[VIDEO] While he reacts to a couple of clips of "finance bro" Dave Ramsey, the first clip he reacts to shows a young man thinking a $1K emergency fund is a stupid idea. I disagree with that although Shapiro isn't wrong to talk about how long $1K can go in an emergency, and for sure it won't last long.
Dave Ramsey advocates for that in his baby steps. If nothing else having $1K on standby is a start and you won't be staying there for sure, eventually you can grow to save enough for at least several months of living expenses.
Personal finance isn't a strong interest for me, however, you do want to know where your money is going.
Every once in a while you would hear about President Donald Trump talking about eliminating the income tax. He could start with the 16th amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
What Trump has been talking about is eliminating or cutting taxes on overtime and on tips. As far as tips there has been movement in Chicago at least to eliminate tips. Tips is of course for workers such as servers or bartenders to make some extra income.
Either way, who knows if Trump is serious about eliminating the 16th Amendment. Amending the constitution seems like a long and difficult process anyway.
At least the repeal prohibition amendment (18th Amendment) wasn't exactly an unpopular deal during the Great Depression. How much support would repealing the 16th Amendment receive?
Also, it came out the President wants the U.S. Treasury to cease production of the penny. This was something that was mentioned last month. It cost more to produce a 1¢ coin and I'm for it, now does this mean that prices will be rounded to the nearest nickel. If that's the case I'm for it!
I just hope prices for goods and services doesn't increase as a result.
In Tuesday X post, Musk's DOGE wrote that the U.S. spends about 3 cents to mint each penny, which, of course, is only valued at 1 cent.
"The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost U.S. taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023," DOGE wrote. "The Mint produced over 4.5 billion pennies in FY2023, around 40% of the 11.4 billion coins for circulation produced."
In pointing out the penny's costliness, DOGE is taking aim at an issue that has sparked debate for years, although the price of manufacturing the cent has only grown over the past several years. In 2016, for instance, the U.S. was spending about 1.5 cents to mint each penny, or less than half of its current manufacturing cost.
Still, the cent's $179 million in costs represents mere metaphorical pennies when it comes to DOGE's mandate to cut federal spending. President Donald Trump has said DOGE will provide recommendations to "slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies." Musk has said the group will aim to trim $500 billion in annual federal spending.
Probably time to cash in the pennies I have around the house. Convert it into some real cash.
Federal officials have proposed suspending the penny in prior years, with former Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew pushing the idea in 2015. Some economists have also advocated for dropping the penny from circulation, but there could be a costly downside to ditching the cent, as transactions would be rounded to 5-cent intervals, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond said in a 2020 blog post.
"For a single item or small-value purchase, rounding up or down could represent a significant price change," the post noted.
Other nations have ditched their equivalent of the penny, including Canada, which stopped minting its one-cent coin in 2012. One 2018 economic analysis found that Canadian consumers paid about $3.27 million in additional Canadian dollars at grocery stores each year due to prices being rounded higher after the change.
"On the other hand, there may be additional, hard-to-quantify costs to using pennies that would argue in favor of elimination. Counting pennies to make change takes time, and as the old business adage goes, time is money," the Richmond Fed noted.
I don't know. I often don't use change when I spend cash. It has become more convenient for me to use a debit card for every day purchases. Although most of the time I do prefer cash.
I suppose since there are more options than cash when you have to spend at the store (any store - especially supermarkets) is it possible that change will have to be rounded up to a nickel?
[VIDEO] The taxes and the cost of living in the state of New York or at least the New York City area and Long Island. He mentions tolls, parking, utilities, the cost of housing (shelter), etc.
Then he mentions places that probably would be a lot cheaper including Boston, MA of all places. What do they call Massachusetts - Taxachusetts. They're cheaper place to live than New York? Really?
If it's all about taxes where is that money going?
[VIDEO] Being too nice might cause you to pursue those jobs which are lower paying though less demanding and certainly less competitive.
Of course there is a fine line between being timid vs being too assertive. Sometimes being always disagreeable is as bad and being timid and unwilling to speak up could cause a person to be forgettable.
Sometimes it's about how you go about it. You could turn it up all the time and that might cause some people to back off from you. Or you can turn it down to mute and you won't even register.
Let's say at work, if you're the one always being the "tattletale" always trying to call people out and often for the wrong reasons being very dramatic then people might not look at you very favorably. On the other hand if you never talk or stay quiet then you run the risk of being someone who just blends in and don't stand out.
One just have to find the right way to stand out and that's difficult as I'm learning. It's OK to be competitive, though I hope you're competitive for the right reasons. That is really challenge yourself though I hope you do so against the best and hopefully it helps you achieve your goals.
[VIDEO] This was shocking news I heard about via twitter. Of course I have to find a article about this to see what happened.
I didn't really follow the Dominion lawsuit against FOX News Channel. They had to give up some money in this lawsuit. As you see Mark Dice takes a look at this news and shows hows FOX's competitors reported this news.
