Exclusive Interview with Ken Fisher about the Stock Market Under Trump versus Biden

 Please note that this is a sister publication of WallStreetNewsNetwork ( https://WStNN.com ) and postings will end on this site shortly.  

 by Fred Fuld III

The following informative interview was provided by Kenneth L. Fisher, founder and chairman of the money management firm Fisher Investments, who had the longest continuous running column in Forbes Magazine. He is a billionaire on the Forbes 400 list and author of numerous investment related books.

According to Investment Advisor magazine, he is one of the 30 most influential people in the investment advisory business over the last 30 years. Fisher is considered to be the largest wealth manager in the United States.

We cover a lot in this interview, including:

• The stock market under President Donald Trump versus former Vice President Joe Biden
• The influence of corporate tax rate on the stocks 
• The potential of the reversal of Trump’s tax bill on Day One if Joe Biden & Kamila Harris win the election
• The market under Republicans versus Democrats
• Whether inflation is on the horizon
• The petroleum industry
• Gross Output, GDP, and the economy versus the stock market
• Are stock ratios dead? (PE, PS, PEG)
• And much, much more

Two Timeless Books Mentioned by Ken Fisher in the Interview

The Only Three Questions That Still Count: Investing By Knowing What Others Don’t (A great companion to the  Beat the Crowd: How You Can Out-Invest the Herd by Thinking Differently book, which I enjoyed reading.)

Wall Street Waltz 

(My favorite of all his books is The Ten Roads to Riches: The Ways the Wealthy Got There (And How You Can Too!) Second Edition,  because it is so different from all the other financial publications. It basically tells you ten ways, with all the steps, to get really rich, including “marrying a billionaire.” Lot’s of insight and lots of humor. You can find more info about this book on a previous podcast: Interview with Billionaire Ken Fisher about the 10 Roads to Riches.)

The Interview

Enjoy listening to the great insights and  information that Ken Fisher provides.

To access a link to the interview, click:

HERE

Enjoy the interview and Happy Investing!

All opinions are those of Ken Fisher, and do not represent the opinions of this site or the interviewer. Neither this site, nor the interviewer, nor the interviewee are rendering tax, legal, or investment advice in this interview. As an Amazon Associate, earnings may be generated from qualifying purchases of books from affiliate links.

Complexity in Taxation and Other Regulations for Cross-Border Professionals

Guest article by Andrew Fisher, Chief Investment Officer and a Senior Client Advisor of Maxim Global Wealth Advisors 
Excerpt from The Cross-Border Family Wealth Guide

Most cross-border professionals are quite surprised when they learn about the many financial requirements that go hand-in-hand with residing in the United States. Becoming a U.S. tax resident brings with it a great deal of potential complexity, both with regard to U.S. tax laws as well as other allied rules and regulations affecting things like moving funds from one country to another, opening accounts in more than one country, investing, business ownership requirements, and retirement planning. The U.S. system, then, is generally more complex both with regard to its tax code (many European countries have at taxes or tax codes that are much simpler than the U.S. code) and the many other rules, regulations, and requirements that the United States imposes. For those cross-border professionals and globally mobile families with the most interest in wealth planning—which involves not only taxation and tax minimization strategies, but also questions of investment structure, asset allocation, savings and retirement plans, currencies, and so on—it can be a truly daunting task.

Likewise, for U.S. citizens living abroad, the long reach of the U.S. tax system complicates things— a U.S. citizen living abroad is treated for tax purposes nearly identically with a permanent resident alien living abroad—but for a number of reasons, this has not troubled too many people or been seen as much of an issue. Why not? Well, first, many U.S. citizens abroad haven’t been aware of their requirement to file. Upon becoming aware of the requirements, such individuals generally must seek professional tax assistance and come to an arrangement with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for missed taxes. Second, many U.S. citizens living abroad are doing so because they are working in Western Europe, and most countries there have substantially higher tax rates than the United States has, which means that by the time a tax credit offset is given, they likely do not owe any U.S. taxes.

