Prepare Now For Your Retirement When You Want It.

     Investing For Retirement

Retirement may be a long way off for you - or it might be right around the corner. No matter how near or far it is, you MUST absolutely got to start saving for it now.  You will not be able to live on Social Security even if there is still such an entitlement.  However, saving for retirement isn't what it used to be with the increase in cost of living and the instability of social security. You have to invest for your retirement, as opposed to saving for it!

Let's start by taking a look at the retirement plan offered by your company if there is one. Once upon a time, these plans were quite sound. However, after the Enron upset and all that followed, people aren't as secure in their company retirement plans anymore. If you choose not to invest in your company's retirement plan, you do have other options.

First, you can invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, certificates of deposit, and money market accounts. You do not have to state to anybody that the returns on these investments are to be used for retirement. Just simply LET YOUR MONEY GROW overtime, and when certain investments reach their maturity, REINVEST THEM and continue to let your money grow.

You can also open an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). IRA's are quite popular because the money is not taxed until you withdraw the funds. You may also be able to deduct your IRA contributions from the taxes that you owe. An IRA can be opened at most banks. A ROTH IRA is another type of retirement account. With a Roth, you pay taxes on the money that you are investing in your account, but when you cash out, no federal taxes are owed. Roth IRA's can also be opened at a financial institution.

Another popular type of retirement account is the 401(k). 401(k's) are typically offered through employers, but you may be able to open a 401(k) on your own. You should speak with a financial planner or accountant to help you with this. The Keogh plan is another type of IRA that is suitable for self employed people. Self-employed small business owners may also be interested in Simplified Employee Pension Plans (SEP). This is another type of Keogh plan that people typically find easier to administer than a regular Keogh plan.

Whichever retirement investment you choose, just make sure you choose one! Again, do not depend on social security, company retirement plans, or even an inheritance that may or may not come through! Take care of your financial future by investing in it today.

If you have already been "retired" and it was not your idea or you weren't ready, take a look at this website and get up-to-date on the job market.  We want to send you a FREE book. You can have another chance to change your life for the best.

Coming soon, "Long Term Investments For The Future."  Here is one that will pay huge dividends. 

 Cause Joy!

Diversify Your Investments For Your Welfare Now and In Retirement

It does not matter how much investment experience you have it is always a risky business. If this is your first turn around the dance floor you need to realize first and foremost that all investing is a risk of some sort. There is no such thing as risk free investing though certain types of investments certainly involve more risks than others. This is the main reason that it is so important to have a stock portfolio that is diversified enough to offer some insulation from devastation due to one stock, bond, or fund performing poorly while also making a noticeable difference when one performs extraordinarily well.

Investing should be treated like a business unless you have so much money and equities that it is more or less a hobby for you.  It may be just a way to ‘turn on’ or get you excited.  However, if you have a self directed IRA or a 401K which you are managing, you need to treat it like a business.  Chances are you are depending on this stash to live on following your days of actively working and when you are ready to retire.  Re – Tire comes from the French in 1533 and means to withdraw or to leave a place or to go to bed, etc.  The worst thing that can happen is to plan to retire and have all of your savings vanish because you invested in Blimps, or a cemetery, or on line businesses.  I speak from experience.

In other words, diversifying your portfolio tempers the risks you are taking by investing to some degree. I am sure you’ve heard the old saying “never put all your eggs in one basket” Diversifying your portfolio moves your eggs around so that your nest egg has more than one layer or protection from the evils of the world and the fickle minds of men and the World Stock Exchanges.  My advice to you would be to look closely at stocks which are called “index stocks.”  An ‘index’ stock is a fund which is made up of all of the stocks in a certain sector. 

You want to diversify your investment portfolio so that one sector or one stock does not have the power to sink your financial future in one fell swoop. You want to feel secure that your investments are secure to some degree despite the many risks you will face. In fact you need that sense of security in order to sleep and continue investing and building your financial future. 'You cannot sell out of an empty cart' and if you lose your money with “friends” you may not have enough remaining to continue to build your portfolio. You will find that it is nearly impossible to work on a financial future in which you do not believe.

If that isn’t enough however you want to diversify so that you have the opportunity to spread the wealth a bit too. You want to have a few opportunities to take the risks that make the real money in the stock market game. You cannot really do this if all your monies are tied up in ventures that are designed to play it safe and run the marathon. It’s nice, on occasion to feel the wind in your hair as you sprint towards your financial goals rather than going at the snails pace in exchange for security. In other words, diversity brings a sense of balance to your portfolio too.  It ceases to be fun when you are feeling the wind and you slam into a wall.  I ran into such a wall and fell back so hard I am still reeling.  I do sleep, but it is in a smaller house.  My dad always said, “don’t invest in the stock market unless you can afford to lose all of your investment.”  Well he never took any chances since he lived thru the “great depression” in the 30’s and we are living through the ‘great depression’ of the 2010’s.  Same thing, but different!

