If you have aftertax 401k funds or can make additional aftertax contributions, you may be interested in a new IRS rule. As of September 2014, the IRS has made it easier to fund your Roth IRA through a backdoor. Find more details at this Link to Forbes article.
Will you take advantage of this change in IRS rules? Do you currently fund a Roth through the traditional IRA backdoor?
News Flash! If you have a pre-existing condition that precludes you from getting insurance from a private insurer, you are eligible to become part of the Texas Health Insurance Pool. The pool provides affordable health insurance to those who are denied coverage. And it's not some fly by night insurance outfit, it's with BlueCross and BlueShield. How is it that this little program has been kept a secret from POTUS and his cadre of Dems who keep claiming that it's impossible to get insurance with a pre-existing condition? The state of Texas has been providing this safety net since 1998! What? you don't live in Texas? Well, just come visit, after 30 days you can have insurance. Seriously, check it out. How on earth did I discover this? It certainly is not widely known and there is no advertising in any media that I have ever seen. I learned about the pool through a friend who was diagnosed with cancer. He didn't have insurance because he would rather spend his money on a $300,000 house and a boat, a deer lease and a new Ford 4x4, etc ad nauseum. Consequently, he thought he had no choice, but to pay for ala cart cancer treatments which BTW are at a substantial discount when paid for with cash. Because of his limited available funds, he had to make choices as to which treatments were the most cost effective. Eventually, after several treatments, his doctor mentioned that he could be eligible and should apply for the health insurance pool. My friend survived the cancer and the pool has saved him a fortune, plus he kept all his toys. So, it begs the question, why even buy health insurance when such a pool exists? Why not save your money or spend it on 4x4 trucks, and just wait until you actually might need insurance then apply for the health pool safety net? Think of all the neat stuff you could have with the cash saved from not paying insurance premiums! Sure, that would be abusing the system, and it is predictable that the corrupting forces of socialism will continue to be a deleterious drag on human character, even in the overly proud state of Texas.
By now, we have all heard plenty of reasons why people are against and/or for an increase in government's role in healthcare. But the reason that resonates most is the effect on the individual. This article gets to the core of the issue concerning the deleterious effects of excessive government on human character.
Leave it to a private businessman to offer some stimulus that makes sense. It seems obvious now, but who else but a true capitalist would come up with a great way to encourage new business?
Does it seem odd to anyone that our government is so interested in discouraging saving? How can anyone argue that savings is not the very essence of our personal security. Our savings are the primary foundation we have to fall back on in tough times, to get us through ordeals such as what we are now facing, and of course, to build a better life. Yet, our dear leaders, have little interest in encouraging savings.
Why is saving no longer in the interest of the public good? Simply put, the economy has been depending on consumer “overspending” for years with the government injecting stimulus at every downturn. It is a false economy. The consumer has been driving this engine and this dependency is not a healthy underpinning for any free market.
It hasn’t always been that way. At one time, a very long time ago, saving was encouraged. Saving and then investing money into one’s private business or even into the stock of other businesses helped to fund the building of products and drove job creation. When
This didn’t happen overnight. It took years to change laws and eliminate sound lending policies to free up the credit to fuel this monster, to keep consumption growing. It has been a case of growth at all costs. Leverage yourself to the hilt, take out more credit, just keep the engine going a little longer.
Obviously, we are desperate for change, but it has now become apparent that there will be no change in economic policy. This administration plans to keep on kicking the can down the road. In fact, the “can” is doubling and tripling in size. It is and has been easier to keep kicking, rather than to actually stand up and lead; to make the tough, unpopular decisions. Eventually, all of this will settle out, this farce can only continue for so long. Propping up unsound businesses will not work. There was a day when a business did not make a profit, it got squeezed out. It was economic survival of the fittest and this natural process produced the strongest and most competent businesses. Evidently, there are many who think they can change this law of nature, but we all know that nature can not be fooled.
