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1.  Avoid Mistakes in Buying LTC Insurance  2.  Annuity Owner Mistakes  3.  CD Shoppers’ Guide  4.  Helping You Avoid IRA Distribution Mistakes  5.  Six Best and Worst IRA Rollover Decisions  6.  Six Strategies to Help Retirees Reduce Taxes  7.  The Best Way to Buy Sell or Replace Life Insurance  8.  Understanding Mutual Funds    *** Keep checking for your FREE INFO!

Is Your Money working as hard as you did? Everyone wants the best returns with the least risk. Today, our greatest blessing is also our greatest challenge - we are living much longer! My mom and dad at 84 have been retired already for thirty years.  The good news is they are still very happy and healthy after 64 years of marriage.  Are you prepared for a retirement that may last three or more decades?

Occasionally, the financial portfolio of a retiree is in line with the goal of maintaining the most important wish - “I want my money to grow, but more importantly I want it to be safe.” It was said in another way when that famous financial cowboy John Wayne once said,  “I am not as concerned about the return on my money as the return of my money!” Safety financially would typically include a “principal protected” investment with no possibility of loss of principal (or initial investment).  CDs, money market funds, fixed annuities and several other investments are principal protected, but usually produce lower and often unacceptable earnings.  Those of you still working would certainly not be satisfied with minimum wages.  At the same time, how in the world can we know how to balance our retirement dollars or how to allocate our assets? What are the available options?

Let’s consider the Balancing Act.  You may remember as a child the dietary choices provided to us in a balanced diet? I have never been particularly fond of vegetables but realized as I became older that the food foundation that composed my diet as a youngster was important.  We also must build our finances on certain basics and several obvious principals.  As a youth, I could drink all the milk and absorb most of the fat that was necessary for growth.  As a mature adult  it has become obvious that an abundance of dairy products and fat may not be best for me now.  Those things that were good for me as a child put my health at risk as an adult.  The fat foods we often enjoy, may now be too risky for me just as more volatile market investments may no longer be best for my financial health.

Twenty-five years ago we were recommending mutual funds to most of our clients. The major difference between then and now is the fact that our average client then was 30 to 40 years old.  Our average client now is 60 to 80 years old.  Our investment strategies must change when we get older or our financial health may be at risk just as is our physical health.

The Rule of 100 is often taken into consideration by people with wealth as well as those who would like to enjoy financial security.  Simply your present age and use it as the percent that should be placed in safe & secure investments without risk [if you are 65 as below, then 65% or more of your assets need to be safe]. On the other hand subtract your age from 100 to determine the maximum investment dollars that should be placed at risk [in this example of a 65 year old, 100-65=35 or no more than 35% of your money should be placed at risk].

John Bogle, author of Common Sense on Mutual Funds reports that “during the greatest bull market in history the average equity fund investor has received just 2.7% per year, while the Standard and Poor’s 500 Stock Index has risen at a 12.2% average annual rate since 1984. ” In other words after taxes and inflation the average Joe that had his money in mutual funds for the last eighteen years is probably in the hole.

Diversification among Mutual Funds is not really diversification when all assets vary with market performance.  The standard stock broker model portfolio is diversified with 65% in stocks, 25% in bonds and perhaps 10% in cash.  When you place those splits on a pie chart they look great.  Of course when you are just looking at the pies in the Piccadilly line the cherry, apple, pecan and even chicken pot pie may all look very similar from the top.  The problem is what’s on the inside!

Let’s look at a perfect pie chart owned by a 68 year old couple.  Notice the upside down pyramid which illustrates the fact that only 10% of the assets are safe while 90% are at risk.  Based upon the rule of 100, a person age 68 should have 68% or more of the assets in a safe position as shown in the base of the lower pyramid.

