From the category archives:

Recession

The Economic Power of Choosing Wisely

October 16, 2011

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Free Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, October 18th at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern). The topic is “True Asset and Wealth Optimization.” You’ll learn how to choose the right investments for liquidity, safety, rate of return and tax benefits.

Click Here to Register Now

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

Two States At An Economic Crossroads

With so many eyes focused on the efforts of state and national government to turn the economic tide towards recovery, the states of Illinois and Wisconsin have provided a powerful object lesson. One state demonstrated exactly what to do to promote economic and job growth, the other showed us exactly what not to do. All states should learn from their examples.

Anytime government suffers for lack of tax revenue to pay federal employees and programs, they have the option of raising taxes to bring in more revenue, or lowering taxes to increase the revenue being taxed. They can also increase regulation of employees and the associated costs of doing business or they can deregulate and create certainty and confidence among employers so they’ll hire more workers.

Only one of these approaches is consistent with making unemployment go down.

In Illinois, lawmakers raised taxes in January of this year and saw unemployment increase dramatically.

This is described in detail by Business Insider magazine:

“[I]n addition to the worst bond rating in the country, the state lost the most jobs of any state last month. The Illinois Policy Institute reported the grim news that “Illinois lost more jobs during the month of July than any other state in the nation, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

After losing 7,200 jobs in June, Illinois lost an additional 24,900 non-farm payroll jobs in July. The report also said Illinois’s unemployment rate climbed to 9.5 percent. This marks the third consecutive month of increases in the unemployment rate.”

There is a clear correlation between January tax increase and the subsequent drop in employment numbers. It’s a perfect illustration of the futility of trying to conceal the results of runaway spending by imposing punitive taxes on producers rather than simply cutting the spending.

Ask yourself, if you were a business owner in Illinois, would higher taxes motivate you to grow your business?

By contrast, during this same time frame, the state of Wisconsin saw jobs increase dramatically with 39,000 new private sector jobs were created with 14,100 jobs in manufacturing. Wisconsin’s non-farm growth is now two times the national average. One other happy note: the state also managed to turn a $3.6 billion deficit into a surplus in that same time thanks to the increased revenues.

So what did Wisconsin do differently?

Governor Scott Walker asked employers why they weren’t hiring people. Business leaders told him they were feeling uncertainty about whether taxes were about to go up or not. So Wisconsin chose to lower taxes and to deregulate in order to provide the certainty and confidence that job creators were seeking.

The results speak for themselves.

If we wish to see unemployment grow and business continue to wither, Illinois is a great example of how to do that. However, if we want to see unemployment reversed and business incentivized to grow, Wisconsin is the better example to follow.

Economic growth and prosperity only occur where job creators are operating in a climate of certainty and confidence.

Certainty and confidence are the result of sound strategies. This is true of states, nations and individuals.

Standing At Your Personal Financial Crossroads

If you’re seeking greater certainty and confidence in your personal financial future, you’ll need to incorporate proven strategies based upon sound principles. Here are two principles that can give you an edge.

The first is the miracle of compound interest. It’s a principle Einstein said was one of the least understood phenomena on the planet.

A single dollar, doubling every period for 20 periods, will grow to $1,048,000 if that growth is tax free.

If you have to pay tax on every gain your money makes, that dollar being doubled every period is instead being eaten up by federal or state income taxes. If you’re in a 25% tax bracket that means you’ll actually only have $72,000 to show after 20 doublings. In a 33% tax bracket it will only grow to $27,000.

This is why tax-deferred or taxed-as-earned investments should be avoided in favor of strategies that allow your money to actually grow through compound interest.

The second principle is that of tax-free accumulation. Most Americans accumulate their money in the worst possible place by paying tax on their income as they earn it. Then they place that money in taxed-as-earned investments and pay tax on any of the gains they make. Finally, they pay more tax when that money is transferred to their heirs.

As a result, what should have been a sizable nest egg is quickly consumed by taxes and ultimately ends up as a fraction of what it could have been.

It’s like crawling towards the finish line of financial independence when they could be running or flying. Is it any wonder why so many Americans are dependent upon Social Security and Medicare?

A better choice would be a vehicle that allows your money to accumulate tax-free now and in the future, thanks to sections 72E, 7702 and 101A of the IRS code. Not only does your money remain safely yours, but you can access it and ultimately transfer it to your heirs tax free. That’s the power of choosing wisely.

These are just two key principles of wealth accumulation. Missed Fortune strategies incorporate these and many other principles that enable you to enjoy certainty and confidence in your financial future.

