From the category archives:

Indexing Strategy

The Economic Realities That Can No Longer Be Ignored

July 10, 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 12th 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.

Americans Aren’t Feeling So Optimistic These Days

U.S. voters continue to be largely pessimistic about the country’s future. We need to be able to think about a bigger and brighter future, but we’re not feeling that way. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters shows that 46% of those surveyed think America’s best days are in the past.

37% say they believe that America’s best days are still ahead. And 16% say they’re not sure.

Optimism about the nation’s future has generally been in the mid to high 3os for most of the Obama presidency. With a number of economic indicators hitting new lows in recent days, it’s not surprising that voters continue to favor a government with less services and lower taxes.

65% say they’d favor a smaller government over one with more services and higher taxes.

David Walker, the former comptroller for the General Accountability Office, recently resigned because he was not allowed to tell the American public the truth about the escalating national debt. In 2007 it was at $9 trillion and he said we had nearly $63 trillion in unfunded liabilities including Medicare and Social Security that we don’t have money in our coffers to pay.

In October 2009 our government was operating totally in the red for nearly a year and three months until January of 2011 when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that the government was finally solvent enough to cover what it was paying out in benefits again.

Both parties say we need to cut at least $4 trillion over the next 10 years, but David Walker says that more will be required to keep the government solvent.

He says we can’t do that without both spending cuts and tax increases. Walker says first we’ll need to make several billion dollars in cuts immediately in discretionary spending. Next he says we’ll need to cut $100 billion in the 2012-2013 budget.

The third and final part of his debt remedy deal is to institute budget controls with pay-as-you-go requirements, annual spending caps and specific debt to GDP targets. If the targets aren’t hit by late 2013, buzzers would sound, lights would flash and the deal would trigger automatic draconian spending cuts and higher taxes.

Every tax payer in this country should be paying very close attention. An economic reality check is getting closer.

What To Expect In the Next Decade

Dave Ramsey recently pointed out that Americans now have more in their 401(k) than they did in October of 2007 when everything fell apart. There are actually two reasons for that.

Number one, people have added money to their 401(k) over the past 4 years. Secondly, if they didn’t add money and their 401(k) was linked to the S&P 500 Index, for instance, over the past 10 years you’ve barely made 2.99% by the end of first quarter 2011.

Contrast that with people who’ve followed the Missed Fortune strategies during this last ten years experienced predictable, safe tax-free growth of 7.23% growth and have doubled their money from where they started.

Market uncertainty will be a part of the next decade as well. Wall Street has lost more than 45% of the typical investor’s money twice in the last decade. The typical equity mutual fund investor has only averaged a 3.83% return for the past 8 years.

There is a much better way to put your serious money to work.

With a Missed Fortune strategy like Indexing, you don’t lose a dime when the market goes down and you start earning again the second the market goes up. With a Missed Fortune strategy like linking your returns to those things that inflate, inflation helps you rather than hurts you.

And with the Missed Fortune strategy of accumulating your money in a tax free vehicle, you avoid the higher taxes that are surely on the way.

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

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

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Taking the Risk Out of Growing Your Money

July 3, 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 5th 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 Risks That Haven’t Paid Off

Wall Street has already lost more than 45% of investors money twice in just the last decade. After 9/11 we had three significant down years. And in 2008 people saw their IRAs and 401(k)s decrease an average of 31%.

As of First Quarter 2011, many people are just now starting to see a break-even point or a return to the ground they lost just a few years ago. The people who followed the Missed Fortune strategies have received at least a 7.2% rate of return through those years, even if they were simply protecting themselves during the down years by not losing money.

They were positioned to participate indirectly in the up times and have doubled their money–tax free–in the past decade.

People who used “re-balancing” were able to earn even greater rates of return in the neighborhood of 9.62% during the past 10 years. By contrast, the typical equity mutual fund investor who had his money in the market for the past 2o years earned a paltry average of 3.83%.

They’ve only outpaced inflation by a mere 1% per year. When inflation goes up to 5% or 7.2% the cost of living doubles every 10 years. Rowing against the current of inflation while keeping your money in the market is going to lead to a rude awakening for many investors.

The only reward that stock market investors have received for taking all that risk over the past four decades has been sleepless nights and broken dreams of retirement.

They’re losing ground at a time when no one can afford to give up an inch.

Protecting Your Money By Indexing

You must understand how to protect yourself so that when the economy is doing well you get to participate and when it’s not doing well you’re not losing your money. You don’t have to be subject to risk and losses in order to put your money to work.

By linking your serious money to the indexes of the S&P 500 or the Russell 2000 or other indexes you can participate in the growth of the markets without exposing it to the risks of market volatility.

If we go back 10 years ago, and you were starting out with $500,000. If your money was in the market you could have used indexing to enjoy growth up to a certain cap. Say it was capped at 15% earning on AAA and AA bonds, your $500,000 would have remained intact during the down years that immediately followed 9/11 where the S&P dropped by 24%

You wouldn’t have earned much during those down years, but more importantly, you also wouldn’t have lost a dime of your principal.

As soon as the economy turned around your money would have started earning again immediately. Better still, when your money is growing again, it’s accumulating tax free thanks to the way it was positioned in the first place.

Re-balancing requires occasionally moving your money depending upon what’s going in the U.S and the world. But if you followed Missed Fortune indexing strategies that $500,000 you started out with would have grown to $1,315,000.

That equals a retroactive 9.6% rate of return compounded annually and it would have grown tax free if you used indexed Maximum Funded Tax Advantage alternatives to IRAs and 401(k)s. This money would also transfer tax free to your heirs in the event of your death.

This is far superior to the tax hit you take when you start pulling money out of your 401(k) or IRA. But to protect your money from higher taxes, inflation and market volatility, you must know and use the Missed Fortune strategies.

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

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

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The U.S. Economy: Living On Borrowed Money

June 26, 2011

Podcast: Download (23.0MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Free Webinar

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

Click Here to Register Now

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

Watching Government Paint Itself Into a Corner

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So What Can You Do?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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?