Archive for January, 2012

Can I Raid My Own Retirement Fund To Raise Cash For An Emergency?

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January 31st, 2012

I’m more than short and my car just died

I need money desperately. My small engineering practice, meaning me, has been having a hard time finding work. Then I was offered a construction supervision job in the next town. It means I have to be on the site about 3 times a week. The money is good and the sixty mile drive is easy. All went well for the first month or so. I watched the excavations get under way and the foundations went smoothly.

Breakdown

It was early on a Monday morning g when the car died on the freeway. I managed to get it off the road and called a tow service. In the workshop the mechanic finally stood up and said “Go and buy yourself a new car, this one is finished.” After all these months with little or no income I finally found work and now the car is dead? I couldn’t believe it. What will I use for money? I remembered an ad I had seen in a paper a week ago. “Money from your retirement fund”? At home I prayed that I hadn’t thrown that paper away. It was lying in the recycle bin waiting to be collected.

The article

I read ether article quickly: When in dire financial straights it is possible to turn to one’s retirement accounts as a source of emergency cash. The Financial Security Index, an annual survey by Bankrate.com, found that people in the survey who are employed full time reported dipping into their retirement account at some point in 2010. Early withdrawals indicate that the people who withdrew the money did not have much money put away in case of emergency.

Retirement

According to CNN, retirement is becoming a dream that not many people believe they will be able to realize. A survey by the American Institute of CPA’s revealed that nearly 40 percent of working people surveyed believed they would not be able to afford to retire. Almost 56 percent said that they couldn’t afford retirement savings because food and gas costs were too high, and 55 percent had no idea how much would be necessary to save to retire. As a result of less confidence in the ability to retire, the younger set in the workforce are more apt to stay with an employer who offers a top shelf pension plan, according to Daily Finance. A Towers Watson survey revealed that 43 percent of respondents believed it was a great reason to stay at a job, up from 28 percent in 2009.

Retirement fund

My retirement fund is looking very healthy. I have been contributing for years and no matter what, I always managed to pay the premiums. Suddenly I’m faced with no money and I read in the papers that retirement is becoming a dream anyway. I need money now so I can keep working to the point where I can make my own decision about retirement. What I need is a car so I can make money. I’m off to the bank to visit my retirement fund.

Tags: Emergency cash, Retirement, Retirement fund
Posted in Employment, Finance, Retirement | No Comments »

Lawyer Withdraws $7.5 Million Dollar Lottery Claim

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January 28th, 2012

A New York attorney’s decision to withdraw his claim on a multimillion dollar Iowa Lottery prize doesn’t put to rest officials’ questions about how he obtained the ticket.

Crawford Shaw, of Bedford, N.Y., withdrew his claim Thursday on a multimillion dollar Iowa Lottery prize just as mysteriously as he has made it, saying through a Des Moines law firm that he couldn’t satisfy lottery officials’ request for basic information about how he obtained the winning ticket. The lottery has asked the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the Iowa attorney general to investigate. Officials say Shaw submitted the ticket for redemption on behalf of a trust on Dec. 29, less than two hours before it expired, and has identified the recipient only as a corporation in the country of Belize. The lottery wants to know how Shaw obtained the ticket to make sure it wasn’t stolen and that a valid player bought it.

13 Months

It has been 13 months since the winning ticket was purchased at a Des Moines gas station in December 2010. The payout for the prize would have been $7.5 million cash, or $10.3 million spread over 25 years after taxes. Iowa lottery officials had given Shaw until Friday to provide the identities and contact information of anyone who purchased or possessed the ticket. Instead of claiming the prize in person, as is normally done, Shaw signed the ticket on behalf of the trust and shipped it by FedEx to a Des Moines law firm he had retained. Shaw, 76, sent a fax to the law firm Thursday saying he doesn’t know the identity of the purchaser. The firm relayed the information to lottery officials.

