Americans Worst Fear!

Recently  The  Gallup Organization  surveyed  Americans  and  asked  the  what  they  feared most.  This  might  surprise  you. Its not  war or  death or taxes. The  number ONE Fear of  most  Americans is running  out of money in  retirement!!!  We are  scared  of  running out of money and having to totally  rely on social security or our family to cover our living expenses.  66% of us  are  very  worried or moderately  worried  about  running  out of money  before  we  die.

In order  to  minimize or eliminate  this  risk  there  are numerous  steps we can take today to solve  this  dilemma.  You  need professional  help! Someone who can  help you  create a lifetime income  stream of money, and/or someone who can  help you  create a income stream that is  free from federal or state  taxes.  This  is where professionals like myself can help.  It  does  take time to implement these strategies successfully!   However, the sooner you start the  greater the guaranteed retirement lifetime income stream you can create for you and your family.  Is it worth it?  Yes it is!  Acting  to  solve this problem will let you  sleep  better because you  can eliminate Americans worst fear!!!

401K Growth

I  saw  some  good  news  yesterday. In several news  feeds  and in  USA Today it  was  reported  by  Fidelity  that 401K  assets  have  reached an all time high of almost $75 K per account holder.   It is not  nearly  enough to  retire on but growth in assets is a good  thing. This growth comes  from two sources.  Contribution of new  funds  are  up, as is the growth of existing assets held in 401 K Plans.

Both of  those  things are  good  news but  the  economy is still extremely fragile. Deficits  are out of control, government spending is out of control, housing markets are still perched on the brink of disaster, and unemployment is too high. The  government almost  certainly has to increase taxes  and hardships will certainly follow tax increases.

Protecting  gains in retirement  assets from the negative impact of the economic problems identified above is what we specialize in.  A Cogent Research study just  released made some interesting points.  Less that half of the Affluent Investors in employer sponsored retirement plans are happy with their plans provider.  We specialize in designing plans that include the  features that participants  especially the  Affluent plan participants like to  see.  This includes safe money alternatives with zero market risk, and products that can produce a guaranteed rate of growth far  superior to bank rates of  return.  We can help companies improve their current plans.  We can also help an  individual who has decided to switch assets from a former employer’s retirement plans into a rollover plan that offers  protection from Market Risk if that meets a clients needs.

Hundreds of Billions of dollars have moved into bonds. Whats the risk?

Is there a risk in the massive multi-Billon dollar flight to bonds?
Do you know what happens to an existing bond when the current new bond yield increases?
Old lower interest bonds automatically drop in value as interest rates for new bonds increase.
Is this really Safe Money? Yes or No?
What about the risk of a bond default?
A number of states, municipalities and corporations are in danger of bankruptcy.
We are just speaking simple economics here. It’s not rocket science.
Are there Market risk free alternative?
The answer is yes!

more banks closing in USA

More banks have closed in 2009 than were closed in all of 2008. The newest bank closing are in Georgia, New Jersey and Utah. This pushs the number of bank closing to 32 so far this year compared to 25 bank closing during all of 2008.

Financial products update.

There are several interesting developments in the past year.  Variable Annuity  sales  have  dropped.   For 2008  Variable Annuity  sales are down over 60%  according to the industry  trade group NAVA.

Fixed  annuity  sales on the other hand are going UP, UP, UP!   They actually increased by 60% topping  $107 Billion according to a Beacon Research study.

Maybe people are finally getting the word.  Fixed annuities and Fixed Indexed Annuities offer the protection of principal without market risk.  That’s a powerful combination of benefits that we help clients with.  Guaranteed protection of principal from the issuing  carriers and indexed products that have to potential to produce double digit  gains in good years and some products even offer a way to double your money in 10-11`years.  In addition to these benefits you get tax deferred growth in the accumulation mode and the possibility of lifetime income that you cannot outlive.  WOW!

Are you tired of loosing money?

I saw some very interesting statistics recently about Americans and their current financial advisors

81% of investors  surveyed  intend to change their financial advisors       Financial Plannning Magazine Jan 09

75% of the investors over age 50 do not believe that their current advisor is positioned to take them into retirement

89% of investors over age 50 surveyed are planning on consolidating their assets with a new comprehensive advisors who will protect their assets on into the futue according to a study by Fidelty dated 2006

Where do you fit in these critical criteria?

Are you fed up with bad advice and advisors who loose your money?

There are financial advisors that are dedicated to protecting the assets you have spent a lifetime collecting .

Even More Bank Closings

3 more banks have been closed by the Feds. This brings the 2009 tally to 12 closed banks. I don’t know how a bank can get so screwed up that they get closed.  They do not pay anything to the depositors and they charge outrageous rates to their credit card clients and most of their loan customers.  The spread between what they pay depositors and charge borrowers is now the highest in US history or at least close to it and they still can not make it.

There are low risk financial alternatives that pay a much better rate of return on your money!

3 More Bank Closings

So far in February the Federal Reserve has taken over three more banks and the tally for 2009 so far now totals 9 bank closures. More will follow!
If you are looking for alternatives to weak banks, paying inferior interest rates on deposits there are alternatives you should know about!  You can get up to almost 5% on 5 year deposits with principal protection guaranties. USA Today just recently reported that  average Bank yields on 5 year  CD are paying an average of only 2.4%. That does not even keep up with the rate of inflation. There are Good Sound Safer Money Financial Alternatives.

Another round of Bank Failures

The FDIC has closed another set of banks. In an effort to be geographically balanced they closed one in Utah, one in Fl and one in Va. That makes 6 bank closing so far in 2009.

With banks still closing and banks still unwilling to loan money. This does not demonstrate that the worst is over in the financial crisis. The only good signs I have seen are that the market indexes have not fallen to new lows. All three of the major indexes are trading slightly above their November 2008 low values. Many analysts see this as a sign that the worst is over. We could still be in for a long slow period of no growth. By the way the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 have just completed their worst January performance ever. The Dow was down over 8.8% and the S&P was down over 8.5%. All ovf this with the benefit of a new president.

This continued weakness in the markets suggest that Safer Money Financial Alternatives are still a Very Good Idea!!

University Education Tuition Free

I saw an interesting article on a niche educational market. A limited number of schools are offering tuition free education. There are about 15-25 schools that guarantee no student debt. After you pay the  Expected Family Contribution (EFC) the school s guarantee that everytrhing else will be covered by Scholarships, grants or work study program participation. Probably the best school on this list is  Princeton University. Some other well endowed schools participate as well.

There are some modest schools with a similar program. The College of the Ozarks does something very similar. All students who are accepted get a full scholarship. Then if you also agree to give up a summer break to work on campus you are also covered with free room and board as well. Every student works on campus for 15-20 hours a week. not a bad concept and for some students it might well be the only way to get a college degree.