From the category archives:

Financial Education

31 FLAVORS to Create an Abundant Retirement

July 25, 2010

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Complimentary Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, July 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 Optimization: How to Choose the Right Investments.” You’ll learn how to maintain liquidity and guarantee safety of principal while earning a healthy, tax-free rate of return that outpaces inflation.

Register now by calling 1-888-76-Radio (888-767-2346). If operators are busy, please call again.

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

Investors Losing Confidence in Traditional Investments

Investors are getting tired of the slow gains for a few years only to have those gains, along with original principal, be lost rapidly.

In 2008, most people lost 31 percent from their IRA and 401(k) and are still not back to what they had in as their initial principal.

Investors are getting fed up with the same traditional advice of investing in IRAs and 401(k)s, to postpone taxes and to have to deal with market volatility for the long-term gain.

According to a new survey from Prince & Associates, 81 percent of investors with $1 million or more in investable assets plan to take money away from their current advisor. An even larger number, 86%, plan to tell other investors to avoid their advisor.

Only 2% plan to recommend their firm to other investors. That’s of critical importance, because wealthy investors often get investment advice from each other.

Deferring taxes to a later date as taxes continue to rise, lacking liquidity, and placing the rate of return for a retirement nest egg in variable products are only three of the major problems with these traditional investments.

How Can You Gain Confidence and Prepare for an Abundant Retirement?

The first step to gaining confidence is to avoid falling into the investment traps that so many others are facing by deciding not to use the same investment advice that they are.

Why would you defer taxes knowing that the trend is that taxes are rising? Why you would place your retirement hopes into a volatile market and hope to time the market correctly?

By learning the 31 FLAVORS of Missed Fortune, you can:

Choose tax-free investments instead of tax-deferred ones
Have liquidity so that you can access your money when you would like to
Enjoy safety of your principal where you can lock in gains using indexing.

FLAVORS stands for “fortunes lost amidst valid optimization and reallocation strategies.” Implementing 2 or 3 of the 31 can generate $70-80 thousand dollars a year for retirement that is tax free and will continue to be replenished year after year no matter what is happening in the market.

The 31 FLAVORS can show you key points in the different financial aspects of your life that can allow you to sleep comfortably at night knowing that you are not gambling with your retirement. They include:

6 FLAVORS regarding choosing the wrong investments for retirement
6 FLAVORS about your home and real estate
3 FLAVORS on proper tax planning and avoiding unnecessary taxes
7 FLAVORS on asset management
5 FLAVORS regarding risk management
2 FLAVORS about credit and debt management
2 FLAVORS on estate planning

Meet with a Missed Fortune advisor and learn how to implement these 31 FLAVORS and guarantee yourself an abundant retirement.

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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Prevent Obama’s Increasing Debts from Bursting your Nest Egg

July 11, 2010

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Complimentary Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, July 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 Optimization: How to Choose the Right Investments.” You’ll learn how to maintain liquidity and guarantee safety of principal while earning a healthy, tax-free rate of return that outpaces inflation.

Register now by calling 1-888-76-Radio (888-767-2346). If operators are busy, please call again.

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

Government Confusion Has Led to Gambling Plan

Is our nation’s best hope for an economic recovery left to officials who will continue increasing our debt at an alarming rate?

Nile Gardiner voices his alarm at this question in “America is sinking under Obama’s towering debt”:

“I hope the White House is paying attention to the latest annual Congressional Budget Office Long-Term Budget Outlook, which offers a truly frightening picture of the scale of America’s national debt, with huge implications for the country’s future prosperity. According to the non-partisan CBO, “the federal government has been recording the largest budget deficits, as a share of the economy, since the end of World War II…

“As a result of those deficits, the amount of federal debt held by the public has surged. At the end of 2008, that debt equaled 40 percent of the nation’s annual economic output (as measured by gross domestic product, or GDP), a little above the 40 year average of 36 percent. Since then, large budget deficits have caused debt held by the public to shoot upward; the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that federal debt will reach 62 percent of GDP by the end of this year—the highest percentage since shortly after World War II.”