There are all kinds of investments. You will find many different companies, many different sectors, different types of stocks, bonds, funds, and all manner of investment opportunities that each bring to the table a different type of risk and a different type of security upon which you can feast while organizing your portfolio in a meal that should is meant to last a lifetime and keep your family fed, clothed, and happy for many years to come. In order to do all of these things your financial situation needs to be as well rounded as you are as a person and your stock portfolio needs that liberal arts education that includes a little bit of everything.

If you can accomplish this with your portfolio then your financial outlook should be much brighter and bolder than it would be if you left all your efforts in one basket and dined on one plate for the rest of your life. Sounds like prison to me.  I was born in the United States where people do take chances.  The eagle is our national symbol.  The eagle has to hunt and plan on where to get what they need to survive.  It is not so with the oyster which just lays in the water and waits for the current to bring in what food he gets.  My choice is to be an eagle, not an oyster waiting to be fed.  Make sure your portfolio has a good mix of conservative and high risk investments to ensure profits in the future.

Cause Joy!

Is Day Trading Worth The Risks?

The stock market is a volatile place as stocks are bought and sold throughout the day for considerable profits and losses. The reason this is possible is because the prices of stocks fluctuate wildly during the day just as they fluctuate from one day to the next. This leaves the market open to those who relish the opportunity to profit off the pennies that others will sell to save. It can be quite a lucrative practice but carries with it a level of risk that is almost equal to investing in penny stocks.

The rush that is received from day trading efforts is often compared to the same rush addicted gamblers get when walking into a casino. In fact, those who have gambling problems are strongly discouraged from participating in day trading activities for obvious reasons. Investing in the stock market carries some risk as a rule. The risks are magnified when you enter into risky practices such as day trading but the high profits that this type of trading can bring about is often incentive enough for adventurous investors to take the risk. In fact, many enterprising investors make lucrative livings from day trading alone.

There are many that carefully analyze the market and create elaborate formulas for their day trading efforts to varying degrees of success. Those who do succeed in this particular business are very secretive as to their formulas and aren’t likely to share. The point is that this isn’t completely a game of luck. There is some degree of skill involved in making the numbers work for you as well as the smile of Lady Luck upon your fortune that is required in order to win at the game known as day trading.

Most day traders prefer buying and selling on NASDAQ because it is generally more of a roller coaster ride, ideal for day trading, than the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The problem with this type of living is that you must constantly watch the market for those tell tale signs that a shift is preparing to happen. Lunch and sanity breaks can bring about destruction if you are counting on trading a specific stock at a specific price for the day (going up or down).

If you are the type of person that doesn’t do well in stressful situation this is definitely not going to be the trading style best suited to your financial and sanity needs. This is a stressful gig often compared to the job of an air traffic controller. Though the lives of others aren’t in your hands only your financial future. The truth is that much like the radar screens at busy airports though the market is constantly moving and in you take your eye off the prize for even a second you could miss the moment you’ve been waiting for and disaster may strike. It’s a real rush for the adventurous sort and torture personified for those that are prone to nail biting and drinking antacids.

There are many ‘safer’ methods for investing your money that require a little more patience and produce a little less profit but are much easier for the nerves to handle. The Internet has made day trading a bigger way of life for more people today than ever before. The stress is shared by many people across the country though this is only one of many ways to invest big and earn big if you are so inclined. If you love taking risks though and have the time to dedicate to day trading this might be a great way for you to make the living you’ve always dreamed of making. This is a great job for those who love the highs and lows of a real roller coaster ride. Of course this is one job in which nerves of steel are a job requirement. Are your nerves strong enough to take the pressure?

Cause Joy!

Are Stocks or Mutual Funds a better Investment?

It may seem a little strange to compare mutual funds with stocks but you should so you make the best decisions to secure your financial future. Some of the more notable differences will be discussed below in order to help you decide which investment type is more suitable for your financial situation.

When it comes to investing for the everyday man or woman you really can’t beat mutual funds. Stocks carry hefty fees for buying, selling, and transferring that significantly hinder any profits that would otherwise be made from the transaction. In fact, these fees often serve to deter the trading of stocks rather than encouraging it. Perversely, big trading companies offer hefty discounts for their big spenders making the stock market trading game seem even more exclusive by making it easier for those who already have a great deal invested than they make it for the new guy trying to make his way on the market. Mutual funds are much more accessible to those who don’t have massive fortunes available to invest and need to make small steps (such as $100 a month) towards their financial and investment goals.

