Saturday, November 17, 2012

BUYING UVE

Put in orders to purchase shares of UVE (Universal Insurance) for my taxable and retirement accounts.  With their 8.71% dividend yield on their recent price of $3.91, I'm looking to add to overall portfolio yield from dividends with this purchase. 

Got a big corporate inspection at work on Monday, so I'll be spending the weekend brushing up on corporate policy and procedure in preparation for that.  Be glad to have that out of the way.

The holidays are here, looking forward to a great Thanksgiving dinner, but I must admit I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet.  I'll be looking for some great deals online, probably won't do much shopping in the stores this year.

Started shopping around for health insurance.  The company I work for only offers realistic coverage for management, so I've opted not to sign up for their plans, since their policy only covers up to $10,000 per year and doesn't cover major medical.  I really only need major medical, so I could have a high deductible and pay for my own doctor visits and prescriptions, just have to find coverage at a reasonable rate.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

DON'T BLAME ME, I VOTED FOR THE OTHER GUYS

The presidential election results may have been disappointing for me, but not entirely unexpected.  After all, I never really thought Romney had the charisma to beat Obama.  Even so, it was a lot closer than I expected, which should have sent signals to Obama and the Democrats that maybe they need to have a good hard look at the way they've been doing things.  Not likely to happen I suspect.

At any rate, the elections over and the results are what they are.  The administration is already talking tax hikes and the stock market took an immediate dive.  Neither of which were unexpected with an Obama win.  So what does a person do now?

I don't know about anyone else, but I've decided to look at it all as a stock buying opportunity and rebuild my investment portfolio.  After my last heart attack, the medical bills devastated my savings and investments, but like with any disaster,  things are starting to turn around and I'm getting back on track.  I've scheduled transfers to my regular stock account and my retirement account next week.  I'll be keeping things on a conservative level, trying to minimize tax exposure while maximizing income.

I've been reading the book, "You're Broke Because You Want to Be" by Larry Winget.  Great book for people who find themselves living paycheck to paycheck or never being able to pay their bills.  While I don't really have any trouble managing my finances anymore (I haven't been "broke" since September of 1993), I'm always looking for new ideas and ways to improve.  It's a great book and a great read, I highly recommend it.

As for election results, it's time to move on.  Whatever happens, don't blame me, I voted for the other guys.  Politicians come and go, and my "hope" is that moving "forward" they won't do too much damage along the way.  

Thursday, November 1, 2012

WHO IS OBAMA REALLY ASKING TO PAY MORE IN TAXES?

Saw coverage of one of President Obama's campaign speeches today on HLN.  During the speech he received a round of applause when he compared his plan for our economy to former President Clinton.  While I think it highly questionable that Clinton's economic policies had anything to do with the budget surplus during his administration, there is one thing I know for sure about that time.  When President Clinton was elected, he passed one of the largest tax increases in history and made it retroactive to the beginning of the year.  Did he ask the rich to "pay a little bit" more, like President Obama says in his campaign commercials?  Undoubtedly.  However, as someone who lived and worked through those years, I know from first hand experience that my personal income taxes increased dramatically during Clinton's years in office, while my income did not.  In fact, there is no doubt in my mind that I would be considered among the "working poor" and yet I was faced with higher taxes and less take home pay.  

So if President Obama wants to compare himself to Bill Clinton, then I'm afraid I'll be saying NO THANK YOU on election day.  And by the way, wasn't it during this administration that government bailouts, with taxpayers money, helped rich bankers pay themselves obscene bonuses, while the rest of the nation suffered through the "Great Recession"?  I didn't hear any mention of that in his commercials about all that he's accomplished during his first term.  In all fairness, I think he probably should have mentioned that as well.

All this leads me to question who the President is really asking to "pay a little bit more"?