In the last year the debt has risen from about $11.7 trillion to $14 trillion. And with the baby boomers coming up on retirement needing social security, Medicare and Medicaid, this number should be expected to soar.

As a result about a quarter of the population believes that the economic stimulus package has created jobs. In fact according to a recent Rasmussen report, over 40 percent of the population believes that the economy is now in a worse position as a result of the implementation of this plan.

Social security seems to use the same plan that Bernie Madoff used causing him to go to jail. It simply takes the money from the newer members and uses it to pay off the benefits promised to older members.

The only difference is this “robbing Peter to pay Paul” plan is considered legitimate since is falls under government control.

At this point it seems that the government is confused and policy makers have decided to bet that the private sector can make for some of the stimulus over the next few years.

If they are right they can get a head start on trying to close the budget deficits, but if this gamble is wrong they may set off a vicious new cycle in which drastic spending cuts could greatly weaken the world economy.

How to Protect Yourself?

We can no longer expect the government to fix everything. Those in a position to promote growth should do so.

It is time for individuals to take ownership of their future, health-care needs and retirements and create their own stimulus plan.

In “Create Your Own Economic Stimulus Plan — Save Yourself Because Big Government Can’t” six points are addressed teaching the ways to create economic growth for yourself no matter what schemes the government is trying to ‘fix’ the economy.

The following are the initial three points of this plan that can lead you toward financial growth no matter what is going on in the world economy.

1. Learn how increasing your credit score from 680 to 720 can increase your monthly income by $700 a month.

2. Learn to use $150,000 of equity in your house to create an additional $2.3 million in your retirement.

3. Forget 401(k) and IRA plans and learn to earn, grow and upon death even transfer money tax free.

Meet with a Missed Fortune advisor to gain a greater understanding of these points and learn to avoid being a pawn in the governments stimulus gamble.

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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Debunking Financial Myths

June 10, 2010

“Don’t go out in the rain or you’ll catch cold.”

“Don’t read in the dark or you’ll ruin your eyes.”

“Don’t go swimming for at least a half hour after eating or you’ll drown.”

It’s likely your mom repeated these common myths in an effort to keep you healthy. All of these have been debunked, but they continue to get passed on by well-meaning parents.

What about the myths some financial advisors repeat?

“Pay off your home mortgage as soon as you can.”

“401(k)s and IRAs are an optimal way to prepare for retirement.”

“Don’t mix your investing with your insurance.”

These common myths get passed on by well-meaning financial advisors, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be debunked.

Let’s take “mixing investing with insurance,” for example. Some financial advisors may urge you to put your retirement money in traditional vehicles, like 401(k)s, IRAs, and the stock market, while directing you to get term life insurance to cover death benefits.

But actually, you can mix retirement planning with insurance to optimize your financial future.

What some financial advisors don’t understand is that properly structured, maximum-funded, tax-advantaged insurance contracts offer liquidity, safety, and rate of return – and they are the only retirement savings vehicle in which your money:

Accumulates tax-free
Can be withdrawn tax-free (even before age 59 ½ – without penalty)
Transfers to your heirs tax-free when you pass away

Remember, just because advice gets repeated doesn’t mean it’s the best advice, even if it comes from someone in authority. That’s why it’s important to learn all you can.

Start now with the Missed Fortune series of books, where you can investigate for yourself the common myths – and truths – of preparing for your retirement.

Isn’t It Time You Became Wealthy?®

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Finding the Light During this Economic Midnight

June 8, 2010

While signs the economy is rebounding continue to shoot up like flares in the night, for too many Americans, it’s still economic midnight.

Families continue to face short sales or foreclosure; those far from retirement continue to dip into 401(k)s and IRA(s) despite early withdrawal penalties; and unemployment continues to paralyze American workers.

A recent New York Times article showed that even though America is seeing an increase in hiring, the unemployment rate isn’t necessarily dropping.

Now many of them [the unemployed] are beginning to look for work again, encouraged by four consecutive months of job growth and reports of a strengthening economy.

But the initial return to the labor force may prove dispiriting, since so many people are already chasing too few jobs.

Because the government does not count people as unemployed unless they say they are actively searching for work, many discouraged people have been hiding in the shadows.

Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, estimates about 2.4 million “missing workers” either left the labor force or did not enter it in the last 28 months. That is on top of the 15.3 million people who are officially counted as unemployed.

What can be done to survive hard times?

While circumstances may take a while to change, at least we, personally, can start making changes immediately.

To begin with, we can learn from our mistakes.

As millions of Americans have seen, these times teach us to borrow to conserve, not to consume. How many people have fallen into credit trouble because when times were good, they used credit to buy furniture, cars, ATVs, boats…things they did not need but they wanted?

And millions of Americans have learned that saving for retirement means more than investing money in 401(k)s, IRA(s), stocks or other vehicles that are vulnerable to economic downturns.

Retirement savings vehicles like maximum-funded, tax-advantaged insurance contracts can provide liquidity, safety AND rate of return – which are all equally critical in retirement savings options.

Use these tough times – whether they’ve affected you directly or indirectly – to plan for the future and protect yourself. Find out now how to make wiser choices, and how to obtain True Wealth.

Isn’t It Time You Became Wealthy?®

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The $25,000 Mistake Made by Millions of Americans

April 25, 2010

Podcast: Download (23.0MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Complimentary Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, April 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 Optimization: How to Choose the Right Investments.” You’ll learn how to maintain liquidity and guarantee safety of principal while earning a healthy, tax-free rate of return that outpaces inflation.

Register now by calling 1-888-76-Radio (888-767-2346). If operators are busy, please call again.

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

New Changes in Store for Retirement Planning?

The debate continues over how to best regulate the financial industry.

This should concern every American, because the results of the squabble could seriously affect all of us.

New decisions and new legislation could transform how we save for retirement and how long our money lasts during retirement.

It could mean costly bailouts that we’ll have to pay for in higher taxes. Or it could also mean complete overhauls that change the rules of retirement vehicles as we’ve known them.

Your retirement funds have never been in more danger than they are right now.

You need to save in vehicles that give you tax-free growth, tax-free access, tax-free withdrawal, and tax-free transfer to heirs.

Don’t leave your future up to squabbling politicians. Take things into your own hands now to transfer your retirement funds into these vehicles.

The Quickest & Safest Way to Pay Off Your Mortgage

I once met with three finance professors at a respected university. They told me that the best way to pay off one’s home is through a 15-year mortgage.

As they said, it saves interest, and once you’ve paid off your home you can set aside what you were paying to your mortgage company and get interest working for you.

In a few minutes, I rocked their world by showing them how, on a $150,000 mortgage, that was a $25,000 mistake.

Instead of a 15-year mortgage, get a 30-year and pay the difference into a conservative side fund.

In 13 and a half years, you’ll have enough money to pay off your mortgage. At the end of 15 years, there would be enough to pay off the mortgage — and you’d have $25,000 left over.

The quickest and smartest way to get out of debt isn’t to send extra payments to the mortgage company. It’s to maintain liquidity and grow a side fund that can be used to pay off your mortgage any time you want.

Meet with a Missed Fortune advisor to learn more details.

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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Why Most People Never Become Wealthy

April 22, 2010

Only the top five percent of Americans arrive at the “Land of Peace and Abundance” where their money and their legacy will endure for generations.

They feel tremendous freedom because they understand how money works and the three secrets to becoming wealthy.

They don’t follow the crowd. They are “Thrivers.”

Their nest egg will easily generate $1 million dollars a year or more in predictable income that will provide for their needs and also allow them to contribute generously to their church, community and other causes they are passionate about.

mfdiagram-240x300 Why Most People Never Become Wealthy The missing structure that provides direction, confidence and capability for Strivers and helps them become Thrivers is revealed in a unique 8-Step process called “The Total Wealth Transformation.”

Through this process, you can learn about the fortunes people miss out on, because they simply don’t know what they don’t know.

Through proactive awareness, education and by taking ownership in your brighter future, you will be empowered to claim your own missed fortune as explained in the Missed Fortune book series, True Asset Optimization educational seminars, and Clarity Retreats.

We extend an invitation to your brighter future.

95 percent of Americans feel trapped and frustrated because they follow the same old, same old, traditional advice such as: “the best way to save for retirement is with IRAs and 401(k)s; or, “the best way to get out of debt is to send extra principal payments against your mortgage.”

These people are lucky if they accumulate a nest egg sufficient to generate $100,000 of annual retirement income that will last as long as they live. Unfortunately, most of these people will outlive their money.

They feel very frustrated and in captivity. These are the “Strivers.”

Ready to become a “Thriver”? Meet with a Missed Fortune advisor today.

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Earned Success is the Only Permanent Road to Personal Happiness

March 14, 2010

Podcast: Download (23.0MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Complimentary Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, March 16th 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 “Choosing the Right Investments.” You’ll learn how to maintain liquidity and guarantee safety of principal while earning a healthy, tax-free rate of return that outpaces inflation.

Register now by calling 1-888-76-Radio (888-767-2346). If operators are busy, please call again.

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

Earn Your Happiness

In a recent article entitled “The Left Doesn’t Want You to Be Happy,” Certified Financial Planner David Bahnsen shares a truth that should be obvious:

“…sociological and psychological studies have repeatedly affirmed this rather fascinating tenet: People with money who did not earn it are overwhelmingly more likely to say that they are unhappy than people who earned it. Obviously, regardless of the source of one’s prosperity, happiness can not be bought.”

Not only does this make common sense, but it’s scientifically proven. Earned success is the only permanent road to personal happiness.

What’s more, dependence leads to unhappiness.

Unfortunately, however, we’re bombarded with political voices who cry for more and more wealth distribution. Since the New Deal, we’ve pursued a steady path of taking from people who produce and create value to support those who do not.

This is both morally wrong and it leads to further unhappiness in society.

If we want a morally stable and happy society, the answer isn’t to redistribute wealth. Rather, the answer is to provide equal opportunity.

Let people become skillful and earn their own way. Let people fail and try again and learn from their failures.

In short, let people pursue happiness, rather than trying to guarantee it to them by giving them unearned material goods.

As David Bahnsen says:

“The materialists in our society are not believers in free enterprise who are focused on ‘earned success’; the materialists are the leftists who dare to suggest that the mere redistribution of money is going to make people happy.

“That…is base materialism. It is shallow. It is dangerous. And it is destructive. A worldview that pursues earned success is empirically proven to provide true happiness, for only that worldview respects human dignity.”

Protect Your Success & Happiness

Missed Fortune clients are producers. They work hard to build financial security. They’re self-reliant and responsible.

Unfortunately, many of them simply have blind spots when it comes to growing and protecting their wealth.

It doesn’t make sense to work hard for your retirement, only to lose your accounts to taxation, inflation, and market volatility.

Protect what you’ve earned. Meet with a Missed Fortune advisor to learn how you can do the following with your investments and retirement accounts:

Create greater liquidity.
Guarantee safety of principal.
Participate in market upswings while protecting your money from market downturns.
Outpace inflation.
Limit taxation.

You’ve earned your success — now protect it from government bureaucrats, market forces beyond your control, and unforeseen events.

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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If It’s So Great, Then Why Isn’t Everyone Doing It?

March 11, 2010

We often get asked, “If the Missed Fortune strategies are so great, how come everyone isn’t using them?”

Watch this brief video to find out:

*If you are getting this feed in RSS or email and cannot see the video, please click on the header to view it on the blog.

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Learn Now So You Don’t Have to Pay Later

March 2, 2010

Take the money now, pay later.

This is exactly what millions of Americans have hungrily done for years.

Consumed with consumption, they were lulled into a sense of entitlement and security, believing they’d always be able to pay it off down the road.

Then the economic crisis hit.

Since then, jobs have been lost, homes have been foreclosed on, and nearly everyone has had a hard lesson in the dangers of reckless debt.

