From the category archives:

Baby Boomers

Making Money Or Making Up Lost Ground?

January 8, 2012

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, January 10th 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.

Making Money Safely

From October to January, Doug Andrews applied a formula he’d been given in order to not gain weight during the holiday season.

At the first of the year, Doug was happy to see that his weight had been maintained.

By understanding the ratios and portions and the effect of personal activity on his body’s ability to utilize the carbohydrates and fats, Doug followed the formula and got the desired results.

Moreover, he did this at a time when most people were justifying eating things that are fattening and unhealthy.

This can be likened to how many of us can either follow formulas or follow the crowd when it comes to setting aside money for our future.

When we follow the crowd, we put our money into 401(k)s or IRAs. We tell ourselves we’ll be in a lower tax bracket in the future. We tell ourselves to keep hanging in there with our money in the market, waiting for the average 12% rate of return we were promised.

The reality is that 401(k)s and IRAs deny us liquidity. Our tax liabilities can still increase due to rising taxes and disappearing deductions. And according to DELBAR, most people who put their money in the market have averaged just 3.83% rate of return over the past 2 decades.

But there are proven formulas that allows you to successfully and safely earn a conservative, predictable rate of return averaging 8% net cash on cash. Even during the worst 10-year period since the Great depression—2001 to 2011–this formula has allowed people to double their money, safely and tax-free.

By following a predictable system, they got the results they desired.

Of all the resolutions to make this year, choosing not to follow the crowd any longer, may be the most significant.

This means you don’t continue to put your money into investments that are vulnerable to taxes, inflation or economic uncertainty.

Instead, choose to take charge of your financial future by learning the formulas that allow your money to grow tax-free, to outpace inflation and to remain safe when the market declines.

Two Steps Forward-One Step Back

Many of us remember the childhood game of red-light/green-light. You’d take nine steps forward and then have to take 4 steps back. Your net gain was never as much as you’d have liked it to be.

That stopping and starting sensation is a familiar one to anyone who lost a third or more of their retirement nest egg over the past 10 years. Some years they’d make great gains only to lose spectacularly the next year.

After 10 years of market uncertainty, very few investors have even managed to break even with the amount of money they started out with. Once they were accustomed to earning 6-8%, but now they’re earning just 1-2%.

They’re struggling to make up lost ground and feeling frustrated and hopeless.

Whether you have $150,000 or $1.5 million in an IRA or 401(k), that money isn’t really all yours. Uncle Sam and the state in which you reside will likely claim about one third of that money through taxes when you retire.

When you consider the cost of taxes, fees and the effects of inflation, you’ve taken plenty of steps backwards financially.

Getting different results in the coming year is going to require doing something different than they’ve been doing up to this point.

This is a prime opportunity to get your financial house in order so that you can create predictability in your life and in your financial future. This is how to gain the confidence that you will not outlive your money.

The Missed Fortune strategies can teach you how to accumulate your nest egg, tax-free. That money will distribute tax-free at retirement or any other time you need to access it. And best of all, it transfers to your spouse or children tax-free when you pass.

The only step backward you’ll be taking is the actual cost of the vehicle in which you’re putting your serious money. But you’re still moving nine steps forward for a net of eight steps ahead of where you started.

This is only possible when you counter the three major threats of the next decade:

Higher taxes
Inflation
Market volatility

Learn how to eliminate these dangers and safely and predictably grow your money without having to make up lost ground.

Learn how to make these principles work for you 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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Making the Changes That Make All the Difference

January 1, 2012

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, January 3rd 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.

Change Can Be a Reason To Cheer

We each have a choice regarding whether or not this is the year we’ll do things differently.

This is particularly true with respect to our financial futures.

It’s a perfect time for more of us to start taking ownership of our future instead of making Social Security the basis of our future retirement or waiting for government to take care of us.

Even among those who’ve been saving for retirement, too many people have simply kept following the crowd hoping to regain what market losses have cost them.

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.

