart from corruption another reason as to why a free market situation is probably doomed to failure is very exorbitant levels of executive compensation.

 Regarding free-market economy

I do not think free market is really free. Those who say they favor a free market are speaking in a relative term.  In an absolutely free-market economy, all capital, goods, services, and money flow are unregulated by the government. There is simply no free market yet, given the degree of state intervention in even the most capitalist of countries. For example US government took an 80% stake in AIG in return for an 85 billion dollar investment to save the company. Recent news of Citi bank is being given a bail out package of 326 billion dollars and Jaguar’s requirement of 1 billion pound for sustaining economic meltdown are significant. Under pure capitalist theory, none of these actions should’ve been taken; the government should have stood by idly while the economy tanked. So how can a free market be free if it’s regulated?  The fall out of free market economy such as black Market, underground economy, Drug trade essentially justifies government’s intervention to remedy the situation and establishes the argument against free market as an impractical ideal that engenders vested wealthy interests. Experiments in absolute adherence to free market principles evince signal failures in Military, Road, Health Care, Civic Amenities, Education, R & D etc. Free- market economy is a fantasy – outside of the bounds of reality in a complex system with opposing interests and different distributions of wealth. Time and again world is realizing this fact is a harder way. Hence I align with those critics who are in favour of a planned economy  as advocated by socialism and who associate markets with greed  as the basis of capitalism. I believe it is inherently immoral. More over one practical objection is that free market economy does not take into account the externalities i.e. effects of transactions that affect third parties, such as the negative effects of Global Warming that brought world to Apocalypse in foreseeable future. I guess that in well-run industrial economies like Japan, Singapore and China, there is marriage between government and the private sector, each benefiting from the other. Any temporary prosperity on an extremely austere free market concept can crumble like a pack of cards, like it happened in USA.

Regarding Nationalisation and regulation.

 What does the US federal government taking control of financially crumbling mortgage holders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a bail out package of staggering 800 billion?  Why on the earth Fed and other regulators are coming into the picture particularly for some of those that got overextended with the subprime and other kind of mortgage debt? Nationalization occurs when full or partial control is taken of private financial institutions, usually to avert a crisis. Scandinavian nations successfully averted an economic meltdown through nationalization in the early 1990s, and in recent times. US government is taking similar actions. It looked at the global fallouts and how politically they will be viewed by the world powers. So they bailed out finance industries, but not agreeing so easily to the auto industry. these issues are interlinked with power, military, oil.

 Regarding mortgage financing

It was the proponents of Capitalism who supported advantage of loan facilities and low interest rates for houses to be owned by people at low income group. There was enormous marketing effort to dupe people into it.  Logic was simple. If one buys house, he will also buy complimentary household goods like furniture, Fans, AC, Cars etc. creating a demand pull in the economy. Banks also extended the moratorium on interest and principle up to 5 years to convince the borrowers. When crisis occurs, should we brand common people as “lazy bummers”? Similarly it is unfair to blame the common investors for lost speculative fortune when Stock Market is institutionalized by system as a socially and ethically valid means of income.

Regarding targeting CEOs

In our capitalist system, you’re free to earn what you can, and what the market will bear- this logic does not hold water since big companies are increasingly depending on public money for a bail out. Hence I support newest trend of shareholders in raising questions and putting pressure on boards and compensation committees to make sure compensation is fair but not excessive. The interesting News was that US Law Makers asked blunt questions to CEOs like Wagoner, Nardelli, Mulally of GM, Chrysler and Ford who came to the Capital Hill with a begging bowl for 25 Billion of Tax Payers money, when each one of them preferred to fly in their individual Private Jets, when as many as 24 non stop flights fly daily from Detroit to Washington. Lifestyle and salary should definitely be a valid question when companies are using public money. That is why companies are facing “say on pay” resolutions from shareholders. The board of directors should have taken this role, but instead they normally abdicate it. Most CEOs considers keeping board members happy as their primary duties. For example taking the board members on an all-expenses paid trip to a five-star international resort, allowing his compensation to spiral out of control, which is nothing but intelligent corruption and abuse of power.

Myth regarding the CEOs’ ‘sheer value-add’ in the corporate world.

