Category: News and Politics
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The worst of residential real estate performance
I’ve been negative on residential real estate as a financial asset for at least the past 12 years but that’s perhaps mostly because I’ve personally taken such a beating in suburban Philadelphia and along the bayshore region in south Jersey. Ten years ago in 2006 this historic (c 1901) stone home in Bala Cynwyd on the…
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Fiduciary rule should raise awareness of more important issues
I have mixed feelings about the new federal push in retail financial market known as the “fiduciary rule”. Depending on the specific facts, there is a strong argument to be made on either side of the issue. One thing that is certain, however, is that the new rule is intended to increase public awareness of the value of…
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What is the value of a financial adviser?
One of the surprise lessons of this tax season was learning how many sophisticated and successful clients are paying more than five figures annually for what essentially amount to picking mutual funds. Many of the cases I saw while preparing tax returns were fees paid through Charles Schwab for funds offered in retirement plan accounts…
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A dark day for Christianity
Today we have compelling reasons to be ashamed of elected officials claiming Christian values. Yesterday a group of Christian clergy connected with Moral Movement Tennessee staged a demonstration at the Tennessee state capital. The clergy object to Tennessee state lawmakers claiming Christian values but blocking expansion of health care for the state’s poor under the Affordable Care…
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Polls are even more useless than we knew
We were reminded of the huge limitations of voter polls this past week when every major news source who made a prediction in the Michigan primary proved to be wrong by a margin of 25% or more. The simple explanation seems to be that traditional polling methods do not reach a large portion of the population…
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Why tax rates will be higher
We should recognize that tax rates for the wealthiest individuals and corporations will be higher in the future than they are today. I stirred up a handful of comments yesterday on Wall Street Journal social media about the future of income tax rates. Some people apparently think that higher income tax rates are not possible…
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ERISA is still king per US Supreme Court
Comments on Vermont Green Mountain Care Board v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and what it means to small practitioners in the employee benefits field Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a case involving conflicting state and federal law surrounding operation of an employee benefit plan administrator. In a relatively easy 6-2 decision the Court sided with Liberty…
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The scary rise of fascism in 2016 politics
Could the dire issues facing our nation now be any more clear? Remember that it was only a short time ago that Americans feared the impact of having a socialist in its highest elected office. I reflected on this issue on December 12; only 77 days ago. (http://tonynovak.com/cpa/but-hes-a-socialist/). Yet that risk seems mild now compared to…
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NJ tax lien sale certificate class action settlement oddity
I am posting the content of this letter for whatever it may be worth. I have no further information on the matter but I simply suspect that others may be affected. February 24, 2016 NJ Tax Sales Certificates Antitrust Litigation c/o Gilardi & Co. LLC P.O. Box 808061 Petaluma CA 94975-8061 RE: In Re…
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The $100 bill is doomed
The U.S. Department of Treasury says that we have a Trillion dollars in circulation in paper $100 bills. We’ve known for a while that much of this is kept outside of the United States and that a large portion of the $100 bills actually in circulation are used for illicit activities including drug trade, human…