Consider, for example, a software coder from California who has moved to Germany indefinitely and is aware of his need to file with the IRS (since he is still a U.S. citizen). To begin with, in most cases he won’t have to file a California state tax return. This is because, like most states, California bases its taxation on a person’s intent and residency, and allows you to break residency should you move to another U.S. state or internationally. Now, without California tax in the picture, this software coder might be subject to a top U.S. tax rate of 28 percent (after applying the foreign income exclusion), but he will first be paying approximately 45 percent in tax and various withholdings on his earnings in Germany (since he physically resides there, Germany gets to go first). With the tax credit he gets for what he paid in Germany, he is likely to end up owing no additional U.S. taxes.

Scarcity of Professional Help and Information

In addition to the lack of uniformity and the significant complexity, there is a third unique challenge: the lack of—the scarcity of—readily available help and easily accessible information. While those who are ultra-affluent can afford to put together a specialized team consisting of accountants, attorneys, and other professionals, most successful educated families and themselves facing a lack of good information and guidance. With so many unknowns and so many unclear (and shifting!) rules and regulations, it can be difficult for such families to gain a clear sense of their financial situation, to clarify their goals for the future, and to make sure that what they’re currently doing is aligned with and optimized for achieving those long-term goals.

Unfortunately, not only are there very few resources like the book you are now holding, but there are also very few places that a cross-border professional can turn to for help with even relatively simple problems. Not only do well-known financial and brokerage firms fail to make comprehensive service offerings available for cross-border families, in most cases they actively prohibit their advisors from giving cross-border tax, financial, and retirement planning advice.

There are, simply, very few if any good sources of information available. If you are British and walk into a U.S. brokerage firm and explain that you have been with Intel for 15 years and now are retiring back to the United Kingdom and that you merely need someone to help you make sense of it all, especially what to do with your 401(k) that is worth a few hundred thousand dollars—you will in all likelihood be told that you can’t be helped. This is mainly because the complexity of what is involved is beyond the ordinary capabilities of the financial advisors involved, and the companies they work for do not want to risk giving bad advice and being liable for that advice.

Similarly, for the most part, foreign investment firms and banks will not give advice to, assist, or otherwise get involved with a U.S. citizen living abroad who has questions or problems. The world may be becoming increasingly mobile, but knowledge about what to do with cross-border financial planning has not yet become so. There’s simply too much red tape, too much complexity, and too much potential liability, not to mention the additional potential difficulties that can arise from language, translation, and assorted cultural issues.

Excerpted with permission of the publisher, Wiley, from The Cross-Border Family Wealth Guide: Advice on Taxes, Investing, Real Estate, and Retirement for Global Families in the U.S. and Abroad by Andrew Fisher. 

Why You Should Buy Stocks with a High Tax Rate

If you are looking for a short term speculation or a long term investment, you may want to look for stocks that are currently paying a high tax rate. Why?

According to the Tax Policy Institute, President-Elect Donald Trump has proposed a substantially reduced rate of 15% for corporations. What that means for stocks is that if companies are currently paying taxes at a high rate, they will benefit significantly from tax savings that will flow to the bottom line.

Surprisingly there are some companies that have a tax rate in excess of 60% (e.g. Amazon (AMZN)), according to a report by Wallet Hub. This includes state taxes.

Here are some of the hight overall tax bracket stocks, which may warrant further investigation.

Comcast (CMCSA) 37.1%

Home Depot (HD) 36.4

Norfolk Southern (NSC) 36.3%

Altria (MO) 35.1%

Verizon (VZ) 34.9%

Emerson Electric (EMR) 34.3%

Do your homework and your own due diligence. Hopefully, a corporate tax break with benefit your portfolio.

Disclosure: Author owns AMZN.

How to Get a 50% Discount on Tax Software Just for Today

For those of you that do your own taxes, you may want to get the H&R Block Tax Software, which is on sale for today only. The discount is as much as 51%. The discount applies to both PCs and Macs.

Here are the offers:

H&R Block Tax Software Deluxe + State 2016 Win + Refund Bonus Offer(As an example, normally $44.99, today only, $21.99, a 51% discount)

H&R Block Tax Software Premium 2016 + Refund Bonus Offer PC/Mac Disc

H&R Block Tax Software Premium & Business 2016 + Refund Bonus Offer PC Disc

H&R Block Tax Software Deluxe 2016 + Refund Bonus Offer PC/Mac Disc

Remember, these discounts are available for today only!

