Saving Money

With Guests Shannon Miller and Hal Hershfield

Big Goals, Little Steps: With Guests Shannon Miller and Hal Hershfield



8/16/21 by Shannon Miller, Katy Milkman, Hal Hershfield

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/127141869
Episode: https://chtbl.com/track/224G4/https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/cdn.simplecast.com/audio/46d9ff78-39b5-4502-a5e9-0df217e1b3a7/episodes/3f815c56-dde7-4e12-b24a-762353a4dea6/audio/c5ff2e50-a324-4b84-9d8d-fd247c173be3/default_tc.mp3

Most people wouldn’t attempt a marathon or a climb up Mount Everest without first working through some less audacious objectives. And yet there are countless examples of ambitious goalsβ€”new businesses, academic degrees, career changes, athletic featsβ€”that were abandoned because they appeared too daunting in scope. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we look at a simple strategy that can make your biggest goals more manageable. Shannon Miller is one of the most decorated athletes in the history of gymnastics. She is a seven-time Olympic medalist, and two-time inductee into the US Olympic Hall of Fame. While her ambitions as a young gymnast included competing at national and international events, she learned early on that achieving those lofty goals would require many small steps along the way. You’ll hear how Shannon Miller’s approach to goals led her to the pinnacle of her sport, and also helped her through a devastating illness. You can read more about Shannon Miller’s challenges and triumphs in her memoir, It’s Not About Perfect: Competing for my Country and Fighting for My Life. Next, Hal Hershfield joins Katy to explore how breaking your savings goals into smaller amounts and shorter intervals can help you overcome certain psychological hurdles. He also discusses scenarios where smaller monetary increments may not actually be in your best interest. Hal Hershfield is an Associate Professor of Marketing, Behavioral Decision Making, and Psychology at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.

Smart Investing Tips For Beginners

Smart Investing Tips For Beginners

7/27/21 by NPR

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/126276109
Episode: https://play.podtrac.com/npr-510338/edge1.pod.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/lifekit/2021/07/20210727_lifekit_investors_need_a_plan__-_life_kit_-_final.mp3

Investing is the most powerful way that we can save for retirement, college for our children and similar long-term goals. But if you’re just getting started it can be hard to separate the good advice from the bad.

In this episode, NPR Life Kit host Chris Arnold offers up a few tips for those who are just entering the world of investing.

A half million dollars?

A half million dollars?

I am getting close to a net worth of $500k which I should reach by the end of the year if the markets don’t completely crap out before the end of the year. It’s almost all money I’ve made myself and invested. I recognize that my current financial struggles are just a temporary dilemma as I build a secure retirement and save for my off-grid property that I should be able to buy with cash and live simply.

The way I look at it is if I can manage a 7% return on my investments over the next decade, I should be able to have more than a million on capital gains alone along with continued investments that will get me closer to $1.5 million by my mid-50s when I leave my good paying job for a better life. Plus wherever I end up moving, be it rural Missouri or South Dakota or elsewhere, I will probably still need a real job beyond my homestead for at least a few more years as I think universal health care is still a few years off.

Sounds like a lot of money but it really isn’t. Land and equipment is expensive and I hope to have many years in retirement. I don’t want to live fancy but I do want to have the money needed for the equipment needed for a hobby farm, a truck, four wheeler, guns and other implements for working the land.

Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax β€” ProPublica

The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax β€” ProPublica

For regular people, borrowing money is often something done out of necessity, say for a car or a home. But for the ultrawealthy, it can be a way to access billions without producing income, and thus, income tax.

The tax math provides a clear incentive for this. If you own a company and take a huge salary, you’ll pay 37% in income tax on the bulk of it. Sell stock and you’ll pay 20% in capital gains tax — and lose some control over your company. But take out a loan, and these days you’ll pay a single-digit interest rate and no tax; since loans must be paid back, the IRS doesn’t consider them income. Banks typically require collateral, but the wealthy have plenty of that.

The vast majority of the ultrawealthy’s loans do not appear in the tax records obtained by ProPublica since they are generally not disclosed to the IRS. But occasionally, the loans are disclosed in securities filings. In 2014, for example, Oracle revealed that its CEO, Ellison, had a credit line secured by about $10 billion of his shares.

Last year Tesla reported that Musk had pledged some 92 million shares, which were worth about $57.7 billion as of May 29, 2021, as collateral for personal loans. Elon Musk Tesla Inc. 2014–2018 Wealth Growth: $13.9B Total Income Reported: $1.52B (10.94% of wealth) Total Taxes Paid: $455M (3.27% of wealth)

With the exception of one year when he exercised more than a billion dollars in stock options, Musk’s tax bills in no way reflect the fortune he has at his disposal. In 2015, he paid $68,000 in federal income tax. In 2017, it was $65,000, and in 2018 he paid no federal income tax. Between 2014 and 2018, he had a true tax rate of 3.27%.

The IRS records provide glimpses of other massive loans. In both 2016 and 2017, investor Carl Icahn, who ranks as the 40th-wealthiest American on the Forbes list, paid no federal income taxes despite reporting a total of $544 million in adjusted gross income (which the IRS defines as earnings minus items like student loan interest payments or alimony). Icahn had an outstanding loan of $1.2 billion with Bank of America among other loans, according to the IRS data. It was technically a mortgage because it was secured, at least in part, by Manhattan penthouse apartments and other properties.

How Much Money Is ‘Enough’? Try This Experiment to Get an Exact Number to Aim For

How Much Money Is ‘Enough’? Try This Experiment to Get an Exact Number to Aim For

Have you ever read those articles where some extremely well-off family details their budget and then bemoans that they’re barely getting by?

It’s ridiculous that anyone could complain about raking in $350,000 a year, and it’s clear many of these folks are wildly out of touch with how privileged they are. But while these families may be extreme (and annoying), they aren’t alone. It’s not just the wealthy who fall into the trap of earning more only to spend more and feel just as dissatisfied.

How do you get off this treadmill?