July 30, 2008
Today begins a new schedule at work - 12:00 noon to 9:00 pm - and a new surge to embed critical activities into my life.
I have no choice. The job is tough and beating me up, but diabetes is kicking my ass.
Actions I have to take at my age (54) include:
July 9, 2008
Are we heading for the “Greater Depression”? Doug Casey thinks we are in it already, even though he has made a point of predicting doom and gloom since 1979.
There is one advantage of preparing for the worst. If it happens, you are ready. If not, you are still ready.
This blog will help people get ready for what I believe are catastrophic events to come.
~ Charles Lamm
June 14, 2008
Here are just a few things the Federal Reserve, Congress, and the Bush (or next) administration could do to help this nation recover from the current recession - or prevent a larger depression - but are nearly 100% not likely to do:
- require that each Member of Congress, under Penalty of Perjury, certify that he or she has read every word in every bill before voting on that piece of legislation
- remove U.S. troops from every foreign country - we are a republic, not an empire
- all future laws passed by Congress must have a sunset provision and be voted on again every 4 years
- stop rescuing financial institutions that are about to fail just because they are large
- stop the presses - the dollar has lost 96% of it’s value since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913
- no deficit financing of government expenditures
- have a group of researchers whose job is to ferret out unnecessary regulations and to recommend them for quick decertification and repeal of the underlying statutes
- every government job (non-appointee) that becomes vacant due to retirement or resignation must be kept vacant for 6 months to see if the position can just be eliminated
This is just a start. More tomorrow.
May 26, 2008
High gas prices will cause some interesting results:
- more people will shop for bargains online, rather than traveling from store to store
- delivery charges will be reasonable compared to picking it up yourself
- home gardening and locally grown food will enjoy a resurgence
- people will think twice about drives to the beach or to the lake
- going for a Sunday drive is a sign of wealth
- if your neighbor fills up his SUV at one visit to the pump, he is probably doing better than you are
- you may see some unlikely people - bankers, lawyers, doctors - use the gas crunch to justify commuting by motorcycle
- some smart commuters will get their exercise by commuting by bicycle
- people will need second jobs to stay afloat - most will create new businesses online to earn extra income
- small restaurants will suffer first as more workers shift lunch money to gas tanks
- fast food places will suffer next as prices of oil run up food prices
- over the next few years, temporary dips in oil prices will not be long-lived enough to let Americans drive huge cars and trucks again - SUVs will be like Cadillacs with fins
- supply increases will be sopped up by China and India
- alternative sources of energy will be great businesses but will not dethrone big oil
- Florida will be unhappy when offshore oil wells appear near their coastline in the Gulf of Mexico
- placement of refineries will be hot political topics and push abortion and gay marriage off the table
- politicians, as usual, will screw things up then demand more tax revenue to fix the problems they created in the first place
Just a few of the issues I believe will dominate the economic and political landscape over the next 10 years. With any luck, it will bring back some of the lean, mean, fighting spirit of the American people - but only if the politicians are pushed out of the way.
—
Charles Lamm is a junkyard philosopher whose blogs include Live Free in an Unfree World, the Asset Protection Iron Triangle, and Virtual Joe Friday.
May 17, 2008
Back in the 1930s, in the legendary days of the formerly rich falling from the New York City sky, cash not only ruled - cash was the superdelegate of its day.
Houses in some of the tougher neighborhoods in Atlanta are going for under 10 cents on the dollar. And still no buyers.
Wait until the market “really” gets bad.
Anyone who can put together even a modest nest egg can skyrocket their way to wealth in the next few years. Investors who stayed out of or left the stock market in early 1929 - the cash rich - made out the same way.
Keep cash (in Euros?), gold, and junk silver for now. Buy houses when there is blood in the streets.
Charles Lamm is promoting asset protection for the masses on his site at www.corp-llc-bct.com .
April 23, 2008
I begin this morning on my first real day as an Admissions Officer for Kaplan University, an online university owned by the Washington Post. The company is first rate regarding training new hires, creating a fantastic work environment, and focusing on the students.
With homeschooling and layoffs on the rise, more students will choose online education for college or as a way to retrain for the changing economy.
My own expenses are way up, and I have a daughter 2 years away from college. I need the regular pay and benefits a large company affords while building online business in the evenings.
I want this to be the last job I ever have, or at least the last company.
Charles Lamm
caketrust@gmail.com
March 14, 2008
View the video by clicking here.
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If I am a creditor, judgment lien holder, ex-spouse, or an IRS agent coming to take your stuff, and you own it outright in your own name, you really don’t own it anymore.
I do. You just don’t know it yet.
How do you protect your house, property, cars, boats, vacation homes, stocks, bonds, and cash from all of the predators out there? How do you protect yourself from me?
The key is control, not ownership.
You don’t have to go offshore. You don’t need a prenup. And you certainly don’t need some untested, unproven tax dodge that sets off IRS red flags.