Mutual funds typically carry less risk than the average stock purchase as well. This happens for many reasons:

• First of all mutual funds are not generally invested in one sector, industry, or company. For this reason if one of the stocks fails, the proceeds from the other stocks and bonds purchased will help mitigate the loss, making it less noticeable. 
• At the same time, the loss is shared by a large group of people so that even if a slight overall loss is experienced as the result it will be much less noticeable than if the stock purchased was yours and yours alone. 
• Finally, the fact that the funds are already diversified to a large degree helps insulate from huge fluctuations in the market such as those seen recently when the sub prime mortgage industry bubble popped leaving many investors ducking for cover or wiped out.
• Share the wealth. Share the risk. Mutual funds offer a sense of community, commonality, and shared risk among those who buy into a specific mutual fund. This is a good thing most of the time as it enables a large group of people to share a much smaller portion of risk than if they were buying stocks of their own volition. 

• The existence of a fund manager means that there is someone “in the know” who is looking after the profit of the fund and that has the success of the fund at heart. This is something that you won’t find when investing in stocks. In fact, when it comes to the stock market the only people that really care about how your stocks are performing are those that you pay to care for these things such as your financial adviser, accountant, and/or stockbroker.
• Another thing to consider about mutual funds is that they are much easier to use and/or trade than stocks. They are much less expensive to trade as well. You can purchase mutual funds from your local bank, online, and through many online trading companies as well as through many company 401 (k) plans. In other words mutual funds go out of their way to make themselves accessible. 
• The most important thing, really, when it comes to buying mutual funds is that you devote some time to studying the history and performance of the fund you are considering to purchase as well as the fund manager for peace of mind.

As you can see there are a lot of differences between stocks and mutual funds. For small investors mutual funds are often the best route to take. Mutual funds are less risky and will give you good growth over time.

Cause Joy!

Who Loves You The Most, Your Dog Or Your Wife?

There is a story about a man who wasn't particularly fond of pets.  Perhaps he was just selfish!  Now he didn't mind a small bird too badly, but he was not a 'cat person' (too sneaky) or a 'dog person (too high maintenance).' However, his wife brought home a dog one day and said the "kids needed a pet."  It was a Chesapeake Bay Retriever and he named it 'Triever.'  Triever became a part of the family pretty quickly and followed the husband everywhere and especially liked to ride in his pick up truck. 

 

As happens on occasion, the wife became jealous of Triever and after a few months said the husband loved Triever more than he loved his wife.  He explained it was a different type of 'love' and that the dog 'loved' him in return.  Her eyebrows raised a little bit with that comment!  He said that Triever always followed him, licked his hand, and was anxious to be with him.  The wife said that she wouldn't lick his hands, but she was just as 'in love' with him as Triever.

The husband suggested they try an experiment to see just who loved him the most.  He said he had devised a sure fire way to test the love of both of them.  She was intrigued so she asked how they could settle this question once and for all time.  He said he would put both of them in the trunk of her car, close the lid for about 45 minutes.  The question would be answered when he opened the trunk and to see which one would jump out of the trunk and kiss him on the face and be happy to see him.  The doctor prescribed him some salve for the cut on his nose and recommended a cold steak for his eye.

My wife and I moved into our first apartment last year after having always lived in a free standing house ('standing' was the only thing free about it) for all of our adult life.  We have been married over 50 years – to each other.  The management told us that pets were allowed but it would cost us $750.00 per pet.  We had no pets and hadn’t had one in many years.

The last pet we had was a small curly little very hyper dog.  We were having some stress at work and everyone agreed that a pet, specifically a dog, would be good for stress.  I was one advertised in the paper and it said the current owner was going off to college and couldn’t take the dog.  If someone didn’t give it a home it would be given to the SPCA where it might be euthanized.  We called and met the guy in a shopping center parking lot, paid him $200.00 and took “Katie” home with us.  It was quickly apparent that ‘Katie’ would have nothing to do nor had any idea about when she gifted us with her first pile in the middle of the living room and she seemed proud.  Probably thought it was the least she could do for having rescued her.

I would take her out in the early morning and late night and she would not “hurry up.”  She would simply stand on her hind legs while leaning against the pull of the leash and stare at a fountain next door with running water.  The sound of the running water made me want to go, but not ‘Katie.’  When I took her to the park for a stroll, she would stand and lean against the pull of the leash and the two of us would stroll.  Both adults and children would point and laugh at the dog walking and the dog walker.

We didn’t have a fence around the yard so we put “Katie” on our deck with a baby gate to keep her hemmed in.  She ate through the floor of the deck.  She had eaten and scratched a big hole in the deck before we noticed it.  She hated being on the deck and we hated her crapping in the house.  Such a big hole by such a little dog!

Fast forward a couple of months and we discovered that “Katie” had been owned by another unsuspecting family who had given her up to the “college bound” boy because they couldn’t control her.  He saw an opportunity to make a couple hundred dollars and he cast his line.  We bit!  And we were hooked.  By now, we had several hundred dollars invested in my stress reliever and lots of gifts.