For a company to become successful entails billions of variables, which are oftentimes beyond the ambit of human ability of one individual. Even with our full regard on Narayanmurthy’s ability, we must accept Infosis’s success was primarily on account of flattening effect of world by Internet revolution in 92.  Jerry Yang, co founder of Yahoo, considered to be a great CEO, had to step down amid mounting pressure from investors after he botched takeover talks with Microsoft Corp. and failed to broker an online advertising agreement with Google Inc. Many CEOs were rated highly for certain techno bubble, which turned out to be utterly divorced from any business purpose whatsoever. Of course there is positive effect too- it attracts lot of investment and accelerates the pace of innovation. The trophy cases of HP CEO with so many industry awards and accolades were crucified for her destructive reign of terror with “Silicon Valley greed.” Hence it is fundamentally wrong to empower one individual so much for the success and failure of an organization. In Japanese and Chinese model, system is ascribed more powerful than an individual.  Once CEOs become all-powerful, their executive staff is reluctant to challenge them. Instead, the natural tendency is for these dominant leaders to become cocooned from reality. They are told only what they want to hear and hear only what they want to be told. Sequestered from the rest of the company, they lose the pulse of the business eventually.

Regarding Capitalism vs. Socialism

By virtue of the extremely clever indoctrination, a spin-off of media advertising especially of US kind, our thought process is getting clouded driving us towards more personal interest, freedom and power than social responsibility. Do we really need large waves of money sloshing daily around the planet for benefit of only a few, waves often generated by speculation capable of dislocating economies? Do we need larger and larger corporations which concentrate economic power into fewer and fewer hands? When seen in this light, capitalism has a shadow side. Economy in its root sense means acquiring the basic material things we need to lead a human life: food, shelter, energy, etc. But this is something quite different than a quest for a so-called higher standard of living. This really is the unending quest for a higher level of consumption. Our material needs are finite. After a certain point we are simply embellishing them. Then we begin to distort them making them the carriers of our own disordered desires.  Recent news of bra and panty for men in Japan is the right example for such disorder. We need shelter but we don’t need 50,000 square feet trophy homes when billions of people can’t even afford a shanty. Now we are living in a time when we don’t even feel shame. We have become so much closeted within ourselves that even with the back up of enormous fortune, we feel unsafe with the slightest possibility of economic meltdown.  Capitalism propels us to become shameless consumers and run our lives according to the design of the contemporary social machine, which foreshadows world destruction, whereas our true nature favours a life closer to nature. If American Capitalism is a kind of religion with its own dogma, then its God is Money and its driving force is Greed.  The fall out of this ruthless system is obscenities of unemployment, homelessness and economic insecurity and hence is not sustainable in its present form. The whole system is designed to make fewer and fewer people richer and richer at the cost of resources of the multitude. It definitely operates below the level of consciousness and no longer works for us.  I understand one very simple thing – goods and services generated in an economy must be shared equitably in a population. Otherwise those who will be deprived will take resort to unethical or socially unacceptable means- theft, dacoity, terrorism, drug, killing, cheating, narrow politics and what not.   Recent examples of everyday terrorism, Piracy, Mao attacks, dark killing are the pointers to this fact.   

Even in USA people are facing dark side of capitalism when blue collar Americans have been losing jobs because of outsourcing and off shoring in the mask of progress for real intention of more profit.  What is the social damage? Skills for manufacturing a certain product developed over the years are getting lost in the society.  Capitalist countries use capitalist ideals as a matter of convenience.  When Government owns hospitals, libraries, transportation systems, utilities, army, Navy, Air Force, forests and national perks- yet, who would call these institutions examples of socialism?  Socialism means a government in which the people collectively own and democratically operate the industries and social services through an economic democracy by ending the waste, duplication and inefficiency of capitalist industries. Under capitalism the industries operate for one purpose – profit maximization. As per Capitalism profit is also a cost, cost of staying in the business. Under Socialism goods are produced for use and to satisfy the needs of all the people. Under this system everyone could live comfortably with no giant gaps between rich and poor. Is it not really humane? Just because a system is not strictly as per lower merits of human nature say greed, it should not be rejected. Socialism talks about higher sense of our human values and existence.  After Industrial resolution act 1956 in India, socialistic pattern of economy in India has produced wonderful developments in sectors till seventies. Hence we can infer that Socialistic system can produce wonderful results under certain conditions and social environment.  However I do agree classical form of Socialism may not take into account of the Individual brilliance and creative pursuit, which is probably its one of its weaknesses.

