We’ve probably all heard the term Becoming Your Own Banker. Why would anyone want to be a banker? Aren’t bankers the professionals? Why not just let them manage all the money?
Today on WealthTalks Tom and John share some very interesting and astounding, numbers. At the end of this podcast you will not only realize exactly why you should manage your own money, you will also know how.
Listen to the episode now!
A brilliant Chemist once said he enjoyed going back and teaching Chemistry 101. Why would he enjoy teaching something that was obviously elementary for him? The answer was simple. Going back to the basics for a time helped him be more creative when he went back to his other chemistry work.
Today on Wealth Talks, Tom and John go back to the basics, Insurance 101 if you will. Not only is this a great staring point for newbies, but, just like Chemistry 101, its a great refresh for those who are advanced. Listen Now
Resources:
Winning Your Financial GAME & Study Guide: https://www.life-benefits.com/store/
Prescription for Wealth ebook & audiobook: https://www.life-benefits.com/prescription-for-wealth-book/
Financial Class Recording: https://lifebenefits.lpages.co/financial-class-05192020-recording/
Recently a few articles have made their way into the news about Insurance Companies turning down would be purchasers due to the COVID19 Pandemic. Perhaps the Wall Street Journal put it best stating “Some Americans are being turned away trying to buy Life Insurance”.
Today, Dan Foley, Senior Vice President of Marketing Technology with Security Mutual Life, joins the show to talk about what exactly is happening with the Insurance companies.
Security Mutual started in 1886 in New York. Now they sell insurance in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and the US Virgin Islands. 38 years ago, Dan Foley joined them, starting work in the company’s actuarial science department. Dan Foley really knows his stuff! You do not want to miss this interview.
Recently there have been some sensational articles in the media suggesting life insurance companies are facing tough times with the financial crisis combined with COVID-19.
Special guest Attorney Andrew Rinn, also the Vice President of Advanced Markets at Ameritas, joins us to share an inside perspective on what’s really happening at mutual life insurance companies right now. It is fascinating to hear how life insurance companies (especially mutual companies with strong cash positions and a low debt ratio) are in a position to obtain nice deals in the current bond market.
Underwriting procedures and virtual research have also been upgraded to minimize paramedic requirements for new policies. Life insurance guarantees are always important - never more so than during these times. It’s good to hear how mutual insurance companies like Ameritas are putting their policy holders first - keeping guarantees strong and recognizing liquidity needs through policy loans.
Thank you for sharing, Mr. Rinn!
He straddled the bicycle for the first time, set his feet on the pedals and rode serenely away into the glowing sunset. Oh if only it was that easy! It isn’t of-course, because, like everything, there is a learning curve.
Is it possible to eliminate the learning curve on a bicycle by learning everything you can about it?
What if you learned the way the shifter worked, the way the derailleur, the chain the sprocket, the cassette, the front brake and the back brake worked. What if you looked up a video on bicycling 101 and even read an entire book on bicycling for dummies, would the learning curve be eliminated? No! Decreased? Yes, but eliminated? Emphatically no!
So how does all this relate to good money management? Listen to the episode now!
What are you really worth? Americans used to save over 14% of what they made, but now Americans are hardly saving at all. Many people don’t feel they are worth anything, and hence they don’t save anything. This is tragic!
How much should you save? Some say you should have enough saved to live on for 6 months, some say enough for 3 years. Both those options beat having just $500 like 50% of Americans, but are they right for you?
Also on this show: If guaranteed policy values are based on a 4% return, and I you are paying 5% interest on a policy loan, are you only paying a net 1%? As you may suspect, there is more to the actual results of this example than what appears on the surface.
Join Tom and John on Wealth Talks, as they discuss the answers to these questions.
Resources:
10-20-70 Budgeting System & Worksheet: https://www.life-benefits.com/10-20-70-budget-system/
Order Winning Your Financial GAME & Workbook: https://ao160.infusionsoft.com/app/manageCart/addProduct?productId=208
If you’re interested in investment opportunities, take the time now to begin preparing and learning everything you can about the process.
