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Ways to help improve your odds for success, its Now or Never! Or you will be assured of a life of lower living standards and very grim retirement prospects!
Spend or save? That question will confound consumers for the next several years as they try in vain to rebuild their savings, lower their debt and in effect limp toward retirement. It is well documented that for the past decade Americans have been on a spending orgy, for about 40 years since World War II, Americans typically saved between 6% and 10% of their after tax income. The savings rate began to deteriorate in 1985 and for the past 5 years it has been as low as -1%. After the frightful events in 2008 with Americans typically losing up to 50% of their investment values, they have started hoarding cash and the savings rate crept up to about 4%.
While we were saving less we were also borrowing more and when the Real Estate bubble burst in 2007 the Atms in our homes were shut down and Americans really went to their credit cards in earnest! In 1960 the typical US household had debt that equaled about 55% of their after tax disposable income. For years that rose gradually as credit card borrowing, low down payment mortgages and all types of other easy credit for everything from automobiles, furniture, vacations became common. Then, all hell broke loose after 2000, peaking at 130% of income in early 2008. Even though it has been reduced slightly since then the fact is the typical family still owes more to lenders than it earns in a year.
How bad off is your family? Here are some figures from the Federal Reserve and the economists at Bank of America to help compare your own debt, savings and net worth to the national averages:
- The average debt-to-income ratio, or DTI, is 125 percent today. Economists roughly consider a 100 percent DTI ratio to be “normal” or healthy. So if you owed a combined $125,000 on your mortgage, car loans and other obligations and earned $100,000 in take-home pay, you’d want to pay down your debt by $25,000, or 20 percent, to be in the safe zone.
- The average ratio of household net worth to disposable income, or the wealth-to-income ratio, is 487 percent today. That’s lower than the average since 1993, which has been about 550 percent. The lost wealth is mainly because of declines in the value of homes and stocks, which is where many people have parked their money. Your net worth is a fairly simple equation: your mortgage balance and other debts and liabilities subtracted from your home equity, investments and other assets. So you can increase your net worth in two basic ways: Either increasing your assets or lowering your debts.
- The savings rate this year is about 4 percent. One mainstream assumption is that as the savings rate goes up, about 80 percent of new savings will be used to pay down debt, while about 20 percent will be invested in securities or other assets that pay interest.
Consumers become rational. Given the painful transformation of the U.S. economy, Americans ought to be saving like crazy and buying nothing they don’t need. Some are, but it’s not clear yet if Americans as a whole will save more over the long term or go back to spending nearly everything they have. The savings rate has crept up to about 4 percent, but that’s still lower than the long-term average and far lower than you might expect after a collapse like the one we’ve endured. If savings continue to go up–a prudent move for most households–consumer spending will come down, leaving a hole in the growth of our gross domestic product, with little else to fill it. So hopes for a vigorous rebound rest on spendthrift consumers being as materialistic as ever. Now there’s a strong foundation for success.
Well we find ourselves in quite a bind, These problems call for NEW SOLUTIONS,
That’s why I am Creating the DEBT FREE NATION TOUR.
I have assembled a group of financial experts to tour the Nation and give consumers some hope in a hopeless world. We will offer common sense solutions to Mortgage Acceleration, Debt Elimination, Credit Repair and Wealth Accumulation. More information and dates will be available soon.
Well dear readers as we come to the close of 2009
More questions remain than answers, many investment gurus predictions for 2009 have gone by the wayside.
Some were correct, most were not. Even a majority of the predictions that were spot on suffered from bad timing and timing dear readers is what it is really all about. It is timing that ultimately makes you a winner or a loser. But in the midst of the greatest Ponzi scheme of all (Government debt instruments) there is ONE investment that has reacted to the fiat moneysystem and that is GOLD.
Now some casual observations;
Is it me or are the days really flying by?
The government says things are improving, personally I don’t see it that way. (The banks are still sitting on a mountain of worthless paper)
Bank Failures are well over 100 this year, many more to follow in 2010.
Do you think the USA will really be able to pay off all that debt?
Is Tiger Woods a student of Mind Control gone bad? (Seems like it)
I know I feel better knowing that the government is reforming Health Care.
Are you deeper in debt NOW than when the year began?
I believe 2010 will be a real interesting year! – keep your eyes wide open!
What was the spiral light in the sky over Norway last week?
What happened to the Swine Flu?
Gold started 2009 at $858 and looks to end 2009 at $1,100 plus.
Where will it go in 2010? (Hint: at least $1500)
Suggestions for 2010:
Cut up your credit cards.
Live within your means – downsize if necessary.