“Investors hate losing, but won’t dump the losers.” Numerous noted economists have determined that individuals are much more distressed by prospective losses than they are happy by equivalent gains.  People are often twice as likely to feel the pain of a loss than the joy of a gain.  Over twenty-five years ago I realized as a icensed securities or stock broker that equities, typically mutual funds usually provide superior returns.  That was and is still true historically.  Unfortunately, we have had the experience of having major stock market losses twice in the last ten years.  Any logical thinking would cause one to expect that this could happen again.  We must balance our retirement dollars so that we have safety during the years when we are retired and no longer working.  The problem, or the challenge as mentioned earlier is that retirees are living longer and may not have time to wait for the market to recover from a major loss.

Remember the balancing act?  Most of us are familiar with safer products like cash, CDs and money market accounts that are guaranteed against loss.  The problem is that even though these products are very safe, they often do not grow fast enough to keep up with inflation.  Nearly every senior adult of thousands to whom I’ve spoken is most concerned about safety of their hard-earned assets.  At the same time, most of these same people are again very concerned that their money will also continue to grow during their retirement years.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could find a way to earn returns like many enjoy in a rising stock market, but without the risk of loss? Is it possible that your money could earn positive returns during years when the market goes up, but in lock in returns or gains and never lose money during years like we’ve just experienced in 2008? Examine again the products available to us to protect and grow our money today.  If you take your age of 60-70-80 years old, do you have 60-70 or 80% in safe products or are you overburdened with the risk of loss?

It is exciting for my wife Judy and me that we have hundreds of clients, including our parents who have not lost one nickel during the last year.  Each time the market has gone down people who are heavily involved in stocks and bonds and variable annuities and mutual funds and real estate investment trusts [REIT] and other equity based investments have lost and may continue to lose money. Wouldn’t it be nice to know that your account will never go down, but only increase? Perhaps you might think as many do, “That is just too good to be true?” Let’s look at a product that has been around since 1995, but has been used and abused and misunderstood so that many have not really examined the benefits.   One of the well-known “financial experts” has been on Larry King Live several times.  As recently as in the last several months she mentioned a product  discussed in her book The Road to Wealth.  The products to which she referred are index-linked accounts, indexed to the S&P or Dow Jones or NASDAQ.  You may wish to consider these products as you seek growth without risk.

Let’s take a quick true-false quiz to consider the truth about the Fixed Indexed Annuity to determine whether or not this might product might be one which you may wish to consider - and one that has benefited millions of senior adults.

We have helped hundreds of seniors and others concerned about growing their money without the risk of loss. We have helped these people move millions of dollars into accounts that are absolutely and totally guaranteed against loss.  Most of our own personal retirement dollars are placed in these same products with top rated companies that manage billions of dollars for millions of people.  Not one of these products has ever lost money and each are still solid and strong even in the midst of  what many have labeled the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression.  Please take a moment to call 225-603-7777 and give me the privilege of giving you more information.  You will be glad you did!

By the way . . . just FYI . . .

2009 will be a banner year for indexed-linked products.

Index-linked products offer fixed rates that exceed CD rates.  For example a 5% bonus annuity combined with a 4% fixed rate provides a five year yield in excess of 5%.

Index-linked products offer an upside potential that is appealing in a depressed market.  Some products have sub-accounts that could capture close to 100% of the upside yet with complete principal protection.

Many insurance companies that have been in business over 100 years are offering these index-linked products.  They survived the Great Depression when the Dow dropped 85% and they are surviving again in the midst of financial turmoil.

YOU can have safety & the chance to earn yields greater than Bank CDs.

Especially for VETERANS - to apply for “Aid and Attendance” benefits that may be available to you as a Veteran [$1,632 for Veteran, $1,055 for surviving spouse or $1,949 for a couple] click on the following link and print out the appropriate form and send it to the Veterans Administration: http://www.veteransofmississippi.com/va_mississippi_010.htm

You may also get additional information from the VA on the following web page: http://www.vba.va.gov/benefits/address.htm

Please take a moment to email:  Steve@210Corp.com or call 225-603-7777 to obtain any additional information.  You will be glad you did!