Archive for Insurance
How to Make Rain in a Financial Desert
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We’re heading into late summer…two-plus years into the country’s deepest recession since the Great Depression…and the mild optimism offered a few months ago may be drying up. In a move that recently made headlines, the Fed decided to keep interest rates low. By doing so, The New York Times reported the Fed was acknowledging “their confidence in the recovery has dimmed.”
This is stifling news for the millions Americans who remain unemployed, those who have foreclosed on their homes, and those who have seen their retirement savings evaporate. No one wants to face the fact that the country’s financial draught may linger. But how to make rain?
While the lawmakers, business leaders, and financial institutions grapple with the issue, it would be wise for each of us to do what we can, on our own, to bring on the rain.
Just as a seed planted in the spring needs moisture throughout the summer to be ready for the harvest in the fall, your retirement savings require nourishment to grow. In an otherwise arid climate, how is that possible?
Ask the folks who have not yet lost a dollar from their retirement savings vehicles – and even continued to gain a rate of return over the last two years. Rather than following the crowd and using traditional retirement accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs, they optimized their assets and leveraged maximum-funded, tax-advantaged insurance contracts.
Find out what you can do now, even in this financial desert, to use the same strategies they did.
By Doug Andrew
LUCA Financial Services
Leon Williams
leon@lucafinancial.com
Popularity: 8% [?]
Health Insurance Reform Questions
The Exchange would be open to those who currently purchase insurance in the individual market. This group would include, for example, early (pre-Medicare eligible retirees), the self-employed, individuals whose employers do not provide insurance, or those who cannot affor Read More→
Popularity: 17% [?]
What is an “Exchange” In The Health Insurance Reform Bill?
Posted by: | CommentsA key provision of the Acts’ insurance reforms is the creation of “Exchanges.” The Exchanges would be state based and serve as an aggregator of individual policies sold by private insurers and underwritten using the new federal underwriting and rating rules spelled out by the Acts. The Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) would Read More→
Popularity: 17% [?]
Annuities, How They work And Their Tax Advantages
Posted by: | CommentsWar On Wealth Series – Asset Growth
Even though an annuity is sold like securities by insurance companies, they are much different from insurance policies. The best way to explain annuities is to imagine a hybrid product that combines the advantages of long-term investments with the advantages of life insurance. With an insurance policy you typically pay monthly premiums, whereas an annuity generally has you making a lump sum payment upfront to guarantee a periodic payout immediately or starting at some future date that you choose.The exciting part is these payments continue as long as you live.
In case you are thinking you do not have a large lump sum there are some annuities that will allow you to deposit a modest upfront say $500 to $2500 and allow you to pay into it like you would your 401k or IRA.
The length of time people are living is getting longer and longer and this is creating financial planning nightmares for financial planners and their clients. Outliving savings has become a major source of distraction around the typical financial planning model. Investing in an annuity will allow you to save for retirement and ensure that your money lasts as long as you do.
Annuities generally fall into two categories, deferred and immediate-income. Read More→
Popularity: 25% [?]
War On Wealth Series – Taxes
With every tax dollar you pay you move further along the road of becoming an Accidental Philanthropist. Since the first income tax in the United States was imposed (under Article I, section 8, clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution) in 1864 during the Civil War, there has been an internal war raging in this country. That war, “The War On Wealth”, has been Read More→
Popularity: 35% [?]
Keep your Future Bright – When Everyone Else Will Be Making Up For The Past
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Keep Your Future Bright -
When Everyone Else Will Be Making Up for the Past
When times are tough, we all have the same options: 1) make more money to cover our costs, or 2) reduce our spending. What has the government done during these recent hard times? Spent more. Of our money.
While many of the banks that received TARP bailout money are repaying their debts, we’re still headed for a major loss. Read More→
Popularity: 23% [?]
Advantages And Disadvantages Of Investing In Annuities
Posted by: | CommentsWar On Wealth Series – Asset Growth
Annuity Pros(Advantages)
One of the largest benefits touted is that annuities offer you tax-deferred income, as annuity income is taxed only when you elect to receive it. So you can avoid taxes on annuities if you never want to use it, however that usually is not the objective. It is taxed evenly no matter when you put the money in if it is annuitized (“flip the switch” and start taking income from the annuity). If you take it out some other way i.e. IRS rule 72t, withdrawals etc. then… Read More→
Popularity: 45% [?]
Maximizing the “Bank of You Concept”; Setting Up Your Own Private Bank
Posted by: | CommentsWar On Wealth Series – Asset Growth
Not only is the average American unable to save money but there is a serious negative savings rate taking place that is piling up the debt owed in this country at a pace that is mind-boggling. These families are spending huge amounts of money to finance debt on the largest purchases such as, homes, major appliances and autos.
During a lifetime the interest paid on these purchases can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Infact 34.5 cents of every dollar is being spent on interest to finance our american lifestyle through banks and finance companies.
It is possible to recapture the principle and interest that you’re paying to banks and finance companies, thereby putting that money away for the future. This can be done by creating your own private bank using cash value life insurance, which would enable you to take loans from this private bank. As you repay the principle and interest, it’s going back into your policy, where it is growing tax-deferred and can be taken tax free for your financial future.
To Create Your Own Private Bank…
Read More→
Popularity: 52% [?]
Life Insurance As An Estate Planning Tool
Posted by: | CommentsWar On Wealth Series – Wealth Preservation
Life Insurance policies are absolutely critical to an Estate Plan and is one of the first things that a Financial Planner will check when working on an Estate Plan.
There are four critical areas of the Estate Planning process that make Life Insurance a crucial component to Estate planning: Read More→
Popularity: 23% [?]
Private Retirement Plans VS Employer Sponsored Retirement Plan Options?
Posted by: | CommentsWar On Wealth Series – Asset Growth
Most of your employer retirement plan options are very complex and will generally fall into two categories, defined benefit or defined contribution.
When the employer takes on the responsibility of managing the plan, that is called a defined benefit plan where the benefit is based on what’s in the plan when you retire. In this situation an employer can define a plan that requires the company to deposit a fixed annual sum of money into the plan for each eligible employee. When the employee retires, Read More→
Popularity: 31% [?]
