From the category archives:

Risk

Different Results Require Different Action

December 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, December 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.

Resolving to Make the Right Changes

As we make our New Year’s resolutions, a question to consider is whether this is the year you’ll do things differently.

This is especially true with respect to your financial future.

More people need to start taking ownership of their future instead of waiting for the government to take care of them or making Social Security the basis of their future retirement.

Too many folks have simply kept following the crowd hoping to recoup their losses. They’ve continued to sock money away in tax-deferred savings vehicles thinking they’ll be in a lower tax bracket when they retire.

A perfect example of this is those who keep putting their money at risk in the market and “hang in there” waiting to realize the average 12% returns they were promised.

They don’t understand that if, over a decade, their return goes up 10% for half of those years and goes down 10% for the other half, they won’t break even. Instead they’ll end up with only 95% of the amount they started with. No one can afford to lose money on a regular basis.

If your answer is to keep doing what you’ve always done, you can expect to keep getting what you’ve always gotten.

If those folks had used the Missed Fortune indexing strategies instead, they could see their money safely grow as the market goes up, but enjoy safety of principal and not lose a dime when the market declines. Over the past decade, these indexing strategies have enabled many people to earn 7.23% actual return—and that’s tax-free!

This may be the time to make a resolution to start rerouting some of the money you’ve been sinking into 401(k)s or IRAs and start taking distributions before the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of next year. This is known as a strategic rollout and it will make a world of difference when we see taxes go up again.

If you do want to learn how to do things differently, now is the time to empower yourself. Thousands of people have found a better way to take ownership of their future through learning and implementing the Missed Fortune strategies.

With these strategies, you’ll clearly understand the three key elements of a good investment:

Liquidity- The ability to get to your money when you need it.
Safety- The practice of protecting your principal by making turning the money you make in any given year into newly protected principal.
Rate of Return- This means that you are earning a predictable, tax-free rate of return that allows you to outpace inflation.

An investment that has all 3 of these qualities will be a good investment.

This is the kind of knowledge that promotes confidence and certainty at a time when so many are struggling with confusion and a sense of isolation

The 3 Big Secrets

Zig Ziegler used to talk about the difference between a $10,000 racehorse and a $1 million racehorse. He’d ask if the million dollar racehorse was worth 100 times more than the other one because it was 100 times faster than the $10,000 one.

The answer was “no.”

Sometimes the only measurable difference between these two horses was a few thousandths of a second.

His point was that the horses started out on a much more level playing field than you might suspect.

When it comes to those who accumulate great wealth, the same principle applies. Many didn’t inherit their wealth; they simply saw opportunities that others around them did not.

The three marvels of wealth accumulation are:

Compound Interest. Einstein called it the most misunderstood phenomenon on the planet. If you could fold over a piece of copy paper 50 times so that it doubled in thickness each time, it would be over 93 million miles in thickness.

Money can likewise accumulate at an astounding rate thanks to compound interest, but only when it grows tax-free.

Tax-Free Accumulation. The second marvel of wealth accumulation is one of the most important especially when considering the likelihood of taxes going up in the future.

A million dollar tax-deferred nest egg will only be worth around $666,000 after Uncle Sam claims his share.

Safe Positive Leverage. This is the ability to own and control assets with very little or none of your money actually tied up or at risk in the asset.

If you’re borrowing money at 4% and are able to leverage that money where you’re earning an 8% rate of return, you’re now getting infinite return.

These three marvels are just a few of the principles that make all the difference for those who accumulate wealth in any economy.

Learn how to make them work for you by meeting with 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.

{ 0 comments }

Predictability Is a Good Thing

December 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, December 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.

Outliving Your Money Isn’t An Option

We’ve all seen or heard of the parlor trick where members of the audience are asked to pick a number, take it through various mathematical manipulations, then to pick a corresponding letter, animal, country and fruit.

After walking through the many steps of this exercise, roughly 80% of the audience will find themselves envisioning the same animal, country and fruit. This exercise is not so much a mind-reading demonstration as it’s a great example of creating predictability.

Predictability is extremely important. A good example of this would that of Dr. Edwards Deming who, in the 1970s, correctly predicted that the Japanese automakers Honda, Toyota and Nissan would one day dominate the American automobile market.

The Big Three U.S. automakers laughed at him.