This common error is compounded when many of these same people continue to sock money away in tax-deferred savings vehicles thinking they’ll be in a lower tax bracket when they retire. But with taxes on the rise combined with the loss of critical deductions, they may well end up paying higher taxes even though their income is less.

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 is far more likely to prove 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.

Three Marvels of Wealth Accumulation

Motivational superstar Zig Ziegler loved to quiz his audience about the difference between a $10,000 racehorse and a $1 million racehorse. He’d ask them 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.

After careful consideration, the answer was usually “no.”

Ziegler would point out that sometimes the only measurable difference between these two horses often came down to a few thousandths of a second out there on the racetrack.

His point was that the horses actually started out on a more level playing field than most people might suspect. What made the real difference was the way they were trained and how they applied their training.

When it comes to those who accumulate great wealth, the same principle applies. Many of the world’s wealthiest individuals didn’t merely inherit their wealth; they earned it.

More importantly, they earned that wealth because they learned to recognize opportunities that others around them did not. They didn’t possess superhuman capabilities or powers of discernment; they simply learned the principles of wealth accumulation and applied them.

These principles are not widely practiced, but they’re not secret, nor are they shrouded in mystery. The reason everyone isn’t practicing these principles of wealth accumulation is that they are simply not widely understood. They will work for anyone who is willing to learn them and apply them.

To better illustrate the kind of principles we’re dealing with, let’s look at three of the main ones relating to the accumulation of wealth.

The three marvels of wealth accumulation are:

Compound Interest. Einstein called it the most misunderstood phenomenon on the planet. One way to visualize how compound interest works is to imagine that you could fold over a piece of copy paper 50 times so that it doubled in thickness each time. By the 50^th time that paper had been doubled, it would be over 93 million miles in thickness.

Money can likewise accumulate at an astounding rate thanks to compound interest, but this is only true when that money is able to grow tax-free. Tax-advantaged vehicles are grandfathered into the IRS code, but they must be set up correctly.

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. Taxes can quickly deplete even a sizeable nest egg within a matter of just a few years. Outliving your retirement money is a definite possibility.

Consider that your million dollar tax-deferred nest egg will only be worth around $666,000 after Uncle Sam claims his share. Get those taxes out of the way up front and your money will grow, distribute and eventually transfer tax-free to your spouse or children. There are specific sections of the IRS code that make this possible.

It’s in your interest to learn what they are and how to apply them.

Safe Positive Leverage. This describes the ability to own and control assets with very little or none of your money actually tied up or at risk of being lost 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. The main reason most people don’t avail themselves of safe positive leverage is that they don’t know what they don’t know.

These three marvels are just a few of the principles that can make all the difference for those who wish to accumulate wealth in any economy; including our current struggling one.

Learn how to make these principles work for you 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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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.

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Monetary Myopia: Why Soaking the Rich Won’t Solve the Debt Crisis

August 14, 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 16th at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern). The topic is “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 Bush Tax Cuts As a Bargaining Chip

There’s been a lot of talk recently about the national debt, the debt limit debate and the likely solutions. But there are some facts that must be considered in order to see the big picture.

For instance, the Congressional Budget Office is using their March 2011 baseline rather than the January 2011 baseline when they assume that the Bush tax cuts will expire at the end of 2012.

This means that the tax cuts will not count as savings with regard to discretionary spending. In other words, the tax cuts expiring won’t give anybody any credit toward anything except a tax increase.

If those tax cuts were extended, the Congressional Budget Office would treat those tax cuts as if they added $5 trillion more to the national debt. In reality, these tax cuts would actually generate new revenue by leaving the money in the hands of the American people who would spend, save and invest it.

The tax cuts were initiated after 9/11 to bolster confidence in the economy by getting the money moving again and raising the revenue rather than raising the taxes.

From 2001 to 2003 President Bush lowered the lowest bracket from 15% down to 10% and raised the threshold from about $46,000 to $58,000 before you jumped from a 15% bracket up to a 25% bracket. By every objective measurement, during this time the government raised more tax revenue that if they had kept the tax rates high and raised taxes further.