Katie's final gift was presented to me following our night time standing in the yard.  Katie and I went back inside and I was sitting at the kitchen table having some ice cream.  I began to get the aroma of another gift and when I looked down, there was a steaming pile of used dog food right between my feet.  Within a couple of days we found another home for Katie and we gave her her freedom with two dog houses, inside and outside, bowls, leash, collar, and a well used pooper scooper.  I began to feel better when the new owners were backing down my drive way with Katie standing on the front seat with her hind legs and her two front feet on the dash board.  We were both happy.

Too late I learned that there is a better way to have a pet and they are not all just 'plug n play,' there is a website, which can relieve many of the hard parts of owning a pet.  Click here and learn the right way to buy a pet, house a pet, train a pet, and love a pet.  After all, 'a dog is a man's best friend!'

Cause Joy!

Do We Hurt The Ones We Love? Do We Care About Others?

Those we love many times wound us the deepest. Something very important to us is taken, we believe, too lightly, misconstrued, or misunderstood.  On some issues we may never agree even with those that matter to us the most. Resolution seems out of reach. We need validation and convincing.  We are each one convinced we are correct and in keeping with God’s will.  How is that possible?

Why is it so hard for others to understand how we feel? Why can’t they see things our way? On our way to church on a recent Sunday morning we were discussing the pros and cons of why we were mired in such a conflict at church. Neither of us felt like going.  We are tired of the conflict.  We have taken our stand and we are convinced it is the correct one.  We were feeling depressed.

When we arrived at the Bible Study, the verse that was read was, “How good and pleasant it is when brothers, live together in unity.” 

“How good and pleasant it is
when brothers (and sisters{my add}) live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down upon the collar of his robes” (Psalm 133:1-2, NIV).

How do we reach that unity? Where is the balance between being convinced and able to accept our differences and respect each other’s point of view?

What about the hurt we're feeling Lord?  Will it ever go away?  Will I ever feel the same about those people or about any church?

God never demands that I urgently accept His point of view. Instead He whispers. Go beyond yourself, in fact—get over yourself. Take your ego off of the throne and worship ME.  Stop and consider the oil—precious anointing oil — freely poured over acrimonious words, over injured hearts.

Myrrh is found in anointing oil. It has many medicinal and healing uses. In ancient times it was used for cleaning wounds and sores. We have some gaping wounds today Lord. Because myrrh was used in the embalming or anointing of the dead, it represents mortality, suffering, and sorrow. God understands our sorrow. But He calls us to dwell in unity. He has provided the gentle oil of his presence that is freely poured out for us. We just need to be willing to get beyond ourselves and receive His gift to us.

Prayer:   Dear Father, when sorrow and sadness brought on by divisions arise, when we feel wounded Lord, when words cut deep, help us to just release them to you Lord. Let us receive your anointing oil, the oil of unity, the precious lubricant that you rub onto the wounds and hurts of our heart. Help us to extend the oil of unity to those I love. Amen and amen

Can A Church Be High Jacked From God??

Can A Church Be High Jacked From God??


I see in the online church talk that a 'Special Call Conference' has been called to have a "non-binding" vote on whether or not the members of WRBC have "Confidence" or not in the Sr. Pastor.  "Confidence" that he can do or will do what?  So I am guessing that since it is a 'non-binding' vote that members can change their minds.  So, a 'non-binding' vote which can be changed and with no description of why we are 'confident' or 'no confidence' it leaves me wondering what this all about.


Are the people on the 'petition of 100 (active?) members' confident that the Pastor will repeal the 'emergent church conversation' which some think that he originated or at least didn't stop it?  Some seem to think that M. T. has caused members to leave the church.  Is he causing them to leave the other churches around the world as well, or just here at WRBC.


The facts reveal that ALL churches are decreasing in membership and in contributions.  WRBC lost over 800 members during the previous pastor's reign.  Does 'no confidence' mean that you have 'no confidence' that M. T. will do what you want him to do or does it mean that if you vote "confidence" that he will do what you want him to do?


I voted, as did the vast majority of members to issue a call for M.T. to come to WRBC because I was confident that he would do what the God we worship each day led him to do for the benefit of God's kingdom.  I am 'confident' that he will continue to do that in spite of the fact that all members do not agree with His methods.
M. T. should be examining to  see if he still has 'confidence' or 'no confidence' in the members to keep their vow to Him.  


I do not deal in negatives, I will be casting my vote, and so will my family of three generations, on the side of 'confidence,' even tho' it still leaves unanswered the question of what each ballot individual ballot seeks to determine.


Pray with me:   O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


Frankie says to be kind to one another.