Get out of debt (look at my website: www.teampayitoff.com)
Buy some physical GOLD & SILVER.
Keep repeating this mantra: DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY.
TO ALL: HAVE A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND PROFITABLE NEW YEAR.
As I watch Gold being hammered by the Gold Bullion banks the last few days, all I can think of is they gave us a gift, the opportunity to BUY more Gold and Silver at lower prices. Their efforts are futile.
Please read this great paragraph from JSMineset.com
AND BUY MORE GOLD & SILVER!!
Paper Money Collapsing against Gold
The problem with paper money is that governments can create unlimited amounts. This is what they have done throughout history and especially in the last 100 years and which has led to the total destruction of most currencies. Most people don’t even understand that their government makes their money worthless. Money printing gives them the illusion of being richer whilst all they have are pieces of paper with more zeros on them. But there is one currency that governments can’t print which is gold. Gold has been real money for almost 5,000 years and it is the only currency that has survived throughout history. Gold can’t be printed and no government controls it. Therefore gold will, over time, always reveal governments’ fraudulent actions in creating money out of thin air. And this is what we are experiencing currently. Gold is not going up. Instead gold is doing what it has always done, namely maintaining its value and purchasing power.
What we are seeing currently is the total annihilation of paper money whether it is Dollars, Pounds or Euros etc. The chart below shows the US dollar against gold. In the last 10 years the dollar has declined by 79% against gold. Most currencies have declined by similar percentages. So it is an illusion to believe that gold is going up when it is the value of paper money that is going down. All gold is doing is to reflect the virtually limitless printing of paper currencies. Since gold can’t be printed, it is the only honest currency that exists. This is why many governments don’t like gold increasing in value against their paper money since it exposes their total incompetence in running their country’s economy.
As the Holiday Season rapidly approaches, Americans are in a vastly different economic situation than they were two years ago. We were getting warning signs of this current situation as early as the mid 1990’s.
Increased credit lines made using credit cards for everything from luxury vacations to purchasing automobiles to kitchen renovations that cost upwards of $80,000. We were indeed drunk with unlimited credit and we totally forgot about saving for a rainy day or retirement for that matter.
We figured Uncle Sam would take care of us with his unlimited social programs – well think again. Instead of embarking on a prudent path this Government initiated wars of its choice trying to expand its empire and enlarged the police state in this country. Not to mention wasting trillions of dollars trying to save zombie financial institutions that should be left to die for making horrible business decisions based on pure greed.
With the economic Winter approaching we have not prepared ourselves properly for what is ahead. There is precious little time left to get our Financial house in order. Just as it is prudent to prepare for the approaching winter by having the heating system checked, the car tuned up and winterized, storing some extra food and water in case of a bad storm, we must also make an effort to curtail our spending, increase our savings and pay off our debts as quickly as possible. Looking around me the majority of the citizens of this country do not have a clue!. The country is completely and utterly unprepared.
As I watch in utter amazement the ancient and possibly senile Congressmen bellow and blow smoke up each others asses debating the disasterous healthcare bill. I feel these are the wrong people, fighting about the wrong issues as this country is in the midst of an out in out crisis with debt levels exploding, the dollar being printed into oblivion and our grandchildrens futures being destroyed.
I feel we should be doing everything we possibly can to prepare ourselves for this economic winter storm:
Get out of debt using all solutions that are available to us, that is downsizing to a more affordable home or even renting a place, debt settlements or even bankruptcy if necessary, getting on a system to pay off your mortgage and debts quickly.
- Buy some gold and silver coins for some insurance against the coming inflation and destruction of the dollar.
- It is imperative that your families band together and work as a team.
- Strengthen your personal and business relationships.
- Store some extra food and water.
- And in 2010 vote these bastards out of office!
These are just personal rantings of a very concerned citizen who has watched this economic crisis unfold right before his eyes. Like it or not our leaders continue to make the wrong choices and worse they are trying to pull the wool over our eyes letting the masses think things are improving. But by now you know better – right?
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Every once in a while I come across a very important article that strikes the right tone with me. This article comes courtesy of Ken-Welch.com, parts have been upgraded with my personal contacts, I hope you find it as interesting as I did.
A number of independent financial commentators have been saying this week that we are at a pivotal moment for the stock markets. U.S. stocks have followed the same path as in 1929 almost perfectly. A sharp, earth-shaking decline followed by a strong fantasy rally based on talk of an imaginary recovery. On the 1929-30 charts, we are now at that historical tipping point where the long slide to oblivion began. This was the killer leg down, and the value of shares, even of the largest firms, eventually came very close to zero.
