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Make sure your financial instrument serves more than one purpose

June 7th, 2011

financial instrument wealth accumulation

Let me start off by saying that the intent of this article is not to sell you life insurance but to show you the best financial instrument for wealth accumulation and to use the best tool out there with the most tax advantages.

Financial safety is critical along with that it is divers-ital in what it can do as your chosen financial instrument for wealth accumulation. You also want to minimize your tax burden. A very critical aspect to any financial instrument you take on is that there is no chance you will lose your money.

Here are the 10 criteria when deciding where to put your investment money.

  1. No chance of losing your investment money in a down market.
  2. Allows your money to grow tax-deferred.
  3. Option to withdraw money tax free.
  4. Getting a guaranteed annual rate of return.
  5. Fully locked up and protected from creditors.
  6. No limit on how much you can invest in the financial instrument.
  7. Extremely liquid. No rules, penalty, or restriction on getting access to your money.
  8. Option to use your money as collateral.
  9. Use your money at your discretion by your rules instead of the governments.
  10. No chance of your investments value going down.

In this litigious society having your money protected from lawsuits and creditors is key and this financial instrument we are talking about will allow you to do that. There are also all kinds of penalties and restrictions on most investments when getting access to your money but not with this instrument.

There are some deterrents when getting access to this money but this instrument is liquid in that you can get access to this money in at least 48 hours.

So what is this financial instrument? Some people call it the “bank of you”. Basically you are your own banker and refers to your financial position rather than an actual bank.

This instrument gives you access to your “bank” under your control.

A traditional bank must persuade people to put money in their bank by giving you access to the money conveniently and offer interest back to you for leaving it in there.

Banks make more interest then they pay. Banks don’t just let the money you give them sit there but actually keep that money moving and making money.

By you being the bank you can make interest on yourself which means while you invest money in opportunities you are not losing money on the other side by paying interest to a bank for that loan. Instead you can make money on the loans you take out as you are borrowing money from yourself.

The principal here is to not do what a bank tells you but do as a bank does. You will be far better off by being the bank.

life insurance investment vehicle Tyler TXTo be the bank you must put your money in the most efficient financial instrument that will act most closely like a bank.

This type of system goes by the name “the bank of you” and “infinite banking”

One of the differences between this type of system and other investments is that you have access to it and it is tax free tax deferred and there is no limit to how much money you can put into this instrument.

Even if the interest on the investment is lower than other investments keep in mind you are no longer paying interest to a bank as all your loans are from yourself.

Looking at the overall picture if you add up the interest you are saving and the interest on your return in your financial instrument you will make much more money than having your money tied up in other sometimes more risky investments that are not as liquid.

What this strategy provides is:

  • Income tax-free death benefit
  • The possibility of tax-free income
  • Access to financial benefits in case of illness
  • Tax-deferred cash growth

The product is called SecurePlus Universal Life Provider Option B (Increasing)
Example issue at the age of 32
Here is the summary of values at the age of 60

Note: Think of the insurance policy as a bonus as we are using this mainly as a financial instrument to act as “the bank of you”

Life Insurance Annual Premium is $12,000

The Cash value accumulation is $913,507 or an annual tax-free income of $75,000 starting at the age of 60 that is payable for 40 years.

Plus you get a remaining death benefit after income distribution of $853,694

Or with the annual life insurance premium of $12,000 you get $1,268,906 income tax-free death benefit or accelerated benefits during lifetime such as $1,000,000 terminal illness or $13,459 chronic illness monthly benefit, or $1,000,000 critical life threatening illness benefit.

How it works

  • At your death, the benefit is paid directly to your beneficiary, free of income taxes and without the publicity of probate.
  • You may accelerate the death benefit during your lifetime to help cover cost associated with a terminal chronic or critical illness.
  • Any remaining death benefit not accelerated during your lifetime is paid to your beneficiary income tax-free.
  • Policy cash value grows income tax-deferred.
  • Policy cash value may be accessed during lifetime to generate tax free income.

This type of financial instrument strategy to be your own bank has been used by many wealthy individuals from the past and even some now like Donald Trump.

