From the category archives:

Liquidity

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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What You Should Know About the Next Decade

June 19, 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 21st 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 Next 10 Years Should Be Interesting

Where market uncertainty was a hallmark of the Lost Decade, the next 10 years have potential to be much more interesting.

Most Americans who lost money in their IRAs and 401(k)s over the past few years are just now starting to get back to where they were 10 years ago.

Now we’re facing a triple whammy of higher taxes, inflation and market volatility that could prove very challenging for those who fail to position their money properly.

People who’ve learned the Missed Fortune strategies and followed them, have predictably been able to double or nearly triple what they had 10 years ago. Not only did they do it during the biggest downturn since the Great Depression, they’ve done it tax free.

This is important because with the Bush tax cuts expiring in 2012 and the prospect of more tax hikes on the way, you’ll need all the tax protection you can get.

Government spending continues at a breakneck pace and Congress is looking to raise taxes to meet their funding needs. Taxes are going up. Count on it.

In addition to raising taxes, the printing of money to cover the payment of government obligations is setting the stage for increased inflation.

Social Security has a $63 trillion dollar deficit owing that it has promised to pay out to recipients in future benefits.

It’s time you knew what you don’t know about keeping your fortune from slipping through your fingers.

31 FLAVORS of How People Miss Out on Fortunes

FLAVORS is an acronym that stands for Fortunes Lost Amid Valid Optimization & Reallocation Strategies.

These are rules and strategies that even seasoned tax attorneys and accountants don’t know until they’re shown.

People miss out on fortunes because they choose short term investments for long range goals to fund their retirement.

They put their money into what are termed “crawl investments” that offer too low a rate of return compared to the rate of inflation. They miss out on money that could be made by linking their returns to those thing that inflate.

Some put money into “walking investments” where they place their money in retirement vehicles that are tax deferred rather than tax free. This means that they pay through the nose in taxes when they start to withdraw funds from their IRAs & 401(k)s.

If you understand how money works you can put the equity in your real estate to work to accumulate, over a 30 year period, a huge windfall for your retirement.

By empowering your wealth, you learn how money works, you employ a system of accountability and responsibility and you learn better ways to grow your money tax free.

Learn how to time the markets, how to do a strategic roll-out that protects your principal with a predictable rate of return that accumulates tax free. You can learn the power of compound interest and so much much more in the Missed Fortune strategies.

It won’t just benefit you, this knowledge will also bless your family when your fortune transfers to them when you’re gone.

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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Taking On Debt Like a Ship Taking On Water

June 12, 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, May 31st 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.

Like a Ship Taking On Water

Our national ship is taking on a lot of water in the form of debt. It’s easy to see the waterline is rising. This is due to misguided management in the financial industry coupled with addictive government deficit spending.

National and corporate leaders have done what every Ponzi scheme architect has done by bringing in new money to cover for old promises.

Take Social Security for example. If this program didn’t bring in new money to cover current recipients income it would quickly go bankrupt.

Baby boomers are starting to retire and the workforce is shrinking. When Social Security was started, there were 15 workers contributing for every one recipient. But those numbers have shifted to where we now have 3 or 4 workers for every recipient of Social Security.

It won’t be long before we’re down to 2 workers for every recipient and government will have to take more and more of our income to pay out what it has promised.

Social Security debt is at $62 trillion. To get the sense of how much money that is, $1 trillion dollar bills lined up end to end would reach from here to the moon and back 200 times.

This means that, after adjusting for inflation, the federal government has obligated itself to paying more than $100 trillion that it has not collected from by withholding from American workers paychecks.

The government doesn’t have the money to cover its expenses and the only way it can get it is by withdrawing money from our paychecks each month or by printing more money–causing inflation.

The bottom line is we’re going to have more and more people in the wagon and fewer and fewer workers pulling.

The day of reckoning could come as soon as the next 10-15 years. Or it could be partially happening now.

The government has already been collecting less in Social Security than it has been paying from October of 2009 to January of 2011.

If solvency is defined as barely bringing in enough to cover what is paid out, we’re in big trouble.

More Trouble On the Horizon

Medicare is six time larger in terms of unfunded obligations according to former U.S. Accountability Office comptroller David Walker.

With current figures it would require $700,000 from every full time working individual in America in order to cover the huge social security and medicare liability.

The U.S. national debt is over $14.3 trillion and the interest alone accrues at just under 41 billion dollars an hour.

In an article outlining 3 ways your Social Security payments are already being cut by Alicia Manelle says, “Lost in the debate is the fact that even under current law, Social Security will provide less retirement income relative to previous earnings than it does today.”

Social Security may no longer be the mainstay of the retirement system for many people.

There are 3 main issues that are fast approaching.

1. The retirement age is going to be extended from 65 to 67 depending upon when you turn 65.

2. The increase in Medicare premiums from 5% to 12%.

3. The taxation of Social Security benefits.

These dangers should be clear to you by now.