For example, if you think Real Estate investing and rental properties sound interesting, then learn about the state laws, the systems and templates that you would need to have in place for this type of investment/business venture. There are some great resources online for learning about state specific laws and getting actual templates that can help you in this type of venture. Checkout this example of a Month-to-Month Rental Agreement from iPropertyManagment.
Learn about the different expenses associated with the investments you think you may want to make. Calculators such as this Investment Property Calculator on AARP can help with this process and in evaluating real opportunities when they do come along.
Anyone can lose money investing, but starry-eyed novice investors tend to lose much more than people who have enough knowledge to avoid major mistakes. Get knowledge on your side.
And regardless of the investment opportunities you want to pursue, be sure you are building a strong foundation of guarantees and liquidity before investing, because investments are always going to carry risk. Life Benefits can help you build your foundation of financial guarantees through Life Insurance. Call us for assistance at 702-660-7000.
Resources:
The economy is down, businesses are closed and people are left unemployed as the quarantine lockdown continues. Will the economy ever recover?
Today on Wealth Talks, economist George Gilder joins Tom and John to talk about the economy, wealth and poverty.
George Gilder has written many renown books on the economy, including Wealth and Poverty, a best seller with over a million sold and Life after Google, also a bestseller.
You do not want to miss this episode. Listen Now!
Resource Links:
Subscribe to George Gilder’s Daily Prophecy at GilderPress.com: https://gilderpress.com/?utm_source=lifebenefits.com&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=wealthtalks
Get Life After Google on Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Life-After-Google-Blockchain-Economy-ebook/dp/B072NYKG2G/
Get Wealth and Poverty on Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Poverty-Twenty-First-Century-Gilder/dp/B00CB5H5JQ/
Annuities can be good if you know how to use them. But what are some good strategies for using annuities?
Today Tom and John explore different ways you can use annuities, and which ways make the most sense.
Also on this episode, SBA loans. How long will it take to get one? What if I need the money before I can get the loan?
Resources: Types of Life Insurance:
https://www.life-benefits.com/podcasts/what-type-of-life-insurance-do-you-really-want/
YouTube LIVE with Campbell Jones Cohen CPAs
We all think we know what the economy is… but do we really? What is the origin of the word economy? What does it mean? Does it pertain to you as much as it does to me?
Those are interesting questions. Here are some more: What is the Cost of a credit card? What is the Price? What about the Cost and the Price for a mortgage? How does that compare to life insurance?
Listen Now to find the answers!
Resources: Winning Your Financial Game
Risk Tolerance is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot in the typical financial world. Your risk tolerance is defined as the degree of variability in investment returns that you are willing to withstand.
But this really doesn’t specify the amount of money you are willing to risk in order to possibly make a certain amount of money. In other words, how much money are you going to gamble with?
Of course, just because you gamble with more and more money, that doesn’t mean you will make more, or even any, money in return.
Sadly, it seems that many “risk tolerance” measures are just a new-fangled way of throwing your money away. Here’s what you want to know instead: What is your Loss Aversion? Listen now to find out.
Resources: Podcast Interview with Dr. Paul Cleveland
The market has plunged rapidly into a black swan, and a black swan is where typical financial planning fails.
Typical financial planning tells you just to keep your money in, and let the market come back up. But many times, the best deals are to be found in times like these. If your money is all tied up, you are going to miss out.
Traditional financial planning starts out by purchasing Whole Life Insurance, which is not tied to the market. When the market is in a time like this, your money is easily accessible to use for any opportunities that may arise.
Sadly, many people who are losing money because of typical financial planning, think it’s too late to start planning traditionally. Heres the good news: It’s not!
When it comes to Whole Life Insurance, there are many “interesting” products and designs. There is an art and a science to designing Whole Life Insurance, not every life insurance agent can design a good policy. We design the best whole life insurance, customized to meet your needs.
Listen now
Also in this episode: My children don’t have steady income, how do I help them start a policy?
Some people have a big win followed by a devastating loss. Sometimes the loss even nullifies the win. Have you seen it? It’s the classic example of winning a battle but losing the war.
In this episode of Your Monday Motivation there’s some good advice about how to keep winning when you win. It’s second hand advice, but it’s good…
The market is a mess. Stocks are down, the Dow is down, the S&P 500 is down. Are you happy with your strategy for financial planning? Or does it feel more like gambling in Las Vegas?
