If 2019 taught us anything, it was that it’s just a matter of time before hackers find our personal information online.

After a string of major hacks affecting millions of internet users, there are few people left online who haven’t been affected. With 100 million Capital One COF, +6.72% customers having their sensitive data exposed on top of last year’s Equifax breach EFX, +0.07% exposing the data of 148 million customers, Marriott MAR, -0.48% exposing 500 million users’ information, and Exactis exposing the data of more than 340 million people, your information is at a higher risk than ever.


Here are five easy steps you can take to make yourself — and your finances — less hackable.

To Find Out About The Five Easy Steps...

Sixties Music

Music of the Sixties underscored my days in college, influencing my actions, my words, and the way that I dressed to go to class.  At my small school in NC, "Joe College" was the dress of the day and carrying one's books up in one's armpit was the style.  So, my jeans and T-shirt approach with a jacket was not that acceptable if I wanted to go out with "nice girls".  What I later found out was that "nice girls" were no different than "bad girls" other than they way they dressed.  As a result of this boycott, me and my boys would go to an "all girls" school 20 miles down the road to play at night...  by the SOUNDS OF THE MUSIC which was always in our minds, hearts, and souls.

It was not just that SIXTIES MUSIC inspired us, but its lyrics were POETIC unlike the lyrics of the 50's...   AND, never again has music had these all encompassing lyrics in just about every single musical group, duet, or individual.

Animal Abuse

The shocking number of animal cruelty cases reported every day is just the tip of the iceberg—most cases are never reported. Unlike violent crimes against people, cases of animal abuse are not compiled by state or federal agencies, making it difficult to calculate just how common they are. 

However, we can use the information that is available to try to understand and prevent cases of abuse.

Who abuses animals?
▶️Cruelty and neglect cross all social and economic boundaries and media reports suggest that animal abuse is common in both rural and urban areas.

▶️Intentional cruelty to animals is strongly correlated with other crimes, including violence against people.

▶️Hoarding behavior often victimizes animals. Sufferers of a hoarding disorder may impose severe neglect on animals by housing far more than they are able to adequately take care of. Serious animal neglect (such as hoarding) is often an indicator of people in need of social or mental health services.
Surveys suggest that those who intentionally abuse animals are predominantly men under 30, while those involved in animal hoarding are more likely to be women over 60.

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I'll be right there...

Yesterday... Today... Tomorrow...

7:30 am Friday to 7:30 Saturday was Yesterday                 24 hours

7:30 am Saturday to 7:30 am Sunday is Today                   24 hours

7:30 am Sunday to 7:30 am Monday will be Tomorrow      24 hours
                                                                                              72 hours

It is within these 72 hours that we consistently live our lives, reflecting, remembering, living, and planning and while many of us live on shorter time frames, this time frame has typically been the norm for Americans.

Yes, it is true that we schedule appointments with Doctors, Dentists, Optomologists, Hair Stylists and plan out birthdays, vacations, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and other holidays in advance of just looking at tomorrow, but other than those exceptions, Americans live in 72 hour or less blocks of time.

For businesses and industries, we look at rolling quarters, that is to day what did we do last quarter (yesterday), what will we do this quarter (today) and what are we planning for next quarter (tomorrow).

Some corporations might look out into the future for 18-24 months but those situations are RARE...

WHY?

• Uncertainty of the future
• Risks associated with doing something based upon that uncertainty
• Doing something means committing resources
• Resources mean:  money, materials, labor, time

Additionally...

1. What many Americans do not know or have associated with this issue is the fact that the STOCK MARKET pays dividends every 90 days.
2. Bonuses are predicated upon stock prices
3. Actions are then predicated upon potential bonuses

In PSYCHOLOGY, this is called CLASSICAL CONDITIONING which means:  reinforce the desired behaviors...

Leaders of Industries are MANIPULATED by Boards of Directors just like children are manipulated by their parents...

I find this amusingly interesting.

T G I F

THANK
GOD
IT'S
FRIDAY...

When I was working this 4 letters meant a lot but now that I am retired, every day is every other day and each day is part of an on-going weekend and every weekend is part of one long vacation. 

• I sleep as long as I want to
  
• I eat whenever I want to
• I exercise at different times
• I do chores when I feel like it
• I write whatever comes into my mind
• I wear whatever I desire
• I take a nap if I have a mind to

You must have noticed that there are a lot of "I's" in that bulleted list...  and if you believe that this is what I really do then you are dumber than I look...  anyone who has half a mind has got to realize that retired life don't mean shit, if you are still married.

