Forgiving Student Loan Debt, Why Not All Debt?

Progressives continue to advocate forgiveness of up to $50,000 of student loan debt.   Apparently, excessive student loan debt is preventing borrowers from buying goods and helping the economy.  (Paraphrasing reason from Lizzie Warren, Senator from Massachusetts.)   

Let's assume that is true.    Then why not forgive all debt: mortgage, credit card, payday loans and car loans.   Without the burden of loan payments, these borrowers could then spend payments on other goods and further stimulate the economy.

As they say in Wall Street Bets:  Can't go tits up.   

On the other hand, does the economy really need more stimulation?   CPI was at 7% for December, the highest since June 1982.    Using Lizzie's reasoning, maybe we need to NOT forgive any student loans to keep from further stimulating the economy.

Key learning:   

• Except for a mortgage, don't borrow what one can't pay back.   Maybe not even for a mortgage.  
• Today's college education tuition is way over priced, cause primarily by availability of student loans.  Maybe true of cars also.

Final thought.  If I were in charge, I would allow new student loans to be eliminated by bankruptcy.   Institutions would then be more judicious about requirements to qualify for a student loan.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back Wednesdays for a new segment.

This is not financial, student loan, nor policy advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2021 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Future Inflation

The year is 2024.

A loaf of bread cost $20.    Gas is $12/gallon.   Interest rates are 7%.

President Biden is running for re-election, saying "Inflation is transitory."    Jay Powell is the Fed Chair and says, "Inflation is transitory."

My nephew and niece are expecting their 15th stimulus check and will vote for Joe Biden, as they did in 2020.  

They tell me, "Inflation is transitory."

For more on Crossing Generations , check back Thursdays for a new segment.

This is not financial nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2021 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Bought the September Dip

I started scaling funds into stocks in mid August 2021.    Primarily into the top growth stocks, such as MSFT, GOOGL, AAPL, and NVDA.   I did not buy AMZN, FB, TSLA and NFLX.  As the market fell further, I added to the growth stock positions and started to buy some of the beaten down stocks such as BB, NOK, EVGO, LAZR, CHPT, TLRY, SNDL, BABA, PLTR, WISH, SKLZ, CLOV, T and VLDR.  In addition, I bought a growth ETF, SCHG, and the S&P 500 ETF, VOO. 

The growth stocks and ETFs have already bounced back, with MSFT almost at its previous high.  The beaten down stocks, well, they are still beaten down.   A few, BB, CLOV and NOK, are showing positive gains,   But most still haven't bottomed.

Overall, our total, by brokerage, are near or at all time highs, due mainly to the gains in oil and oil related stocks.   If the beaten down stocks show a similar resurgence, our accounts will have nice gains in the next few months.

However, I don't expect the beaten stocks to spike suddenly.   It may take a while for them to clearly bottom and begin an upward trend.  Fortunately, I don't have much invested in them and have the time to wait.

At this point, I plan to wait for another drop before making any substantial stock purchases.   I still think there are enough downside risks that will lead to another decline and buying opportunity.

Disclosure:  In our personal non managed accounts, we own shares of MSFT, GOOGL, AAPL, NVDA, NVLX, BB, NOK, EVGO, LAZR, CHPT, TLRY, SNDL, BABA, PLTR, WISH, SKLZ, CLOV, T and VLDR.   We also own SCHF and VOO ETFs.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back Saturdays for a new segment.

This is not financial nor investment  advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2021 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Legislative Turmoil Is Priced In

If Dems fail to pass Infrastructure bill,  Build Back Better bill, and increase the debt ceiling on the first vote, there is good chance market crashes and U.S. starts going into recession.

Economy and market are fragile right now.   Just needs a catalyst to start the decline.

But, then again, Dems need a crash and recession to pass infrastructure bill, Build Back Better bill and increase debt ceiling.

So already priced in by efficient markets.

For more on New Beginnings, check back Sundays for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2021 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

DeSantis Threatens "Slavery" for Violations of Mask Ban

Ron DeSantis, earlier this week, threatened to withhold pay for administrators of school districts that ignored his mask ban order.    I'm not an attorney, but employee labor without pay sounds like "slavery" to me, with the exception of charitable organizations, who can employ volunteers for no pay.

Separately, I read that Florida was receiving ventilators from the Feds, of which DeSantis claimed no knowledge. I imagined DeSantis privately invoking Marie Antoinette, when hearing parents complain about not wearing masks, and saying, "Let them wear ventilators."

