Beyonce concert tickets securing the bag

Beyoncé anuncia turnê 'Renaissance World Tour': veja datas e locais!
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It has been a long road to get to a point where wearing a facial mask is now optional.

Like most of the world, I too am suffering from pandemic fatigue. After watching the stock market drop 20%, housing prices skyrocket, inflation go through the roof, new car price sticker shock and the cost of food and college tuition go up, it would be great to go to a live concert as a way to unwind.

People, Woman, Dark, Night, Worship

Alas, this too seems to have priced people out.

In February, Beyoncé announced her fist World Tour in six years. There was only one catch: you had to be a Beehive member or a Citi credit card holder in order to get your tickets through Ticketmaster in the presale, if you wanted a chance to secure your spot.

Beyoncé tickets securing the bag

If you were not previously a Beehive fan club member prior to tickets going on sale, then you were out of luck as you could not sign up just to get in on the presale.

However, you could apply and get approved for Citibank credit card, but there are no guarantees there.

Basically, you had to be a person of considerable means to get concert tickets. Either through internet access or good credit.

According to the United Nations, an estimated 37 per cent of the world’s population – or 2.9 billion people – have still never, ever used the Internet.

And then there are those that are not the best off financially and lack good credit scores.

According to the FDIC, an estimated 4.5 percent of U.S. households (approximately 5.9 million) were “unbanked” in 2021, meaning that no one in the household had a checking or savings account at a bank or credit union.

There are many people who do not have credit cards, let alone with just one issuer. This means that billions of people had no way to buy concert tickets. Only those with means were able to do so in the presale.

And for those with means, you would not believe the lengths they were willing to go through to get them. Some even bought tickets out of the state or even the country to get access to them cheaper.

It is also hard to get tickets after the presale as the Beyoncé concert had a lottery system. If you did not get an access code, after winning the lottery, then you were sh*t out of luck.

Getting concert tickets are starting to be harder than getting into college.

The new status symbol: concert tickets

If you wait until after the presale, most tickets are gone.

Snatched up by the folks that could get access and then resold for a higher price. There were tickets going for as high as $9,800 on sites like StubHub and Vivid Seats.

I can’t even imagine paying anywhere close to $10,000 to go to a three-hour concert. That’s just insane! This is a one-night only event.

There were even tickets that were ranging for $500 all the way up to $3,500 for VIP. That is more than many folks are even paying for their mortgages across the country. There is no way to justify spending that type of money on one item or experience, if you truly do not have the resources.

ticetmaster.com

Money like that could be used for down payments or closing costs on houses.

It is becoming more expensive to go see your favorite artist. Concert tickets are starting to become another status symbol and only for millionaires.

My suggestion is to create a fun savings account so that you have funds readily available when you do want to go to concerts, sporting events or travel. Do not put this on credit. You could wind up paying for this expense for years just to have fun for a few hours.

My advice: skip anything that puts you into debt, even concerts. Better to have your financial house in order than having fun. The fun will come after the money is in your bank account and not when its on empty.

$700 monthly new car payment now costs as much as one semester of room and board at college

Mustang, Gt, Red, Usa, Car, Auto

Sheer driving pleasure. – BMW slogan

The automakers at BMW has been using this slogan since 1973 and it is featured on all advertising for BMW automobiles and motorcycles.

Their tagline explicitly uses the word pleasure to describe driving. And if you want that pleasure its’s going to cost you, at a premium.

New cars are now averaging $700 per month.

The University of Maryland College Park (UMD) has an annual Room and Board that is about this cost of $700 per month for that new car: Room (Standard 2-person w/AC, includes Telecom fee) $8,860.

Department of Resident Life | University of Maryland logo
https://reslife.umd.edu/

For some perspective, keep in mind that $700 times 12 months = $8,400.

A mere $260 more will keep you housed and fed on a university campus at the UMD, which is considered a Public Ivy, for an entire year.

Penn State and other public and private colleges are even higher.

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When looking at these new car prices, you may see why some Facebook engineers chose to live in their cars rather than pay $3,000 rent on top of that car payment.

Most folks just do not have $3,000 per month to shell out on just rent and car payments, let alone $3,700.

I spill all the tea on my new car story here.