People are being failed by their financial planning strategy, leaving them dependent on Social Security. This is a problem.
You need a foundation that isn’t affected by the latest plunge in the market.
Listen now to find out why it is so critical to have this foundation, and how to get it.
Typical financial planning has failed, leaving many dependent on social security. 401Ks, simple IRAs and other Tax Qualified Plans, are the “golden goose” that can kill you financially if you don’t know and understand the “terms and conditions” of each.
Although it seems like “free money” when your employer is contributing some sort of match, will that “free money” actually cost you in the long run?
In today’s episode, Tom and John talk about some of the consequences that could ensue in the future with these typical systems. Surprises can be nice, but tax implications you didn’t expect to have, aren’t.
Don’t get caught by surprise, understand what’s ahead. Listen Now.
Today on Wealth Talks Michele joins Tom and John… and so does Mr. Higgins! Well, sort of. Poor Mr. Higgins lives in a book and has a clock but cannot tell if it is on time! Mr. Higgins buys another clock only to discover that neither clock displays the same time.
Now Mr. Higgins is in despair! He can’t tell which clock is correct! Is Mr. Higgins doing the same thing with clocks that some people do with life insurance? Listen Now to find out, not only what some people do with life insurance, but also what Mr. Higgins does to fix his problem.
How can you tell if you’re paying more in taxes than you should be? Can section 199A really give businesses a leg up? What about the Secure Act? Is Life Insurance really a good tool to leave a legacy?
Jack Cohen worked as an IRS Auditor for 33 years, In fact, he won the IRS Employee of the Year Award in 2006. Since then, Jack has switched the “black hat” for the “white hat”, helping people pay as little as they legally can in taxes.
Today he joins Tom and John on Wealth Talks to answer questions about section 199A, the Secure Act, and others. Also, he offers to review your tax returns so you can tell if you are losing money.
Don’t miss this Episode: Listen Now.
Health is indeed a part of Wealth. And with so many options for diets and supplements in today’s world, where do you even start to start? Do nutrition and supplementation really play a role in helping you reach Optimal Health?
Doug Grant is the founder of Optimal Health Systems (OHS). Before founding OHS in 1997, Doug was the 1st nutritionist ever hired by an NBA team. He has continued on to work with athletes in MLB, the NCAA, the Olympics, and even publishing Ironman magazine for a couple of years.
Listen in as Doug Grant joins Tom and John to talk about health and nutritional needs, and what type of process goes into developing nutrition products at OHS.
Resources:
Call 702-660-7000 to get your 21-day Blitz Challenge
Use code: OHSWealth to get 10% off your first order with Optimal Health Systems
There are many Retirement Calculators out there, insert your numbers and Ta-Dah! The calculator spits out how much money you need to have in order to retire. But these calculators can’t guarantee how much money you will need in retirement.
What chunk of your money will inflation gnaw off throughout your retirement? Are your retirement savings tax free? Or only tax deferred? Will you ever require special medical care? What about assisted living? Or emergencies, or… or… or…
Today on Wealth Talks, Tom and John talk about events that can catch you by surprise in retirement. Don’t trust typical financial calculators to tell you what you “need” to retire on.
Call our office to see how Participating Whole Life Insurance can help you plan for more sustainable passive income in retirement. Call 702-660-7000 or schedule time to Talk with an Agent.
The Federal Reserve has been artificially lowering interest rates for years. This has been driving up the cost of stocks, far beyond their economic value. Meanwhile, other central banks are printing up legal currency in order to buy shares of stock.
Our own Federal Reserve is printing up currency with which they are purchasing mortgages.
Sooner or later, a return to economic reality will have to take place. Today Tom and John are joined by Dr. Paul Cleveland, Ph.D. in Economics and Professor of Economics and Finance at Birmingham-Southern College.
Join the conversation as they talk about the ways to prepare for the upcoming “return to reality”.