Learn more by meeting with a Missed Fortune advisor.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg. Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

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Reasons To Smile Even When the Economy Stinks

October 9, 2011

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Free Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, October 11th at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern). The topic is “True Asset and Wealth Optimization.” You’ll learn how to choose the right investments for liquidity, safety, rate of return and tax benefits.

Click Here to Register Now

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

Is the Economy Half Empty or Half Full?

In a recent CNN article titled “90 Percent of Americans Say Economy Stinks” the following observations were made:

“Three years after a financial crisis pushed the country deep into recession, an overwhelming number of Americans – 90% – say that economic conditions remain poor.

The number, reported Friday in a new CNN/ORC International Poll, is the highest of Barack Obama’s presidency and a significant increase from the 81% who said conditions were poor in June.”

Now imagine that you came across an article that said, ” Ex-financial planner reveals the secrets as to how he protected himself from any losses during the last decade and what his wealthy clients did to become wealthy and to protect their wealth during the past several years.”

Would you want to know more?

If you’re familiar with the Missed Fortune Strategies, you already know that Doug Andrews is that ex-financial advisor turned consumer advocate.

The last 10 years are often referred to as the Lost Decade because most of the people who had their money in the stock market or real estate market lost more than 40% once in 2007 and again in 2008.

On the other hand, those who followed the Missed Fortune indexing strategies, didn’t lose a dime in the last decade. Many of them actually doubled their money tax-free even if they just sat there and never re-balanced during the past 10 years.

Those who did re-balance according to Doug’s advice enjoyed an average of 9.6% tax-free during the past 10 years. Let’s put that into something we can more easily visualize.

For every one million dollars they had 10 years ago they now have $2.6 million. For those taking income in retirement, they were able to take $8,000 per month or $96,000 a year, in tax-free income, without depleting their $1 million principal.

Even during the last 4 years, arguably the worst 4 year period since the Great Depression, people following Doug’s advice have realized an average 9.75% tax-free annual return.

The past two years have been incredible since Indexing strategies perform very well in a lateral market when in goes up and down with a lot of volatility. Folks who’ve found themselves paralyzed by fear the past few years, could have instead employed the indexing strategy to enjoy a nice conservative return of 4.5% up to an astonishing 15% return–tax free–without losing a dime of their money.

When we don’t know what we don’t know, our options remain limited. But when we’re willing to learn, new pathways are opened up to us.

3 Keys to Prosper In Any Economy

The strongest financial dangers we face in America over the next decade include taxes going up. The Congressional Budget Office warns that rates make climb as high as 62% for couples earning over $200,000 and single filers making over $100,000.

The second significant financial danger we face is the prospect of rising inflation. For the past 20 years inflation has averaged just under 3% annually, but it’s likely to rise to 5% on the low end to as high as 10% on the high end over the next 10 years. This means that the cost of living could be doubling every seven to ten years because the purchasing power of the dollar is being cut in half every seven to ten years.

The third financial danger to beware of is continued economic uncertainty which is the only one of the three dangers we’ve seen in abundance this past 10 years.

These financial dangers are likely to combine for an unforgettable triple whammy in the next decade, so let’s consider 3 proven strategies to eliminate these dangers.

Analyze your situation and determine if it’s time to do a strategic roll-out. This means getting your money out of those 401(k)s and IRAs and recoup what you may have lost in a safe, tax-free environment. Move that money from tax-deferred vehicles into someplace where your money can accumulate tax-free, now and in the future. You’ll need to do this before the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of 2012.
Link your returns, from here on out, to the things that inflate so that when we do experience higher inflation, it helps rather than hinders you. This principle works even when the inflation rate is in double digits just like it was in the early 1980s. Your money should be growing, tax-free, at a rate that outpaces inflation.
The third strategy is to eliminate the downside risk while participating in any upside potential when the economy grows, by using indexing with a lock-in and reset feature. This means that when the economy goes down, you don’t lose money. Likewise, when the economy grows, you can make money. This is protecting your principal from loss. Any year that you make money, that gain becomes new principal that is also protected from loss.

Avoiding these dangers is absolutely possible once you’ve learned and implemented the Missed Fortune strategies. Get started by meeting with a Missed Fortune advisor.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg. Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

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The Economic Realities of Raising & Lowering Taxes

September 25, 2011

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Free Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, September 27th at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern). The topic is “True Asset and Wealth Optimization.” You’ll learn how to choose the right investments for liquidity, safety, rate of return and tax benefits.

Click Here to Register Now

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

When Government Needs Your Money

Any time government suffers for revenue, it has the option of raising taxes to provide increased funding for government programs. Or a state can lower taxes and decrease regulation in order to increase revenues through economic growth.