Therefore, before you decide to start writing that check out for $700 every month, I want you to stop and consider this. Gas prices are topping $3 per gallon. Insurance keeps on moving on up like The Jefferson’s!

Expenses for the average joe in the middles class keeps on going higher and seems never ending.

Instead of paying $8,400 a year to floss in a new BMW, you can invest that money instead.

Let’s say the car payment will last you seven years. During that time if you put that money into stocks you could have a nice head start on your retirement savings. That sounds real good considering the average portfolio is worth about $30,000 for folks under 30.

Please also take note that I said to invest in stocks and not cryptocurrency. No Dogecoin, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether or Binance USD. After the FTX bankruptcy, no one can call these investments safe.

A great story on the FTX fallout was written on White Coat Investor and can be read at this link. Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) net worth peaked at $26 billion and then sank to $100,000. This fallout was one of the worst destroyers of wealth in all of human history.

Nevertheless, I digress.

Going back to the new car payment being invested instead, over a seven-year period with a rate of return (ROI) of 10%, you could have $87,661 in your 401(k).

Please note that the ROI of 10% is doable as that is what the stock market has averaged. The historical average yearly return of the S&P 500 is 10.356% over the last 100 years, as of end of November 2022. This assumes dividends are reinvested.

If you decide not to invest another penny, over 26 years, you would have 1,044,764. Not buying a new car can literally make you a millionaire.

Maybe that is why Jim Cramer decided to keep investing in stocks even though he couldn’t afford rent and had to live in his car. He knew what it could mean for his future. By the age of 45, he had amassed a $1.5 million dollar nest egg in his brokerage accounts.

Remember those people on Pimp my ride from the MTV show. Wonder if they still even have those cars from back in 2008.

With all the money they spent on custom rims and tricked out this and that, if even one car was repossessed, it was all for naught! #*k cars!!

YARN | It's gone, man. Gone. | The Sandlot (1993) | Video gifs by quotes |  b8fa0daa | 紗

Buy the product. Own the business. Get the stock. Let those dividends pay for your future car with cold hard cash.

Take a lesson straight out of South Park’s playbook.

South-Park-Gifs — for marissa-mars
South-Park-Gifs — for marissa-mars

However, instead of foreign stocks, I prefer to just stick with domestic, as most companies are international and provide you with global exposure.

You just have to decide which one you want more: a new car or financial freedom sooner rather than later.

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IRS debt balloons to $1.7 Million for R&B Superstar

Always pay your taxes. – Felix Dennis, British publishing entrepreneur

Former British publishing magnate, Felix Dennis, states the above-mentioned quote.

At the time of his death, he was estimated to be worth over $100 million dollars. He wrote these words in his 2006 book How to get rich. He said there is no getting around paying taxes and that if you try it is likely to lead to severe economic problems and consequences.

Put simply; pay the taxman.

You can read more of his advice on my blog here.

That being said, let us jump right in to the topic at hand. It was recently reported that R&B singer, Montell Jordan, famous for the 1995 hit “This Is How We Do It,” owed the IRS $1.7 million in back taxes.

Surprising because the song ruled the airwaves and was No 1 on the Billboard charts. Fast forward to some years later and we find out that an $11,000 tax debt that went unpaid ballooned to almost $2 million dollars. WTF!!!

image

Please understand my surprise and literal shock upon hearing this as this song is still played in film and on television today. He should be raking in millions in royalties from this song alone. However, it is not the case.

He sadly had to sell his publishing rights to pay his tax debt. He immediately signed the $600,000 check over the the IRS and had to file for bankruptcy. Apparently, an accountant did not pay his $11k in taxes due one year and he was being charged 11% per day by the IRS until it hit $1.7 million.

On a personal note, I make sure to review all my tax documents, file them myself, and make sure to pay every penny owed to the feds. I do not ever put my fate in someone else’s hands.

This is not how we financially do it!

I cannot stress this enough. You are in charge of your money. Period. Do not ever let anything pass by you that you do not read when it comes to your finances.

No one cares about your money more than you.

Elected officials sleeping on couches while pulling down a salary of $174,000

Office, Sitting Room, Executive

Greetings to all you wealth-building enthusiasts out there!

We are in the homestretch of the New Year.

New Year’s Eve 2022 is a mere two days away.