Resources:
Get Dr. Paul Clevelands books at boundarystone.org
Risk tolerance is a big term in typical financial planning. Basically, risk tolerance is the amount of nerve you have to watch your investment portfolio lose money without flinching. According to typical financial planning, the higher your “risk tolerance” the more money you should risk losing to try and get big returns.
But typical financial planning isn’t working out so good for most Americans. People are running out of money in retirement and the median savings for someone age 65 or older is only $63,000.
If you are allergic to risk and you hate losing money, if you believe that when you’re 65 you should have more than $63,000 in savings then you probably shouldn’t follow typical financial planning.
Doing nothing is not enough though, you must do something better, that’s what we talk about on episode 248 of Wealth Talks. Listen Now.
Wealth Seminar on February 20th. Register Here»
How is wealth created? According to George Gilder, there are three things that create wealth. (Listen to find out)
People who put money in a 401(k) limit their access to their own money which makes it hard to create wealth… and 401(k)s aren’t treating people all that well, to begin with.
The average 401(k) balance is pretty low especially considering many employees are betting on their 401(k) to make retirement a reality. That’s probably the reason most retired Americans depend on Social Security for at least 50% of their retirement income.
People who believe in the future use their money to create wealth. Can you do that too?
Discover the three things that create wealth. Listen Now.
Governments and central banks are taking the low road. They are attempting to artificially stimulate the economy by implementing negative interest rates. John says it will work probably work short-term Tom says it could cause people to hoard tangible assets like gold, silver, antique automobiles and art.
What is it that really stimulates an economy long-term and causes wealth to be created?
Why do you think most business regulations are put in place?
A. To protect small business from getting overrun by big business
B. To make it hard for small business to compete with big business
Now picture yourself approaching retirement… what would you do if interest rates went negative on all of your retirement savings, and instead of earning interest on your money, you had to start paying just to keep the money you’d saved?
All this and more on episode 246 of Wealth Talks. Listen Now.
Most people think saving money is about cutting lifestyle and luxuries. This is certainly one way to save, but it is not the only way because where you save your money can make a big difference in how much you get to keep. 💵
Benjamin Franklin says, “There are two ways to increase your wealth. Increase your means or decrease your wants. The best is to do both at the same time.” But increasing your means is not always as easy as increasing your income because expenses tend to rise to equal (or exceed) income (Parkinson’s law). 😟
When you have a good plan for your finances you can save more money without working any harder; you can have peace of mind and be ready for good investment opportunities when they come to you.
Whether you’re trying to save more money for retirement, to make an investment, or just saving money for a rainy day it’s always a good thing to minimize fees and taxes. And you want a big word called LIQUIDITY. Find out why this is so important.
Resources:
10-20-70 Cashflow Worksheet Tool
Tips for Saving More Money in 2020 - Video
he SECURE Act was signed into law by President Trump on December 20, 2019. Here are some key changes you should know as you plan for retirement:
Generally, the SECURE Act:
The SECURE Act is likely to increase age tax-qualified account balances because people will be encouraged to save more in these accounts. It will also increase government tax revenues because of the 10yr distribution rule on inherited accounts.
Also under the Secure Act, employers get a tax credit by automatically enrolling employees in the company sponsored retirement plan (Small-Employer Automatic Enrollment Credit). If you don’t want to be automatically enrolled into contributions to your company retirement plan you may need to take action to opt-out.
Now is a good time to consider how much of your money you wish to invest in tax-qualified accounts compared to paying the tax and building wealth in other types of accounts where you have more control, lower fees and less market risk.
For example: Target-date mutual funds are a default option for most retirement plans with an automatic enrollment. Target-date funds are sold as a “set it and forget it management strategy” and they are also notorious for high fees. Fees are a killer whenever you try to grow your money.
Compare target-date funds with the guaranteed values that build in participating whole life insurance policy over a similar time period. It could make sense to keep the control of your money and lock in guaranteed growth through life insurance + leave any legacy to your heirs income tax-free, instead of putting them into a higher tax-bracket with required distributions on an inherited tax-qualified account.
Wealth Workshop in Las Vegas Jan 18th - Register now
Most people are losing money with typical financial planning. Learn to use Life Insurance as a Financial tool while you’re living so you can keep more of the money you make and have financial peace of mind.