The New Model

Having said this, we should find out whether there can be a balance between the two systems and what kind of mechanism society should develop so that one can approximate the ideals of good life in his individual life and in the life of community of which he is a member. I feel it is possible to have our modern global economy while being socially, culturally & environmentally responsible at the same time. Society has go through a difficult paradigm shift in personal values, which will instill a degree of awareness in our mind as opposed to the blind, materialistic way we are living.

I have thought of one model that will engineer a balanced global society that is globally conscious, active and sustainable. Way out is to lead humanity by the collective wisdom of most talented people in a society or country- a kind of meritocracy.  Mechanism to harness collective wisdom will be -say for any policy and contentious issue, opinions of most eminent people of the country will be  collected by a network of computers and looking into the wisdom of eminent people who are most knowledgeable on the subject under consideration, decision can be made in real time. Their services can be hired at a cost; they can be selected based on the track record etc. Decisions can be taken in National forum if discussion and debate are warranted. Experiments, research and its implications can be interpreted by eminent people only and that is why collective wisdom as instrumentality for decision support system may be a model worth trying for. One may argue country does not need only dry knowledge culled from books. There must be leaders to make certain things happen. Yes leaders are required. But a leader can be chosen by collective wisdom, which should be supremely empowered. A leader will resort to collective wisdom for at least for major decision. The collective wisdom is likely to veer country to right direction. Humanity has to go though different experiments and whatever evolved as better model will be accepted and perfected in course of time. We should never be blind to state that capitalism or the socialism is the right system with dogmatic finality.

The author is a senior executive in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and lives in Kolkata with his wife and daughter. He is a Mechanical Engineer with Masters degree in Business management and has 22 years’ of experience in cutting edge technolgies in different companies in India and abroad.

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Posted on February 21, 2011 by , Reply

The Last Hope for America is a Home Based Business!

Are you sitting there at your desk, in your cubicle imagining what it would be like to have the time and financial freedom to do exactly what you want when you want to? Well, you are not alone. Most people are thinking the exact same thing as they schlep through their day. The question is HOW to actually make this dream happen?

The answer for many people is by working at home with their own home-based business. There are several things to consider. Say you made the decision you would like a home-based business. Great, this is the first step. Next you have to figure out what kind of business you want, and there is no shortage of opportunities out there! It is very important you get clear on what you want out of a business and find an opportunity that matches with what you want and can get excited about. It’s pretty common sense, but if you are not passionate about what you are doing or promoting, your chances of success are not very good.

Next, it is important to do your research on the opportunities you are considering. The reality is that most of what you see are scams. There are so many good opportunities as well, but for someone who is just starting out in the home-based business journey, they have to be especially careful. Find leaders and mentors who have achieved the level of success you are looking to achieve, and have them train you. Everyone who has ever made it big in anything always had a coach or someone beyond where they were to help them along the way. I don’t care what you are considering, if it is an area that you don’t know much about and want to improve in, it is essential you work with people who are successful in this area to show you the ropes.

The Home-based business industry is exploding and is just going to get hotter and hotter. More and more people are wanting to have the financial freedom and control of their own time that working from home brings. According to a recent article in Forbes Magazine, in the next 3-5 years, there will be 79 Million Americans looking to start a business…imagine that! That’s a revolution if I ever heard of one! We are seeing that we have to take control of our own financial futures in order to live the lives of freedom we know we deserve!

Here is the bottom line: 1. Find a real opportunity with a rock solid foundation for long-term success. 2. Find some mentors and leaders who have achieved the level of success you want in your life and can show you step-by-step what to do. I guarantee you if you try and figure it out on your own it will take you so much longer, and your chances of success are pretty slim. 3. Be excited and passionate about what you are doing, whatever it is, because in the moments when it gets tough and things seem impossible, it will be this excitement and vision that will get you through. 4. Have FUN! Yes, it is going to be some work on your part, but it does not have to be a huge struggle…you are building your life the way you want it to be, and if that is not fun, then you are doing something wrong!

Job security is a total joke. Having a job is actually MORE risky than being an entrepreneur. We are waking up to the reality that many of our jobs are not going to be around much longer. We are seeing that our companies and our government is not going to take care of all of our needs, like we once thought. Many of us are waking up to the reality that we have to take charge of our own economic future, because our companies or our government is not going to take care of us. We will do best by taking care of ourselves! How? By becoming an entrepreneur and starting our own home-based business! This is the major trend of where we are headed anyway, the age of the entrepreneur!