They’re not laughing now.

Deming was hired as a quality management engineer for in Japan and he created the predictable quality that defines Japanese automobiles today. Good management creates predictable results and this is true regarding how we manage our money.

When you’re getting predictable liquidity, safety and rates of return on your serious retirement cash, your financial planning success is almost certain.

On the other hand, so many Americans tend to simply follow the crowd and continue to put their retirement money into IRAs, 401(k)s or directly into the market where it’s at risk. Their advisors have told them to “hang in there” with the promise of an average rate of return of 12%, but when taxes and inflation or market volatility strike, the returns are much more modest.

Using Doug Andrew’s Missed Fortune strategies, a person can see their serious cash safely accumulate tax-free with a predictable rate of return averaging 8%, even in the worst of economies. These strategies have worked for the past 30 years, including the dizzying ups and downs of the Lost Decade we’ve just been through.

Since 1998, Doug’s strategies have included indexing as a means to prosper even during a down economy.

Many financial advisors simply can’t fathom why anyone would consider capping their rate of return at 14, 15 or 16% when the economy could go up 30%. But when you consider that the past decade saw the market make two major drops of 40% that will take years to make up, the reason for indexing becomes clear.

Those who were using the indexing strategy didn’t lose a dime during those precipitous down years. By not losing money, they didn’t have lost ground to make up and the second the market began to recover; they got to enjoy the upside potential.

Every year they made money, these investors using indexing got to lock in the gain.

Predictably.

By contrast, for those putting their money in the market in growth mutual funds, the average investor rate of return according to DALBAR was only 3.83%.

Following the Crowd Is a Losing Game

There are 3 kinds of people in the world:

Those who make things happen
Those who watch things happen
Those who wonder what just happened because they missed the boat

This is especially true when it comes to understanding how money works.

For many it’s so easy to follow the crowd, to save for the future in IRAs and 401(k)s, to “hang in there” waiting for a 12% return on their money.

If you averaged 12% on every $100,000 that you had back in 1990-1991, you’d have $1,100,000 today. But people just aren’t averaging 12% returns.

Even if you had $1 million dollars in your nest egg, by the time you figure in the taxes you’ll have to pay when you start accessing it, you’ll really only have about $666,000 left to work with. If you pull out $72,000 annually, you’re only going to net $48,000 in a 33% tax bracket.

More and more people are realizing that they’re not going to be in a lower tax bracket when they retire because they’ve done away with all of their deductions and exemptions by the time they reach retirement. Also Congress keeps raising taxes.

Taxes keep going up. Inflation is around the corner.

Plus market uncertainty is expected to continue.

These three factors constitute the triple whammy that will threaten most people’s retirement nest egg throughout the coming decade.

This is why it’s so critically important to have the proper strategies in place to address each of these threats.

Your money must be able to accumulate, distribute and transfer tax-free. Your savings vehicle should be tied to those things that inflate so your money grows at a rate that’s greater than inflation. And it should be able to participate in any market upsides without being placed at risk in the market.

Learn how to put each of these strategies to work by meeting with 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.

{ 0 comments }

Why Your Your Money Should Outlive You

November 20, 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, November 22nd 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 Question that Keeps the Boomers Awake at Night

One of the biggest questions on the minds of those who are saving for retirement is whether they will outlive the money they’ve saved for retirement.

Where once they were earning rates of return around 8-9%, lately they’ve seen returns of more like 1-3%. The losses of the last decade have proven difficult to overcome and many soon-to-be retirees are looking at the very real possibility of outliving their money.

You need growth on your money in order to have income for your retirement.

For your money to grow, you must have liquidity, safety and a solid rate of return. These are the three key elements of any successful retirement savings plan.

In a nutshell, you need to be able to get your money back when you need it back. Your money must be safe and either insured or guaranteed to protect you against loss of principal. Finally, you must have a rate of return that allows your nest egg to grow faster than the rate of inflation or rising taxes.

These are essential strategic considerations for anyone who recognizes the effects of inflation and taxes and the corresponding need to protect and grow their serious cash for the future.

Those who have their nest eggs tied up in a tax-deferred environment like a 401(k) or an IRA are especially at risk to the tax and inflation power curve. Even with a $1 million nest egg, you’re at significant risk.