Rallies in bear markets are typically the periods in which Wall Street insiders unload their stocks on an unsuspecting public, (if you were paying attention you would notice that insiders have been furiously SELLING their companies storks!) lured into the market by a barrage of cheerleading from the financial industry. I hope you have the sense to get out.
There is no recovery. All indicators say so. New unemployment claims continue at record levels. A new wave of foreclosures is coming, and the word is that most of the banks that are still standing are actually COLD-STONE-BROKE! Last year I ran across some outside-the-box advice for home owners suddenly facing new higher mortgage payments. The advice was to stop making payments immediately. Put the money in the bank until the Sheriff evicts you, then use it to lease a nice apartment. Take the bankruptcy if you have to. Come out at the other end in much better shape than those who fought to stay on board the Titanic.
I thought it was good advice worth putting in a newsletter, but I knew most people would say, “What about my credit rating?”
Well, times are different already. Have you gotten any letters lately offering new credit cards? Or have you watched your available credit line begin to shrink? I don’t think there’s going to be any new credit for years, and the cost of credit is headed upward. If credit card debt is a problem, it’s time to make a decision now.There aren’t going to be any more balance transfers, raised limits, or other last minute aid to help you pay off your plastic. If you are in an uncomfortable situation with payments, it’s simply not going to get any better.
I believe your best bet right now, even if you don’t see yourself as being in trouble quite yet, is to immediately contact one of the credit “counseling” services, have them negotiate your balances and payments downward, and commit to a single monthly payment that may be considerably less than what you are paying now.
If you are preparing for tough times ahead, you need that extra money now, in your own hands. Everything I see suggests grinding depression ahead. Consumer prices continue to decline. If a year from now we start into massive inflation you may find yourself in a good position. The card companies remain bound by the agreements you made, and the opportunity could arise to pay off the rest of what you owe with cheap money.
I don’t suggest going to any credit outfit you see on TV. TV is expensive and you don’t want to be the one paying for it. There are non-profits, but I hear they are overloaded and slow. Asking around, I could only find one person who has used one of these outfits recently, but they gave high marks to a company called Debt and Credit Advisors, ask for Jim Wortman he will direct you in the right direction his number is 888 940-3222.
Before you can accumulate wealth you must get yourself out of debt. You cannot effectively work on wealth creation if you are wasting dollars paying high interest on your credit cards, car loans, student loans or your mortgage. You must attack the debts aggressively before you can expect to invest effectively.
There are a number of ways to attack your debt. You can go to debt counseling, debt consolidation, debt settlement, mortgage modification, mortgage acceleration & debt elimination or even in extreme situations bankruptcy. There are two options for consumers seeking bankruptcy protection from the courts, either Charter 7 or Chapter 13. You should seek the advise of a lawyer who specializes in this for a free consultation. Each of these choices has its pros and cons, you must fully understand each one so you can make the appropriate decision for your situation. The key to success with any system or program is that you must be totally committed to resolving your debt situation. Too many people enter into these solutions with a complacent attitude and drop out before their program is completed.
You can utilize a combination of the services listed above in order to get out of debt in the quickest time possible. Lets elaborate by looking at the debt situation of our fictional subject Joe. Joe is a homeowner with a wife and two children, he worked for Corning Glass for the past 15 years and was earning $40,000 per year. He refinanced his home for the second time two years ago so he could “lower his payments” and get some cash out of the home to pay off some debt. Now his $200,000 home is mortgaged to the hilt, his home value is dropping, he still has a truck loan, he has been using his credit cards to pay bills, gas and food lately, OH! He was late with a credit card payment and the Bank raised his interest rate to 29%! AND He was just informed his hours are being cut by 5 hours per week-Thank God he still has his job. What is he gonna do?
The first thing he needs to do is to find out where he’s spending the money. This requires budgeting and eliminating ALL unnecessary spending. Then he should go to an honest Financial Services Company and figure out what course he needs to follow. Then he should go to a Mortgage Modification Company and try to get his existing Mortgage rate reduced. When he gets those programs in place he should talk to www.TeamPayitOff.com and have them run his financial analysis so he can see how much time and interest will be saved paying off the remaining debts and mortgage.
By this time Joe should have freed up some discretionary income from the budget and should seriously consider allocating some dollars into a Whole Life Insurance program, this savings vehicle accomplishes many things such as financial protection for his family in the event of his death, creates a forced savings plan with compound interest that can be used tax free in the event of an emergency and creates a tax free environment for retirement.