Let your 2023 resolutions start to take shape and begin shortly. However, let us have a few moments of reflection over the last year shall we.

A recently elected Congressman, Maxwell Alejandro Frost, had a rent application rejected weeks ahead of being sworn in. He is unable to afford an apartment in Washington DC, as the median rent is $2,395, due to his bad credit.

Frost had to quit his job to be a full-time candidate. Seven days a week, 10-12 hours a day. He is couch surfing with friends until he can again have access to a livable wage after driving for Uber did not leave him enough to pay all of his bills. Thus, the reason for his bad credit.

He is far from alone in this situation. In 2018, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) couldn’t find an apartment in DC. She didn’t have the money.

At the height of COVID, more than 100 members of Congress are sleeping in their taxpayer-funded Congressional offices in 2020.

Let us provide some context here.

While rank and file members of the U.S. Congress make a decent salary ($174,000 a year), they don’t receive a per diem. Meaning they have to pay for everything out of their own pockets while some, other members do receive a per diem that can be used for housing. If you think this is unfair or strange, consider that for most of the period between 1789 and 1855, the only compensation senators and representatives received was a $6 per diem.

The fact that housing has become so unaffordable is just insane. I wrote a blog post about how I used a Roth IRA to buy property. However, not everyone has access to these means. Especially, if you have no retirement accounts to begin with.

Many officials were screaming poverty at the time they were seen working in their offices by day and converting them into bedrooms at night.

When the rent becomes so high that those helping write the laws are sleeping on couches, we need to address the matter of housing affordability.

Why not have communal living spaces? Similar to college dorms. This is far better than sleeping on a cot in your office.

What about building micro apartments? Enough space for a bed, couch, bathroom, small kitchen, and closet in about 500-600 square feet.

There has to be some affordable solutions out there. I had to do some thinking outside the box to start buying property with my Roth. Maybe that is what we need. Some out of the box solutions for long-term housing problems.

Game Of Loans

31 Graduation Caps That Absolutely Nailed It | Graduation cap designs,  College graduation cap, Graduation cap

Hello out there!

Happy post -Thanksgiving!

It’s been a while, but I’m back.

I have been a little busy. However, never fear your advisor to the financial underdog is here! Ha ha.

Let’s get to it.

The student loan pause has been extended. The Biden Administration has announced that the payment pause on federal student loans for 43 million students will extend through June 30, 2023. Payments will also not start until 60 days after, August 30, 2023.

This means the loan forgiveness first announced in August 2022 will have time to work its way through the Supreme Court (SCOTUS).

If you are a Pell grant recipient, that means $20,000 in loan forgiveness for you, if approved, and for all others $10,000, if you meet the eligibility criteria for forgiveness.

This is good news indeed, as it will give many Americans time to squirrel away funds for saving, beef up investments or additional savings accounts, and pay off debt.

My advice is always to start with an emergency fund of $2,500. Then work your way to three to six months of expenses. As debt is paid off, you can increase your savings and investments.

The 0% interest rate while loan payments are suspended is also an added bonus. That means if you owe an average of 6% on the median $38,000 of student loans, then you are saving $2,280 a year on interest. Even higher for those that owe more.

The three-year repayment pause has allowed Americans to save a collective of millions of dollars in unaccrued interest. Basically, the saving on interest has turned this into a form of loan forgiveness.

In addition, to the $10,000 or $20,000 loan forgiveness, if approved, would effectively turn those amounts into grants.

So keep your figures crossed and make this a wish on every star and birthday candle, if you are one of the ones that will get forgiveness as this will allow you to receive 100% loan forgiveness.

Without these estimated $300-$500 loans payments hanging over your head, you are now able to start saving for your future in the form a home down payment and socking money away in your 401(k).

And by the way, the IRS has now raised the 401(k) limit to $22,500 per year. If you were to max out your retirements account with this amount of money, with a historical stock market return since 1980 of 11.34%, you would basically be a millionaire in 16 years with a balance of $978,768.96.

Put every dollar to work that you possibly can.

The math tells you that being a millionaire is within your grasp.

You just have to keep reaching for it.