Fax

"In order that the claim be resolved without further controversy, Crawford Shaw, as Trustee for and on behalf of the Trust, does hereby withdraw the Claim and does hereby agree to take no further action to enforce the Claim," the fax signed by Shaw reads. Shaw signed the ticket on behalf of Bedford, N.Y.-based Hexham Investments Trust, though lottery officials have said he misspelled the name of the trust by leaving off the second "h." Shaw claimed not to be a beneficiary of the trust.

Strange situation

Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich said Thursday that it’s the strangest situation officials can recall in the 26-year history of the lottery. He declined to speculate on the details of the claim, saying if he knew more than what’s been released, lottery officials would probably be writing a check to a winner. Iowa law also prohibits employees and contractors of the lottery, their relatives and anyone younger than 21 from playing.

Jackpot

Shaw said Wednesday through the Des Moines-based Davis Brown Law Firm that if the jackpot were paid, the money would be donated to charity. He declined to comment further Thursday. Records show Shaw played at least a minor role in the collapse of Industrial Enterprises of America, a chemical company that was looted and bankrupted in 2009 by a stock manipulation scheme. Shaw helped found the company after taking control of a Houston-based shell corporation, serving as its CEO from 2004 to 2005.

Posted in Business, Economy, Finance, Loans, Lottery, Personal / Internet | No Comments »

The Amazing Apple

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January 25th, 2012

Apple sold 37 million iPhones and 15.4 million iPads in its first quarter, ended Dec. 31.

Apple is truly an amazing story of our own times. A man, Steve Jobs, had a vision. So what, you say, we all have visions. But Steve Jobs had something that few of us have, the sheer tenacity, dedication and will to make his vision happen. He saw a new kind of communication device, a device that would put you in communication with the entire planet or that would enable you to talk to your kids while you were communicating with the rest of the world.

The first quarter’s results

Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone and iPod sales more than doubled from a year ago, far surpassing analyst expectations. "We would attribute it to just a breathtaking customer reception of the iPhone 4S," said Apple CEO Tim Cook on a conference call. Apple’s first-quarter profit more than doubled to $13.1 billion, from $6 billion a year ago. Sales surged 73% to $46.3 billion from $26.7 billion for the same period. The results blew past Wall Street expectations for the company. Apple shares jumped almost 8% in after-hours trading, to $453.16. As to the good old Mac computer, Apple’s Mac sales didn’t disappoint. The computer maker sold 5.2 million Macs in the quarter compared with 4.1 million a year ago. Apple projected $32.5 billion in revenue for its second quarter, slightly ahead of Thomson Reuters’ forecast.

The ‘I want’ gadget for all ages

I am a senior, well in my ‘golden years’. I use a computer with old software, because it suits me and I know where to find everything after years and years of use. I tried a new computer and couldn’t cope with the advances. One day about a year ago I saw someone in a coffee shop using something I had never seen before. “It’s the latest thing,” he explained patiently. “It’s called an iPad.” I sat and watched him surfing around the world, looking at new headlines in far-off countries and watching his stocks on stock exchange sites in real time. I knew in an instant that this was not for me. I was wrong. It didn’t take more than 6 months for me to walk into a store and buy one. Today I don’t know how I managed without it. I am eyeing an iPhone as well, after years of swearing that my first generation steam-operated cell phone is all I need. If my 5 year old grandson can handle one why can’t I? That’s what Steve Jobs did for the world he lived in and for future worlds, he made devices for everyone

Apple is No. 1

It was reported Tuesday that Apple became the No. 1 semiconductor customer in 2011. Demand for Apple’s iPads and iPhones boosted its use of chips 34% from a year ago, catapulting it over Samsung and Hewlett-Packard, according to the researcher. Verizon (VZ) reported on Tuesday that the company activated 4.3 million iPhones in its fourth quarter.

Tags: Apple, iPad, iPhone, Steve Jobs
Posted in Business, Economy, Employment, Finance, Personal / Internet, Technology | No Comments »

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