Introduction
Our hearts are heavy because we lost one of Gwinnett Counties finest.
Officer Antwan Toney was killed in the line of duty while investigating a suspicious vehicle. His 3 year anniversary with the Gwinnett County Police Department would have been in 6 days.
No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)
Lawrenceville Citizen’s Police Academy
In fall of 2010 the City of Lawrenceville Police Department offered its first Citizen’s Police Academy (CPA) class.
We spent 12 weeks getting a high level overview of actual police training courses that are certification requirements for Georgia Law Enforcement Officers.
The purpose of Lawrenceville’s Citizen’s Police Academy is to familiarize the citizens of Lawrenceville regarding policing procedures so they can serve as citizen ambassadors for the Lawrenceville Police Department.
Lawrenceville PD entered the national lip sync challenge video contest and invited the Citizens Police Academy to participate in their Power of Love video presentation.
This is Huey Lewis and the News - Power of Love from the Back to the Future movie.
See these wonderful and talented men and women of Lawrenceville PD make Huey Lewis and the News proud.
So far this video has had over 16,000 views (and counting) worldwide. When you see these fine officers please soft-peddle the compliments. We do not want them to quit their day job and run off to Hollywood. We need them right here in Lawrenceville.
Policing has become very complex
I am amazed at how complex police operations have become. Andy Griffith and Mayberry, USA are ancient history. I have had conversations with retired, senior aged officers who would tell me about driving from location to location and getting on the telephone at a service station with HQ to find out if there was anything they needed to be aware of in that area.
There are a lot of difficult jobs in our community but I’m convinced that being a police officer is at the top of the list. One of our CPA instructors made a comment that policing has changed so much since he became a sworn police officer that he is convinced that policing has turned law enforcement officers into lawyers carrying Glock 17’s.
Everything they say, and everything they do is imbedded with so many legal requirements that it is almost impossible for an officer to have a normal conversation with a civilian without sounding like a robot.
Hands-on firearms training
That twelve weeks I spent in CPA classes produced a lot of respect for the Thin Blue Line that has my back 24 X 7.
So how do I show my appreciation and give back in a meaningful way for all of the countless hours the men and women of law enforcement serve in keeping my community and my country safe?
I am a native of central Illinois having grown up in a small farming community near the state Capitol in Springfield. My full-time corporate-world job when I was “working for the man” was in computer systems and banking for some of the world’s largest banks: Citibank, Chase Manhattan, and Lloyd’s Bank of London. I worked on projects for The Federal Reserve banking system in Philadelphia and Seattle. None of that falls under the heading of major crime stopper.
I have decided to give back by dedicating this website to all law enforcement officers. This is your resource. This is your utility belt for retirement. I have planned a number of future enhancements but this is enough to get you started thinking about retirement. My long-term vision is to offer a video library of personal financial courses (free-of-charge) for your financial learning needs. This will be a resource you can access 24 X7 and will be dedicated to make you a wealth creator.
My question to you is this; “If what you thought to be true about creating wealth for your retirement turned out not to be true… when would you want to know?” Hint; none of us are getting any younger. The trial and error approach in figuring out how to accumulate wealth for your retirement is a “ticking time-bomb.” You need to get it right early on so you are not wasting your precious time and losing valuable financial resources.
“A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS.”
The Personal Economic Model® or PEM is a cash flow picture of what happens to your money. The Circle of Wealth® financial planning system uses it to help clients better understand the complex and difficult distinctions of the multitude of financial products available, and more importantly how those products impact your current and future lifestyle.
What do you want your financial future to look like? Using this picture I am able to communicate complex financial strategies in a way that you can “see” what I am talking about.
On a scale of 1—10 with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest… How well are you prepared for retirement?
The day will come, and a whole lot sooner than you could possibly imagine, when your services are no longer needed. Where is the money going to come from for you to live on when that happens? Spoiler Alert! Social Security is NOT going to support you in your retirement years. You are going to need much more than that. With all of the “crap” you have to put up with while working your honorable profession it would be unacceptable to see you standing behind a counter asking a customer; “Would you like fries with that sir/mam?”
Now it is time to get a little technical with you. Retirement savings plans offered by law enforcement agencies has changed in the past several years. Do you know which kind you have?
At first brush, the Defined Benefit people seem to have all of the advantages. But, in reality this is a blessing in disguise for the Defined Contribution people that seize the opportunity to take control of their money by learning Wealth Creation strategies… applying Wealth Creation strategies to their financial life and… pass on that knowledge to their future generation. With some education and discipline you can create your own personal Defined Benefit retirement plan.
Employer sponsored Defined Benefit plans and Defined Contribution plans are characterized by the federal government as Qualified Plans. A Qualified Plan simply means that your contributions from your earned income are qualified by the federal government to go directly to the Investment Tank without first passing through the Tax Filter.
If you participate in a qualified plan you need to know the answers to these questions:
What causes financial stress in families? Lack of access to capital in financial accounts. Lack of access to capital can give rise to using credit cards for current lifestyle expenses. Families end up actually paying more interest to credit card companies than they may be earning in their qualified retirement accounts. Imagine earning 6% on money in your 401(k) and paying 12%--21% interest on credit card purchases with after tax dollars. These are not tax savings plans but tax deferred savings plans.
When you look at your 401(k) retirement account, you see this picture. You get a statement and it shows (let’s say) that you have $300,000 in your account, but this is not an accurate picture. Now, take a look at the next picture.
This picture is more accurate. The red represents the taxes that you will owe when you take distribution at retirement. Notice the Tax Filter valve circled in red below the Investment Tank. The government controls the amount of tax dollars that flow from your Investment Tank. By simply turning the valve to the left more red shows up in your Investment Tank leaving you with less yellow; meaning the government gets more of your hard earned money and you get less.
Many people ask, how can I know what tax rate I will be in when I retire? Two things to consider:
Are you a saver?
Are you saving enough to retire in the future at the same income level you enjoy today adjusted for inflation?
Unfortunately, many Americans are not savers and many of those who do save may not be saving enough.
Going back to the history of taxes can give you some insight. The average to date since they started taking taxes in 1913 is 57.69%. If you were to retire with $300,000 in the 20% tax bracket the federal government would get $60,000 of your hard earned money. As you can see by this chart, taxes have been all over the place since 1913. With a government that is 21+ trillion dollars in debt and the power to open up the valve on your Tax Filter, you should push the “pause button” for a moment to determine if tax deferred qualified plans are a good choice for you or not. First, make sure you are on your medications, get out a calculator and multiply $300,000 times .5769. Are you still with me?
For more information on taxes and tax deferred qualified plans; see the Tax webpage.