So, let's get this straight...  My Wife Calls All The Shots...   and, since kissing her ass for the rest of my life...

she will no doubt live longer than me then I will be
I get to do whatever when and if my wife says I can do whatever...  We have been together for 27 years and even though I retired 5 years ago, I only realized what I just wrote 3 years ago when she retired...

And if you don't stop laughing, Ima gonna slap you stupid...

Question for you...

ARE YOU A BOILING FROG?

FINANCIAL PLANNING... Part II

In Part I (although, it was not labeled Part 1), I ended with 401K that many employees have set up with their employers, some of which match substantially and some of which match minimally.  Here's the information on your 401Ks...

Average 401(k) balance: $11,800. 

Median 401(k) balance: $4,300

SOURCE: NerdWallet Feb 7, 2020

If this is YOU, and YOU are 35 years old, YOUR average balance or Median balance could double or triple by the time you actually retire at age 70 which is doubling your current age...  this means that the average balance in YOUR 401K could increase to $23,600 (doubles once) or even $47,200 (doubles twice)...

NOW, let's round off the doubling twice amount and YOU are left with about $50,000.

NOW, let's suppose YOUR employer's contribution increases YOUR 401K to $100,000.

HOW LONG will YOUR  $100,000 last?

The CURRENT AVERAGE Social Security payout in 2020 is $1,800/month.

By the time YOU reach retirement age, it is estimated that you will only receive 80% of what is being received today, which means you will receive only $1,440/month.

Let's suppose that you are married, now that Social Security allowance for YOU and YOUR SPOUSE is $2,880 or rounded off is $3,000/month.

CURRENTLY, the average cost of living across the USA is $5,000/month.  So, you will need another $2,000/month or $24,000 each year and $240,000 over a decade...

But, 

YOUR 401K is only $100,000 and therefore will only last YOU and YOUR SPOUSE less than 5 years, assuming your money earns no INTEREST...  if we add INTEREST then YOUR money will probably last you 5 years...

DOES THAT SOUND LIKE A 

GOOD PLAN TO YOU???

We're All In This Together

Excuse me but...   that's BULLSHIT...

We are not all in this together and we have never been all in this together and anyone who thinks or sees life differently, in my opinion has their head up their ass so far that they need a glass belly-button to see out of...

We have Millionaires
We have Billionaires
We have the Upper Middle Class
We have the Middle Class
We have the lower class

We have immigrants
We have celebrities
We have professional athletes
We have professional musicians
We have actors/actresses
We have news anchors
We have CEOs
We have truck drivers
We have pilots
We have military personnel
We have government workers
We have fast food workers
We have janitors and maids
We have taxi drivers
We have priests, pastors, and ministers
We have law enforcement personnel
We have EMS employees
We have healthcare workers
We have professors, instructors, and teachers
We have lawyers
We have dentists
We have physicians and surgeons
We have inmates and prison guards
We have politicians

HOW CAN WE POSSIBLY ALL BE IN THIS TOGETHER?

This just does make any sense to me...

I am retired.
Not working.
Living on Social Security.
Living on Savings.
Staying home because of cancer anyway.
I have a wife.
I have 3 cats.
My wife does all the shopping now.
I post articles on my 4 blogs.
I write poetry.
I watch FOX NEWS.
I watch Cable
I mow the lawn.
I empty the cat litter.
I cook meals.
I take naps.

I have been doing this since January of this year...  only leaving the house when I have a doctor's appointment that seems to be important or critical like my chemo treatments.  When COVID-19 hit, I simply did what I had normally been doing except going out to BRUNCH on Sundays.

My retired life is simply not the same as those Americans who are not retired and have to work, have debt, and bills that need to be paid and children still living at home.

WE ARE IN THIS...   BUT NOT TOGETHER...

20%  of American's population will always live WORSE OFF than the rest of us...

Pyramids of Giza

Financial Planning

WHY DO YOU SUPPOSE A CARPENTER MEASURES TWICE AND CUTS ONCE?

For those of us who are intellectuals the answer to that question does not come easy... 

although, to a writer, it makes a little sense when we think about the tedious process of editing a manuscript... 

yet, neither of those areas reflect the true meaning of the carpenter's work because the true meaning revolves around and is totally dedicated to the concept of PLANNING.

Whether we are College educated, Trade School educated, Military educated, or simply High School educated, we are taught and have been exposed to the concept of PLANNING but seldom use it for our PERSONAL FINANCES.

Why do I suspect this?

BECAUSE Americans do not typically save money...  in fact, most Americans tend to borrow more money than they really need since they WANT more than they can AFFORD.  The has the same affect/effect of NOT PLANNING AT ALL.