When these Bush tax cuts expire, taxes will go up and it will hinder the economy rather than stimulate it.

The White House sees the expiration of these Bush era tax cuts as a powerful tool to influence congressional talks about deficit reduction measures. By threatening to veto any attempt to extend the tax cuts, especially for the wealthiest Americans, the president hopes to exert greater control over reforming the U.S. tax code in order to raise taxes on the rich.

The talk in Washington D.C. is to tax married couples making over $250,000 per year at a tax rate that’s nearly 20% higher than what they currently pay. Instead of being taxed at 43% their tax rate will shoot up to 62.5%.

Even single tax filers are wearing a target with those who earn $125,000 or more a year will be facing possible tax rates of 60% or higher.

The philosophy of raising taxes by going after the rich out of a sense that “they can afford it” is going to cause the economy to take several steps backwards. Unemployment will not go down. We cannot spend our way out of this crisis.

Taxes Are Only One Third of The Coming Triple Whammy

Taxes are heading up. Even, if by some miracle, the Bush tax cuts are extended, there are still plenty of unfunded liabilities that will necessitate raising our taxes some other way. Medicare and Social Security alone account for nearly $110 trillion worth of obligations that are owed to their intended recipients.

The biggest dangers of the next decade are that taxes are going up, inflation will continue to rise because the government has been printing mass amounts of money, and market volatility will continue.

The specter of double digit inflation is a daunting one for those who remember the high inflation of the early 1980s. Yet during that era, by using Missed Fortune strategies, those who linked their returns to the things that inflate were earning 15.5% on conservative, tax-free investments.

When inflation and interest rates are low, these same strategies can have you earning rates of 8-9% tax-free.

Market uncertainty over the past decade has spooked those people who, starting in 2001, went nearly 3 years on a down market and were just about to break even when the bottom fell out again in 2008. Most investors have lost nearly 40% of their IRAs and 401(k)s and their confidence is shaken. The good news is that there’s a far better way to grow your serious money.

By taking ownership of your future, you can eliminate the triple whammy of the coming decade.

Is your serious money ready to weather the almost certain prospect of higher taxes? Could you maintain your standard of living when a 5% rate of inflation causes the cost of living to double every 15 years? Is your money positioned to remain safe when the market declines and to grow whenever the market grows?

Once you understand and live the Missed Fortune strategies, your answer will be a confident “Yes!”

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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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.

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Why Boomers Are Singing the Retirement Blues

July 17, 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 19th 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.

Boomers Are In Trouble Come Retirement

Recently in the Wall Street Journal was an article titled “Retiring Boomers find 401(k) Plans Fall Short“. It didn’t paint a pretty picture.

The article stated 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.

The plans that were supposed to see them through old age are falling well short of what will actually be required. This data was compiled the Federal Reserve and analyzed the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

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

Even a couple with a 401(k) well into six figures could face the prospect of running out of savings before reaching age 85. That means these people could expect to work much longer than they had intended.

401(k)s used to be a gold mine for money management firms. Tax deferred income will not save you if taxes are going up and they most certainly are rising.

Some advisers still say to stay the course and to keep putting off taxes for the future but if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’re going to keep getting what you’ve always gotten.

In 30 years the 401(k) went from a small program to a multi trillion dollar industry supporting money managers. The current median amount most people contribute to their 401(k)s is a measly 9% counting the employer contribution.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Though many people feel like they lost their future when the market declined in 2008, there were others who didn’t lose a penny in that year or the subsequent down market.

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.

You’ll need to take ownership of your future.

Taxes & Inflation Will Destroy Retirement Savings

If you had a million dollar nest egg you’d have it made, right? Think again.

A million dollars earning 7.2 percent interest a year should allow you to pull out $72,000 annually without depleting the principal. That’s about 6,000 a month. An average couple that earns over 68,000 a year are are in a 33% marginal tax bracket.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that because of our tremendous national debt, by mid century most Americans will be paying at least 50-60% of their income in taxes.

