MONEY: free copy of ETR’s Unscrew Yourself e-book

Monday, August 6, 2007

http://www.web-purchases.com/ECC/EECCH604/landing.html?o=1313749&u=6531875&l=826579

From the Early To Rise newsletter

***Begin Quote***

Untangle yourself from all of life’s most perplexing situations, in business, your personal life, or on the road, every time. Just pick up your free copy of ETR’s Unscrew Yourself e-book and get 223 pages of our most practical insider information.

***End Quote***

like “free”. I have no idea if it’s good. But the ETR and its writers always seem to have good advice. And, it’s free.

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MONEY: Social Security: Does it pay to delay? (Part2 — continued)

Monday, August 6, 2007

If you missed Part 1, go here: http://tinyurl.com/yrl957

It would NOT make a lot of sense to dive right into Part2!

*******************************

Here’s Vanguard’s table, where they want to urge you to delay taking benefits until you capture the higher benefit. But it ignores how inflation rots your money!

*** begin quote ***

If you begin collecting Social Security benefits at And your monthly benefit* is By age 75, you will have received By age 80, you will have received By age 85, you will have received By age 90, you will have received
Age 62 $1,200 $187,200 $259,200 $331,200 $403,200
Age 66 $1,600 $172,800 $268,800 $364,800 $460,800
Age 70 $2,200 $132,000 $264,000 $396,000 $528,000

*** end quote ***

Able immediately collects 1200 at 62
Baker waits 3 years and collects 1600 at 65
Charlie waits 8 years and collects 2200 at 70

We need to consider that they die in each year until age 90, or elapsed time of 28 years. Then come up with what’s the average impact on their wealth.

We can assume that they will “save” it since premise #1 is if the need it then they would take it and use it.

If we assume that investment returns will sort of match inflation, then we can ignore that factor.

Able at age 62 gets his first check for 1200. Those dollars are different in purchasing power than Charlie’s first check for 2200 eight years later. So we have to do all calculations in constant dollars assuming 5% inflation.

So, in year one, a dollar received is worth 95 cents. In year 30, that dollar is worth 0.226 in constant dollars.

(See spread sheet below as a I run the numbers!)

Wow!!

Stunning as it may sound, in constant dollars, Able is the clear winner. This says that regardless of when they actually die, Able is always a winner.

It highlights another question. What about taxes? Factoring taxes, say 25% on the ½ of ssi payment is that enough to overcome Able’s head start in collecting?

Your comments?

====
Year Discount Able Baker Charlie
1 1.000 14400
2 0.950 13680 28080 0 0
3 0.903 12346 40426 18240 0
4 0.857 10585 18240 51012 33879 0
5 0.815 8622 15639 59633 46616 0
6 0.774 6671 12738 66305 56472 0
7 0.735 4904 9856 71209 63718 0
8 0.698 3425 7245 18436 74634 68777 18436
9 0.663 2272 5060 12231 76906 72134 30667
10 0.630 1432 3357 7709 78337 74249 38376
11 0.599 857 2116 4615 79195 75516 42991
12 0.569 488 1267 2625 79683 76236 45616
13 0.540 264 720 1419 79946 76626 47035
14 0.513 135 389 728 80081 76826 47763
15 0.488 66 200 355 80147 76923 48118
16 0.463 31 97 165 80178 76968 48283
17 0.440 13 45 72 80191 76988 48355
18 0.418 6 20 30 80197 76996 48385
19 0.397 2 8 12 80199 77000 48397
20 0.377 1 3 5 80200 77001 48402
21 0.358 0 1 2 80200 77001 48403
22 0.341 0 0 1 80200 77001 48404
23 0.324 0 0 0 80200 77002 48404
24 0.307 0 0 0 80200 77002 48404
25 0.292 0 0 0 80200 77002 48404
26 0.277 0 0 0 80200 77002 48404
27 0.264 0 0 0 80200 77002 48404
28 0.250 0 0 0 80200 77002 48404
29 0.238 0 0 0 80200 77002 48404
30 0.226 0 0 0 80200 77002 48404

80200 77002 48404
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Year Discount Able Baker Charlie      

TECH SERVICE: PLAXO3 first impressions not very good!

Monday, August 6, 2007

(1) It has lost my connections that if I switch to Plaxo2 are there all fine.

(2) It forces me to go to the connections screen to switch back to Plaxo2

(3) The switch from 3 to 2 seems to take forever.