An investment action inspired by Supergirl: how you can use your Roth IRA to buy property

Supergirl - IGN
The CW

Buy land, they aren’t making anymore of it. – Mark Twain

I am a firm believer in the learning curve. A learning curve is the rate of a person’s progress in gaining experience or new skills. Through time and experience will your ever-increasing knowledge and skills grow to help you make better and wiser decisions. That includes not only in your personal life, but in your financial life as well.

This post was inspired on an episode from the television series Supergirl (2015-2021). In an early Season One episode, two or three, Supergirl (Kara Danvers played by actress Melissa Benoist) is having a talk with her boss, Cat Grant, at her job with the company CatCo.

See the events of that exchange below.

Cat penned an article for the Tribune on Supergirl’s blunder at the port and ordered Kara to get it ready for posting. Kara wondered why Cat was constantly criticizing Supergirl, claiming that Superman never faced such heavy backlash. Cat expressed that women need to work twice as hard as men to succeed, pointing out that Supergirl, despite her good intentions, is still a novice; she left Flight 237 in the bay after saving it and now caused an oil spill while trying to prevent a fire. Since Supergirl’s job is a learning curve, Cat advised her to start with smaller targets and work her way up, similar to how the latter rose through the ranks at the Daily Planet.

Put simply, no one starts in at the top. You have to work your way there. Wealth building requires the same.

You have to learn to manage one dollar before you can manage one million. You start small and work your way up. Then it hit me. You can use one wealth building tool to help you build another. They are both levers that can be used to help you scale up your wealth.

It is like the S meaning on Supergirl’s costume. It is the family crest for the House of El; it means Stronger Together.

Both your Roth IRA and home investment can help you build wealth faster. They are both stronger together.  

The major fortunes in America have been made in land. – John D. Rockefeller

New Home, Construction, Industry, House

Buying a home takes money. You generally need money for two items: Down payment and closing costs. You can use funds from your Roth IRA to do this.

Roth IRA withdrawal rules allow you to take out up to $10,000 earnings tax and penalty-free as long as you use them for a first-time home purchase and you first contributed to a Roth account at least five years ago.

Normally you would need to wait until you are age 59 1/2 to start withdrawing funds. If you withdraw money from the account before age 59 1/2, you will typically have to pay a 10% penalty on the amount withdrawn. The distribution will also be subject to taxes. However, there are certain circumstances in which you might be able to take out funds from the account before reaching age 59 1/2 and not incur penalties.

One exception to the early withdrawal penalty is for the purchase of a first home. To be considered a first-time homebuyer, you cannot have owned a primary residence at any time during the previous two years.

This $10,000 exception is available for every individual, so a married couple can withdraw $10,000 from each of their IRAs for a total of $20,000 that can be used for a down payment.

In addition to purchasing your own home, you may qualify to help others buy their first house. IRA owners can withdraw funds penalty-free to help their first-time home buying children, grandchildren or parents purchase a home. Sweet!

However, $10,000 is the lifetime maximum for first-time homebuyer withdrawals. Therefore, the total of your withdrawals must remain under the $10,000 mark to avoid the early withdrawal penalty.

Many of you out there may say why not a traditional IRA. There is a method to my madness. Bear with me.

The reason for using a Roth versus Traditional IRA is that while there will not be a penalty on early IRA distributions for a first home purchase, you can expect to pay taxes on the amount withdrawn when using a traditional IRA.

For example, if you are in the 22% tax bracket, a $10,000 withdrawal for a home purchase will lead to $2,200 in taxes. For a couple in the 24% tax bracket who withdraws $20,000, the taxes due would come to $4,800.

However, this is not the case for the Roth because you have already paid taxes on that money so you owe no income taxes on money that is withdrawn for a first time home purchase.

So if you are all in on this plan, then let’s get down to business.

Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real estate. – Andrew Carnegie

The rules for using a Roth IRA rather than a traditional IRA are slightly different. You can withdraw any contributions (not earnings) at any time from your Roth IRA before retirement age without penalties as long as the account is at least five years old. You will be able to withdraw any amount up to the total amount you contributed without being subject to taxes.

In addition to your Roth IRA contributions, you might opt to take out some of the earnings in the Roth IRA. You can withdraw an additional $10,000 from the earnings under the first-time homebuyer exemption.

This is where the withdrawal exception comes into play. You may withdraw a combination of both contributions and earnings or just earnings to use toward your home purchase.

