Reinke Faces Life

ADVISING A RELATIVE ABOUT ESTATES

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The estate attorney probably will get paid by the hour so it pays to have your thinking done before the meter starts ticking off hundred dollar bills.

You each {Husband and Wife} need: a will, durable a power of attorney, a health care proxy, and advanced directive — or whatever the local equivalent in your jurisdiction. It’s typical — but not required to kriss kross as husband and wife.

(When it comes to pulling the plug on you sometimes it’s a duty best delegated to friend rather than a spouse.)

What you need to worry about is common disaster and incapacity. (I’m real good at worrying about stuff that can’t happen.)

You need a primary and an alternative guardian for the children.

You need a primary and an alternative executor for the estate.

They probably should be FOUR different people. (The children and the estate may have different fiduciary interests.

(The estate lawyer may ask for a custodian for all the children en masse, and a guardian for each individual child. Have some extra names in your pocket. See each child has a unique fiduciary interest.)

Common disaster means what happens if you both go down in the plane together. What happens!

Incapacity means that one of you can’t speak for yourself and the other can’t either or has died.

(Pushing camels through needles, imagining pink elephants, and envisioning zebras that have swapped black and white stripes is required in estate and insurance planning. Like at real estate closing they define for insurance purposes at exactly what TIME the transfer takes effect. That’s so when the building burns down there’s no squabbling whose building it was when it burned.)

Now for the hard stuff!!

You need to create a binder of all your assets. Even stuff that doesn’t look like an asset.

All deeds, policies, and account information. Anyone discharged form the military needs their dd214s and such docs.

Past five years of tax returns.

You should also create a family tree identifying all relatives / in laws, with name – addresses – phone numbers – email – birthdate (Date of Death if applicable) (Date of Marriage if applicable) (Date of Divorce if applicable).

Remember if he has to stop and ask a question, you’re paying for it. Since we know his staff will do all the work filling in forms, try to have everything done in advance and indexed.

The last thing to decide is who gets your estate (i.e., the children) and when they can get it.

P.S.: Don’t forget a large bequest for me!

p. p. s.: In Estate Planning, try never to leave large amounts of money to people who are the same age or older. It just gives the tax man a double bite. (i.e., I leave money to my Mom. The tax guy gets a bit when I die and when she dies.) You can leave a “lifetime interest in trust” for the older persons benefit if they need it with the remains to a younger person and avoid the double bite.

Hope this helps. Don’t hesitate to ask questions. I can tell you the mistakes I made and I seen made. :-)

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/016014.html

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Congressman Paul, I think you have questions and concerns about the bonanza in the hedge fund industry. Do you?

Mr. Paul: Yes. I think this is not a consequence of free markets. What’s happening is, there’s transfer of wealth from the poor and the middle class to the wealthy.

Mr. Paul: This comes about because of the monetary system that we have. When you inflate a currency or destroy a currency, the middle class gets wiped out.

So the people who get to use the money first which is created by the Federal Reserve system benefit. So the money gravitates to the banks and to Wall Street.

That’s why you have more billionaires than ever before. Today, this country is in the middle of a recession for a lot of people. Michigan knows about it. Poor people know about it. The middle class knows about it. Wall Street doesn’t know about it. Washington, D.C., doesn’t know about it.

But it’s because of the monetary system and the excessive spending. As long as we live beyond our means we are destined to live beneath our means.

And we have lived beyond our means because we are financing a foreign policy that is so extravagant and beyond what we can control, as well as the spending here at home.

And we’re depending on the creation of money out of thin air, which is nothing more than debasement of the currency. It’s counterfeit. And it is a natural, predictable consequence that you’re going to have people benefit from it and other people suffer.

Mr. Paul: So, if you want a healthy economy, you have to study monetary theory and figure out why it is that we’re suffering. And everybody doesn’t suffer equally, or this wouldn’t be so bad.

It’s always the poor people — those who are on retired incomes — that suffer the most. But the politicians and those who get to use the money first, like the military industrial complex, they make a lot of money and they benefit from it.

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What a bunch of bozos! The media panders to the politicians and the gooferment bureaucrats and those that suck off the public ninny.

Of course, it’s the poor and middle class that get the … … “dirty” … end of the stick. Intelligent Designer forbid you’re on a fixed income, pension, or gooferment handout. You’ll really be slipping further and further into the hole.

