Wealth Talks

Risk tolerance is a big term in typical financial planning. Basically, risk tolerance is the amount of nerve you have to watch your investment portfolio lose money without flinching. According to typical financial planning, the higher your "risk tolerance" the more money you should risk losing to try and get big returns.

But typical financial planning isn't working out so good for most Americans. People are running out of money in retirement and the median savings for someone age 65 or older is only $63,000.

If you are allergic to risk and you hate losing money, if you believe that when you're 65 you should have more than $63,000 in savings then you probably shouldn't follow typical financial planning.

Doing nothing is not enough though, you must do something better, that's what we talk about on episode 248 of Wealth Talks. Listen Now.

Wealth Seminar on February 20th. Register Here»

How is wealth created? According to George Gilder, there are three things that create wealth. (Listen to find out)

People who put money in a 401(k) limit their access to their own money which makes it hard to create wealth… and 401(k)s aren't treating people all that well, to begin with.

The average 401(k) balance is pretty low especially considering many employees are betting on their 401(k) to make retirement a reality. That's probably the reason most retired Americans depend on Social Security for at least 50% of their retirement income.

People who believe in the future use their money to create wealth. Can you do that too?

Discover the three things that create wealth. Listen Now.

Governments and central banks are taking the low road. They are attempting to artificially stimulate the economy by implementing negative interest rates. John says it will work probably work short-term Tom says it could cause people to hoard tangible assets like gold, silver, antique automobiles and art.

What is it that really stimulates an economy long-term and causes wealth to be created?

Why do you think most business regulations are put in place?

A. To protect small business from getting overrun by big business

B. To make it hard for small business to compete with big business

Now picture yourself approaching retirement… what would you do if interest rates went negative on all of your retirement savings, and instead of earning interest on your money, you had to start paying just to keep the money you'd saved?

All this and more on episode 246 of Wealth Talks. Listen Now.

Most people think saving money is about cutting lifestyle and luxuries. This is certainly one way to save, but it is not the only way because where you save your money can make a big difference in how much you get to keep. 💵

Benjamin Franklin says, "There are two ways to increase your wealth. Increase your means or decrease your wants. The best is to do both at the same time." But increasing your means is not always as easy as increasing your income because expenses tend to rise to equal (or exceed) income (Parkinson's law). 😟

When you have a good plan for your finances you can save more money without working any harder; you can have peace of mind and be ready for good investment opportunities when they come to you.

Whether you're trying to save more money for retirement, to make an investment, or just saving money for a rainy day it's always a good thing to minimize fees and taxes. And you want a big word called LIQUIDITY. Find out why this is so important.

Resources:

10-20-70 Cashflow Worksheet Tool

Tips for Saving More Money in 2020 - Video

Wealth and Poverty book by George Gilder

The Black Swan book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

he SECURE Act was signed into law by President Trump on December 20, 2019. Here are some key changes you should know as you plan for retirement:

Generally, the SECURE Act:

• Removed Maximum Age limit for IRA Contributions
• Increased the age for Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from age 70.5 to 72
• Enforces a 10yr distribution window for most inherited retirement accounts - no more stretch IRAs

The SECURE Act is likely to increase age tax-qualified account balances because people will be encouraged to save more in these accounts. It will also increase government tax revenues because of the 10yr distribution rule on inherited accounts.

Also under the Secure Act, employers get a tax credit by automatically enrolling employees in the company sponsored retirement plan (Small-Employer Automatic Enrollment Credit). If you don't want to be automatically enrolled into contributions to your company retirement plan you may need to take action to opt-out.

Now is a good time to consider how much of your money you wish to invest in tax-qualified accounts compared to paying the tax and building wealth in other types of accounts where you have more control, lower fees and less market risk.

For example: Target-date mutual funds are a default option for most retirement plans with an automatic enrollment. Target-date funds are sold as a "set it and forget it management strategy" and they are also notorious for high fees. Fees are a killer whenever you try to grow your money.