Whoever that CNN guy is - Jake Tapper aka Tapeworm - he was a d!ck for snickering over this. What an unprofessional fool!
[VIDEO] And this is a question I hope Dave Ramsey had actually discussed. Is it a bad idea, Ramsey would say yes.
If you ask me, precious metals are a better investment than bitcoin. However as you can physically possess gold and silver, like bitcoin which is Ramsey's point there is no guarantee that it can't be taken from you in some way.
So you don't have to take investment advice from me. And perhaps you don't have to take investment advice from Ramsey. You can continue to follow Dave Ramsey for insuring that you still have money in your bank account. If you hate credit cards which is more debt, then listen to him for paying them off and eventually cutting them up.
[VIDEO] I haven't read too much on this particular issue. What I know about this is that the mgmt at Silicon Valley Bank seemed to have done a bad job of insuring they had enough money on hand to stay afloat. They also put a lot of money into investments that don't mature until years later, which also means well they still don't have enough money on hand for lending and deposits.
Of course if you follow Tucker or Glenn Beck they make this about the economy under Joe Biden. They make this about the wokeness that pervades the work culture at these banks. And of course back to the starting point that I made, the bank was mismanaged especially the money was mismanaged.
I think Dave Ramsey calls it down the middle. If you're worried about the banking system don't worry about it. It wasn't just Silicon Valley that failed it's also Signature Bank. He mainly puts the crisis in terms of both of these banks that what allowed them to collapse and be taken over by the Federal Gov't isn't very pervasive in other banks such as Chase. According to him so far the public still has faith in Chase and hopefully other banks.
Also I understand both of those banks I mentioned that failed mostly catered to tech industry startups. Alas another contribution to these failures may have been the cyclical nature of the tech industry. It seems solid but let's not forget they're prone to layoff and downturns also.
[VIDEO] Simply put before 1971 the American dollar was based upon its convertability into gold. Shapiro goes through the history of the gold standard in the U.S. and he starts in 1834 when American goes on the gold standard. Of course what changes is that monetary policy changes.
By the Great Depression the gov't nationalizes gold and prohibits convertability. America becomes the world's reserve currency. As explained by Shapiro other national currency instead of attaching their own currencies to gold instead attaches their value to that of the American $ which until 1971 was still on the gold standard.
In 1971, the American dollar essentially becomes a fiat currency per the direction of President Richard Nixon. He would term this action to protect the value of the American dollar. And that means the value of our currency will be based upon the full faith and credit of the U.S. gov't.
I've met a few people over the years who think the $ should go back on the gold standard.
[VIDEO] This video was published before the new year. This is for those of you concerned about the rising costs of food & fuel especially. Build Back Better indeed!
This article is crushing my dream although I recently just decided to chase this dream.
But 70 years later, America's middle class is shrinking thanks to an increasing cost of living for everything from college tuition to healthcare. Income increases simply have not kept up with the exponential increase in living costs, and the pandemic has thrown job loss and pay cuts into the mix.
It means the six-figure salary just isn't what it used to be. Buying a house, paying for college, and having kids is barely attainable now, even on $100,000 a year.
. . .
Now, a six-figure salary is quite the range. A worker earning $100,000 annually probably has a more difficult time affording things like a house than someone raking in $900,000 a year. It would be unfair to generalize that the American Dream is out of reach for the entire six-figure club.
The American Dream also wasn't always attainable for everyone. Larry Samuel, author of "The American Dream: A Cultural History,"previously told Insider that while it used to be relatively easy for white citizens to realize that version of the American Dream, the country's dark legacy of segregation locked out Black Americans and other people of color from it.
And the dream continues to remain out of reach: 40% of high earners feel like they're living paycheck to paycheck, particularly 60% of high-earning millennials.
[VIDEO] Watkins tends to go on and on, however, what if he's right when he says ultimately that banks will become obsolete. In what way? Well I'm finding out how banks will only give you so much for your money.
So hopefully many of you have money in an interest-bearing account and we're in an environment of high inflation. I've been looking at interest rates for such accounts checking or savings and I realize I'm not getting a decent return. So one thing that Watkins would suggest is for example use some of your savings not all of course and that's my advice and put it into the stock market to start.
When you think about it the bank is doing roughly the same thing. With your money that you put into an account they're using that money to lend. That's capital for them and in an inflation environment I would think that if interest rates aren't great and probably not the best return.
[VIDEO] Heh! Hugh accomplishment I suppose. Just shows how much these green new dealers can relate to everyday people who still drive around in their combustion engine vehicles. We make them get electric vehicles to get to work or buy food and supplies. Please!
[VIDEO] I'm a fan of Dave Ramsey and while I haven't gone full in on his baby steps I do follow him on ig and definitely enjoy watching his clips on YouTube. And on this Thanksgiving morning I see him talk with Ben Shapiro discussing personal finance, current state of the US economy, and steps to take to become a millionaire.