Waiting for a Late Night talk show host to bring up these points in their opening dialogue.  LOL.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back Saturdays for a new segment.

This is not financial nor political advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2021 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Advanced Child Tax Credit Issues I'm Having

I just found out from the Manage Your Payment Portal that our Advance Child Tax Credit Payment is being deposited to someone else's bank account, even though our bank account is listed correctly to Portal.

The bank deposit error itself is extremely concerning.  Here are the other reasons I am very upset:

• The IRS would not assist on the phone when I had questions about not receiving a payment.  They required me to sign up with the Manage Your Payment Portal, which took me two days to do since I am not tech savvy and do not have a smart phone.
• This is the weekend, and no one can help me with correcting this incorrect payment issue via phone.  I could unenroll us from the program, but it requires my spouse to sign up for the Manage Your Payment Portal also.
• I would not have requested receiving Advance Child Tax Credit Payments.  They advance payments were automatic and one had to opt out via the Manage Your Payment Portal.
• I will now have to deal with the IRS to correct THEIR issue.
• The IRS may contest my 2020 Child Tax Credit claim due to THEIR mistake.

I should be compensated for the pain a suffering I will experience to correct this issue :-)

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back  Fridays  for a new segment.

This is not financial nor tax advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2021 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Save by Pre-ordering Parts Online

I try to do as much of my car maintenance as possible to save money.  Changing cabin air filter in our car costs about $60 at the dealer.   I can buy the part for about $20 and it only takes 5 minutes to change.   

Today, I got an additional savings of $5 on the part.   It turns out if I order the part online and pick it up at the dealer, it only costs $15, instead of $20 if I walk into the dealer at purchase.  I guess I save the parts person time by not asking questions when I pick up.  However, if I need help choosing the part online, the parts person will help me choose the correct part.   Thus, I don't understand the reason for the savings.

In this case, my is not to question why, but to order online and save when I buy.

For reference, this is not an extra trip either.  I usually buy the part when I go in for an oil change, which I do at the dealer, since the cost is often about the same as buying the parts/oil and doing it myself.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back Wednesdays for a new segment.

This is not financial nor car maintenance advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2021 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Avoiding FOMO

"Stonks only go up.~ Wall Street Bets saying

After Monday's dip, the indices have only gone up.   Shortest correction ever.   Retail bought the dip.   New highs at the end of week.

Do I think the market could keep going up?   Yes.   Do I also think there is a risk of going down?  Yes.   I think the upside potential is equal to the downside risks.  Therefore, I'm not putting significant funds into the market.

FOMO, maybe.   Risking significant amounts of money.  Nope.  Testing with minimal funds.  Yep.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back Fridays for a new segment.

This is not financial nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2021 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Remaining Patient

Today may be the start of the correction for which I've been waiting.   I'm not buying yet, since I believe the market will go down further.  Too much uncertainty and not enough fear yet.   When I can no longer bear to look at my investments accounts, I will consider significant buying then. 

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back Mondays for a new segment.

This is not financial nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2021 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Going Almost Full Boomer for Stock Investments

I've enjoyed reading Wall Street Bets and trading some of the meme stocks and meme options.      I've learned a lot about trading options.  I've learned a lot about trading stocks that spike. I've felt the exhilaration of making a big winning trade.  Fortunately, I've made money with about 90% of these trades.

I've been lucky, because I'm not that good of a trader.

The downside is that I feel I need to be ready to make a decision to buy/sell or close out options every moment the market is open.   That's because some of the stocks and options will spike, but only momentarily, as short as few hours, but often for a few days.   These spikes are often also unexpected.  Thus, trading meme stocks and meme options can be stressful.

In addition, I don't have a reliable system to replace positions that I close out.   This means that I have to be consistently watching the market for the opportunity to buy.  Otherwise, I may miss a good entry prices before the spike.

Finally, as I get older, I realize that my trading ability will diminish as I've seen happen with many elderly people.

I fell I have two choices:

• Put our investments with a financial advisor for a fee of about 1% of assets.
• Put our funds into a total market or S&P 500 index funds for a fee of about .05% of assets.

I'm leaning towards the index funds for the following reasons:

• Very few investment managers consistently beat the total market or S&P500 index over  a 5 year period.  Almost not beat the indices over a 10 year period.
•  With commission free trading, we can dollar cost average in the index funds.

I plan to start scaling into the indices over time as corrections occur, maybe a few percent at a time, just in case there is a unexpected major decline in the market in the future.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back Saturdays for a new segment.

This is not financial, investment nor trading advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2021 Achievement Catalyst, LLC