Where You Can Buy Municipal Bonds Online

Municipal bonds are debt obligations issued by states, counties, cities, and other governmental agencies. The primary advantage to investing in municipal bonds is the tax free interest. The interest is exempt from Federal taxes and if you live in the state in which the bonds were issued, the interest is exempt from state taxes also (with a few states that are exceptions). Plus, any muni bonds issued by the Governments of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, or the Northern Mariana Islands, or bonds issued after October 16, 2004 by American Samoa are also exempt from all state income taxes, according to Federal law. If you live in New York City and own New York State bonds, the interest is exempt from city, state, and Federal income taxes .

The following companies allow you to view their municipal bond offerings online without having to log in or even open an account, until you are ready to buy.

ZionsDirect

FMSbonds

Fidelity

Stoever Glass

A great resource for information about municipal bonds is MunicipalBonds.com, which includes a lookup by CUSIP number.

Need to File an Extension? Here's Where You Get the Form

Here is the link to the IRS Form 4868 Extension Form:

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4868.pdf

Income Tax Filing Deadlines

Income Tax Filing Deadlines

Excerpted from J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2013: For Preparing Your 2012 Tax Return

January 15, 2013 - Pay the balance of your 2012 estimated tax. If you do not meet this date, you may avoid an estimated tax penalty for the last quarter by filing your 2012 return and paying the balance due by January 31,2013.

Farmers and fishermen: File your single 2012 estimated tax payment by this date. If you do not, you may still avoid an estimated tax penalty by filing a final tax return and paying the full tax by March 1, 2013.

January 31, 2013 - Make sure you have received a Form W-2 from each employer for whom you worked in 2012.

April 15, 2013 - File your 2012 tax return and pay the balance of your tax. If you cannot meet the April 15 deadline, you may obtain an automatic six-month filing extension by filing Form 4868 (on paper or electronically). However, even if you get an extension, interest will still be charged for taxes not paid by April 15, and late payment penalties will be imposed unless at least 90% of your tax liability is paid by this date or you otherwise show reasonable cause. If you cannot pay the full amount of tax you owe when you file your return, you can file Form 9465 to request an installment payment arrangement.

If on this date you are a U.S. citizen or resident living and working outside the U.S. or Puerto Rico, or in military service outside the U.S. or Puerto Rico, you have an automatic two-month filing extension until June 17, 2013.

Pay the first installment of your 2013 estimated tax by this date.

June 17, 2013 - Pay the second installment of your 2013 estimated tax. You may amend your estimate at this time.

If on April 15 you were a U.S. citizen or resident living and working outside the U.S. or Puerto Rico, or in military service outside the U.S. or Puerto Rico, file your 2012 return and pay the balance due. You may obtain an additional four-month filing extension until October 15, 2013, by filing Form 4868.

If you are a nonresident alien who did not have tax withheld from your wages, file Form 1040NR by this date and pay the balance due.

September 16, 2013 - Pay the third installment of your 2013 estimated tax. You may amend your estimate at this time.

October 15, 2013 - File your 2012 return if you received an automatic six-month filing extension using Form 4868. Also file your 2012 return and pay the balance due if on April 15 you were a U.S. citizen or resident living and working outside the U.S. or Puerto Rico, or in military service outside the U.S. or Puerto Rico, and by June 17 you qualified for an additional four-month extension by filing Form 4868.

December 31, 2013 - If self-employed, this is the last day to set up a Keogh plan for 2013.

January 15, 2014 - Pay the balance of your 2013 estimated tax.

April 15, 2014 - File your 2013 return and pay the balance of your tax. Pay the first installment of your 2014 estimated tax by this date.

15th day of the 4th month after the fiscal year ends - File your fiscal year return and pay the balance of the tax due. If you cannot meet the filing deadline, apply for an automatic four-month filing extension on Form 4868.

Excerpted with permission of the publisher, Wiley, from J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2013: For Preparing Your 2012 Tax Return. Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. This book is available at Amazon and all book sellers.