Federal and state taxes are likely to take at least a third of your money in taxes the moment you begin to access it. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that, with increasing federal spending, many Americans will be paying nearly 40-50% taxes in order to cover federal deficit spending as well as government debt.

Many investments are not liquid, safe, or earn a predictable rate of return. They fail what is referred to as the LSRR (laser) test that measures how well an investment satisfies these qualities.

Tax-deferred vehicles leave your money vulnerable to higher tax rates because most people, at retirement, no longer have children living at home and their homes are paid off. This lack of deductions, coupled with the prospect of Congress hiking tax rates means that many retirees find themselves in their highest tax bracket yet.

Add to this the effect of rising inflation and its relentless decrease in the purchasing power of each dollar, and it’s easy to understand how even a $1 million dollar nest egg can be drained within a remarkably short time.

Shielding Your Nest Egg Against Taxes, Inflation & Market Volatility

These effects can be successfully countered with Missed Fortune strategies that place your serious cash in a tax-free environment where it can grow, be accessed and ultimately transferred tax-free. This is a perfectly legal maneuver under certain grandfathered sections of the IRS code.

Linking your returns to those things that inflate will allow your money to grow safely ahead of the rate of inflation.

And Indexing strategies provide all the benefit of linking your return to the performance of certain market indexes without the risk of putting your money directly into the market.

Those who know and implement these Missed Fortune strategies can effectively protect their serious retirement money and avoid the fear of outliving their nest eggs.

To learn more, visit with 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.

{ 0 comments }

Protecting Your Nest Egg By Sticking To the Recipe

November 13, 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, November 15th 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.

Following the Recipe For Financial Success

The last few years have been frustrating for those who have been searching for the right recipe of how to best protect their retirement nest eggs.

This has been tricky of late thanks to the prospect of rising taxes, inflation and continuing market volatility. The key to success is following a recipe that works.

If you set out to make cinnamon rolls but you either don’t know the recipe, or received a faulty recipe or chose to wing it on certain ingredients and preparation steps, your result will most likely be disappointing.

Failing to follow the proven recipe sets you up for failure. Now, apply that standard to securing your financial future.

Keeping your serious retirement money liquid, safe and tax-free requires first knowing and then strictly following the right recipe in order to be successful.

Here’s an example:

The LSRR (laser) test is an acronym for Liquidity, Safety, and Rate of Return.

Liquidity refers to how easy it is to access your money or to get your money back when you want. Safety deals with how secure your money is and whether or not it is guaranteed or insured. Rate of return is what makes our money grow in spite of the effects of inflation or taxes.

Investment vehicles that can pass the LSRR test are a much safer way to accumulate money tax-free rather than tax-deferred like IRAs and 401(k)s. Not only should your money accumulate tax-free, but also you should be able to access it and eventually transfer it tax-free to your heirs.

The painful reality that will dawn upon those with tax-deferred retirement vehicles is that, upon withdrawing their funds, they’ll be paying nearly a third of their money in income taxes. Their tax liabilities and tax rates will likely have increased, while their deductions will have disappeared. If inflation goes up, the purchasing power of their savings will have diminished.

This means that even a million dollar nest egg will be whittled down to size much quicker than most people can imagine. Between the bite of taxation and even a modest 5% rate of inflation, a million dollar nest egg will be completely depleted in just 11 years.

There’s simply no substitute for learning and following the right recipe.

The Five Toughest Questions Most Financial Advisors Will Face

What has been the actual (cash on cash) rate of return that your clients have realized during the last 10 years?

Take whatever percent they tell you, and divide that into 72. For instance if they tell you their client’s rate of return was 12%, divide 8 into 72 and you’ll get 6.

You’re using the “Rule of 72” to determine how quickly their clients’ money is doubling. So if the rate of return was 12% you’ll ask them if their clients’ money doubled every six years.

Remember, if their clients are subject to taxes on the back end of their investment, that 12% really equals only 8% after taxes. There are better ways to get an 8% rate of return that’s tax-free.

Can you give me a guarantee of no loss of principal or at least a guaranteed return of 1-3% even when the economy is tanking with upside potential when the economy is doing well and can you make it tax-free?

The answer to this question will tell you if your advisor understands how to use indexing so that their clients don’t lose money even in a down economy and start making money the second the economy grows.