With so many eyes focused on the efforts of state and national government to turn the economic tide towards recovery, the states of Illinois and Wisconsin provide a powerful contrast. One state has demonstrated exactly what to do, the other has shown what not to do. Their results make for a great lesson in economics.

In Illinois, lawmakers raised taxes in January of this year and saw unemployment increase dramatically.

This is described in detail by Business Insider magazine:

“[I]n addition to the worst bond rating in the country, the state lost the most jobs of any state last month. The Illinois Policy Institute reported the grim news that “Illinois lost more jobs during the month of July than any other state in the nation, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

After losing 7,200 jobs in June, Illinois lost an additional 24,900 non-farm payroll jobs in July. The report also said Illinois’s unemployment rate climbed to 9.5 percent. This marks the third consecutive month of increases in the unemployment rate.”

There is a clear correlation between January tax increase and the subsequent drop in employment numbers. It’s a perfect illustration of the futility of trying to conceal the results of runaway spending by imposing punitive taxes on producers rather than simply cutting the spending.

Ask yourself, if you were a business owner in Illinois, would higher taxes motivate you to grow your business?

By contrast, during this same time frame, the state of Wisconsin saw jobs increase dramatically with 39,000 new private sector jobs were created with 14,100 jobs in manufacturing. Wisconsin’s non-farm growth is now two times the national average. One other happy note: the state also managed to turn a $3.6 billion deficit into a surplus in that same time thanks to the increased revenues.

So what did Wisconsin do differently?

Governor Scott Walker asked employers why they weren’t hiring people. Business leaders told him they were feeling uncertainty about whether taxes were about to go up or not. So Wisconsin chose to lower taxes and to deregulate in order to provide the certainty and confidence that job creators were seeking.

The results speak for themselves.

Raising taxes to cover a budget deficit and shortfall stifles the very economic activity that is needed to generate increased revenues. Lowering taxes has the exact opposite effect.

Keeping Your Eyes Peeled for Tax Hikes

Right now the president is talking about eliminating $467 billion in tax breaks for wealthier Americans and corporations as part of his proposed jobs bill. That jobs bill comes with a price tag of nearly half a trillion dollars in additional governmental spending.

If this seems all too familiar, please re-read the part about how Illinois sought to handle its revenue shortfall and the results it got.

Great pressure is being brought to bear on U.S. lawmakers to pass the jobs bill or risk being portrayed as ineffectual do-nothings regarding the economy.

The tax provisions of this proposed jobs bill include a limit on itemized deductions and certain exemptions on individuals who earn over $200,000 or families that earn over $250,000. President Obama claims that these tax provisions would raise over $400 billion over a ten year period.

Make no mistake, these proposed tax hikes will hit the very people who create jobs by employing other people.

Another proposed element of the jobs bill would treat carried interest earned by investment fund managers as ordinary income rather than taxing it at capital gains rates which would raise another $18 billion.

The key message you should be taking away from all this is that taxes will be going up and our dollars will be worth less. The biggest dangers we face in the next decade will include higher taxes, inflation and continued market uncertainty.

You must understand how this triple whammy may affect your retirement money and how Missed Fortune strategies can give you the certainty and confidence you’ll need for the days ahead.

Learn more by meeting with a Missed Fortune advisor.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg. Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

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An Object Lesson In Simple Economics

September 18, 2011

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Free Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, September 20th at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern). The topic is “True Asset and Wealth Optimization.” You’ll learn how to choose the right investments for liquidity, safety, rate of return and tax benefits.

Click Here to Register Now

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

An Economic Tale of Two States

In a recent article in the Business Insider titled “Illinois Employment Plunges After Tax Hikes” we find a perfect object lesson in basic economics.

To fully appreciate this lesson we’ll have to contrast the two very different experiences of two different states and what occurred over the course of just a few months.

We have the state of Illinois which increased taxes and regulation vs. the state of Wisconsin which lowered taxes and decreased regulation on businesses.

Anytime government suffers for lack of tax revenue to pay federal employees and programs, they have the option of raising taxes to bring in more revenue, or lowering taxes to increase the revenue being taxed. They can also increase regulation of employees and the associated costs of doing business or they can deregulate and create certainty and confidence among employers so they’ll hire more workers.

Only one of these approaches is consistent with making unemployment go down.

This can be seen in the dramatic difference between the two state where Wisconsin saw the creation of tens of thousands of private sector jobs after lowering taxes and lightening regulations on job creators.

Illinois, on the other hand, increased taxes and saw unemployment subsequently go up as a result.

From the article in Business Insider:

“[I]n addition to the worst bond rating in the country, the state lost the most jobs of any state last month. The Illinois Policy Institute reported the grim news that “Illinois lost more jobs during the month of July than any other state in the nation, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

After losing 7,200 jobs in June, Illinois lost an additional 24,900 non-farm payroll jobs in July. The report also said Illinois’s unemployment rate climbed to 9.5 percent. This marks the third consecutive month of increases in the unemployment rate.”

