Michael Moore is an idiot, but there is hope

I just saw a preview for his latest work of crap.  Moore is out there and whats even scarrier is the fact that there are others who think like him….

But there is hope for America….  I got an email full of “Tea Party” pictures and I thought I would post one just for Mr. Moore!

Famous Quotes — new and historical

 

Famous Quotes — new and historical

They are enlightening and make the point that market wise men have been around for many decades:     “Predicting the future is difficult — especially in advance.”  Bernard Baruch (or was it Yogi Berra)   “I’m not as concerned about the return ON my money, as the return OF my money.”  Mark Twain   “Disasters never come alone.” Old Chinese proverb (the cockroach theory).   “It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.” Harry S. Truman   “Finance is the art of passing money from hand to hand until it finally disappears.” Robert Sarnoff   “Endless money forms the sinews of war.” Cicero   “Save a little money each month, and at the end of the year, you’ll be surprised how little you have.” Ernest E. Haskins   “Wealth consists, not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.” Epicurus   “The reason you can’t take it with you is because it often goes before you do.” Mark Twain   “The reason talk is cheap is that the supply exceeds the demand.” Anonymous   “Our task now, is not to fix the blame for the past; but to fix the course for the future.” John F. Kennedy

“What are you buying”?

A solar powered treestand…..

Yes I had a dream.

No wait, actually I was thinking of powering my house with solar energy.  But as I was dreaming of going off the electrical grid, I drifted off to a paradise hunting club with solar powered everything.   Since I live in Georgia where its almost to hot to hunt half the season,  I was dreaming of an air conditioned treestand.  An aerial penthouse built for observational comfort while waiting for the perfect moment to showcase my extreme marksmanship…….. hey,  am I still dreaming…..???

OK back to business.

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Investing in solar power, at home…

While surfing my favorite hunting forum I saw an advertisement for “Power 4 Home”   Being the tool that I am, I clicked on the advertisement for the owners of the hunting forum.

The web site I was directed to was http://www.power4home.com

It was very intresting to read and I actually wanted to wip out my credit card and order the info package.  But I figure I’ll do some research first.  We have this thing called the internet, I think a guy named Al Gore invented it…..  We can find out everything we ever wanted on the internet.  So its time to start looking for some DIY power…..Solar and wind for the home that I can do myself.

Not only can we power up our own power plants,  we can invest in those companies that make up the alternative energy needs that we need.

So I’ll be looking for not only ways to power my own power, I’ll be looking for opertunities to power up my 401K

 

Investing in the outdoors and finding stocks

Well, now that ball season is over and my oldest child has graduated and hopefully starting a job soon, I hope I can get back on track to a better investing education.

I was reading a blog out camping and there was a post about investing in your outdoor gear.   That got me thinking over the weekend while I was trying to get my work shop cleaned up.   I started looking around at my power tools and wondering if I could invest in any of those companies.  Naturally I moved over to my hunting gear.   What products do I use and more importantly, how many other hunters are there, who buy this stuff every year before they head outdoors.

Somewhere on this blog, I think I told yall I own some Smith & Wesson stock along with my dad’s old S&W 38 revolver.  I also own a Ruger 10-22 rifle however I dont own any Ruger stock, but I do watch it along with my S&W.  I own some Rocky boots so I should look them up and see what going on with them maybe.

Over the next week or so, Im going to make a list of stuff I carry on every trip outdoors.  Then I’ll start looking online and see what companies are publicly traded.  

Heres your first symbol to look up  “BOOT“

How To Retire In Style

By Motley Fool Staff
January 21, 2009

It’s said that human beings stand out from other species by virtue of our ability to think and plan ahead. While that may be true, most of us also have great trouble thinking about or preparing for the long term in the middle of our daily tasks and toil. Heck, it’s difficult enough to plan something just six months ahead, like a summer vacation. How on earth are we supposed to be able to think about something in the distant future — like retirement?

However, thinking in advance, and acting on those thoughts, are keys to being ready when the future becomes the present. The younger you are, the more distant your retirement — and the greater your ability to compound your returns over time. That paradox can work to your advantage.

In this collection, we try to answer the important questions:

• How much will I need for my retirement in order to live comfortably?
• What are my goals?
• When should I start?
• What should I do?
• How much can I count on from Social Security?
• What costs might I run into once I’ve actually retired?

We all need to ask these questions, but with all our short-term preoccupations, we often wait too long to do so. These 13 Retirement Steps, along with a bevy of tools for running the numbers, can help you cut through the haze and see the realities that will make your golden years truly golden — in fine Foolish fashion. Let’s get started!

Retirement Game Planning article

Ol’ Red posted this at Woody’s hunting forum last month……..