Again this is not about life insurance but about using the right vehicle to provide to you all the benefts you need to maintain the lifestyle and growth in money that you want.

The trick to pull the money out of your life insurance policy while keeping it tax deferred and tax free is to take a loan out on the policy.

Because it is a loan this money never goes on your 1040.

Most insurance experts do not know how to structure insurance policies correctly. What ends up happening is they give you a lot of death benefit but no wealth accumulation when structuring your policy.

These concepts we are presenting here get really powerful because we are basically getting as little life insurance as possible while throwing a lot of money in there that you can borrow whenever you want.

This financial instrument allows you to build something similar to an annuity that you get tax free each year. The money left in there continues to compound because it is earning interest.

Whatever money is left in the account if you croke at 100 years of age your heirs get 100% tax free.

When setting up this type of policy you have to make sure it is setup correctly or you could create a qualified account that created a taxable event. This mistake is known as mecing the insurance policy.

To avoid this mistake it is worth sitting down with a financial planner who knows how to create these type of wealth strategies that will avoid this possibility.

The simplest solution is to take the path of least resistance which is to add more insurance than you really need to avoid mecing the policy. The problem is that the insurance agent is adding more cost than is neccessary.

The better way to add in insurance is to increase the insurance over time in an auto-pilot fashion so that it increases the cost over time. Many insurance agents do not understand how to set the policy up on auto pilot in this type of way and even those who do may not simply because they will make more money loading you up with insurance from the start.

These policies have a guaranteed rate of return of 2 % but typically you get around 5.9 %.

Keep in mind even though in other investment vehicles you might make higher returns you are taxed each year for these and sometimes there are management fees. Even with no load funds there are management fees to manage the portfolio. With IRA’s it is tax deferred but the management fee is 1%.

We are comparing the Secured Plus provider against these investments. You make $12,000 payments until age 60 with the Life Insurance policy. An IRA runs out at age 72. You will notice that with a CD you will run out of money in your 60’s. A municpal bond will run out at age 68. A 9% mutual fund will run out at age 70.

With the Secured Plus plan you are in the money until age 100 with the ability to pull out $75,000 per year at age 60 until age 100.

If you put in $5,000 a month you can pull out $13 million dollars from age 60 – to age 100 which is at a 5.9% interest rate.

This money can be past to your heirs tax free. A short mention about using an IRA in comparison is that you must start taking money out of that IRA at retirement age which is not the case with the SecuredPlan strategy.

The great thing about this for the short term is that you can borrow from yourself on this investment vehicle at anytime and it is tax free.

Unlike a traditional bank you can grow your money and borrow from it while paying yourself interest. This does not mean you do not have a traditional bank account but as far as where most of your wealth is held it should be in this type of investment vehicle.

Banking is a very lucrative business and they make money by moving it, all this strategy is showing you is how you can operate your income very similar to how a bank does.

In summary, the government can’t take this money, you do not have to pay taxes on it, offers security, retirement, something you can pass on to your heirs, and you can be more risky as a business owner and entrepreneur to get into the opportunities you want to get into.

This system allows you to pay yourself first which many business owners forget to do and end up having to start over in life from scratch after they loses it all. If you take a big hit on your finances you will still be able to sleep with this program and is foundational to your long term success with your finances.

To see if this financial plan is right for you I recommend speaking to a financial planner in the Tyler Texas area. Here are a few that I know of: Feliciano Financial and Achieve Financial

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home Loan Investment Strategy

June 6th, 2011

Home mortgage strategy tyler txThis strategy I like to call Integrated Cash System. I think this strategy will be unbelievably valuable to you as it has been for me.

It is important to understand how cash flows although there is nothing necessarily earth shattering about this but understanding the process will help lay out the principle.

As long as you have good fiscal habits everything is going to work out for you, ok.

Step 1: You need an emergency fund. Simply create a cash cushion of some kind to safe guard you from the possibility of Murphy’s Law. These type of things could be like your hot water heater breaking down, Your water pump on your car needing replaced, etc. How much do you need as a cash cushion? You only need about $3,000 – $10,000. No matter how much money you make you only need at the most $10,000. This is for short term type things and not a long term emergency fund.

