I want to talk about the things some not all Financial Representatives, Planners & Advisors don’t want you to know and some things they don’t have time to tell you because you might not be that important to them.
1. There is more to investing than the tax-deferred bucket.
There are three buckets of money: Taxable, Tax-Deferred & Tax Free.
Tax Deferred Money is essentially in a business relationship with the government. Whenever the government wants to raise the taxes or the economy collapses, your money is vulnerable.
Tax FREE buckets of money prevent the government from ever touching your money again after its invested so that it’s there when you need it most in retirement.
Taxes are on sale at a historical low and will never be this low again. Make sure you take advantage in the shifts in the tax bracket in the next 8 years. One way to maximize the lower tax rates is to move money slowly from tax deferred buckets to tax free.
2. Life Insurance Is for the living not only the dead.
There are primarily two kinds of insurance: Term and Whole life. Most people think of term insurance when they think of life insurance.
Term Insurance is like renting a house. After the term is over, you have nothing to show for it. You have to start over in many cases and now you are usually older which means the cost of insurance is more expensive.
Whole life insurance is like purchasing a house. In certain policies like the Index Universal Life Insurance Policy or IUL, you build equity as you pay your premiums. One of the IUL’s has a cash accumulation account that has a 11.5% cap and 0% floor. The growth is based on the S & P 500. So when the S & P is over 11.5% you get the first 11.5% and the insurance company gets the rest. If it drops under 0%, you don’t lose anything. This protects you from the downside of the market.
Not only is the cash accumulation account important but also in an IUL is a Critical Illness Rider. This mean that if you have a heart attack, stoke or cancer, you are paid a monthly allotment to help with medical bills that will later be paid off by the death benefit.
3. There is more to college planning than a 529B plan.
How about if I told you, it can be cheaper to go to Harvard than Towson?
The typical college planning vehicle many use that’s tax free is called a 529B.
The problem some run into with a 529B plan is the documentation of your savings. This can hurt or help you. The more you show the Federal Government when you fill out your FAFSA the less help you will receive for your children.
You show your cards to the government when you have one of these? They know what you are playing with.
If you have the right life insurance policy, you can position money so that it can’t be used against per say you when you fill the FAFSA papers for your child. Actually, you can use the assistance the government gives while the child is in college then use what you have in the IUL to pay off as much as you can.
4. Your stocks are not being watched as closely as they should.
The stock market has been hitting historical highs and lows. But that does not mean it won’t come down or scoot back up. Monitoring your stocks and making the appreciate changes when necessary is an issue of time issue for Financial Advisors.
Time is limited for all financial advisors so the question is, are they being monitored effectively? Sometimes needs to pay close attention to your portfolio. You have options you might not realize. You need to put a stop or sell. You can set your stocks up for success even if you don’t engage regularly by adding some features you have access to if you know about them.
5. There is more to a financial plan than a stack of statements.
A Financial Plan is a road map to get you to past your destination to your legacy. You need to assess where you are, see how much you are worth today, you need to see where your money is coming from and where it is going. This will help you push the limits on savings and making sure your dollar is doing more for your portfolio.
A true long-term financial plan helps you decide how you want to live when you stop working. It shows you how inflation comes into play. You need to know exactly what it is going to take to retire so that you have a strategy with every dollar coming into your household.
6. A Long-Term Care need can devast your assets more than your death.
One of my best friend’s grandmother had saved up a million dollars.
He and his sister were beneficiaries. They ended up not getting anything because all of it was spent on a long-term facility. They actually went after his dad who had to spend 5000 on a lawyer to protect himself.
Assets are attacked when a long-term need arises. The government can look back 5 years to see if you moved money or assets to anyone.
7. Middle Class people are not a top priority. Millionaires are.
I want to turn middle class people into millionaires and millionaires into multi-millionaires. The best way is to start early and work a get rich slow plan based on long term investments, insurance products that give you more value for your dollar as well as a plan for potential health issues that can devastate your assets.
There will be times on the journey things will happen faster than others but as long as you put a reasonable plan in place with the right products in it. You can live the life you always wanted every step of the way.
Let’s chat. Send me a message right here on my page or email me at jess@ordermychaos.com.