(4) An email to get some support for a paid account doesn’t get answered

(5) It seems to be forcing me to invest time with a new product that I didn’t volunteer to do. I have other things I’d rather be doing than testing their crap!

imho

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INTERESTING: Cellphone carrier as a granfalloon

Sunday, August 5, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/business/04network.html?ex=1343880000&en=c914b75c2b6c2215&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

What’s Good for a Business Can Be Hard on Friends
Doug McSchooler for The New York Times
By ANGEL JENNINGS
Published: August 4, 2007

***Begin Quote***

But what was set up as a purely business strategy is having an unintentional social effect. It is dividing the people who share informal bonds and bringing together those who have formal networks of cellphone “friends.”

***End Quote***

Not that anyone cares, but I’m on Verizon. :-)

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MONEY:Social Security: Does it pay to delay?

Sunday, August 5, 2007

http://www.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/VanguardViewsArticle?
ArticleJSP=/freshness/News_and_Views/
news_ALL_socialsecurity_07232007_ALL.jsp&
email=returnarticle&oeaut=CtTBZmlVcb

Social Security: Does it pay to delay?
July 23, 2007

I thought you might be interested in this information I found on Vanguard.com®.

***Begin Quote***

The first members of the baby boom generation are about to reach another milestone. People born in 1946—the beginning of the boom—will turn 62 next year, making them eligible for early retirement benefits from Social Security.
For more information

Having paid into the federal program for decades, many baby boomers will find the prospect of tapping their benefits appealing. But this may be a situation that calls for delayed gratification.

Taking Social Security at age 62 involves a significant trade-off: In exchange for getting your payments before “full retirement age,” you’ll see your benefits permanently reduced.

***End Quote***

Social Security Insurance — it’s none of those things — is such a scam.

The article correctly cites to delay if you can and your guesstimate of your life expectancy.

The article ignores that: the congresscritters can change the game at any time (like the did when they made it taxable); the dollar is not a store of value (hence the number that they cite are devalued by inflation); and the catastrophic effect of your death on your wealth (guessing wrong about you life expectancy deprives your heirs for the fruit of your labor).

The article begs the question of why anyone would be in a scam that provides such a significant negative return. It’s estimated to be a negative 2% per year.

It also fails to factor the TEOTWAWKI arguments that might end the scam. Social Security Insurance is a Ponzi scam that is racist, intergenerational war, unconstitutional, and unsustainable. It transfers money from poor minority men to rich white women. It pits the old against the young by saddling them with the bills later. No where in the Constitution is the gooferement empowered to do all these things. And, like most Ponzi schemes, it collapses when it runs out of suckers.

So, my take is that you should cash out as soon as you can. Too many unavoidable risks. A dollar now invested in gold might be worth far more than an empty promise later.

imho

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update: There’s a Part 2 here: http://tinyurl.com/ypamjp- that’s where the surprise is.

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RANT: Gambling with our lives

Sunday, August 5, 2007

http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/08/gambling_with_our_lives.html

August 04, 2007
Gambling with our lives
By Bob Weir

*** begin quote ***

Although the husband survived, his family perished in the fire. The demented murderers, Joshua Komisarjevsky, 26 and Steven Hayes, 44, were apprehended after they crashed their getaway vehicle, the Petits’ car, into three police cruisers. They are each being held on $15 million bond.

This is another example of the lack of security we have in a justice system with no teeth. Already, correction officials have taken to the airwaves to say it’s not the fault of prosecutors or judges because there is not enough room in our prisons, hence, non-violent offenders often do little time. Are you as tired as I am of hearing that the dregs of society must be put back on the street because there are no vacancies at the justice motel? Well, how many times does a person have to be arrested before it becomes clear that he is a tragedy waiting to occur? Burglary is a serious felony, yet these 2 home-invaders, turned rapist-murderers, were nabbed more than 20 times each, yet, those who are paid to keep us safe, didn’t see them as enough of a threat to hold onto them.

*** end quote ***

I guess if we stopped the phony “war on drugs” and pardoned all non-violent drug offenders, then the gooferment could keep the violent thugs in jail where they belong.