Step 2: You need to eliminate debt. This means non-preferred debt such as credit cards, car loans, and basically anything that is not your mortgage. Your mortgage offers tax advantages where as all other debt does not and is considered non-preferred debt. Again remember hold on to no debt other than your mortgage.

Step 3: You want to have an element of liquidity. If you are an entrepreneur and you have an interruption of income you want to have enough money to carry you through. This applies to business or personal finances. You want to have one year worth of income or one years worth of expenses typically available to carry you through a tough situation.

You do not want to just plan for a small interruption in finances and that is what this liquidity step is about. This liquidity is not just for long term bad interruptions in income situations but for having money when you run into a good thing such as a new opportunity.

Again how much is good liquidity? One Year Salary.

Step 4: Pay Off Home. Free and clear. There are two ways to do this. You can pay it off to the bank or pay it off on your actual balance sheet. This just means you have an offset account equal to or greater than the mortgage is. So for instance, if you owe $350,000 on your home mortgage but you have $350,000 in assets then they basically nullify each other out. Some financial planners and CPA’s might tell you that there is a cost associated with this plan but you are not hearing the whole story.

For example lets look at two different people. Each person is a simple W2 wage earner. They each have $40,000 in savings and they are both going to buy a $200,000 house. We have Jim Pilgrim as example number 1. Jim believes in a more traditional way of paying off his mortgage. Jim wants to pay his home off as quick as possible and even send in extra money each month to pay off on principle above his set mortgage payment amount. He was likely told by mom, dad, grandad, and grandma to pay off your mortgage quickly.

In example 2 we have Susan Smith who believes in a money creation strategy of carrying a bigger and longer term home mortgage that is an interest only loan.

Jim takes on a 15 year mortgage at 6.38% APR while Susan goes with a 30 year interest-only loan at 7.42% APR. Note: The home mortgage interest rate has been artificially inflated to factor in the PMI which is the Private Mortgage Insurance.

Jim put down a big $40,000 down payment which is a 20% down payment and has zero dollars left to invest. His monthly mortgage payment is $1,383 and 57% of that is tax deductible the first year. His average monthly net after-tax cost is $1,227 because the deductions he takes on his taxes because of home mortgage interest reduces that mortgage amount when you look at the discount he gets on his taxes.

Jim also pays an additional $100 on top of his mortgage each month to pay off the mortgage a little sooner.

Now looking at Example 2 we see that Susan is going with a 30 year interest-only mortgage loan at 7.42% APR. She puts down a $10,000 tiny down payment which is only 5% of the mortgage. She keeps $30,000 in a side investment fund rather than pay a large deposit like Jim.

Susan’s monthly mortgage payment is $1175 and is 100% tax deductible the first 15 years. When calculating the money she saves from tax deductions she has a monthly net after-tax cost of $799 for her home mortgage.

Susan repositions $100 monthly to a side investment account plus $428 into this investment fund she is saving from the lower mortgage payment. She has her money put into a tax favored account earning 8% interest.

Now CPA’s might be hyperventilating at this point as they see that Susan is paying on an interest only home loan as they will say that she will never pay off that mortgage. If you look at her monthly net after tax cost she is only paying $799 for her mortgage compared to Jim who is paying $1,383 a month on his.

If you are self-employed you can actually reduce your quarterly tax payments to the government instead of waiting for the refund from the government at the end of the year. This means you don’t have to pay the full $1175 monthly mortgage payment because even though you are paying this you are reducing your quarterly tax payments to bring your cost to $799 a month.

Why give uncle Sam an interest free loan?

Now looking at the interest rates you see that Jim is paying a lower interest rate but it is costing him more than the higher interest rate Susan is paying on.

Now after seeing these two examples which person do you think made the right decision?

After 5 years what are the results.

  • Jim gets $14,216 in tax savings
  • Jim has $0 in his bank savings and investment accounts.
  • Susan has received $22,557 in tax savings
  • Susan has $83,513 that she has saved in a side investment fund.

Now what if both Jim and Susan lose their jobs or interruption in income?