This contrast illustrates the futility of trying to cover profligate spending by raising taxes. Illinois saw employment plunge as soon as they did so, while Wisconsin saw employment skyrocket when they cut spending and lowered taxes.

It’s perfect illustration of how what’s plaguing this nation is a spending problem rather than a revenue problem.

If we want to see unemployment reversed and business incentivized to grow, Wisconsin is the better example to follow. If we wish to see unemployment grow and business continue to wither, Illinois is a great example of how to do that.

Certainty and confidence are the result of sound strategies. This is true of states, nations and individuals.

Marvels of Wealth Accumulation

The first marvel is the miracle of compound interest. It’s a principle Einstein said was one of the least understood phenomenon on the planet.

A single dollar, doubling every period for 20 periods, will grow to $1,048,000 if that growth is tax free.

If you have to pay tax on every gain your money makes, that dollar being doubled every period is instead being eaten up by federal or state income taxes. If you’re in a 25% tax bracket that means you’ll actually only have $72,000 to show after 20 doublings. In a 33% tax bracket it will only grow to $27,000.

This is why tax-deferred or taxed-as-earned investments should be avoided in favor of strategies that allow your money to actually grow through compound interest.

The second marvel is that of tax-free accumulation. Most Americans accumulate their money in the worst possible place by paying tax on their income as they earn it. Then they place that money in taxed-as-earned investments and pay tax on any of the gains they make. Finally, they pay more tax when that money is transferred to their heirs.

It’s like crawling towards the finish line of financial independence when they could be running or flying. Is it any wonder why so many Americans are dependent upon Social Security and Medicare?

When your money accumulates tax-free now and in the future, thanks to sections 72E, 7702 and 101A of the IRS code, your money remains yours and transfers to your heirs tax free.

These are just two marvels of wealth accumulation. Missed Fortune strategies incorporate these and many other principles that enable you to enjoy certainty and confidence in your financial future.

Learn more by meeting with a Missed Fortune advisor.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg. Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

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The More Government Stimulates the Less the Economy Responds

September 11, 2011

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Free Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, September 13th at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern). The topic is “True Asset and Wealth Optimization.” You’ll learn how to choose the right investments for liquidity, safety, rate of return and tax benefits.

Click Here to Register Now

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

The Spending That Never Pays Off

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal titled “The Great Recession and Government Failure” stated that this latest recession might well have been a deep one, even with good government policies.

The article goes on to say that government failure added greatly to its length and severity including its continuation to the present.

One of the more notable components of that government failure:

Nearly a trillion dollars of federal spending that was supposed to stimulate the economy enough to reduce the unemployment rates to under 8%. Of course, if you’ve been listening to the job stats that were recently released over the Labor Day weekend, you know that the actual unemployment rate is now closer to 16%.

Despite the predictions of leading government economists, who were backed up by essentially no evidence, the spending has yet to produce the intended jobs.

What the stimulus has produced is a sizable expansion of the federal deficit and debt. So what does that mean to you and me?

5 years ago the national debt was about $9.2 trillion. With about 100 million workers in this country, that means each taxpayer would have had to write out a check for $92,000 to pay of their share of the national debt. Today we are in far worse shape.

Because of the increase stimulus spending, now every taxpayer would have to pay something in the neighborhood of $146,000 each in order to pay off the national debt. A good way to illustrate this is is to compare the growth of the national debt to a person leaving the East Coast heading for the West Coast.

It took roughly 100 years to get from Washington D.C. to Dallas, Texas. But we’ve covered that much ground in just the last 8 years. That’s how rapidly our national debt is growing.

For the past 3 years we’ve had a continuing artificial stimulus that’s akin to a person pounding down energy drinks to sustain their demanding lifestyle. There’s a short-term caffeine rush followed by a corresponding crash that’s much harsher than it should have been. In the end, we’re no better off.

Another article entitled “Economy Adds Zero Jobs in August as Recession Fears Grow” points out that the U.S. economy’s failure to add any jobs in August is stoking renewed fears of a double dip recession.

These articles illustrate the necessity of creating predictability and certainty to take ownership of your financial future. The prospect of ever-increasing taxes and greater regulation is instead creating exactly the opposite.

Dr. Edwards Deming is the quality management engineer who revolutionized Japan’s manufacturing standard to the quality they put out today. He said that management of anything in your life comes down to predictability. People are not feeling comfortable because they have no predictability about the future.

So how do you create predictability in your life?