Americans do not plan to have children, but they do like and often desire to have SEXUAL INTERCOURSE...

Americans don't plan to have heart issue, liver issues, or lung issues, but they do like and often desire to NOT EXERCISE, SMOKE CIGARETTES, and DRINK ALCOHOL...

Americans don't plan to keep working because they do not have the money to retire, but they do like and often desire to spend more than they earn.

HARDLY ANYONE HAS A FINANCIAL PLAN for the next 5-10 years let alone a plan that takes them into retirement....

Why do you suppose AMERICANS are like that???

BUT...  But...   but...   I have a 401K at work...  doesn't that count?

More about this in a later post.

What Pisses Me Off...

Someone once told me that it is better to be pissed off than to be pissed on and I suppose that is true but whether or not that is true, what I am about to share really pisses me off...

I did not vote for President Trump.


Let me repeat...


I did not vote for President Trump.


But, the way that the Liberal Democrats and the Mainstream Media are treating him is WRONG...  and that is what pisses me off.


No matter what he does, he is criticized.


No matter what!!!


And, this is wrong on so many levels...

• Is is wrong as a journalist
• It is not fair and balanced
• It is misleading the public
• It is ethically wrong
• It is morally wrong
• It ruins the integrity of the news
• It is a form of lying
• It creates extreme bias
• It causes mistrust
• It creates divisiveness

Is this HOW we as Americans want to be PERCEIVED???

China

DO YOU TRUST CHINA?

WILL YOU EVER TRUST CHINA AGAIN?

What is interesting here is that China owns about ONE THIRD of US Debt which is something that this Communist Government will hold over our head until the debt is paid back...

Let me put it another way...

WE OWE THE COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT OF CHINA MONEY!!!

Paul McCartney

Telemarketers

I was sitting on the couch this morning writing an article for this blog and received a call and since I was not watching FOX NEWS on Cable TV, I could not tell what number was calling us but the answering machine's female voice spoke something that I could not understand.  My wife, who was in the water closet (that is to say bathroom) called out:  "who was calling?"  My response was "I could not understand what was said."  With that comment and expecting another question, I got up off the couch and walked over to where the telephone was to check out the list of previous callers by pressing the CID key twice. 

Harry Chapin

The call was from Chapin, SC and I called out to my wife, "It was Chapin, South Carolina,"  and "wasn't there a singer named Chapin?  I believe the song was 'Cats in the Cradle,'"  Still in the water closet, she responded, "No that was Cat Stevens."  Not accepting her response, I looked it up on the internet and told her...  "no,. it was Harry Chapin."
pausing for a second or two, I said,

My first thought after this conversation exchange was the fact that I had always liked the song 'Cats in the Cradle,' because it reminded me of my relationship with my father and the subsequent relationship with my daughter.

Cat Stevens

My second thought was that I had always liked Cat Stevens also who was famous for his song, 'Peace Train.'  The song was released in 1971 when I was still in the military and the Vietnam War was still active in the minds of most Americans.

I remember that Cat Stevens disappeared from the music scene and I always thought maybe that he had died from a drug overdose or something...   but, I was WRONG...  and later discovered that Cat Stevens had become a Muslim and changed his name to Yusof Islam and began writing and singing Islamic songs...

Do You Ever Dream?

I am not talking about daydreaming to avoid paying attention in class or to the speaker at a convention, or to the boss at a staff meeting or to avoid listening to a spouse barking out orders for you to do that day...  this is the daydreaming that takes place when one is lying in bed trying to fall asleep at night.

Just about every night that I can recently remember or in the not so distant past, I have spent the first 15-30 minutes before falling asleep at night daydreaming...  although I am sure that Psychologists have another name for it of which I am unaware.

While my daydreams vary, they are still about the same topic, more-or-less, which is being something that I am not today or will ever become.  And, while that my sound self-defeating it is still nonetheless true because it is the logic of reality.

One of my daydreams is the publish the novels that I have written and become a best seller ending up relatively wealthy (in the tens of millions) and flying everywhere I want to go or visit with a first class ticket in my hand.

Another daydream is becoming the recipient of an inheritance by an unknown benefactor that makes me a multi-millionaire and I build the MODEST house of my dreams that had everything that my wife and I ever talked about but still no bigger than 2,500 square feet.

And yes,  I have never had the nerve to contact publishers and face the dozens of rejection letters I would receive by those who did not think my writing was good enough to publish, so, my daydreams might well have been experienced, but at my age of 72 that is not going to happen.

Steely Dan