  • Jim has no savings to get him through income disruptions or loss of job
  • Jim cannot get a loan because he has no job and home equity no longer helps to get a loan in this economy.
  • Jim must now sell his home because he cannot make his mortgage payments.
  • Jim likely will need to sell his Tyler home quickly for cheap and pay realtor commissions of 6% – 7%.
  • Susan has $83,513 to keep her going because she lost her job.
  • Susan doesn’t need to take out a loan.
  • Susan can continue to make her mortgage payments no problem.
  • Susan is not in panic mode because she has tons of cash.

Income results after 15 years with the Jim and Susan Examples

  • Jim has gotten $25,080 in tax savings
  • Jim has $30,421 in investments and savings. (From paying in $100 on mortgage each payment this is what he saved)
  • Jim owns his home with no money owe the bank.
  • Susan has $67,670 in tax savings.
  • Susan has $282,019 in savings gained in the side investment fund.
  • Susan has enough money to pay off mortgage and still have $92,019 sitting on the side.

Jim and Susan financial situation after 30 years

  • Jim has $25,080 in tax savings
  • Jim has $613,858 in investments and saving accounts.
  • Jim owns his home with no money left to pay the bank.
  • Susan has $107,826 in tax savings
  • Susan has $1,115,425 in investments and saving accounts.
  • Susan never plans to pay her mortgage off as she is happy with the liquidity, security, tax savings, and investment returns more than home ownership.

When real estate values go back up rather than letting that equity just sit ideally by you can use it to your advantage. You take that money and invest it when real estate values are up.

If there is any point to be made with all of this it is that you should separate your equity from the brick and mortar. When your equity goes up in your home you can do nothing with that money if it is tied up in the home. By separating that money from your home and investing it you are making the smarter investment decision with your money.

Step 5
Financial Independence. Houses are designed to house families not store cash. Investments are designed to store cash.

  • You want to get to a point where you are not trading hours worked for dollars.
  • Making enough money from the income your assets generate to have the lifestyle you desire.

Commit to conserve and not spend your equity from now on and forever! HAVE A CASH BUDGET ONLY! (Not literally but just that you do not spend more than you have)

In Summary

1. Have an emergency fund.
2. Become debt free
3. Liquidity (1 years salary)
4. Pay off Home (Paid off on balance sheet).
5. Financial Independence (No longer working hours to get dollars) Maintaining the lifestyle you want to live from the income your assets give you.

We recommend speaking to a Tyler TX financial advisor to see if this type of plan is right for you: Achieve Financial, Feliciano Financial Group

Elevation Group is using economic turmoil and worry in the US to get you to buy their stuff

February 12th, 2011

Elevation Group
As some commodity and hedge funds traders have said the trading markets are a zero sum game. When your investments go down in price someone else is making money while your losing it.

Elevation Group Bonus

Elevation Group explains in their video on Drudge Report how you can actually become wealthy while the US and global economy goes down the garbage disposal.

They spend a lot of time explaining that gold and silver commodities will go up much higher in price from where they are at now. That is a bit hard to believe as gold and silver are already very high in price but these guys really believe that.

The face behind this investment strategy is Mike Dillard. He is basically an info product millionaire and made his money selling online marketing courses to small businesses.

He is relatively new at selling info products that teach you how to make money in financial markets but the guy is good on TV and has a convincing argument.

He teaches how countries purposefully devalue their currencies as the US treasury is doing now by printing more money. This is the beginning of the process of what Mike explains is the beginning of a great wealth transfer in the US and around the world.

He compares the history of Rome passing out free wheat to their citizens to food subsidies and food stamps in the U.S.

The food stamp distribution in the US has taken a vertical jump and Mike believes that 1 in 3 Americans will soon be relying on food stamps.

He also explains that 50% of US GDP is government spending on the military and other government programs and salaries.

He goes into the patterns that you see in history. Such as,

  • What do powerful leaders do when they make massive mistakes. Do they fix the problem and help out everyone or do they help themselves and their friends first?
  • What do people in power do with responsibility? Do they accept that they are responsible or pass the buck?
  • Do people in power do what is right for others or what is right for them?

