Category: Social Security

My Dividend Strategy

 

my dividend strategy
Pump up the Portfolio with Dividends as Quickly as Possible.

Do you want to know my dividend strategy? I am hoping the moves I make will pay off within my retirement accounts aka Mutual Funds. I am not suggesting anyone try implementing this strategy for their finances. It has worked well for me on most occasions and I have an ultimate goal in mind, to achieve a high portion of retirement income off my mutual fund dividends. Imagine owning 20 thousand shares of dividend paying mutual funds and stocks growing every quarter. I am on track to finally break the 4 grand total shares owned mark.

I keep a record of fund prices on all funds as to help me decide when is a good time to sell one fund and buy another. The same goes for the dividend amounts each fund pays and how often they pay. The best scenario is when the fund that pays the smallest dividend is at its 52 week high, and the fund that pays me a high dividend is priced lower than usual. I would immediately exchange a set amount of dollars from one fund to another, with no fees or charges. The reason is because they are all in retirement accounts and doing exchanges are free. (401K and IRA) See below for my dividend strategy:

Continue reading My Dividend Strategy

What you Don’t Know?

 

I recently heard a story of a young person who after working for many years invests a percentage of pay in a 401K, but after all those years never actually cared to look at the pay stub to see how much money was exiting every pay period. Can you believe this? I look at every pay stub and analyze it to a tee. What did I want to find out? Basically to see all the amounts taken away by the government and how much is being deposited by my employer to my 401K, and I can not fathom a person not checking this or even knowing the amount on a monthly basis. This is the premise behind the What you Dont Know topic in the title.

If this is very shocking to all of you as it was to me when I heard the audacity going on in some people’s minds. But can you blame them for not caring or not being on top of this aspect of money in their life. Unfortunately yes they are partially to blame if for years the employer was not contributing the exact amount that should have been deducted from said person’s pay stub into retirement accounts.  Maybe hundreds or thousands of dollars left in the laps of the employer because people were too lazy to check a simple pay stub. Do you think the employer will fix the issue voluntarily? Maybe but I wouldn’t leave it in their hands.

There has been countless stories of employer financial mismanagement where the pay stub amounts were incorrect or the stories of retirement money not being deposited. Granted some of those stories involve simple easy to fix payroll errors, but if the employee is not aware of it who will catch those errors? It is a simple fact of life we cannot disregard because of all the other things we have to deal with in life.

 

Simple Pay stub Research:

-Check your exemptions on the pay stub

-Multiply the weekly or bi-weekly amount and make sure it adds up to annual income.

-See how much is going to the government in taxes

-See how much is going to your retirement accounts.

-Analyze the difference between gross and net ( Amount should be equal to tax deductions and 401K contributions)

-Make sure your Social Security number is accurate. ( Social Security Retirement figures depend on this)

 

The simple easy check list above will help you avoid major errors with your money later. I know it can be hard to take time out for things that might not be of interest to you, but pay stubs should always be analyzed with every new job you get.

What you Don’t Know can hurt you in the long run.

Become Informed with Finances.

Comment and let us know if you have caught any errors on your pay stub?

RichUncle EL

Social Security- Will it be around?

       

         I find this to be somewhat of an oxymoron in life. People have given to social security for years and are expecting to get it back in their golden years of retirement. What if they eliminated this program? Would you be bitter or will you just roll with the punches life throws your way and accept the changes. From my point of view, I would likely feel a bit worried as it is a program that is sustaining financially the older generations of American citizens. In any case if it came down to a vote, I would vote to keep it in place forever as it is beneficial to those people in retirement.

8 Changes to the system as per RichUncle EL:

1. If you are a multi-millionaire- Banned from the program
2. The age of receiving benefits should be set for everybody at 65, and never change.
3. If you have a portfolio of real estate / investments that earn substantial income- Banned from program 
4. For the Government to never raid the SS Fund for other purposes. (Make it a federal law.)
5. Make the inflation adjustment a yearly standardized rule. (Based on the CPI Index)
6. If you have a trust with assets over 2 million – Banned from program
7. Individuals with standard pension retirement account should receive less in S.S. benefits than others who never benefited from a plan like this.
8. If you receive enough passive income to live from royalties / patents-Banned from program 

In any case there is a great article featured in NY times.com that explains the current state of the program. Social Security Article The article goes to show that S.S. benefits will be exhausted as of 2033 and I retire in 2045 so I will be in a pissed off mood for a few days, unless I become a multi-millionaire before my retirement. Ha Ha. It may seem that I am excluding the rich from benefiting from this program, but if you are making tons of money from your assets why would you care to get a $1,500 check from a struggling federal government program. It just doesn’t make sense for somebody who is considered financially rich to apply for Social Security. What’s your take on the rich applying for the program?

In any event I hope they extend this program and fix all of the bugs and for crying out loud the government should follow my 8 steps to fix the Social Security program. Thus making the U.S. a better place to live in.

Watch your money cause the government might not do it for you.