All you need is a no-asset C corporation, a manager-managed limited liability company, and a beneficiary controlled trust – all specially designed to work together for maximum asset protection.
Find out more at:
www.corp-llc-bct.com
Before the predators come stalking.
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Charles Lamm is the distribution trustee for Beneficiary Controlled Trusts. Discover the Asset Protection Iron Triangle on his site at http://www.corp-llc-bct.com and how to protect your valuables from creditors, judgments, lawsuits, ex-spouses, the IRS, and the coming economic meltdown.
March 3, 2008
“The restaurant industry has fallen, and it can’t get up. To add insult: The worst may be yet to come.
Same-store sales are sliding. Commodity prices are climbing. Units are closing. Customers are dwindling. Some of the top names in all ends of dining are in pain, from Starbucks (SBUX) to Applebee’s to The Cheesecake Factory (CAKE).”
~http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-03-02-restaurants-economy_N.htm
Waitresses have been telling me this for 6 months. The easiest way to cut expenses is to eat what you cook at home.
I also believe this is why McDonalds has so many of those 2 for $2 breakfast specials. I often eat the specials because they are cheaper than eating at home. (the specials vary from region to region)
McDonalds is doing better than other restaurants, and I believe it is because of the coffee. I like McDonalds premium coffee better than Starbucks. It’s much like the fries. McDonalds needs ways to keep the adults eating with the kids.
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Charles Lamm is a retired attorney living in Coral Springs, Florida. His blogs include the Asset Protection Iron Triangle found at: http://www.corp-llc-bct.com.
February 29, 2008
This blog will be a notepad for my efforts to create a free life in 777 days. Can it be done? Of course it can. Will it be done? If I hone in on my why. And I really mean dig deep and honest.
Freedom means freedom from debt, jobs, bad relationships. I must have the money in place to take care of my daughter’s college tuition which will start right after the 777 days end. I must have money in place to travel at will.
Raw notes and ideas will be posted here. Nothing will be posted that can be used against me. Blogging is part of the discipline.
My plan - if successful - will lead to the life I want, and to a book. It incorporates 7 areas of improvement, and the critical activities in each area to make it happen.
- mental
- physical
- emotional
- spiritual
- financial
- vocational
- social
Knowing what has to be done, and doing it, are 2 different things.
February 19, 2008
You don’t have to be gay to understand the frustration committed same-sex partners have with not being able to be recognized as a legal couple through marriage.
As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for. You might get it.
First, in legal terms, marriage is an unconscionable contract. Over 50% now end in divorce. The split up rate for gay and lesbian partners is even higher. If less than half work out, why do we need marriage at all?
The marriage contract is a three-party contract - husband, wife, and state. The state holds all the cards. The state determines who can and cannot marry, and decides if and under what terms the marriage can be dissolved.
What I suggest for couples or groups who cannot legally marry is to construct their own relationships using LLCs to define those relationships according to their own desires. An LLC cannot be set up to circumvent state laws or to legitimize an illegal sexual arrangement, but many other aspects of traditional marriage such as joint ownership of property and health insurance can be addressed quite nicely by the LLC.
For example, if the LLC provides health coverage for the members, and the relationship breaks up, the LLC will continue to insure the individual members. When a divorce takes place, if the insurance was in one spouse’s name at work, the ex-spouse will likely lose their insurance.
Joint property via an LLC is an even better proposition. Membership can be apportioned according to the contributions each made to the LLC. If the relationship dissolves, you still retain your ownership percentage through the LLC instead of having a family court judge divide the property according to how the court wants to apportion it.
An LLC lets you control the “divorce”, and works better than a prenuptial or post nuptial agreement, which can be modified or ignored by the court.
Prenuptial agreements are flawed in regard to children. For traditional couples, a prenuptial cannot contract away the rights of the unborn. The one thing all states will do is bend the divorce decree to favor the payment of child support, no matter what the financial situation of the parents. The state, quite simply, does not want to pick up the welfare tab for your failed marriage.
An LLC can include children as members. Children can have their own say in family/LLC affairs. Assets such as the family home can remain in the LLC and survive the breakup of the marriage.
And finally, husbands and wives destroy each other’s credit all the time. Members in an LLC are treated like partners for tax purposes, and their percentages of the profits pass through to their individual tax returns, while members retain the limited liability protection of a corporation.
Members of the LLC are not individually liable for the debts of the LLC, and they are not liable for the debts of other members. One LLC member cannot ruin the credit of another, as husband and wife can.
For gay and lesbian couples, plural “marriages”, and other unconventional relationships, keep the state out of your affairs with an LLC. Instead of tying the knot, use a slip knot to have the relationship you desire, plus the ability to change that relationship without the permission of the nanny state.
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Charles Lamm is a retired attorney who owns Trustee and RA Services Inc. in Coral Springs, Florida. He recommends asset protection for all using a no-asset corporation, LLC, and beneficiary controlled trust. Read more at: http://www.corp-llc-bct.com.
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