My own personal message, I hope you're thankful today. Don't let the thieves of joy who reside on the left take away your blessings. As long as you're still alive and healthy you can change your own life for the better.
Yes in life there are things you can't control, however, in life you can control you. As long as you can control you if there is something you're not happy about then you can do something about it. As of late, that's what I'm trying to do.
As Ramsey advocates if you take control of your finances then you can have money in the bank. Which is what I hope for you in the future.
You may have heard about this recently, the Biden/Harris administration wants to monitors transactions over $600 into bank accounts. USA Today fact checked this.
While the claim is based in reality, it gets many of the facts wrong. The claim’s assertion is a proposal by the Biden administration, not a decision set in stone. The Treasury cannot “declare” any changes to law, as that is a legislative power that belongs to Congress. And even if the proposal is adopted banks would not provide access to individual transactions, just the total amount flowing in and out of an account annually. ... A May document from the Department of the Treasury outlines a number of the Biden administration’s revenue proposals for the 2022 fiscal year. The proposal referred to in the claim suggests introducing more comprehensive financial account reporting to “improve tax compliance.”
The latest IRS estimates show a tax gap of $166 billion per year between the tax owed by businesses (not counting large corporations) and the tax actually paid. The document says requiring comprehensive reporting on money flowing in and out of accounts "will enhance the effectiveness of IRS enforcement measures and encourage voluntary compliance."
To achieve that, the Treasury proposed requiring financial institutions to annually report the total amount of money that went in and out of bank, loan and investment accounts if those accounts hold a value of at least $600, or if the total is at least $600 in a year.
That means that if the total debits (funds flowing out of the account) and credits (funds flowing into the account) equal at least $600 — including deposited paychecks or money transferred from finance apps like Cash App or PayPal — banks would have to report those figures to the IRS.
However, the banks would not report details on individual transactions, like how the money was spent, only the total amount of money flowing in and out of the applicable accounts.
With this said, I'll let you read of this what you will. It's clear Ramsey has an issue with this, however, just bear in mind it's a proposal being floated as he and his co-host Ken Coleman seem to indicate.
Ramsey is a good source for advice on personal finance - among others - I'll just leave it here and let you all decide what to make of this info.
Having that information will help the IRS flag under-reported income and target enforcement activities on tax evaders, the Treasury said.
[VIDEO] This video is funny and shows the hilarity sometimes on Twitter. While often I use twitter to comment on what I see on wrestling it's not often that there are any comments on politics aside from sharing posts from this blog.
But it's hilarious that someone is debate the "lack of options" as far as unemployment benefits ending and then Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) makes an obvious point. Lack of options? Find a job, there are plenty of small businesses looking for workers. I work somewhere that could use some help and nationwide the news has been that many businesses large & small have been struggling to hire more workers.
And you got people out there thoughtlessly discussing lack of options because unemployment is ending. It's even ending here in Illinois and those who were in no rush to find a job hoping that they can continue to receiving "free money" might have to start scrambling. To expect money to flow in without doing much work as if money grows on trees is unrealistic.
It's amazing that you inject logic into a simple discussion and then the whole debate derails. Finding a job is a logical answer to having a "lack of options". Well whoever responded to Sen. Cruz' retort found that response offensive although hopefully Cruz is probably having himself a laugh at the meltdown.
You know I knew a Republican substitute teacher in high school once. I generally heard what he said while a few louder classmates just didn't agree with him not matter what he said. One thing that I was at odds with was his position that people need to go to work. We're talking the 1990s - oh where did the 90s go - the issue of that time was welfare to work.
In Chicago the city was a few years away from ultimately demolishing the public housing that have become havens for crime and poverty. What that ultimately meant was that you couldn't just live somewhere rent free. And also you just can't expect any gov't to just give you money for rent & food that trough of free money was ending.
Sadly that mentality isn't dying. The entitlement mentality is still around. And while I expect many Americans doesn't want people left behind unable to provide for themselves at the same time many Americans also don't want to be taken advantage of by the entitled.
[VIDEO] I've been watching a lot of videos on collecting gold and silver lately. There is a lot of discussion on finance of course with precious metal stacking it's usually a matter of investments. How much will your money be worth if you keep it in a savings account when we might run into huge issues of inflation as is an ongoing concern under a Biden/Harris administration.
Of course another aspect of finance as discussed in this recent video by Yankee Stacking talking with his silver dealer about world events. Will the U.S. $ remain the world's reserve currency - that is other central banks hold our dollars in reserve? Of course with the embarrassment of Afghanistan which is ongoing, how much faith does the world have in the American $?
The silver dealer in the video above believes the $'s time as a world reserve currency is through!
BTW, I wish economics wasn't one my weaker areas of knowledge. :(
[VIDEO] This video specifically talks about the recent news regarding one of the founders of BLM who's using some of the money she made from BLM's global foundation to buy a million dollar house in California. If she had ever said "riots are justified" I'm not listening to her...
