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Great Insight on Whitey Bulger and the Government's Trial Against Him

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Jul 312012

If you are a fan of the Departed or the Sopranos, you will enjoy what you read about this former No. 1 on the F.B.I.’s Most Wanted List. The Trial of Whitey Bulger features expert insight into Whitey Bulger, the mafia, his life as an informant, and the inner workings of the F.B.I.

The author of The Trial of Whitey Bulger.com is a former Marine, former prosecutor, defense attorney and criminal trial attorney. He specialized in electronic investigations and has prosecuted hundreds of felony cases for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He defended a person in the first wiretap case tried in Massachusetts and oversaw more undercover, electronic surveillances than all others prosecutors in the Commonwealth combined during his careers, including surveillances targeting Whitey Bulger’s criminal network. The author has written the authoritative book on the criminal trial against Whitey Bulger’s long-time F.B.I. handler called, “Don’t Embarrass the Family.” Retired now in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the author is closely following the case against Whitey Bulger.

Financial Advice for the NFL Draft Class of 2012

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Apr 272012

Stories of Warren Sapp’s bankruptcy filing has been all over the news lately. It’s hard to imagine he’d find himself in such a predicament. After all, he’s a pro-bowler with at least $40 million in career NFL earnings. He has a good job as a very entertaining television analyst which has led to other money making endeavors, such as Dancing with the Stars.
Unfortunately, Warren Sapp is just the most recent of a long line of NFL players who have gone broke after their NFL career. According to a 2009 Sports Illustrated article, 78 percent of NFL players go broke 3 years after their playing careers end. Which is especially bad news because the average career of an NFL players is only 3.5 years.

Why does it happen? First off, only a very few will ever make the same money they made during their career. And while they are making the big bucks, they get sucked into bad investments, pursued by freeloaders and an entourage looking for handouts, and are barraged with bad advice from people they think they can trust. Add to that, football has taken a big toll on their bodies so medical problems start arising. Plus, they are young kids who suddenly have the money of their dreams and what they’ve worked for years. Of course they’ll want to show-off a bit and live the life of movie stars.

So, to the NFL Class of 2012 (or to anyone else who has suddenly come into large amounts of money), here’s what to remember:

1) Plan for the Worst. Celebrate now. You deserve it. But, your earning and your career depend on many things all working together for a number of years, including your health, your skills, the offense or defense your team runs, your coach, hungry rookies and free agents in coming years, and countless other events that may be beyond your control. Even in a short career, you may make more money than most Americans make over their lifetimes. Spend some now, treat yourself but don’t continue to overspend. But plan to make the most of it rest last your life.

2) Your Agent Shouldn’t Advise You on Your Money. Agents should never be your source for financial advice. It’s not their expertise. They are great at what they do- negotiating your deal. But, just as you don’t want a DT kicking field goals, you need an outside person to handle your money (preferably not a family member or a friend unless that was their business before you signed your contract). Too many financial disasters are the result of bad advice from agents who get in over their heads.

3) No Private Investment or Real Estate Deals. You are now a target of people looking for easy money, These people are smooth talkers and put on a good show telling you about guaranteed profits in real estate and investments. But, remember no one is going to give you money just because of who you are or what team you play for- they want your money. They’ll use your money to pay themselves a good commission and could care less whether the deal is real or one that will pay off (if the deal was even real in the first place). Even when your friends come to you with deals, be skeptical about who contacted them. Stay away from private investment and real estate deals. Too many things can go wrong, business deals are not your expertise- just ask John Elway (lost $3million to a hedge-fund manager who was arrested on charges that he ran a Ponzi scheme), Mark Brunell (filed bankruptcy after failed business ventures, including 12 Whataburger restaurants), or Deuce McAllister (lost bigtime in car dealership.

4) USE PROTECTION. Child Support payments continue until the child grows up. You’re old enough now to know that you are on the hook for an unplanned pregnancy, not matter what is said in the heat of the moment. The major reason behind the financial problems of Warren Sapp, Chris McAlister, Travis Henry and many others are the child support payments. These payments are often valued at the height of a playing career and can be $5000 to $10000 a month. And, guess what, you have to keep making these payments for over 20 years. Warren Sapp is over $728,000 behind in child support payment and is required to pay about $75,000 a month. Bankruptcy won’t help him with those payments either.

5) It Can Happen to You. You’ve been a star your whole life. You know deep inside that you will continue to be a star and your career will continue until you’re 40 so money will never be a problem. I hope that’s the case. Then, you won’t have to worry. But, still, don’t you think that a little prior proper preparation is worthwhile- just in case.

How to Stop Pre-Approved Credit Cards and Insurance

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Mar 072012

Now, I certainly don’t blame you for wanting to get rid of these offers. It is amazing how many we get each week. I used to think that I was something special to get so many credit card companies wanted me to enroll. I’ve learned the error of my thinking the hard way and I definitely should have removed the temptation long time ago.

But, fortunately, it’s actually pretty easy to stop receiving these offers. You have two choices. You can opt out of receiving them for five years or you can opt out of receiving them permanently.