During good years they can make up to 14-15% and during bad years they’ll still make 1-3% guaranteed, and it will accumulate tax-free. Again, not that many advisors know how this is done.

Can you protect my money automatically from the effect of inflation if we start experiencing higher inflation rates?

Financial advisors who’ve received Missed Fortune training will understand how to link your returns to those things that inflate. This means that your money grows at a rate that outpaces that of inflation.

Advisors who don’t have this knowledge will likely just shrug their shoulders.

Can you protect my nest egg from the effects of taxes going up in the future?

Again, most advisors will squirm when faced with this question because many of them still advise their clients to save their money in tax-deferred vehicles like IRAs and 401(k)s that subject them to further taxes when they begin accessing their money.

There are better vehicles that allow a client’s money to accumulate tax-free, and remain tax-free when at distribution and again at transfer when they pass away.

Can you help me get my money out of my IRAs and 401(k)s with reduced tax or maybe no tax impact?

Most advisors, most CPAs and tax attorneys will be dumbfounded when asked to do this, but an advisor who knows how can help you withdraw 50, 60 or 70,000 dollars a year without getting hammered for taxes.

It’s called a strategic rollover and its another of the Missed Fortune strategies that have been helping people grow their money safely, predictably and tax-free for decades.

Simply knowing to ask the right questions can get you headed in the right direction.

The next step is meeting with a Missed Fortune advisor to learn what to do next.

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.

{ 0 comments }

Skip These Mistakes & Own Your Financial Future

November 6, 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, November 8th 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.

Welcoming the Prospect of a New Painful Era of Self Reliance

ABC News recently reported on president Obama speaking at a San Francisco fundraiser warning that America was poised to enter a “new painful era of self-reliance in America.”

Do you know what they call people who rely upon themselves? Adults.

Taking ownership of one’s future is not only possible; it’s essential if we wish to be free to prosper. Aren’t we supposed to be self-reliant?

It’s not reasonable to expect government to pay off our mortgages, to pay for our healthcare or to pay for our kids’ college education.

If just 20% of the $3.6 billion in stimulus spending were instead given to employers to expand their workforces, it could have created a $50,000/year position for two years for every unemployed person in this country. Instead unemployment went from 7.2% to 9.2%.

We need to get out of the mindset that big government should be taking care of us. We need to take ownership in our future. Ownership makes great things happen.

When’s the last time you washed a rental car or changed the oil in one? If you own your residence, it’s almost certain that you’ll take better care of it than if you were just renting it.

Taking ownership and being self-reliant is the American way. This is especially true regarding our financial future. When we have incentive to take ownership of our own future, we can redirect otherwise payable taxes to causes you support.

These aren’t tax loopholes, they’re decades-old, grandfathered sections of the IRS code that even tax attorneys and CPAs are rarely taught in their training. These include section 163 of the Internal Revenue Code, which provides tax incentives regarding home ownership.

You need to take ownership in providing for your own retirement instead of counting on the government to provide it for you. After all, the government is still on the hook for $115 trillion in unfunded liabilities including Social Security and Medicare. They’ll gladly try to take care of your retirement, but you can do better.

If you take ownership of your own health or even caring for the poor, you get incentives in the form of tax deductions. All of this is possible if you understand legally how to redirect otherwise payable taxes to the causes you support.

So why don’t more people do it?

The problem is that we simply don’t know what we don’t know and powerful opportunities are missed as we follow the herd.

Seven Ways Most Financial Advisors Fail to Protect Their Clients’ Money

Here are seven things that more than 90% of financial advisors don’t know how to do to protect their clients’ money.