Taxes are going to go up. Inflation will decrease the purchasing power of the dollar. And market volatility will continue for the foreseeable future.

Those who have learned and applied Missed Fortune Strategies have learned how to protect their serious retirement money from rising taxes, inflation and market uncertainty.

They can sleep soundly at night knowing that their money is accumulating tax free, not tax deferred. Their returns are linked to those things that inflate so inflation becomes a help and not a hindrance.

They’ve repositioned their serious cash to participate in any upside the market may experience without risking their principal in the market.

The Missed Fortune strategies have worked for them for nearly 3 decades. They will work for you. Contact a Missed Fortune advisor to learn how.

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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What Do Cancer & Rising Taxes Have In Common?

June 5, 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, May 31st 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.

Politicians Choose Raising Taxes Over Cutting Spending

In recent editorial titled “For Democrats It’s all about tax hikes” it’s abundantly clear where politicians stand on the issue of taxes.

The picture isn’t pretty. Taxes will be going up.

Democrats have floated a plan for a tax on millionaires to force Republicans to accept other tax increases. They’ve tried to hike oil company taxes by more than $2 billion per year even though oil company profits are around 6 or 7 cents per dollar.

On issue after issue Republicans are putting forth serious, politically risky solutions while Democrats are playing class warfare and stoke public fear.

Reining in out of control government spending is only way to address the nation’s gargantuan debt.

We have increased the national debt from $9 trillion to $14.3 trillion in just the last 5 years. Raising taxes is the favored solution to many Democratic leaders.

If we took every dime about $250,000 that anyone earns in this country, it would pay for roughly 4.5 months of the president’s proposed annual budget.

As consumers we have to tighten our belts when we have to stay within our budgets. Government just wants to keep feeding its spending problem.

Taxes will be going up. Inflation is just around the corner thanks to government printing more and more money to cover their deficits. And market uncertainty and volatility has been a fact of life for nearly a decade now.

Ignoring Where Taxes Are Headed Is As Foolish As Ignoring Cancer

An article by Walter Brandimarte notes that investors have averted a broad sell-off by diving into shares of companies that are less vulnerable to the economic cycle.

These include well known defensive sectors like utilities, household products and large cap companies with steady earnings performance. With the end of the Fed’s easy money policies just around the corner, investors are becoming more sensitive to risk in general.

There are better ways to safely invest, to create greater liquidity, safety of principal and to earn a predictable rate of return that’s tax free.

We’re looking at the likelihood of higher taxes, inflation and continuing market uncertainty. It’s essential that you understand how to protect yourself against the triple whammy.

Now is the time to implement the strategies that will allow you to accumulate your money tax free now and in the future under sections of the IRS code that have been grandfathered for decades.

If we have inflation you’ll need the strategies that help rather than hinder you by linking your returns to those things that inflate.

Finally, you must protect yourself so that if the market goes down you not only don’t lose any money, but your money grows as the market grows.

Putting your head in the sand and thinking you’ll deal with taxes on your 401(k)s and IRAs down the road is highly risky. It’s like putting off dealing with a malignant tumor and hoping it won’t be so bad down the road.

Dealing with the problem today makes more sense than waiting for that tax liability to continue to grow.

It may be wise to get your money out of your 401(k)s and IRAs now and to do a strategic rollover into an environment that’s tax free from this day forward.

Indexing strategies can help you safely and predictably double your money tax free without putting it at risk in the market.

Learn how to put these strategies to work for your serious money by contacting 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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The Warning Signs Are Pointing to Higher Taxes

May 29, 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, May 31st 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.

For Politicians It’s All About Raising Taxes

In recent editorial titled “For Democrats It’s all about tax hikes” it’s abundantly clear where politicians stand on the issue of taxes.

The picture isn’t pretty. Taxes will be going up.

Democrats have floated a plan for a tax on millionaires to force Republicans to accept other tax increases. They’ve tried to hike oil company taxes by more than $2 billion per year even though oil company profits are around 6 or 7 cents per dollar.

On issue after issue Republicans are putting forth serious, politically risky solutions while Democrats are playing class warfare and stoke public fear.

Reining in out of control government spending is only way to address the nation’s gargantuan debt.

We have increased the national debt from $9 trillion to $14.3 trillion in just the last 5 years. Raising taxes is the favored solution to many Democratic leaders.

If we took every dime about $250,000 that anyone earns in this country, it would pay for roughly 4.5 months of the president’s proposed annual budget.

As consumers we have to tighten our belts when we have to stay within our budgets. Government just wants to keep feeding its spending problem.

Taxes will be going up. Inflation is just around the corner thanks to government printing more and more money to cover their deficits. And market uncertainty and volatility has been a fact of life for nearly a decade now.

You Wouldn’t Ignore Cancer Would You?