My rx is always the same: end ALL the wars — foreign and domestic, stop the dole — for people and companies, bring the troops home, cut the gooferment back to strict constitutional size, pardon all the non-violent people in prison, phase out “publik eddikation”, and return to honest money.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_ancient_Rome

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Roman coins grew gradually more debased due to the demands placed on the treasury of the Roman state by the military

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So why do we think that the inflation of our fiat money isn’t just as bad?

Some thing happened to the French Franc. It went from a gold hockey puck to a wafer thin button. In the end, the peasants sent the leaders to the guillotine.

So the end result of inflation is the colapse of the nation into disorder.

When is it our turn?

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http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2007/pr07083.html

FDIC Approves the Assumption of the Insured Deposits of Miami Valley Bank, Lakeview, Ohio

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 4, 2007
Media Contact:
David Barr (202) 898-6992
cell: (703) 622-4790
e-mail: dbarr@fdic.gov

The Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today approved the assumption of the insured deposits of Miami Valley Bank, Lakeview, Ohio, by The Citizens Banking Company, Sandusky, Ohio.

Miami Valley, with $86.7 million in total assets and $76 million in total deposits as of October 1, 2007, was closed today by Ohio’s Superintendent of Financial Institutions, and the FDIC was named receiver.

The failed bank’s two offices will reopen tomorrow as branches of The Citizens Banking Company. Depositors of Miami Valley will automatically become depositors of the assuming bank.

The Citizens Banking Company has agreed to assume $62 million of the failed bank’s insured deposits for a two percent premium. At the time of closing, Miami Valley had approximately $14 million in 269 deposit accounts that exceeded the federal deposit insurance limit. While these customers will have access to their insured deposits, they will become creditors of the receivership for the amount of their uninsured funds. The FDIC will retain all of Miami Valley’s assets for later disposition.

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Why would anyone EVER have a balance in excess of the 100k$ FDIC limit?

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/raskin/raskin26.html

Run for Your Money
by Max Raskin

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Fractional reserve banking rests on the delusion that if the banks can fool enough people into thinking that they can withdraw their money at any given time, then they can expand credit and make all sorts of unwise investments. The minute the public gets wind of the bank’s insolvency, as with the latest crisis, they rush to demand their money. On the free market, fractional reserve banking is no more of a problem than fractional reserve car dealerships. If a car dealer sells two deeds to the same car it is clearly fraud. Yet somehow the banks are not burdened with the inconvenient job of repaying their depositors. Unlike the central bank, the car dealer cannot print more cars.

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And, they can’t print any more beach front property. Or, gold bullion coins. Or, any such commodity.

When one is in a “fiat money system” (money is unbacked by gold), then you are best advised to convert your paper into something. A house, a business, or anything that ain’t gooferment paper.

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Lesson Learned: Loyalty cards don’t matter … unless they do.

Sound strange.

Follow along. Remember YMMV!

Loyalty cards are those stupid card that the casinos want you to use so they can build a profile on you. I always sign up for them. I figure what do I have to lose. (Just my privacy. But I’m so out there, there no such think anyway!)

Silverton Casino on Blue Ridge Road in LV. Played for a week off and on a various visits. (They have the most beautiful aquarium and are physically connected to the Bass Shop. Kool! And, neet!) Check for the result of my play that week … … tada … $3.36! (Are you joshing me?)

Boulder Station Casino out on Boulder Highway. Hadn’t played yet. But when we went to the buffet, the cards got us 4$/head off!!

So, from this, I come to the conclusion: get them, expect little, and, you will always be pleasantly surprised.

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http://www.smartmoney.com/retireretirement

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Retire “Retirement!” Today’s retirees are more active than ever, moving
forward with their lives and pursuing a wide variety of interests and passions.

Suggesting retreat and withdrawl, the word “retirement” no longer does this lifestage justice.

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Re-focus-ing

Originally, one had to focus on the wolf outside the door. Daily bread earned thru the daily grind. Now, when reaches the “land of critical mass”, the point where 5% interest equals enough to live comfortable for the rest of one’s lifespan, one can now focus on what gives you joy, makes the world a better place, or “cashes” all those “LATER” ious.

So it’s refocusing from the daily grind to achievement. How ever one defines it?

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http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/intelligent-leisure-time-activity

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7. Find a good hobby – A hobby is a great way to develop skills and interact with other people. Some of them can even generate income. A hobby builds on itself. You start out knowing nothing and gradually build a repertoire of skills. Even if these skills aren’t particularly useful, the process helps you learn how to learn. Once you’ve developed one set of skills from scratch, the next set is even easier.

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Sounds like I have to update my mantra-like spiel that I give to the youth I come in contact with.

