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Buffett and Bogle Redux

Via Fortune - Buffett and Bogle: The best advice I ever got.




Posted 22 June 2009 † Mike § Commentary § Investment § Market Sectors § Other Financial ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: , ,

Thrift Savings Plan Changes

Who would have ever thought that smoking would be good for my health? My financial health that is.

As reported in the June 12th Federal Times:

Federal employees will get four new features in their Thrift Savings Plan, including a Roth 401(k) option that allows them to contribute after-tax dollars into their savings plan and then withdraw them at retirement tax-free.

The TSP upgrades were approved today as part of the tobacco bill. The bill — HR 1256, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act — puts the Food and Drug Administration in charge of regulating tobacco and imposes restrictions on the marketing and production of tobacco products.

As also reported in the same article, Congress’ passage of the bill will bring numerous changes to the Thrift Savings Plan, namely -

  1. A Roth 401(k) option, which would let participants put some or all of their after-tax salary into an account that will grow without tax liability on future earnings.
  2. Automatic enrollment of new federal civilian employees.
  3. A survivor benefit that would allow spouses of deceased TSP participants to maintain TSP accounts.
  4. A mutual fund option that would allow participants to direct their TSP funds to private-sector mutual funds. The board would be authorized to select the mutual funds that would be available to plan participants.

As a recent federal employee myself, it goes without saying that I’m excited to have these new investment options and will probably take advantage of this “smoking” deal, especially the Roth 401(k) feature.

But, and not to be looking a gift horse in the mouth, I can’t help but wonder how the heck TSP modifications got attached to a bill designed to protect public health and regulate tobacco products? I’m going to chalk it up to politics as usual.

In case you want to know more about these changes, full details about this bill can be found at GovTrack, or use the custom search box I’ve provided.

H.R. 1256: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

Related Links:
Mike Causey’s Federal Report
FederalDaily: Thrift Savings Plan

Posted 16 June 2009 † Mike § Commentary § Investment § Other Financial § Personal Finance ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: ,

How I Became A Contrarian

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Posted 15 June 2009 † Mike § Miscellaneous ‡ Comments (4) ° Tagged: ,

Help Your Fellow Americans

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Hat tip to that blogging genius over at PharmaGossip for turning me on to Michael Moore’s teaser trailer for his still-untitled documentary.

Posted 14 June 2009 † Mike § Miscellaneous ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , , ,

Weekly Wrap

Instead of writing about economic indicators and stock market movements for my weekly wrap this week, I thought I would take a look at how political involvement is helping to improve the bailout situation.

According to The Wall Street Journal:

The Obama administration plans to appoint a “Special Master for Compensation” to ensure that companies receiving federal bailout funds are abiding by executive-pay guidelines, according to people familiar with the matter.

The administration is expected to name Kenneth Feinberg, who oversaw the federal government’s compensation fund for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to act as a pay czar for the Treasury Department, these people said.

I’m not even going to comment on this. But, I know someone who will.

I can’t wait to see what happens next week. According to CNNMoney.com:

Obama is scheduled to outline his plan for financial reforms Wednesday. The White House and Treasury Department have spent months crafting an overhaul of financial-market rules, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is scheduled to meet Tuesday with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair to discuss the effort.

But, a silver-lining can be found in even the darkest cloud. One positive aspect of government involvement in free enterprise is that business leaders will become even more motivated to escape the absurdity of it all. This can already be seen with the extreme urgency at which bankers are paying back their TARP loans.

So, maybe the more absurd politicians make the bailout process, the faster we can put this whole fiasco behind us. We shall see.

Posted 14 June 2009 † Mike § Commentary § Other Financial ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: ,