So there you have it, a brief synopsis of how to get out of debt quickly and start building your wealth. Future articles will go into detail on each of these programs. If you have any questions feel free to add a comment or e-mail me at wayne@teampayitoff.com I will be happy to answer any of you.
Wayne Isaksen
Below is a great statement from Abraham Lincoln, he was truly an intelligent man and a great statesman. His observations were right on the money back in the 1860’s and are ringing true today. It just proves dishonesty and greed was alive and well then as it is today.
“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”
–Abraham Lincoln
A great plan is coming to fruition here in America. Every act, deed, plan is done for a reason. Events that seem unrelated are carefully orchestrated to increase the powers of the Elite and put vast numbers of surfs (the rest of us) under their control. You can be sure inflation is not too far behind. Inflation is coming – You can be sure of that.
a) lose the burden of external debt
b) by devaluation lose your internal debt
c) In a single stroke you make the nation competitive as a manufacturing power.
d) scare the people back into compliance, even exultation with their low wages.
e) with the renewal of manufacturing, re-cast the power that your military rests on
f) during a time of Peak Oil, radically reduce unnecessary consumption while insuring strategic (military) supply.
g) by doing that, suck in the oil powers of Russia, Iran, and Venezuela enough to knock them off-base, first with high prices, then low prices.
h) club China into submission to the G-8 money powers again
AND BEST OF ALL:
i) enrich insiders beyond their wildest dreams, insuring their dominance for a generation to come.
All the right people win, all the wrong people lose.
There is only one thing we can do to protect ourselves – BUY PHYSICAL GOLD. There Was an opportunity to Buy in September 09 at $950 per ounce, presently Gold is trading at $1,045.00 per ounce. Look for a pullback under $1,000 to make additional purchases. This may or may not happen at this point in time. In a little while Gold will look really cheap at $1,000 per ounce.
Seeing the parabolic rise of the money supply and having barely escaped the banking collapse and the near miss of the Tech collapse, what do you need to insure this happens on a very tight schedule?
First, knowing this will happen, you suck in your own people by demanding—straight from the top—that bankers loosen lending standards so low even the dumbest financier couldn’t believe it was prudent, then refuse to prosecute even the most blatant corruptions by mortgage originators, fraudulent borrowers, and other “outsiders”. Suspecting this will all blow up, pay yourself today in bonuses instead of later in investments.
Then, knowing you’ll never repay, you jack up National Spending like anybody’s ever seen and go do what you want all over the world, in any country you want, with impunity.
Then you have a scare that gives you cover to set up conduits that insure all the right people have lifeboats, even if it costs $23 to $30 trillion dollars and even if the Wealthy yell bloody murder. It’ll all be over soon anyway.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Gold futures rose last Thursday to six-month highs, with the December contract approaching $1,000 an ounce as a weakening dollar and fund buying pushed up prices. Gold for delivery next year topped the key psychological level of $1,000.
Why Gold Now?
Gold has been the currency of choice for over 5,000 years. The amount of gold on the plant is finite, in fact it increases by only 2% per year.
Every Global economy that relies on a Fiat Currency (Paper currency backed by nothing) ends badly. Remember Weimar, Argentina, Zimbabwe? And that’s just in the past 90 years!! If America continues down this path with its policy of quantitative easing we will lose our status of having the worlds reserve currency and the benefits that go with it.
Gold most often moves in the opposite direction of the general markets and yet, while the markets have been rallying strongly over the last 6 months, Gold has held its value. It’s interesting that the timing and the magnitude of the explosion will come alongside the Biggest Bull Market Trap in history! This is very possible over the next couple of weeks.
Paper fiat money is a lousy store of value, The US Dollar has been losing value quickly ever since Nixon severed its ties with the Gold Standard in 1972. Check out this comparison of USDollars and Gold since 1930. A $100 Bill issued in 1930 is still a $100 and buys a whole lot less today than it did then. At that time Gold cost $20.67 an Ounce, Today $100 worth of Gold in 1930 Dollars would be worth a whopping $4,800.
Today Gold has the fundamentals to explode to the upside. The Federal Government is printing money like there’s no tomorrow, trying to spend its way out of this mess. The Bail Outs, Wars, Housing Market Bubble Bursting, Unemployment skyrocketing, Insolvent Banks have caused the Fed to go to the printing press. The Government has quickly spent $12 Trillion (that’s Trillion). If that’s not inflationary I don’t know what is! In the long term I believe Gold will go to $6,000 +, but that’s just my opinion. Do your homework, get educated with the Gold Market, the time is now.