If you paid a third of your income in tax on 6000 a month, that leaves you $4,000 of net spendable income per month. If you’re thinking, “I could probably squeeze by on that” don’t forget to factor in inflation.

Say that inflation stays around 5 percent. At that rate the cost of living will double every 15 years and the purchasing power of the dollar will be cut in half.

This means that 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.

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

That million dollar nest egg generating $6,000 a month of taxable income is only going to have the same purchasing power as $1,000 a month today.

You must have a hedge against the tax and inflation power curve by linking your return to those things that inflate.

You need a strategy where your money accumulates tax free not tax deferred. At tomorrow’s tax rates, a $3 million nest egg can perform as well as a $6 million nest egg if it’s tax free.

If you lost money in the last 10 years and find yourself worried about outliving your money, stop following the herd.

You need to learn how to reposition yourself and get something better in place.

You must learn how to safely regain what you’ve lost and have it be tax free.

Meet with a Missed Fortune advisor today and 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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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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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?

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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Taking Ownership of Your Financial Future

April 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, April 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.

Bad News for the Boomer Generation

A recent statistic claims that 50% of baby boomers will outlive their money.

They’ll run out of savings and have to rely on social security, charity and welfare or their own children for support.

A study in the 1970′s by the Bureau of Labor & Statistics showed that out of every 100 males born in America, by the time they were 65 years old, 36 of them would be dead.

The study also showed that 54 percent were predicted to be dead broke and completely dependent upon social security.

Another 5% would still have an income. They would continue to work, not because they wanted to, but because they had to work.

In the richest nation on earth, only 5% would be financially independent.

That statistic hasn’t changed in the last 40 years.

Even today, only 5% of Americans are financially independent by the time they hit their golden years.

That leaves 95% of Americans still striving to make ends meet when they reach retirement age.

A lot of these people lost their future back in 2008 when their IRAs and 401(k)s lost 31% of their value on average. Some lost upwards of 40-50% of their value.

If you lose half of the value of your retirement nest egg, it takes at least 10 years to get back to breaking even.

Putting that money into a bank or a CD at 1% won’t allow you to double your money in that amount of time. Putting it into the market isn’t the answer either.

There are far better strategies to grow your money without putting it at risk.

We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know

There are at least 31 FLAVORS of missed fortune which is an acronym for:

Fortunes
Lost
Amid
Valid
Optimization &
Reallocation
Strategies

People miss out on fortunes because of the time value of money, meaning if they just did things a little bit differently, they’d increase their net worth drastically.

For instance, right now we’re in tax season.

Many people view their income tax refund as a forced savings program. Instead of socking that money away and giving the government a zero interest loan, you could change your withholding and set aside that difference. With an extra $2,000 annually, you could accumulate an extra quarter to half a million dollars in your retirement account.

Government leaders make a big deal out of cutting $100 million dollars out of the annual $3.5 trillion dollar federal budget.

Do the math. If you spend about $2,000/month on your living expenses and you were to cut your spending at the exact same ration, you’d only reduce your budget by 6 cents.

We don’t have a revenue problem in this country, we have a spending problem and taxes will be going up.

If you’re putting your money into IRAs and 401(k)s and thinking tomorrow’s tax rates will be lower, you’re going to be in for a rude awakening.

There are better ways to save for retirement.

Taking Ownership of Your Financial Future

By implementing missed fortune strategies, you get much better results than simply doing what everyone else is doing.

There’s a huge difference between Mr. Tax-to-the-Max who takes minimum distributions and pays 2 to 4 times as much in taxes and Mrs I’ve-a-lot-more who enjoys double the net spendable income and pays about 1/6th as much in taxes.

Mrs. I’ve-a-lot-more stimulates the economy by taking ownership of her future rather than just rolling over and paying too much in taxes.

Instead of getting a tax refund and spending it after letting the government keep your money for a year, learn how to put that money to work for you and accumulate an extra quarter million, half million or even a million dollars by retirement.

Missed fortune strategies teach you how to use a system that protects your money whether the market goes up or down without risking your principal.