To opt out for five years call 1- 888-5–opt-out or visit www.optoutprescreeen.com.
To opt-out permanently, you have to go online to www.optoutprescreeen.com and you will have to mail back a signed permanent opt out election form. They actually make it harder to get rid of them permanently.

When you call or visit the website, you have to provide information such as home telephone number, name, social security number, and date of birth. If you don’t want to call or go online, you can also send letters electing to opt-out permanently to the major consumer reporting companies, Experian, TransUnion, Equifax, Innovis Consumer Assistance in Pittsburgh.

Also, don’t forget that the government has set up a national do not call registry as a way to reduce telemarketing calls to your house. Go to www.donotcall.gov to or call 888-382-1222.

How to Retire if Your House Is Not Paid For

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Mar 012012

I recently started to do some financial video lessons for www.ehow.com. Everyday, I realize how poorly we are all educated about handling our money. To think that two-thirds of our economy is built on consumer spending yet we don’t teach anything about personal finance in school or about the value of saving. Come to think of it, maybe this is why we are not taught how to handle are money…

I hope to do my little part in broadening financial education through these financial education videos. Don’t worry, they are short and to the point- plus, I’m sure they will get better the more I do. A transcript of the video follows or you can watch the video here.

More and more people are are retiring with mortgages on their homes. So don’t feel bad if you still have mortgage. Don’t feel like you’re being the curve. It’s not necessarily a bad thing but the most important thing to think about is whether can you afford to have that mortgage when you retire. You have to make sure you can budget properly with the mortgage in mind is that’s going to be a fixed cost until the end of the term. So one possibility would be to pay off your mortgage with the savings that you have which is sometimes thrown out there as an option for people who have a mortgage going into retirement.

I do not recommend this. I think it’s more important that you have your savings available to you then you can use that money in other ways and keep your mortgage. I would instead like to propose a couple other options on what you might be able to do if your mortgage might be a little too much and does not fit into your budget of what you need for retirement. I mean the first option I recommend would be to move out of your house to smaller house. That way you are going to save that expense. I know the family home is important and it has a great sentimental value but if you can you would really benefit yourself greatly if you move to a smaller house, cut down on the mortgage payment or hopefully have no mortgage at all with this move to the smaller house.

Second, what you could think about is a 30 year mortgage, entering into a new one. Interest rates are at historic lows. You could capitalize on that. It puts the payment down at a lower rate and then there might be some left over when you die but it most likely won’t be a huge amount and it will benefit you with a lower payment throughout your retirement.

Third, perhaps you can work it out with your children so that they can pick up a percentage of your mortgage. You could deed the house to them, enter into a new mortgage with them or outright sell the house. There are various strategies you could pursue along that line that could keep the house within the family and I recommend inter-family transfers as a way to get around reverse mortgages which I do not recommend. The fees and expenses in a reverse mortgage eat up the equity in your house so quickly that do not consider reverse mortgages as an option. I’m Ted Connolly and that’s how to retire with a mortgage that’s not paid for.

Is Nevada the Delaware of Asset Protection?

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Feb 222012

Once a realm where where only the richest dared to dwell, more and more of the other 99% are looking into the world of asset protection.

And rightfully we should, as making money is only half of the battle. Holding onto the money you’ve made is the biggest challenge these days. As we see what little money we have being eaten up by taxes, fees, interest, and even lawsuits, we need to be more and more conscious of how to protect our assets.

Sensing this change, Nevada has taken a giant step forward in becoming the “go-to” place for asset protection.

Nevada enacted 2 laws that provide greater asset protection than you will find in most states, according to Mass Lawyers Weekly. The first law contains a provision that allows trusts set up in other jurisdictions to be moved to Nevada without re-starting the applicable statute of limitations. The second law makes charging orders the exclusive remedies for creditors against certain corporations, LLCs and LPs.

While it is not uncommon for states to recognize spendthrift trusts even though the settlor remains a discretionary beneficiary, the updated Nevada law broadens the type of spendthrift trusts available to explicitly include a charitable remainder trust, a grantor retained annuity trust and a qualified personal residence trust. In addition, the new law extends that protection to trusts from other jurisdictions so that the spendthrift trust property is protected from future creditors after the two-year statute of limitations period has run, no matter what state the trust was established. Moreover, under the new law, grantors can avoid any estate tax implications by excluding the trust from their estates because their self-settled spendthrift trust is viewed as a completed trust gift.

Second, the other, new law makes charging orders the sole remedy for creditors against Nevada LLCs, LPs and some corporations (non-public S and C corporations with one or more shareholders but fewer than 100.). Charging orders are basically liens on the membership interests in LLCs and LPs and are usually worthless. In addition, the new law does not give judges to option of issuing an equitable remedy. Equitable remedies, like a constructive trust or a reverse veil piercing, allow a judge to do an end-run around statutes like the Nevada’s, because they make the entity’s assets available to the plaintiff where they would not have otherwise been available.

One caveat: Courts in other states are usually more inclined to use the laws of their states in interpreting the protections of the Nevada trust or LLC. Nevertheless, Nevada’s law may reverberate across the country.