Success for your generation is: (1) ruthless financial discipline; (2) education for a white collar job; (3) a blue collar skill — never saw a poor plumber; and (4) one or more internet based businesses.

Have to figure out to integrate: (x) have a hobby that generates income.

Here’s my new one:

Success for your generation is: (1) ruthless financial discipline — no bad debt; (2) a life long interest in learning — an education — a degree — they can’t take it away from you; (3) a white collar job in order to save big bux; (4) a blue collar skill for hard times — never saw a poor plumber; (5) one or more internet based businesses — your store is always open; and (6) a free time hobby that generates income.

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http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57563

Use salary hike to pay off debt
Posted: September 11, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern
Dave Ramsey is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and best-selling author. His life experience gives him an unusually deep perspective and insight into life and money matters.

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Dear Dave,

I’ll be graduating college in December with a degree in elementary education, and I have a job waiting for me. It will be the first time in my life I’ve made more than minimum wage, and it will bring our household income up to about $75,000. I’ve got $15,000 in student loan debt, $6,000 to pay off from a repossession a while back and $3,000 in credit card debt. How should I handle this salary increase?

Mickey

Dear Mickey,

Congratulations on your degree and the decision to get serious with a plan for your money! And here’s some more good news for you. If you guys keep living the way you have been and put the rest toward debt, you can have it knocked out in about a year.

But just because you’re making some money doesn’t mean you should double your entertainment budget or pick up a car payment. Sit down together and work out a written monthly budget. Give every dollar a name before you spend it, and don’t forget to work the debt snowball, too. List your debts from smallest to largest, pay minimum payments on the two largest and then attack that credit card debt with a vengeance! Chances are you can get these taken care of in a month or two. Once you’ve paid that off, roll the money from that payment over and apply it plus any other cash you can scrape up toward the car repo. If that debt has any age on it you can probably work a deal for 50 cents on the dollar and get out paying just half.

Once you done this, you’ll have a bunch of cash to throw at those students loans and get the debt off your back once and for all. Good luck, Mickey!

Dave

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I like Dave. He’s one of the sources I often cite. He wants people to be debt free. Admirable, but I’m not sure that I agree with that strategy.

Here’s a classic case of that disagreement.

I think that there is “good debt” and “bad debt”.

“Good debt” is a 30 year fixed home mortgage, a fixed rate student loan for an education that earns income, or such. I’ll even go so far as to call a fixed rate credit union car loan that is tuned to the depreciation of the car and enables one to earn a living as a “good” debt. I think that he’s wrong to characterize these in the same way as “bad debt”. The credit cards, the car leases, the home equity loans for frivolous purposes. Anything that is a variable interest rate.

I think that he ignores the tax aspects of some transactions. And, his advice borders on the immoral. (Which is why I’m blogging about it!)

Let’s take the example at hand.

There’s no disagreement about the credit card debt. That needs nuking right away. The fact that there is credit card debt implies that the person doesn’t have a budget. Which is really not OK. Even though lot’s of people do it. (When you don’t have a destination, any road is going your way.)

Where I have a moral quibble is about settling the repo for pennies on the dollar. Just because when CAN do it, doesn’t make it morally right to do it. If the person borrowed it and got repoed, they are MORALLY obligated to pay the whole thing. It’s about doing the right thing.

Now on to the “student loan”. I’m assuming that it’s a typical fixed rate low interest student loan. I’ll quibble about paying that off early.

I’d be stressing an emergency fund. (Maybe even before paying off the credit card or the repo!) I’d want a savings account equal to an appropriate number of months of the “burn rate”. The number of months is determined by how long it would take to replace the income stream.

After the efund, credit card, and repo, but before the student loan, I’d be thinking IRA. (Early money is so much more important than late money.)

Then, I’d be thinking of home ownership.

Those are two tax advantaged investments that shouldn’t be ignored in a sem-religious fervor to be “debt free”.

IMHO, I think he’s wrong. But, he’s the big columnist and I’m just an injineer. And, in the case of the repo, I think his advice is “immoral” which is why I took the time to write this post. Just a voice crying in the wilderness.

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http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2007/tle433-20070902-06.html

Thoughts About Money and Other Things
by L. Neil Smith

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Here’s why: the information that money conveys is called “price”—a word, in the study of economics, with a technical definition. Each of us contributes to the pool of that information whenever he buys something—or refrains from buying it—in the marketplace, as long as the marketplace, and the choices we all make, remain free and uncoerced.

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I think this is an important attribute of money that is often overlooked. (I know when I took economics I don’t think I heard this concept.)

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