There are many things to consider when looking for an opportunity. Of course, you can always create your own, but if you are like most people, you want to find an existing opportunity that already has some momentum. Do your due diligence and take your time to research the opportunity you are looking at, because there are a lot of scams out there. It is important you find something that you can get passionate about as well as finding mentors and leaders who have achieved what you want to achieve and can show you step-by-step how to accomplish your goals.

By taking the steps to become an entrepreneur, you are taking charge of your life and creating your financial future. Your results are dependent upon you and your productivity. There will be no boss breathing down your neck to get stuff done. You are the one who is in control of your schedule and have complete control of every aspect of your business. This is a very exciting process, and can be a transition for some people, because many of us are so conditioned with a job mentality…we are conditioned to wait for someone tell us what to do. Making this transition into becoming a self-sufficient entrepreneur can take time, but is essential to thrive in our changing economy and world.

If you haven’t already, I would strongly encourage you to find a home-based business that works for who you are and what you want out of life. If you are working full-time, find one you can do part time in your home hours. There are so many benefits of having a home-based business that you don’t have as an employee. Specifically I am referring tax structures, income potential of being a business owner vs. an employee, control of your own time, being your own boss…the list is endless!

GO FOR IT!

Josh Liteky is an entrepreneur, lifestyle design consultant, writer, and success coach who focuses on assisting people live lives of complete finanicial and health freedom. Visit his websites at http://www.youramazinglife.net and http://www.createyourfreedom.com

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Posted on February 19, 2011 by , Reply

Roth-Ira, Making Your First Million Dollars

It boggles my mind how many people out there have no idea what a Roth-Ira is. They simply assume the only tax efficient way to invest is through company sponsored 401k plans. Oh how people are wrong! Roth-Ira’s are the bread and butter of any wise investment plan. It is the only investment vehicle where you invest post-tax dollars and will never be taxed again on the money you initially put in or future earnings.

Now, to make this clear, let me back up. When I say a RI is an “investment vehicle,” I’m saying that’s it’s a method for holding other investments. An Ira by itself is not an investment. One would utilize a Roth-Ira for a wide variety of investment choices. It’s one awesome investment tool!

Let’s get down to the basics:

-A RI is an investment vehicle that holds investments within it. It’s a vehicle for other investments. Think of a Roth-Ira like a car. The passengers within the car would then be your investments like CD’s and stocks. A Roth-Ira is only an account that holds investments within it. You can invest in a wide range of investment choices including: stocks, mutual funds, CDs, money market funds, index funds, and ETF’s.

-It can be opened virtually anywhere. Banks, online brokers, mutual fund companies, pretty much anywhere you look you can open a Roth. For banks, I recommend a small scale credit union in your local area. For discount brokers, I recommend the Vanguard Group. And for mutual fund companies, I recommend the Vanguard Group again haha. Yes, Vanguard is pretty much “baller status.” They have the lowest fees by fast and have the widest range of fund options out there. Just do yourself a favor and start investing through Vanguard. They truly are on your side.

-You get your choice of investments to place within the Roth. This is where the beauty is! You can have literally ANY type of investment in your Roth-Ira account. If you are conservative, I recommend CD’s though your local credit union. If you’re a little riskier like me, I recommend index/mutual funds though a discount broker. And if you’re seeking adrenaline, you can purchase individual stocks through a broker. Isn’t freedom amazing?

-RI contributions are post-tax dollars, so you never pay tax on your investments ever again! People get this confused all the time. A Roth is the only investment vehicle that take your post-tax money, invest it, and is never taxed again. Yes, you heard me right. Even your capital gains are never taxed. This means your money grows tax-free indefinitely, so start investing TODAY.

-You can withdraw your contributions, penalty and tax free. This really is an awesome benefit to a Roth-Ira. It’s a peace of mind for me when money gets tight. I almost see it as a backup emergency fund. Although I have an official emergency fund, it’s nice knowing that I can take out money from my Roth-Ira tax-free unlike 401k plans which you can never touch. I want to make it clear though, although you can take out your contributions, you may not touch the interest made.

-Catch up contributions available. This is an added benefit for older investors. If you;’re age 50 or older, you may contribute an extra ,000 to your Roth-Ira account. The federal government understand that one may not have invested in their younger years so they provide a way to “catch up.”

-Relatively high income limits. Unless you make an obscene amount of money, thee accounts are great for millions of American investors. The government has set income caps for investors, preventing high earners from tax sheltering their money. As a single, you can contribute to your Roth-Ira if your income does not exceed 2,000. If you’re married, your household’s income cap is 9,000. It is highly improbable that you will ever make this much, so the average American does not need to worry. If you were making that much money in the first place, who needs a RI anyways right?!

-Ability to open multiple Roth-Ira accounts at multiple locations. Although the maximum you can invest to a Roth-Ira is ,000 for 2011, you can have multiple accounts at various institutions. However, this is not wise. It can get complicated and messy when it doesn’t have to be. Also you run the risk of exceeding your yearly contribution cap. And this means huge tax implications! So keep things simple and open all your accounts in a single location such as a local bank or online broker like TradeKing.

-Low or no management cost. This is a huge selling point for a Roth-Ira. They have little to no management and upkeep fees. Many brokers and banks have a minimal annual fee on an account but many waive this. And if you keep it relatively low cost with index/mutual funds, you’re looking at fees ranging from.01-1%, depending on what you choose. For example, I like to stay widely diversified, so I hold a “fund of funds” in my Roth-Ira. It’s the Vanguard 2050 Target retirement fund. It has a fee of.19%, which is negligible to me. I recommend you search out the lowest fees possible in your quest for Roth-Ira funds.

Now, where to open a RI account?

You have a myriad of investment choices. You literally can open one almost anywhere. It all comes down to what investments you want to make.

If you’re looking for strictly conservative investments like CD’s, I would say just walk down to your local credit union and open an account with them.

If you’re looking for mutual funds, ETF’s, and index funds, I would recommend Vanguard. I use them for the majority of my retirement accounts. They have the lowest management fees out of anyone I know. Also, ETF trading is FREE with Vanguard. I’m an advocate for ETF investing vs. individual stocks picking, which I also call gambling haha. There’s no such thing as easy, quick money. Investing for the long haul is the only way to do it!

If stocks is your game, go with TradeKing. They are rated one of the top three online discount brokers. I have a personal “play money” account with them. They have low trading fees (.95) and no hidden fees. Their trading platform is great and they have a wide variety of investments including stocks, mutual funds, bonds, real estate funds and many more.

Well, that concludes my introduction to Roth accounts. I hope it was informative and useful for you. This is the easiest way to make your first million and take a giant leap toward securing your financial future. Take this knowledge, go out and start investing in the best financial vehicle out there, a R-A!

-JE

 

www.freemoneywisdom.com

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Posted on February 15, 2011 by , Reply

US Income Tax is Illegal, IRS is Illegal

May God show us all the straight path, Ameen! The Miracle of the Holy Quran – Dr. Husain Sattar (graduate from University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, MashaAllah, Alhamdulillah) www.sacredlearning.org Science Islam www.scienceislam.com One of the Miracles of the Quran…
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Posted on February 13, 2011 by , 32 comments

No Longer The Land Of The Free

Sometimes things in life change so slowly that you do not realize how things have actually changed significantly until you sit back and reflect on where you are relative to where you were. The other day, while sitting at a spring training baseball game, I listened to the singing of the national anthem which of course includes the words, “land of the free.” I realized how far we have allowed the political class to take us away from that concept, “the land of the free.” Reflect for a moment on the following conditions and how those conditions deny us the freedom we may have had at one point in the past:

You cannot be free if all levels of government take about 40% of your annual income in order to support itself and perpetuate itself. According to the Tax Foundation, the average American household worked until May 29 in 2009 in order cover all of the political class’s spending including covering the deficit spending by the Federal government. According to the Tax Foundation, the average American household now sends more money to the political class in taxes than it spends on clothing, food, and housing combined. By taking 40% of our income every year, the government denies and restricts us the freedom of choice to send our kids to a better school, support a charity as we would like, start a small business, buy a better home, or just to do anything we want with the money we earned. If you do not have financial freedom, due to excessive taxation, you are not free.
You cannot be free if the political class gerrymanders Congressional districts in order to guarantee that incumbents and the incumbent party is almost impossible to defeat. According to retiring Senator Evan Bayh, he estimates that about 15 Congressional districts, out of 435, are truly competitive. Republican gerrymandered districts will almost always elect a Republican Congressman or woman and Democratic gerrymandered districts will almost always elect a Democratic Congressman or woman. Thus, if you are a Democrat living in a Republican district, your vote will almost always be useless since you have been lumped into a district configured to be overwhelmingly Republican, and the same for a Republican living in a Democratic district. If you vote is useless, you are not free.
You cannot be free if the political class decides when and if your votes in the primary elections are to be counted. In 2008, the Democrats’ leadership decided that Florida votes for the Democratic nominee for President would not count since the Florida Democrats had the audacity to move up their primary date in order to be relevant. If the political class can cut you out of the election process because of scheduling, you do not have a true voice in electing the country’s leaders. If the political class can decide if and when your vote counts, you are not free.
You cannot be free if the political class takes hard earned taxpayer money and constantly shovels it out towards businesses, unions, and lobbyists in exchange or reciprical donations to their re-election campaigns. The recent 2010 budget included over 11,000 earmarks, each representing the sale of freedom for donations. If business, union, and lobbyist interest override individual Americans’ desires, you are not free.
You cannot be free if, at the end of the primary season, party leaders can override the wishes of individual Americans who voted in the primaries and replace their choice for Presidential candidate. The Democratic party has super delegates at their Presidential conventions, special delegates that can override the wishes of all those who thought they had a voice in electing their leaders. If the results your voting depends on the ultimate and final approval of a small cadre or politburo of politicians, who can override your choice, you are not free.
You cannot be free if the government can seize your home and property under eminent domain and turn that property over to private interests for development. In the Supreme Court ruling in Kelo vs. New London, the local political class was allowed to seize homeowners’ property, for a supposedly fair market place, in order to have private developers remake the area, versus the traditional reasons for eminent domain (schools, roads, bridges). Homeowners had to move against their will, giving up their land and homes. Ironically, the private development project was a flop so that the local political class got nothing for its abuse of eminent domain. If the government can take your property in the name of private development/public good, you are not free.
You cannot be free if the government can access your phone records, Internet histories, library activity, etc. The Patriot Act was ramrodded through after 9-11 and encouraged the government security apparatuses to be more aggressive and freedom threatening in the name of homeland security. If the Patriot Act and its potential for abuse is in effect, you are not free.
You cannot be free if the government denies the concept of freedom to others outside of the United States. Whether it is torturing prisoners under its control, denying due process to those same prisoners, instituting trade embargoes against long ago enemies (e.g. Cuba), etc., egregious behavior directed against non-Americans makes it easier for the political class to eventually, and subtly, direct that same behavior against Americans. If lack of due process and torture can be potentially directed at you, you cannot be free.
You cannot be free if those in the political class hold you and the rest of America in contempt. When Americans used their freedom of speech guarantee and spoke up to argue against the current atrocity called health care reform, Speaker Of The House Nancy Pelosi called them un-American. At the opening of the new visitors center in D.C. a center paid for with American taxpayer money, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared that Americans visiting D.C. in the summer physically smelled. When incumbent Congress people accept campaign donations from companies, unions, and lobbyists that do not even do business in their state or Congressional district, they are more likely to reward those out of district and out of state donors than work for the good of their constituents. If your leaders do not respect you and view your interests with contempt, you are not free.

It gets depressing when you take a really hard look at where freedom and liberty stand in this country today. We have allowed the political class to slowly but steadily erode our freedom that is recognized only as we view the deterioration over time. This deterioration is what the fifty steps in “love My Country, Loathe My Government” attempts to redress. We need to act now before the political class makes a total sham out of “land of the free.”

Sometimes things in life change so slowly that you do not realize how things have actually changed significantly until you sit back and reflect on where you are relative to where you were. The other day, while sitting at a spring training baseball game, I listened to the singing of the national anthem which of course includes the words, “land of the free.” I realized how far we have allowed the political class to take us away from that concept, “the land of the free.” Reflect for a moment on the following conditions and how those conditions deny us the freedom we may have had at one point in the past:

You cannot be free if all levels of government take about 40% of your annual income in order to support itself and perpetuate itself. According to the Tax Foundation, the average American household worked until May 29 in 2009 in order cover all of the political class’s spending including covering the deficit spending by the Federal government. According to the Tax Foundation, the average American household now sends more money to the political class in taxes than it spends on clothing, food, and housing combined. By taking 40% of our income every year, the government denies and restricts us the freedom of choice to send our kids to a better school, support a charity as we would like, start a small business, buy a better home, or just to do anything we want with the money we earned. If you do not have financial freedom, due to excessive taxation, you are not free.
You cannot be free if the political class gerrymanders Congressional districts in order to guarantee that incumbents and the incumbent party is almost impossible to defeat. According to retiring Senator Evan Bayh, he estimates that about 15 Congressional districts, out of 435, are truly competitive. Republican gerrymandered districts will almost always elect a Republican Congressman or woman and Democratic gerrymandered districts will almost always elect a Democratic Congressman or woman. Thus, if you are a Democrat living in a Republican district, your vote will almost always be useless since you have been lumped into a district configured to be overwhelmingly Republican, and the same for a Republican living in a Democratic district. If you vote is useless, you are not free.
You cannot be free if the political class decides when and if your votes in the primary elections are to be counted. In 2008, the Democrats’ leadership decided that Florida votes for the Democratic nominee for President would not count since the Florida Democrats had the audacity to move up their primary date in order to be relevant. If the political class can cut you out of the election process because of scheduling, you do not have a true voice in electing the country’s leaders. If the political class can decide if and when your vote counts, you are not free.
You cannot be free if the political class takes hard earned taxpayer money and constantly shovels it out towards businesses, unions, and lobbyists in exchange or reciprical donations to their re-election campaigns. The recent 2010 budget included over 11,000 earmarks, each representing the sale of freedom for donations. If business, union, and lobbyist interest override individual Americans’ desires, you are not free.
You cannot be free if, at the end of the primary season, party leaders can override the wishes of individual Americans who voted in the primaries and replace their choice for Presidential candidate. The Democratic party has super delegates at their Presidential conventions, special delegates that can override the wishes of all those who thought they had a voice in electing their leaders. If the results your voting depends on the ultimate and final approval of a small cadre or politburo of politicians, who can override your choice, you are not free.
You cannot be free if the government can seize your home and property under eminent domain and turn that property over to private interests for development. In the Supreme Court ruling in Kelo vs. New London, the local political class was allowed to seize homeowners’ property, for a supposedly fair market place, in order to have private developers remake the area, versus the traditional reasons for eminent domain (schools, roads, bridges). Homeowners had to move against their will, giving up their land and homes. Ironically, the private development project was a flop so that the local political class got nothing for its abuse of eminent domain. If the government can take your property in the name of private development/public good, you are not free.
You cannot be free if the government can access your phone records, Internet histories, library activity, etc. The Patriot Act was ramrodded through after 9-11 and encouraged the government security apparatuses to be more aggressive and freedom threatening in the name of homeland security. If the Patriot Act and its potential for abuse is in effect, you are not free.
You cannot be free if the government denies the concept of freedom to others outside of the United States. Whether it is torturing prisoners under its control, denying due process to those same prisoners, instituting trade embargoes against long ago enemies (e.g. Cuba), etc., egregious behavior directed against non-Americans makes it easier for the political class to eventually, and subtly, direct that same behavior against Americans. If lack of due process and torture can be potentially directed at you, you cannot be free.
You cannot be free if those in the political class hold you and the rest of America in contempt. When Americans used their freedom of speech guarantee and spoke up to argue against the current atrocity called health care reform, Speaker Of The House Nancy Pelosi called them un-American. At the opening of the new visitors center in D.C. a center paid for with American taxpayer money, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared that Americans visiting D.C. in the summer physically smelled. When incumbent Congress people accept campaign donations from companies, unions, and lobbyists that do not even do business in their state or Congressional district, they are more likely to reward those out of district and out of state donors than work for the good of their constituents. If your leaders do not respect you and view your interests with contempt, you are not free.

It gets depressing when you take a really hard look at where freedom and liberty stand in this country today. We have allowed the political class to slowly but steadily erode our freedom that is recognized only as we view the deterioration over time. This deterioration is what the fifty steps in “Love My Country, Loathe My Government” attempts to redress. We need to act now before the political class makes a total sham out of “land of the free.”

Our new Book, “Love My Country, Loathe My Government – Fifty First Steps To restoring Our Freedom and Destroying the American Political Class” is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Article from articlesbase.com

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Posted on February 11, 2011 by , Reply

Our Troubling Tax System

This video was produced by Caleb Brown ( www.twitter.com ) and Austin Bragg ( www.twitter.com ). The US tax code gets more complex every year. It violates civil liberties and, left unchanged, will leave the United States at a powerful competitive disadvantage in years to come. Chris Edwards, Director of Tax Policy Studies, Senior Fellow Daniel J. Mitchell and Director of Information Policy Studies Jim Harper dissect the troubling aspects of our tax system.

Posted on February 9, 2011 by , 25 comments

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Lack of creativity to be blamed for our poor entrepreneurial spirit?

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