Just remember that if you are only using earnings the cap is $10,000. Any penny above that will trigger the 10% penalty in a traditional IRA or just the the income taxes in a Roth IRA.

You can always take out funds above the $10,000 threshold if you are taking out contributions only or in addition to earnings.

Again, simple math can help you build wealth.

We don’t have to be smarter than the rest. We have to be more disciplined than the rest. – Warren Buffett

My method of using the Roth IRA early withdrawal exception.

First, I did some research and found out that if you qualify as a first-time homebuyer, you can withdraw up to $10,000 from your traditional IRA and use the money to buy, build, or rebuild a home.

Second, I learned that with a Roth IRA, you can withdraw your contributions tax- and penalty-free at any time, for any reason, as long as you have held the account for at least five years.

This got me thinking. At the time, I was renting. I had opened up a Roth IRA more than five years ago. I had been squirreling away cash in it since opening it up with T Rowe Price starting with $50 dollars a month.

I also opened up a second Roth IRA with another brokerage at another time as not to mess with the good thing I had going with the first one as you could no longer open a Roth IRA with T Rowe and continue with an automatic contribution of $50 per month.

Do not scoff or turn your nose up at investing small sums of money. Over the years dealing with both accounts and after regular and sporadic contributions over time my T Rowe account grew to over $10,000 as did my other one. I had well over $25,000 in both not counting my 401(k), Rollover IRA, or other cash and investments.

I was skeptical about moving forward at first with this decision to buy property. My first. Then, I thought about what Wayne Gretzy and Michael Jordan said, “You miss 100% of every shot you don’t take.”

This quote helped me as well. Progress always involves risk. You can’t steal 2nd base and keep your foot on 1st.– Fred Wilcox

Therefore, I went for it.

I started by combining both accounts. Then, I cashed out $13,000 of of my Roth IRA.

The first $3,000 was in contributions and the additional $10,000 was in earnings. After, using the funds for closing costs and a small part of it for renovations, I ending up paying taxes on a tiny portion. The grand total: $238.

I was shocked! I couldn’t believe it. I felt like I should have taken the plunge long ago.

Alas, we cannot look backwards, we can only go forward. Within a few months of me owning the property it had increased in value by $14,000. That is more than what I withdrew to get the place.

And owning gave me such a sense of peace. That right there is priceless. I decided to do some updates and renovations to feel better about the space I was in. It took some hard work and time, but it was worth it in the end.

I got inspiration from several places. I knew I wanted the feel of how I always felt every time I walked into a Restoration Hardware.

Restoration Hardware The Gallery at The Estate in Buckhead - Gilbane
Restoration Hardware Front Entrance

I got the idea to base my bathroom feel and design on the Marriott and Caesar’s Palace in Vegas. Clean lines, white, simple and elegant. I also went with frosted sliding shower doors that you could not see through.

Hotel review: Las Vegas Caesars Palace - 9Travel
Caesar’s Palace Las Vegas
First Look: JW Marriott Hotel Macau – Business Traveller
JW Marriott

My bedroom is my center and place of peace. I call it my home base. I also always have a mini home office in my bedroom as I like to roll out of bed in my pajamas and write, work and check the stock quotes.

75 Bedroom Ideas You'll Love - November, 2022 | Houzz
Houzz design

And I love an organized closet. I got inspiration for mine from the Container Store. Although, mine does not look like this, I did make sure it was organized with all of my suits, shoes, and sweaters together like in the picture below.

Custom Closets & Custom Closet Design | The Container Store | Custom closet  design, Wardrobe door designs, Closet designs
The Container Store Custom Closet Design

Lastly, the heart of the home. The kitchen was inspired by honey + lime. Stainless steel appliances and organized kitchen cabinets make life easier. Again, although my kitchen does not look like this, it was done with something like the picture shown in mind.

Kitchen remodel, Samsung stainless steel french door refrigerator at Best Buy
honey + lime kitchen design

Every time I think back and ask myself if I made the right decision I think of this quote from FDR.

Real estate cannot be lost or stolen, nor can it be carried away. Purchased with common sense, paid for in full, and managed with reasonable care, it is about the safest investment in the world. – Franklin D. Roosevelt

Amen.

Financial Freedom built attracting one dollar at a time