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TECH SERVICE: Store Your Files Online

Sunday, August 5, 2007

http://franticindustries.com/blog/2007/07/12/5-simple-ways-to-store-your-files-online/

5 Simple Ways to Store Your Files Online
Published by Stan Schroeder
July 12th, 2007

*** begin quote ***

When it comes to online backup of your data, there’s probably more options than in any other web 2.0 space

DropBoks

DropBoks is the king of simplicity. Open the page and you’ll immediately know what to do, as the whole service consists of an upload form and a file listing. Your account has 1 GB of storage space, and individual files can be max. 50 MB in size. Another nice thing about DropBoks is that it’s not only free, it also has no ads whatsoever – it’s fully donation-supported.

*** end quote ***

Why? Security? Simplicity?

Have to think more about this.

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TEST: Google video

Sunday, August 5, 2007

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-466210540567002553

Money, Banking and the Federal Reserve

41 min 25 sec – Jun 1, 1996
Average rating:   (735 ratings)
Description: Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson understood “The Monster”. But to most Americans today, Federal Reserve is just a name on the dollar bill. They have no idea of what the central bank does to the economy, or to their own economic lives; of how and why it was founded and operates; or of the sound money and banking that could end the statism, inflation, and business cycles that the Fed generates. Dedicated to Murray N. Rothbard, steeped in American history and Austrian economics, and featuring Ron Paul, Joseph Salerno, Hans Hoppe, and Lew Rockwell, this extraordinary new film is the clearest, most compelling explanation ever offered of the Fed, and why curbing it must be our first priority. Alan Greenspan is not, we’re told, happy about this 42-minute blockbuster. Watch it, and you’ll understand why. This is economics and history as they are meant to be: fascinating, informative, and motivating. This movie could change America.


PRODUCTIVITY: ready for self-employment — you ARE self employed — even if you don’t know it

Sunday, August 5, 2007

http://www.making-ripples.com/2007/08/are-you-ready-f.html

Aug 04, 2007
Are you ready for self-employment?

***Begin Quote***

One of the first things you discover when you shift from being an employee to being self-employed, is that your time is no longer structured. All of the reminders and nudges you used to get from your boss and co-workers now come from your own mind as it races to keep track of the obligations you have inadvertently stacked up for yourself.

***End Quote***

I’d make the observation that even if you are “working for the man”, as our Japanese friends call it “salaryman”, in today’s economy, you are “working for yourself”. While it may not look like it, you are. You have to be burning the candle at five ends, just as if you were working for yourself.

Whether you are satisfying a Customer in your own business, or you are satisfying a Colleague in someone else’s, it’s really just semantics. You need to be:

  • delivering value to Customers or Colleagues;
  • publicizing what you’ve accomplished without being a blowhard;
  • anticipating your current Customer’s needs;
  • maintaining your personal productivity in your “guild”;
  • preparing for any shift or change in your “guild”; and
  • managing ruthlessly your personal finances.

Let’s dive into the weeds, just a tad.

  1. You retain value for yourself, regardless of whose business it is, by unleashing value in far bigger multiples that what you “cost”.
  2. You must ensure that your “Customers” understand the value you create. And, you have to do it with panache.
  3. You have to anticipate what your “Customers” need, want, and will want. In some respects, it’s hard because your Customers may not know what they need or appreciate you “looking out” for them.
  4. You have to be continually improving your skill set. Last year’s records become today’s standards.
  5. You can be achieving and anticipating, but if your guild shifts, you can’t allow yourself to be made obsolete. CICS systems programmers who missed the memo about Client Server computing. Blacksmiths have to shift to be car mechanics.
  6. You are only assured of the last check you cashed. Your “burn rate” must not exceed your “earn rate”. Personally, my AT&T golden handshake became a decade later my seed money for my own business. Ruthlessly, you must have a cash reserve appropriate for how long it will take you to shift from “burning” to “earning”.

So, imho, it really doesn’t matter if your in your own biz, or not. Regardless if you know it or not, you are.

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LIBERTY: How does a New Jersian “vote” for Ron Paul?

Saturday, August 4, 2007

https://www.ronpaul2008.com/donate/

Since New Jersey is a solidly Democratic state, it frustrating not to be able to add to the momentum. By the time, primary time comes the issue will be decided. And, in any event, the likelyhood of out voting all the socialists here is next to nil.

So what can a NuJerzeeeian to do?

(1) Put my money where my mouth is. So, I’m making monthly contributions. Nag everyone I know to support Ron Paul by doing the same thing.

(2) Point out the good things that Ron Paul stands for and his track record.

(3) Vote up the Ron Paul message on all the various sites.

Miss anything?

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