clear42: Help Making Money

Just FYI and not a commercial endorsement but I've been struggling with this idea that the U.S. gov't will somehow get their hooks into my IRA account. Apparently they've floated the idea, no link though.

I went with what's called a "checkbook" IRA that is essentially a LLC that is personally owed and acts as the IRA holder. An IRA servicer is the official administrator (perhaps wrong technical term).

How it works after it is all set up is your IRA funds go to the servicer who in return wires them into your LLC account which you have set up with a local credit union or bank. You have to invest those funds in accordance with IRS guidelines, but you can take physical delivery of PM's for instance.

I used IRA financial services out of florida who in turn uses IRA Services out of California. The transaction went off without a hitch. I ordered from Apmex and wired the funds from the LLC account, had them sent to me (in the name of the LLC) and then transferred them to another physical location where they are out of the reach of the US gov't and other unsavory characters.

Might be something to consider for those of you looking to get your IRA out of the sights of the gov't without taking an immediate tax hit or early withdrawal hit. Possession being 9/10th's of the law and all.

America is filled with parks that are filthy, dangerous and badly maintained. The governments in charge plead: We can't help it. Our budgets have been slashed. We don't have enough money!

Bryant Park, in midtown Manhattan, was once such an unsavory place. But now it's nice. What changed? Dan Biederman essentially privatized the park.

With permission from frustrated officials who'd watch government repeatedly fail to clean up the park, Biederman raised private funds from "businesses around the park, real estate owners, concessions and events sponsorships. ... (S)ince 1996, we have not asked the city government for a single dollar."

Sounds good to me. But not to Shirley Kressel, a Boston journalist.

I asked her what's wrong with getting the money from private businesses, as Dan does.

"Because it goes into private pockets," she said.

So what?

"Because it's very good (for Dan) to use the public land for running a private business, a rent-a-park, where all year 'round there's commercial revenue from renting it out to businesses. He keeps all that money. People don't realize that."

So what? I don't care if they think the money is going to Mars. The park is nice, and people don't have to pay taxes to support it.

The park is certainly more "commercial" now. The day I videotaped, there were booths selling food and holiday gifts. The public seemed fine with that.

Biederman is not finished with his efforts to save public parks. He next wants to apply his skills to the Boston Common. The Common is America's oldest public park, and like many others, it's largely a barren field. Biederman doesn't want to seek business funding, as he did with Bryant Park, because the area is not as commercial. Instead, he would combine the Bryant Park and Central Park models. I know something about Central Park because I'm on the board of the charity that helps manage it. When government managed Central Park, it was a crime zone. Now it's wonderful. Those of us who live near it donated most of the money that renovated and now maintains Central Park. It's not a business arrangement.

Kressel says she'll fight Biederman's plan for Boston.

"(W)e don't need ... to teach our next generation of children that the only way they can get a public realm is as the charity ward of rich people and corporations," she said. "We can afford our public realm. We're entitled to it. We pay taxes, and that's the government's job."

The Central Park model "doesn't work for 98 percent of the country," she added.

I don't know what'll happen to the rest of the country, but it's working in Central Park. Why not try it in Boston? It's working for the public.

eric seiger do

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Help Making Money

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