American consumers aren’t the only ones whose poor financial habits have had to be accounted for.

American financial institutions have had their day of reckoning, and many long-revered companies have been shaken – some, like Lehman Bros. – to their very foundations.

But news of poor financial decisions and subsequent carnage hasn’t stopped there.

Just recently, Greece’s financial woes have rocked Europe’s economy, weakening the euro and threatening to set back the entire continent’s economic recovery.

What’s worse, American financial institutions allegedly helped fuel the fiasco. A New York Times article revealed:

“As worries over Greece rattle world markets, records and interviews show that with Wall Street’s help, the nation engaged in a decade-long effort to skirt European debt limits. One deal created by Goldman Sachs helped obscure billions in debt from the budget overseers in Brussels. Even as the crisis was nearing the flashpoint, banks were searching for ways to help Greece forestall the day of reckoning.”

Whether on a personal, corporate or government level, fiscal irresponsibility can lead to dire consequences.

Whether you’ve been above the fray or found yourself a bit unraveled by your own past habits, there is no better time to set a course for financial responsibility.

It’s imperative to learn to borrow to conserve, not consume, and to prepare for your own retirement so you can enjoy an abundant life now, and later.

Find out now how Successful Asset Optimization strategies can help protect you and your financial future. Because you don’t want to have to “pay later.”

Isn’t It Time You Became Wealthy?

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With Taxes Rising & the Value of the Dollar Falling, What Should You Be Doing?

February 9, 2010

When David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), left office about two years ago, he stated he needed to retire so he could tell the American public the truth.

The truth is we currently have national debt that exceeds $13 trillion, which represents a liability of $43,000 per American citizen.

It’s also estimated that this year’s deficit will equal 2009’s deficit and will likely add about $1.6 trillion to the debt.

Yet we continue to experience stagnant unemployment, shrinking tax revenue and a struggling economy for the foreseeable future.

Not only that, but the Trustees of Social Security estimate a current unfunded liability in excess of $100 trillion in 2009 dollars.

This means that the federal government has obligated itself to pay more than $100 trillion over and above any taxes it expects to receive.

In other words, that’s how much would have to be invested at U.S. Treasury rates to pay the future liability owed to Social Security recipients who have faithfully paid into the system during their careers.

Most people can’t even begin to comprehend what $100 trillion is. It’s “100” with 12 zeros to the right. Just $1 trillion would be $1 dollar bills lined up end-to-end from here to the moon and back—200 times!

Even though many believe that Social Security is our greatest entitlement problem, Medicare is six times larger in terms of unfunded obligations, according to David Walker of the GAO.

It would require $700,000 from every full-time working individual in America in order to cover this huge liability. How is that going to happen?

On top of that, Congress estimates that if the proposed health care reform comes to fruition, it will be at an estimated cost of just under $2 trillion during the next ten years.

In the meantime, the interest alone on the national debt accrues at $41 million an hour (just under $1 billion a day)—that’s $690,000 per minute, or $11,500/second!

When individuals find themselves with more outgo than income, they are forced to either cut expenses or increase income. Well, the federal government is definitely not cutting its spending, so it is clear it will be forced to raise taxes dramatically and will likely be printing more money.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that, by mid-century, a middle income family will have to pay two-thirds of its income in taxes!

I can confidently assure you that:

Your current tax bracket will likely be the lowest bracket you will ever be in, and
Your money will never be worth more than it is today.

So, what should you be doing?

Many smart people are now converting their IRAs and 401(k)s (and other qualified accounts) by doing what I call a “strategic rollout.”

This is a method of taking care of taxes now on those accounts at a lower rate and repositioning the money into vehicles that will accumulate tax free from this point forward and more importantly, will provide tax-free income later.

Why wait for your IRAs and 401(k)s to recover from their losses and then pay tax on that higher amount later? You can either pay the IRS now or you will pay them more later.

Now is the time to convert your IRAs and 401(k)s to better plans. There are safe and proven strategies that will help you get your future back!

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