Incorporating proven strategies

At least twice in the last decade, people who put their money into IRAs and 401(k)s, where they were told to, ended up losing money based upon what the stock market did. Their nest eggs have yet to fully recover and if they have more money today than they did 10 years ago, it’s because they added more money to it.

On the other hand, those who followed the Missed Fortune strategy of indexing have safely doubled their money at a time when most Americans are just barely getting back to where they once were.

The way indexing works is that you participate indirectly when the economy is doing well, but you don’t lose when the stock market goes down. When the economy does well, you get to participate up to a certain cap.

That cap is around 15% currently, but when there’s high inflation, that cap can go as high as 20-21%. Your rate of return will generally outpace inflation by at least 5%. During down years your money may not grow much, if at all, but you will not lose a penny.

It’s a very simple concept, but those who don’t know about it don’t know what they’re missing.

In the so-called last decade where most people were losing a third or more of the value in their 401(k)s and IRAs, those who were indexing were enjoying a rate of return of 9.6% or more.

Plus your money grows tax free thanks to certain provisions in the IRS code. It’s a much better way than postponing your taxes in a tax-deferred vehicle like and IRA or 401(k) where you’ll absolutely have to pay taxes when you start accessing your money. If you’re banking on tax rates being lower by the time you retire, you’re likely in for a nasty surprise.

These Missed Fortune Strategies are the key to creating predictability and certainty in an increasingly unpredictable and uncertain world.

Learn more by meeting with a Missed Fortune advisor.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg. Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

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More Stimulus Spending Isn’t the Answer

August 28, 2011

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Free Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, August 30th at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern). The topic is “True Asset and Wealth Optimization.” You’ll learn how to choose the right investments for liquidity, safety, rate of return and tax benefits.

Click Here to Register Now

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

More Failed Stimulus Spending Is On the Way

There is widespread concern among Americans from every part of the country about where this nation is headed.

The Washington Examiner ran an article last week titled “Here Comes More Failed Stimulus Spending.”

In this article, it is reported that President Obama will be promising to provide details for more stimulus plans to “get America’s stagnant economy back on the right track.”

Spending $859 billion on stimulus policies in 2009 failed to get the economy growing, so why do they think it will work in 2011? The article asks why the American people would trust these same leaders that squandered the better part of a trillion dollars the first time, to throw hundreds of billions more down the same rate hole?

Doing something over and over again and expecting a different result is a classic example of insanity.

Every time we have a recession, the American people have to tighten their belts and decrease their outgo while increasing their income. But our government does the exact opposite by dramatically increasing its spending in an attempt to spend its way out a the recession.

In another article in the Pittsburgh Tribune titled “Obama Circling Back to the Iceberg”, a recent Gallup poll shows that only 26 percent of the American public approve of the president’s handling of the economy.

That means a whopping 71 percent disapprove. This also indicates that a growing number of Americans are feeling strong dissatisfaction and that’s not surprising.

The National Bureau of Economic Research says that the only U.S. president with a worse record of job creation than Barack Obama was President Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression.

During this past 2 and half years when economic stimulus packages of $3.6 trillion were passed, unemployment was just 7.2% and the promise was that the jobless numbers would drop. Instead, unemployment soared to over 10% and has steadied at 9.2%, nearly 2 percent higher than before the stimulus spending.

In the last 5 years the national debt has climbed from $9.2 trillion to over $14.6 trillion, which means that every U.S. taxpayer would now have to write a check of roughly $150,000 just to pay off the national debt.

If we would have just allocated about 20% of that $3.6 trillion to employers and allowed them to make the decision of who to hire, every single one of those people who have been unemployed could have been hired at $50,000 a year for two years.

Doing the same thing over and over again is making less and less sense.

Amidst all the uncertainty, the state of Wisconsin still stands out as a shining beacon of good news. Remember, this is the state that turned around its economy in just 8 months from a $3.5 billion deficit to a surplus and while creating nearly 9,000 new jobs in the month of June alone.

The state of Wisconsin increased its private sector jobs by 39,000 and its manufacturing jobs by 14,000 while its non-farm growth was two times the national average. The secret to putting Wisconsin’s uncertainty to rest was to lower taxes and business owners were given confidence to grow their businesses without fear of being punished for their success through higher taxes.

Solving the Dangers of Taxes & Inflation

One of the keys to restoring your own certainty and confidence is understanding how to solve the dangers of taxes and inflation.

Whether taxes stay the same or the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire, it’s in your interest to learn how to accumulate money tax free today and in the future.

If you had a million dollar nest egg generating 7.2% interest and you pulled out $72,000 a year as a married couple filing a joint tax return, every dollar you make over $69,000 is taxed at 25% federally and includes an additional state income tax on top of that in 41 out of 50 states.