Wayne Isaksen - www.teampayitoff.com
TRAGIC EVENTS OF 9/11/2001
I am reminded of the tragic events of 09/11/2001. At that time I was still installing interior landscapes with Silkscapes, Inc (see the About Page). In fact I was in the World Trade Center Lobby the day before checking on some displays we were installing over the 41 revolving doors located in Towers 1&2. As a matter of fact I just picked up a signed, very lucrative contract with a building on Maiden Lane to install 17 giant artificial Ficus Trees in their lobby. As you might have guessed that contract became toilet paper as the National Guard took up residence in that lobby after the events of the next day. When the events of 9/11 unfolded the next day and almost 3,000 innocent people lost their lives, I am still confused about who was really responsible for this unspeakable tragedy. As we all know the events at the World Trade Center, The Pentagon and the Crash of a Passenger Jet in a Pennsylvania Field were all related, so any discrepency in any of the events means ALL event details are put into question.
Today I was reading an article by Jim Willie of the GoldenJackass.com discussing the gold price and the events that have caused it to CLOSE for the first time over the $1,000 level. He made a quick aside to his article as he soo must have been thinking about 9/11 on this the 8th anniversary. I would like to share this paragraph with you.
The last command for Major General Albert Stubblebine was head of all Army Strategic Intelligence worldwide. Note his comments about the ridiculous story of an commercial aircraft hitting the Pentagon, a story he mocks openly. Stubblebine disputes by simply pointing out that the 5000-lb engines would have left a very very big mark on the Pentagon building facades, something that remarkably receives little discussion. No such aircraft impact happened, since a missile hit the Pentagon. Just try to imagine a jetplane that evaporated and incinerated without any debris, an utterly absurd tale. Imagine an advanced metal alloy fuselage incinerated and vaporized, even hundreds of seats turned to dust while strewn. Let’s all hail the first airline crash in modern history without any debris! It is a miracle! The retired Stubblebine should be careful, but he must know the risks. This entire story is an insult to our intelligence. See the YouTube video clip (CLICK HERE). The tale told for the World Trade Center exploits the ignorance of Americans, who largely failed physics and chemistry in high school. See gravity (11 seconds for demolition freefall, not a pancake staged collapse). See chemistry (jet fuel burns 2000 degrees too low to melt structural steel). Next resort to Aesop Fables (third WTC building fell after saddened by the collapse of its two big brothers).
This indeed is a very dark chapter in the history of this nation and it is my hope that one day the truth will be told and the parties responsible are brought to justice.
My prayers also go out to the 343 Brave Firefighters who lost their lives.
Now is the time to talk about us, the average middle class citizen. We have been bullshitted into thinking we were all wealthy, hell we own big houses that kept on appreciating, whenever our credit card balances got too high or our auto payments on our two or three cars got too restricting all we had to do was go to our lender and refinance-there all fixed. The real problems started to develop when the housing bubble burst and our ATMs in our homes were shut down! The biggest problem US citizens have to face is DEBT. This should be priority number one
In order to survive the continued economic crisis you must do whatever you can to eliminate your DEBT. You cannot continue doing what you have done in the past, As Einstein once said: INSANITY is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. It is time to learn new solutions to our problems. Nothing is easy and most people abhor change but change we must. The first thing to do is look at the way the BANKS are treating us. We must use every tool available to us to do battle with the BANKSTERS.
One of the best tools I have found is the PAY IT OFF SYSTEM, it is a very powerful system for paying off your mortgage and debts in the shortest time possible paying a minimal amount of interest. It is also the lowest priced program on the market today. (Forget about U1st!!!)
GO TO: www.teampayitoff.com
Here are a few tidbits on investing:
Although Gold could explode at any time now, stay with our plan of buying into weakness in either stock or bullion until Gold breaks out above $1050. At that time, load up on the balance of the positions you intended on taking. REMEMBER back in 2005 – my long term target for Gold was $6250. So far, only Alf Field has come anywhere close with his $6000 projection and then for some reason he stopped publishing. I guess he wanted to retire a big winner. Come back Alf, the world need good people especially NOW.
ONE OTHER POINT: Gold most often goes in the opposite direction as does the general markets and yet, while the markets have been rallying strongly over the last 5 months, Gold has held its own. That could be foretelling that both the timing and extent of the explosion will coincide with the BIGGEST BULL MARKET TRAP in history, due at any time over the next few weeks. The longer this stock market extends, the sharper will be the crash.
I hope I didn’t scare you with the bleak economic reality, please do not listen to the mainstream talking heads saying we are almost out of the recession!! How could that be possible as the government has not done one thing to fix the problem. You cannot spend your way to prosperity!!!
Thanks for listening.
Wayne Isaksen
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