You’ll learn to keep your principal safe and make sure you don’t lose the money you set aside. You keep the money you make and never subject it to risk or loss again.

These strategies can teach you how to earn a rate of return that’s greater than taxes or inflation and that grows your money tax free.

We’ve helped several thousand people take ownership of their future and achieve financial independence.

If you’d like to know what these people know, schedule a 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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Where Is Your Retirement Money Going?

March 27, 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, March 29th 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.

Where Did That Retirement Money Go?

There’s a powerful article in the Wall Street Journal titled: “Retiring Boomers find 401(k) Plans Fall Short.” It spells out how the 401(k) generation is beginning to retire and it isn’t pretty.

The retirement savings plan of many Baby Boomers and others who thought their plan would see them through retirement age are falling short in many cases.

The median household headed by a person aged 62 has less than 25 percent of what they’ll need to maintain their standard of living in retirement. This information was compiled by the Fed and analyzed by Boston College for the WSJ.

Even when factoring in Social Security and pensions or other savings, most 401(k) participants simply have too little savings in accumulation. The financial crisis has made things worse.

For example, Mr. Rutchman’s 401(k) is well into 6 figures, his wife has a 401(k) and a small pension from her nursing job. After consulting a financial planner at Ernst and Young, Mr. Rutchman learned that his savings could run out before he turns 85.

Now he can expect to work for several more years.

By the third quarter of 2008, the average American had lost as much as 31 percent of the value of their IRAs and 401 (k)s. Many lost as much as 50 percent by the end of 2008 and they’re not even back to break even. On the other hand, there are people who didn’t lose a penny in 2008.

Most people who follow the Missed Fortune strategies have 50 percent more than they did just 4-5 years ago. They did it safely in the worst 4 year period since the Great Depression.

401(k)s used to be a gold mine for money management firms. Tax deferred income will not save you if taxes are going up and they most certainly are rising. Some advisors still say to stay the course and to keep putting off taxes for the future but if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’re going to keep getting what you’ve always gotten.

You need to take ownership of your future. In 30 years the 401(k) went from a small program to a multi trillion dollar industry supporting money managers.

The current median amount most people contribute to their 401(k)s is a measly 9% counting the employer contribution. Vanguard is now urging people to contribute 12- 15 % over concerns about the stock market’s weak returns and uncertainty about Social Security and medicare.

But is the answer to sock away twice as much?

The Effects of Taxes & Inflation

You must consider the effect of taxes and inflation. Sometimes people tell our wealth strategists that they have half a million or a million dollars in a 401(k) or an IRA portfolio. They think they’re in good shape.

If you had a million dollar nest egg you’d have it made, right? Think again.

A million dollars earning 7.2 percent interest a year should allow you to pull out $72,000 annually without depleting the principal. That’s about 6,000 a month. An average couple that earns over 68,000 a year are are in a 33% marginal tax bracket.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that because of our tremendous national debt, by mid century most Americans will be paying at least 50-60% of their income in taxes.

If you paid a third of your income in tax on 6000 a month, that leaves you $4,000 of net spendable income per month. If you’re thinking, “I could probably squeeze by on that” don’t forget to factor in inflation.

Say that inflation stays around 5 percent. At that rate the cost of living will double every 15 years and the purchasing power of the dollar will be cut in half.

This means that 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. Can you live on a $1,000 a month?

That million dollar nest egg generating $6,000 a month of taxable income is only going to have the same purchasing power as $1,000 a month today.

You need to have a hedge against the tax and inflation power curve by linking your return to those things that inflate.

You need a strategy where your money accumulates tax free not tax deferred. At tomorrow’s tax rates, a $3 million nest egg can perform as well as a $6 million nest egg if it’s tax free.

If you lost money in the last 10 years and you’re worried about outliving your money, stop following the herd.

You need to learn how to reposition yourself and get something better in place. You must learn how to safely regain what you’ve lost and have it be tax free.

Meet with a Missed Fortune advisor and 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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