About a third of what you earn over that amount is taxed at 33%.

Single tax filers pay about a third on every dollar they earn over $34,500.

This is your marginal tax bracket or what you pay on the last dollars you earn.

If you put money away in IRAs or 401(k)s and you’re thinking you’ll be in a lower tax bracket, you’re in a for a rude awakening. When you retire and you pull out $72,000 a year, you’ll be paying roughly $2,000 per month just in taxes. And that’s if taxes don’t go up.

This is why it’s critical that your money grow tax free now and in the future.

When you add in the effects of inflation, the purchasing power of your nest egg will have dropped to the point where it will take $4,000 to purchase what you can now purchase for $1,000. Your returns must be linked to those things that inflate during inflation in order for you to keep pace with the increasing cost of living.

In addition to these strategies, you’ll need to understand how to position your serious money in such a way that it bypasses market volatility and grows when the market grows but doesn’t lose a dime when the market falls. These are the Missed Fortune strategies that have been making the difference for decades.

Learn more by meeting with a Missed Fortune advisor.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg. Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

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Creating Certainty in An Uncertain Economy

August 21, 2011

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Free Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, August 23rd at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern). The topic is “True Asset and Wealth Optimization.” You’ll learn how to choose the right investments for liquidity, safety, rate of return and tax benefits.

Click Here to Register Now

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

A Crisis of Confidence

The Rasmussen Report recently stated that 9% of Americans rate the economy as good or excellent while 67% say it’s in poor shape. It’s not exactly surprising.

But just 37% of those surveyed by Rasmussen say they have confidence in the stability of the U.S. banking system. That’s down from nearly 68% in the summer of 2008 and is the lowest measure of confidence recorded yet.

At a time when economists and others wonder if the U.S is about to enter another recession, most American believe the recession never ended. Only 13% believe the jobs market is better than it was a year ago while 50% say it’s worse.

It bears repeating that amidst all the talk of the debt ceiling and deficits and economic uncertainty, America does not have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem.

This means we need to aggressively go after ways to raise the revenue that’s being taxed and not raise the taxes.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released data about the state of Wisconsin that shows that during the month of June nearly 18,000 jobs were created. Of those, nearly half of them were in the state of Wisconsin.

In fact, in the last 6 months, nearly 39,000 new jobs were created in the private sector in Wisconsin with nearly 14,100 jobs created in manufacturing. Wisconsin’s non-farm growth is nearly 2 times the national average.

Governor Scott Walker was interviewed by Fox News and asked what the secret is to how he’s turned things around in Wisconsin since he took office in January.

His response:

“We changed the business climate. When we said that Wisconsin is open for business back in January, we meant it. We passed major tort reform and regulatory relief. We reduced the tax burden of job creators, pulled away the state tax on health savings accounts, even created a new economic development corporation to show that when we said Wisconsin is open for business–it wasn’t just a slogan.”

“We didn’t wait 6 months or a year, we did it right away. On top of that, I think the fiscal reforms we put in place: taking a $3.6 billion deficit and turning it into a surplus, those are the things job creators are looking for. They want stability. They want certainty. They’re certainly not seeing it at the federal level, but they’re seeing it in Wisconsin.”

There are two key things that Governor Walker did to stimulate that turnaround.

He changed the business climate by empowering businesses to create jobs.
He reduced the tax burden on job creators.

He got government out of the way and that’s why Wisconsin is having success.

When asked what he recommended we do on a national level, Walker suggested the federal government get its fiscal house in order and get out of the way.

The Antidote to Uncertainty: Predictable Systems

If you wish to eliminate the uncertainty in your financial future, you need to learn Missed Fortune strategies that put you solidly in control.

If you’re feeling confused, isolated and powerless because of the economy, you need to learn how to create certainty in your life. Our confidence grows with our certainty.

Imagine knowing how to protect yourself from the danger of taxes going up by using sections of the IRS code that have been around for decades which enable you to accumulate your money safely, predictably and tax free.

Visualize the peace of mind that comes from linking the return on your money to those things that inflate when we experience inflation. It’s no secret that the federal government is printing money to help pay its obligations like Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.

Even during times of inflation, you’ll still enjoy a rate of return that keeps up with or even outpaces the rate of inflation. But you’ll need to understand the Missed Fortune strategies that make it possible to do so.

When you’re positioned to beat the tax and inflation power curve, your money will be safely hedged against inflation and will remain tax free now and in the future when you need it.

With Missed Fortune strategies, you’ll also learn how to overcome the uncertainty and volatility of the stock markets so you don’t lose when the economy goes down and your money grows when it goes up. It’s called indexing and it’s a way to create the kind of certainty that makes all the difference.

Learn more by meeting with a Missed Fortune advisor.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg. Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

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The Paradox of Increasing Tax Revenues By Lowering Taxes

August 7, 2011

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Free Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, August 9th at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern). The topic is “True Asset and Wealth Optimization.” You’ll learn how to choose the right investments for liquidity, safety, rate of return and tax benefits.

Click Here to Register Now

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

The Secret To Increasing Tax Revenues: Lower the Tax Rates

In all the talk about the debt ceiling situation, there still isn’t broad recognition of the fact that our nation faces a spending problem rather than a revenue problem.

If the Bush tax cuts were extended, the Congressional Budget Office would still claim that’s costing up to $5 trillion. But tax cuts generate new revenue. The reason President Bush instituted the tax cuts in the first place was when the economy was in a tailspin following the 9/11 attacks.

Bush felt that it was better to raise the revenue that was being taxed rather than raising the taxes. When we face lean times, we tighten our belts and increase our income while decreasing our outgo.

Government always seems to be the last ones to cut back on spending in difficult times.

After 9/11 President Bush realized that the best thing to raise tax revenue for social programs was a tax decrease. He lowered the lowest bracket from 15% to 10% and he raised the threshold from about $46,000 to $57,000 before you jumped from a 15% bracket to a 28% bracket.

By all accounts, the government raised more tax revenue by getting cash flowing than if they had kept taxes high and raised them further.

When the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of 2012, higher taxes are going to hinder growth rather than help it.

The White House has one important tool to influence Congress on budget matters, and that’s the prospect of extending the Bush tax cuts beyond next year. There’s already a lot of talk about “going after the rich” in Washington D.C. these days so higher taxes are looking very likely.

After $5 trillion of increased federal debt, the unemployment rate is still sitting above 9% despite all the stimulus spending that was supposed to put the economy back on track.

This won’t help the economy or unemployment.

The 3 Challenges Your Nest Egg Will Face In the Next Decade

One way or another we’re likely to see taxes go up. Even if the Bush tax cuts are extended, there are still over $110 trillion of unfunded liabilities like Social Security and Medicare.

When government needs more revenue, it’s a safe bet that they’ll be raising our taxes in any number of ways. If your retirement nest egg is tax-deferred, it’s highly likely that those higher tax rates will deplete your money faster than you can imagine.

But higher taxes are only one of the challenges we’re likely to face over the next decade.

Inflation is also likely to sneak up from it’s usual 3% to more like 5, 6, 7 or even 10% thanks to the government printing money virtually nonstop. Inflation will raise the cost of living and that too will increase the speed with which your retirement money is spent.

Market uncertainty is the third danger we face just like in the last decade where many people lost roughly 39% of the value of their IRAs and 401(k)s and still haven’t broken even. Even a million dollar nest egg isn’t going to cut it where we’re headed in this country.

The good news is that strategies exist that will allow you to take ownership of your future and eliminate the dangers of market volatility, inflation and higher taxes.

When your money accumulates in tax free vehicle that’s grandfathered into the IRS code, you don’t have to worry higher taxes eating up your nest egg. When you tie your return to those things that inflate during inflationary periods, your money continues to grow.

And when you position your serious money to grow when the market grows and to remain safe when the market falls, market volatility is no longer a threat to your wealth.

You have options when you understand these strategies.

Learn more by meeting with a Missed Fortune advisor.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg. Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

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While the Government is Placing Band-Aids, We’re Throwing Lifelines

July 31, 2011

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Free Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, August 2nd at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern). The topic is “True Asset and Wealth Optimization.” You’ll learn how to choose the right investments for liquidity, safety, rate of return and tax benefits.

Click Here to Register Now

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

Debt Limit Increase: A Temporary Band-Aid

5 years ago the national debt was $9.3 trillion — about $90,000 for every taxpayer in America.

We’re now up to $14.3 trillion and rising — $143,000 for every taxpayer.

We don’t have a revenue problem in America; we have a spending problem.

Most Americans agree. A recent CNN poll showed that 66% of Americans support government spending cuts.

Raising our debt limit temporarily is just a Band-Aid.

We need a more fundamental and drastic approach to curing our financial woes.

A recent Forbes article reports:

“’Raising the debt ceiling and getting beyond Aug 2nd does not cure the main source of our problem,’ [said Lacy Hunt of Hoisington Investment Management]. The main problem is that the fiscal problems of the U.S. are enormous. Total federal debt is approaching 100% of gross domestic product, and the three biggest components of that debt will rise dramatically through the end of the decade. Social Security and Medicare can be reformed, but there is little the government can do about interest expense. Even if rates stay constant, Hunt said, interest expense will exceed defense spending by the end of the decade.”

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that interest on the debt is projected to be about 3.4% of GDP by 2021, up from 1.7% in 2001.

However, Forbes reports,

“the CBO only projects an increase in real, or after-inflation, interest rates to 3.1% from a current 1.8%. It also projects a steady decline in unemployment to around 5% and real wage growth of 1.4% a year or more. Relax those assumptions — particularly for wage growth, inflation and interest rates — and the government could get itself into a death spiral of rising interest rates and stagnant economic growth that will make the debt practically impossible to service.”

We need to cut taxes and spending and support entrepreneurs to get cash flowing again.

Cash Value Insurance: A Lifeline in a Sea of Market Uncertainty & Government Ignorance

While you can’t control what the government does, you can control your household finances.

Missed Fortune offers solutions.

During the last 4 years — the worst-performing years since the Great Depression — Missed Fortune clients are up at least 50%.

Those with $1 million or more in our products have doubled or even tripled their money in the last 10 years — and it’s completely tax-free.

They’ve averaged returns of between 7.2% and 9.6% the last 10 years, whereas most Americans are barely breaking even.

How have they done it? Through maximum-funded tax-advantaged cash value life insurance.

When structured as a superior capital accumulation tool, it can perform at an average cash-on-cash rate of return of more than 8%.

This one product can overcome taxes, inflation, market uncertainty by giving you safety of principal, an inflation hedge, and healthy tax-free growth.

Learn more by meeting with a Missed Fortune advisor.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg. Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

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The U.S. Economy: Living On Borrowed Money

June 26, 2011

Podcast: Download (23.0MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Free Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, June 28th at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern). The topic is “True Asset and Wealth Optimization.” You’ll learn how to choose the right investments for liquidity, safety, rate of return and tax benefits.

Click Here to Register Now

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

Watching Government Paint Itself Into a Corner

A recent USA Today article by Richard Wolf claims that “In 7 Weeks U.S. Could Run Out Of Borrowed Money”.

Here are the highlights: Exactly one month ago, the Treasury Dept. began issuing IOUs rather than bonds to some government pension funds. That allowed for continued auctions of so-called “risk free” treasury bonds until August 2nd of this year.

Unless Congress acts by then, the worlds richest nation–unable to borrow $4 billion a day to pay its bills–would risk default. Or would it?

Wolf says to hear Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner tell it, interest rates would spike, stock and home values would sink, savings and investment would dry up and jobs would disappear. Businesses would fail and everything from tax refunds to troops salaries would go unpaid.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says that it would “lead to severe disruptions in financial markets, lower credit ratings and damage to the dollar and treasury securities”.

On the other side, others say the doomsday scenarios are hogwash. Senator Pat Toomy of Pennsylvania says it would take a simple law outlining who gets paid first when the government can no longer borrow 41 cents of every dollar it spends.

As long as bond holders collect interest on time, there would be no default. Just spending cuts and furloughing federal workers or delaying welfare payments.

No one expects something so drastic to happen, but Congress and the White House haven’t found a way to avoid it. We have a serious situation in our country.

A recent article identifies 5 items that could prevent a recovery from taking hold:

1. An oil supply squeeze
2. The Euro-zone question
3. State and local debt woes
4. Another housing slump
5. A sharp slowdown in Asia

So What Can You Do?

If you’re experiencing real heartburn over the prospect of the triple whammy we’re facing over the next 10 years it’s time to pay close attention.

3 of the biggest dangers we’re facing in the coming decade are taxes going up, inflation devaluing the dollar and continuing market uncertainty.

Missed Fortune indexing strategies will teach you how to protect yourself so if the economy goes down, you don’t lose money. You may not make much, but you will not lose and that equals a win in these times. Plus the second the market turns around, you’ll be making money again.

Wall Street has already lost more than 45% of the typical investor’s money twice in the past 10 years. You cannot expose your money to that type of risk.

Those who’ve followed the Missed Fortune strategies have predictably earned a rate of return of 7-8% that has effectively doubled their money every 9 or 10 years. And they’ve been doing it consistently for the past 4 decades.

Compare that to the typical equity mutual fund investor who has only managed an average return of 3.83% annually for the past 20 years. They’ve barely outpaced inflation by a single percent. And inflation is going up.

You can protect yourself by accumulating your money in vehicles that are tax free, by linking your returns to those things that inflate when we have inflation. And finally, you position your serious money so that you don’t lose money when the market goes down and you start earning again the second it goes up.

Learn how to put the Missed Fortune strategies to work for you. Talk to a Missed Fortune advisor today.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg. Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

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