Compare target-date funds with the guaranteed values that build in participating whole life insurance policy over a similar time period. It could make sense to keep the control of your money and lock in guaranteed growth through life insurance + leave any legacy to your heirs income tax-free, instead of putting them into a higher tax-bracket with required distributions on an inherited tax-qualified account.

Wealth Workshop in Las Vegas Jan 18th - Register now

Most people are losing money with typical financial planning. Learn to use Life Insurance as a Financial tool while you're living so you can keep more of the money you make and have financial peace of mind.

Can you really eliminate the control of Banks and Financial institutions in your life by using Life Insurance? Or should you own Life Insurance for different reasons? Discover the best reasons to own and use Life Insurance as a financial tool in 2020.

With the New Year just around the corner it's a great time to reflect on the history of Life Insurance and how to achieve your goals in 2020. New Year's resolutions are infamous for lasting only a few weeks. What does it take to get the follow through you deserve and achieve the results you really want?

Consistent Action is one key. And so is Consistent Motivation. One way to stay motivated in 2020 = Subscribe to Your Monday Motivation a 2-minute weekly motivational message from Ben McFie.

Subscribe to Your Monday Motivation on Apple Podcasts

OR Subscribe by text message by texting: MMM to 77222

What are people talking about when you hear the term "Investment Grade Life Insurance"? Answer: It can be just about any type of life insurance under the sun because the "Investment Grade" part is marketing fluff.

The Supreme court has ruled that life insurance is not an investment but rather an asset, so what you really want to know is how the underlying life insurance works and how it would fit into your portfolio.

This podcast show makes it easy to understand the value of guarantees from WHOLE life insurance in your portfolio, and why it pays to be wary of any other type of risk management scheme contrived within a UNIVERSAL life insurance contract. When you know what's really happening, you'll know what to do.

Resources:

Get the Tool: Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for Policy Values

Register for the: Jan 18th Workshop in Las Vegas

Should you rely only on Group Life Insurance through your employer? Or does it make sense to combine your group coverage with individual coverage? What option(s) will cost the least over time? What else should you know of when it comes to Group Life Insurance? Find out now.

Hear the pros and cons of Group Life Insurance and how it compares (or can work together) with personal Term Life Insurance and Participating Whole Life insurance to get you the best coverage.

Resources:

Get a Quote for Term or Participating Whole Life Insurance here

Stories from the Plymouth Pilgrim colony and the modern Farming community help to explore the way Socialism differs from Mutual Assistance, Mutual Organizations or acts of Charity in a community. Ask yourself, what model will best protect wealth? And discover how you can you participate in a mutual framework to protect the wealth you create.

Obviously, charity is important, while greed is destructive. The right method and attitude for creating and protecting your wealth follows the same guidelines. Do this right and you will experience a wealthier life beyond just the money you accumulate in the process.

This show also includes some fun facts on life insurance…how much life insurance was in-force in 1930 compared to 2018? Listen and find out.

Resources: 2018 Life Insurance Stats - Statista.com

What you need to know about government, money systems and market environments to build sustainable wealth - we make it all easy for you. Understanding these systems conceptually, will help you grow your wealth and keep more of the money you make.

Did you know Sir Isaac Newton (the inventor of calculus) made a significant contribution to a stable monetary system in England? This helped to set the stage for the great wealth accumulated by the British Empire. Hear the story on today's show.

Today's discussion also sheds light on why you should become wealthy in the first place. It boils down to how you get the money, and that should be a virtuous activity. As writer George Gilder points out, wealth is only valuable when it is combined with wisdom. Same reason why currency trading doesn't "create" any value.

"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness", is the foundation which allows opportunity for you to create value out of nothing which is the only model that "creates" real wealth. Other methods just shuffle money around but DO NOT CREATE any new wealth.

Summary includes a tool you can use to avoid some of the imperfections in the "system of the world" in which we live today. This helps maximize your opportunities to create wealth and keep control of the wealth you do create.

Resources:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+17&version=NASB

https://www.life-benefits.com/how-to-protect-your-money-from-inflation/