 

Periodic market downturns may result in significant investment losses, particularly within retirement accounts. If you are faced with this situation, you may have to reconsider when, or even if, you can retire.

 

The effects of a decline

Historically, the stock market has had its ups and downs. How any substantial market change impacts your retirement outlook may depend on how close you are to retirement. If you plan on working and contributing to your retirement savings for many more years, you may have time to recoup losses to your accounts due to poor investment performance. But if you’re closing in on retirement or you’re already there, a dip in your savings may affect how much you can safely withdraw and how long your savings can last.

To demonstrate, assume you and your spouse have $1 million in retirement savings, expect an annual average rate of return of 7%, and estimate that you presently need $100,000 annual retirement income for both of you to live comfortably, of which $30,000 will come from Social Security. Presuming withdrawals increase by 3% each year to offset the effects of inflation, your savings will last about 22 years.

However, a decrease of 14% in the value of your savings in one year shortens the duration of your savings by over 4 years.

What are your options?

If you’re fortunate, even a significant decrease in savings may not impact your retirement income dramatically. You may have other sources of fixed income such as company-sponsored pensions, so you won’t need to rely on your savings to provide much of your income. Or you may be able to offset the effect of diminished savings by spending less — forgoing that planned cruise, putting off buying that new car, or making smaller gifts to children and grandchildren, for example. But if you rely on your savings for most of your retirement income, considerable investment losses of the magnitude recently experienced can require major lifestyle changes. Here are a few ideas to help you cope with the erosion of your retirement savings.

Continue working

You may have to delay the retirement party a little longer. Postponing retirement lets you continue to add to your retirement savings, which can offset losses caused by poor investment performance. Also, working allows you to delay withdrawing from your savings. That could allow more time for your retirement accounts to recover from investment-related losses.

Delay taking Social Security

Social Security may be the only source of fixed income you’ll have in retirement. If you delay applying for benefits until your full retirement age, you can get as much as 30% more in monthly payments compared to taking benefits early. And, for each year you defer benefits past your full retirement age (between 65 and 67, depending on when you were born) to age 70, your benefit is increased by 8%. That could mean an additional $500 or more in your benefit check each month–and that doesn’t include annual cost of living increases.

Consider fixed income investments

Investments such as single premium immediate annuities (SPIAs) provide an income for the rest of your life, or for the combined lives of you and your spouse. However, while the income is dependable (subject to the claims-paying ability of the annuity issuer), you generally don’t have access to the money you paid for the SPIA and you may not be able to change the amount of income payments or their duration once you’ve started.

Red

STIMULUS BILL EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

I got this from an email from the Patriot Post.

“Stimulus: Say this for the $787 billion behemoth that Congress voted on Friday — never in our history has a more important vote been cast on legislation with so little scrutiny. Couldn’t they at least read the thing before voting on it? The 1,434-page bill is, in a word, massive. It’s full of details that deserve to be given a close look before anyone votes. … The bill that President Obama called ‘the largest change in domestic policy since the 1930s’ was jammed down Congress’ throat, breaking almost all the promises of bipartisanship and transparency along the way. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid vowed to give members of Congress at least 48 hours to look at the historic legislation before them. After all, the bill will spend the equivalent of nearly 9% of our GDP while adding $1.2 trillion to our national debt. Obama vows to ‘create or save’ 3.5 million jobs at a cost of $263,000 per job. Shouldn’t it get even a little bit of scrutiny? Apparently not. … Why the haste? Surely one reason is the bill is stuffed with pork and short of real stimulus. Its authors don’t want the details out. They shouldn’t be surprised, then, when voters bridle at what they’ve been saddled with.” –Investor’s Business Daily

 

 

Another email from a friend……

Coming up with a retirement plan

Time for a plan.

Well dont know where to start but its time to start putting a plan on paper.  What do I really want to happen when I retire?  Where am I going to live?  How much will I have to live on?

I could go on and on with the questions.  So this week, I will be trying to answer some of these questions and posting some links to the places I find some answers and hopefully you can gain a little more knowledge about coming up with a retirement plan.

A guy I communicated with through a hunting web site, is in the financial/retirement planning buisness. He says this:

  I actually don’t start with investing. There are 4 parts to financial planning…Estate planning, business planning, retirement planning and wealth accumulation(investing). Some clients don’t need help in all areas. I typically ask them a whole lot of questions and try to find the most pressing or important issues and deal with them first. I approach the investing aspect of it as well. There has to be a reason to make a particular investment and to me, it needs to coincide with a plan.

 

So now what do I need to do?  Estate planning, whats that?  Well I guess Im going to find out and the next few posting will list what I can come up with.

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