So looking at history he makes the point to ask yourself these questions, what will politicians, lawmakers, traders, and bankers do? Will they sacrifice all the power and money they have, face their problems and fix it to help the rest of the world out?

You guessed it, people in power tend to do everything they can to keep their power and protect the status quo.

So based on this history the Elevation Group makes the point that simply understanding basic human nature that has repeated itself over and over again in history that when economies collapse people in power act the same way they always have.

When the US economy collapses this time there will be no difference than what has happened in previous economies.

Our nature has not changed and so these things can be mapped out.

The way a nation begins to transfer the wealth is in war. Money is printed in unlimited quantities which steals the wealth of its people in order to fund the war.

In the US there is a huge disparity in military spending to the rest of the world.

We are in the final stages of a wealth transfer as people begin to fill the effects of inflation and the smart ones move their money into more stable commodities and asset classes to protect themselves.

By knowing these things in advance as well as how to prosper while others lose out you need to watch the video below. This is about to be one of the biggest zero sum games in history and you want to be on the right side of the equation.

To listen to how to protect your money and buy Elevation Group’s stuff please visit the link below.

http://tx.cm/elevation-group-movie

Is this a scam? No Elevation Group is not a scam but they do market their financial information product in a way that appears to offer a quick fix to a complex situation as is your financial future for your family.

P.S. Don’t forget to use our link when signing up for Elevation group as you get one of the best bonuses out for the Elevation group system. here it is…

Elevation Group Bonus

Clearpoint Financial Solutions has Made a Big Difference for this East Texan!

December 14th, 2010

tyler texas financial servicesLike a huge percent of the population, a few years ago, I found myself in a fairly steep financial hole. After a major cross country move and a period of Job hunting I found that my credit card debt as ballooning. Every month I was robbing from Peter to pay Paul. Even making the minimum payments was giving me an ulcer. Finally, after realizing that I was never going to pay my way out I decided to look around for some creative solutions.

I rejected bankruptcy out of hand. I didn’t want to go through the financial and legal rectal exam the process required. More significantly for me however was my desire to pay the money back. Not that I was living recklessly or particularly irresponsibly, but I had borrowed the money, and I wanted to pay it back!

I don’t mean to cast dispersions on those who take this option. I know folks who have accepted this option due to truly uncontrollable circumstances like impossible medical bills. But this was not true in my case. I just couldn’t justify trying to get out of debt that I had accepted in good faith. Of course this also ruled out most of the companies that advertise on television offering to “settle your debt for a fraction of what you owe!” While bankruptcy of course requires seven years in order for the client’s credit to recover, negotiated settlement may never fully recover due to the fact that potential lenders see the loan applicant as potentially skipping out on future debt. Nothing in this life is free, and most of these offers smack of scams to me.

I was wary of debt consolidation companies too. I understand the principle but taking out another loan to pay the others seemed fraught with other dangers, like interest rate increases… not to mention the fact that I was in no ways certain to qualify for a loan large enough to consolidate all of my debt. So I looked around for another option. I found one in the form of Clearpoint Financial Solutions.

The company is a thirty year old, not for profit financial counseling organization. They also come highly recommended by the Better Business Bureau. I searched for consumer evaluations and only found one negative review. Admittedly I didn’t search exhaustively, but as far as I could see it’s a legit company. Of course they negotiate with the borrower’s creditors in order to get a low stable interest rate. The borrower is unable either to use his or her credit cards or apply for new loans or new cards as long as they are enrolled in the program. Participants make a single monthly payment to Clearpoint, and they disperse an agreed upon amount to the creditors. This approach is much better for the borrower’s credit long term than either bankruptcy, or negotiated settlements.

Credit counseling programs like Clearpoint may not be for everyone, but it’s been great for me. After just a few years in the program I have paid off a sizable chunk of what I owe, and I stand to be debt- free next year, (aside for my mortgage). With financial times being what they are being without an added monthly bill (especially one that size) is going to feel pretty good! Personally I would recommend Clearpoint any day. I was and will be a huge relief for me! For more information on Clearpoint Financial Solutions, see their web site at http://www.clearpointcreditcounselingsolutions.org.