Give you guarantees with an upside potential. Traditional financial planning in this country usually gives you guarantees but usually without upside potential if the economy does well. Or they may give you upside potential without any guarantees if the economy loses. This is one of the reasons so many people lost a third or more of their IRAs or 401(k)s during the last decade. Missed Fortune Indexing strategies enable you to earn a predictable, conservative rate of return even if the economy loses. At the same time you can enjoy upside potential up to a certain capped rate of return when the economy grows. Few advisors know how this is done.
Protect you from loss of principal. The key here is not only to protect your principal you invested, but also in any year that you make money, to turn that money into new protected principal that’s not subject to loss.
Protect you from the effects of inflation. We’ve been fortunate for the past two decades to have inflation remain steady around 2-3%. But those days are gone and inflation is likely to rise due to the incredible amount of money that’s been and is being printed. This means that your rate of return must be able to outpace the rate of inflation, and most investment advisors don’t know how to do that.
Protect you from the danger of rising taxes. Most advisors simply hope that when the future arrives, you’ll find yourself in a lower tax bracket when you retire. But that often doesn’t happen for various reasons. Your dependents have moved out. Your home is paid off. You’re not only missing out on these deductions, but Congress is looking to raise taxes too.
They don’t know how to get tax-free returns rather than just tax-deferred returns. Most people are in a for a rude awakening when they see just how quickly taxes will eat up their nest egg as they’re taxed before contributing to their IRA or 401(k). They’re then taxed upon withdrawing their funds and taxed again when they try to transfer what’s left to their heirs. A better way is through investment vehicles that have been grandfathered for more than 4 decades and have been around a lot longer than IRAs or 401(k)s. They’re safer than municipal bonds and pay a higher rate of return than municipal bonds, plus they accumulate money tax-free and the money transfers tax-free at your passing.
Provide predictable rates of return. The stock market has only averaged a 3.83% rate of return for the past two decades. Trying to get an average return of 12% is just not realistic. But if you choose, you can convert all of your income to generate predictable rates of return of about 8% tax-free.
Help people get their money out of their IRAs or 401(k)s with the least amount of tax impact. This is where a strategic roll-out can help protect you from some of the tax-deferred woes by getting your money out of those IRAs and 401(k)s and into a vehicle that will allow it to grow tax-free.

If you’d like to empower yourself to learn how to overcome these common mistakes make by many tax planners & financial advisors, it’s time to learn more by visiting 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.

{ 0 comments }

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.

{ 0 comments }

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.

{ 0 comments }

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.

{ 0 comments }

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.

{ 0 comments }

Retiring Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Fall Short

July 24, 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, July 26th 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.

Come Retirement, Boomers Will Be Sad Consumers

Think that 401(k) will get you enough to retire with your current standard of living?

Think again.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the median household headed by a person age 60-62 with a 401(k) account has less than 1/4 of what is needed to maintain their current standard of living.

This data was compiled the Federal Reserve and analyzed the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

401(k). The Holy Grail of retirement. What’s supposed to see you through old age.

Well, that Holy Grail is rusty and empty.

Most 401(k) participants have far too little savings for retirement, even when including their Social Security and pension savings.

Even those with substantial, six-figure 401(k) savings may likely fall short before reaching age 85.

This means they’ll probably be dusting off the ol’ resume during their supposed “golden years.”

And what’s the standard advice you continue hearing from traditional advisors?

Stay the course.

Piffle and pooh.

If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten.

Despite the millions who lost fortunes in the 2008 market crash, others didn’t lose a penny.

Those who applied Missed Fortune strategies have not only protected their serious money in a down market, but they did it safely in the worst 4-year period since the Great Depression.

Most people who follow the Missed Fortune strategies have 50 percent more than they did just 4-5 years ago.

You can do it too.

Meet with a Missed Fortune advisor today and learn how.

Taxes & Inflation: Like Acid on the Holy 401(k) Grail

Can you live on a $1,000 a month?

Of course not. Funny thing is, those who have saved at least $1 million for retirement think they’ll be just fine.

But a million dollars just ain’t what it used to be.

Because of taxes and inflation, in the future $1 million generating $6,000 a month of taxable income will only amount to about $1,000 in today’s dollars.

$1 million earning 7.2 percent interest a year should allow you to pull out $72,000 annually ($6,000/month) without depleting principal.

If you earn $68,000 a year, you’re in the 33% marginal tax bracket.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that by mid-century most Americans will be paying at least 50% of their income in taxes.

If you paid a third of your income in taxes on $6,000 a month, that leaves you $4,000 of net spendable income per month.

But let’s not forget about inflation.

At a 5% rate of inflation the cost of living will double every 15 years and the purchasing power of the dollar will be cut in half.

30 years down the road you’ll only be able to buy the same gallons of gas, loaves of bread, prescriptions, golf greens fees, etc. for $4,000 a month that you can currently buy for $1,000 a month.

Do you have a hedge against taxes and inflation?

Missed Fortune clients do.

Are you ready to learn how they do it?

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.

{ 0 comments }

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →