Recently in the news from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) Thairman was quoed as saying They do not expect any more large bank failure on the magnitude of IndyMac Bank. IndyMac Bank was a top ten mortgage lender in the USA. The FDIC at the same time said they do expect numerous smaller bank failure in the short term.
If I kept a significant amount of money in a bank what message would I take from this announcement. I should add that the bulk of our assets are never in a bank. The take away message is that you should never have money in a bank in excess of FDIC insurance limits. Perhaps the prudent will actually deal with lower personal limits than the FDIC limits. There are Bank alternatives that can do the following things. Earn a higher interest rate than banks will pay. This is usually easy to do. Find a financial product with a very high degree of safety. There are financial products available with no risk to principal due to market risk. There are even products available that do all of these things and can providetax deferred growth if you don't need the income immediately. Utilizing the tax deferred benefit may even reduce your current tax bill or if you are on social security may even reduce or eliminate taxes on your social security benefits.
Wee can help you achieve these goals with safety of your principal. Will Rogers once said "I am much more interested in the safety of my money than I am in the interest on my money". Long term financial products that protect your money.
How can we help you?
polarisfinancialservices@gmail.com
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
Monday, July 28, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Long Term Care
Kiplinger Magazine and John Hancock Life Insurance have put together a very informative 22 minute video on key topics of Long Term Care. It talks about who needs care, where can you get care, how much care costs, how much insurance costs and how to pay for it. The link is on our website. Starting from the home page follow links to external pages and click on the link to Kiplinger LTC Video.
Our website address is
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
We can help you with your LTC needs and help you decide which policy and how much coverage is right for you.
Our website address is
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
We can help you with your LTC needs and help you decide which policy and how much coverage is right for you.
Long Term Care Video
Kiplinger Magazine and John Hancock Insurance Company have created a very informative 22 minute educational video on Long Term Care (LTC). It discusses who need it , where care is or can be provided, how much it costs for care, how much Insurance costs, and how to pay for it.
The link for that video is included on our website. Once in the website go to external links
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
The link for that video is included on our website. Once in the website go to external links
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Long Term Care Options
Occasionally a client tells us that they do not want to buy Long Term Care (LTC) insurance.
They may feel that they cannot afford the coverage. This is often a erroneous perception. Especially if they buy the policy when they are still relatively young and healthy the premiums can be rather modest considering the massive amount of risk that the insurance is designed to protect the client from! It is relatively easy for a client or a couple to have a LTC risk of $1 million or more.
They may know that their medical conditions make purchasing a policy cost prohibitive if not impossible. There is a real risk here! The best solution for this risk is to buy the product early when you are still in good health.
Some clients want to self fund the risk. The funny thing here is that most of the clients who can truly afford to self insure the risk are also generally smart enough to know that they should not try and self insure a potential multi million dollar risk. When one self insures they are betting that they have decades for their assets to grow enough to be able to cover the costs. Unfortunately our collective crystal balls are less than perfect. We simply have no way of anticipating when we will have the need through disease, or accidental causes. A partially funded program without enough years to compound the growth of assets is just plain not good enough.
If you are one of the lucky ones that truly has the assets but just hates the thought of paying premiums for the next 10 years to life there are alternatives designed for you. These are asset based product and several types are available. Some of these actually include a money back guarantee. you can't loose with these. You get long term care coverage and your money back if you never need it.
Some clients just don't have the assets to protect and for these clients a Medicaid spend down leading to Medicaid covered Long Term Care is a reasonable option.
Regardless of your situation specifics we can help you!
visit our website or contact us directly
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
polarisfinancialservices@gmail.com
They may feel that they cannot afford the coverage. This is often a erroneous perception. Especially if they buy the policy when they are still relatively young and healthy the premiums can be rather modest considering the massive amount of risk that the insurance is designed to protect the client from! It is relatively easy for a client or a couple to have a LTC risk of $1 million or more.
They may know that their medical conditions make purchasing a policy cost prohibitive if not impossible. There is a real risk here! The best solution for this risk is to buy the product early when you are still in good health.
Some clients want to self fund the risk. The funny thing here is that most of the clients who can truly afford to self insure the risk are also generally smart enough to know that they should not try and self insure a potential multi million dollar risk. When one self insures they are betting that they have decades for their assets to grow enough to be able to cover the costs. Unfortunately our collective crystal balls are less than perfect. We simply have no way of anticipating when we will have the need through disease, or accidental causes. A partially funded program without enough years to compound the growth of assets is just plain not good enough.
If you are one of the lucky ones that truly has the assets but just hates the thought of paying premiums for the next 10 years to life there are alternatives designed for you. These are asset based product and several types are available. Some of these actually include a money back guarantee. you can't loose with these. You get long term care coverage and your money back if you never need it.
Some clients just don't have the assets to protect and for these clients a Medicaid spend down leading to Medicaid covered Long Term Care is a reasonable option.
Regardless of your situation specifics we can help you!
visit our website or contact us directly
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
polarisfinancialservices@gmail.com
Monday, July 21, 2008
Can you still retire
In friday July 11 issue of USA Today there was a good article about retirement written by Kathy Chu. The article talks about retirement and determining if your assets are adequate to last as long as you live in retirement. Although it is a good article thare are some key points missing and we will get to them in this blog entry. Kathy makes a number of excellent points about how important the early years are in permitting the asset base to grow and the terrible detrimental effect a couple of bad early years can have on your ability to have enough money to get through many years of retirement. She also shares the traditional rule of thumb that says take out no more than 4-5% of the assests per year if you want to maximize the length of time the assets will remain. She also talks about adjustments to withdrawals in the rule of thumb during one or more bad years.
It talks about postponing retirement if your assets need more time to grow and postponing Social security to get some additional monthly income. She adds that it is important to keep assets positioned in such a way that you have the ability to out perform the inflation rate. there are a number of references to food prices, gas prices, energy costs and healthcare costs. We all know the impact that each of those is having on our budget.
She also mentions diversification of assets and asset allocation strategies. All of these are good things but nowhere does she talk about the single thing that a boomer or retiree can do that will guarantee that the retirement asset pool will never run out as long as you live. She acknowledges that inflation adjusted pensions like Social Security are a good thing but she fails to tell the readers that they can create that for themselves with their own assets. This is something everyone with assets should be doing with at least a significant percentage of their retirement assets and their general assets.
The key points in the strategy we recommend are the following. Position a majority of your assets where there is NO risk of market loss due to economic market turbulence. Lock in each years gains protecting them from downturns in subsequent years. When possible shelter your assets during the growth mode from current income taxes. Deferred income taxes allow you principal and your previous years earning growth to continue to grow without creating a tax liability that you have to pay off when you file your annual taxes. You need to insure that your assets have the opportunity to grow at a rate that can beat the rate of inflation consistently. Remember that this year the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has risen at a rate of 5%. This is the highest CPI adjustment in a number of years. The products we are talking about do usually have early surrender charges on a sliding scale. These can be 10-15% but you have control over when you take the money out. Many clients never have to pay a surrender charge at all. By timing your withdrawals to the surrender charge free withdrawal schedule you can almost always avoid paying any fees at all! You are in control! Finally do all of these things usually without a collection of annual fees and charges that typically run 2% or more of total assets per year. Remember that if you hold those types of assets for 20 or 30 years the fees continue to add up and may have generated total fees that cost you an amount equal to 40-60% of your initial contribution. These fees certainly will reduce the asset value that you get to keep or walk away with.
What single product can and has consistently met all of these criteria? The answer isn't found at your bank and isn't generally offered through your local broker. There is only one type of product that offers all of the positive things discussed and doesn't have the annual fees and charges listed above. The products we are talking about are long term saving vehicles. Only Fixed indexed Annuities do all of the positive things listed above and usually, avoid the annual fees on the downside. When you do add a rider to a fixed Indexed Annuity the maximum rider charge is usually 1/2 of 1% or less. There are currently products that will guarantee an increase in Income Account Value of up to 7.2% per year. This doubles your income every 10 years and quadruples your assets in 20 years. When you do decide to begin withdrawing income from the product you can create a Lifetime Income Stream that you cannot outlive.
We can help!
polarisfinancialservices@gmail.com
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
I
It talks about postponing retirement if your assets need more time to grow and postponing Social security to get some additional monthly income. She adds that it is important to keep assets positioned in such a way that you have the ability to out perform the inflation rate. there are a number of references to food prices, gas prices, energy costs and healthcare costs. We all know the impact that each of those is having on our budget.
She also mentions diversification of assets and asset allocation strategies. All of these are good things but nowhere does she talk about the single thing that a boomer or retiree can do that will guarantee that the retirement asset pool will never run out as long as you live. She acknowledges that inflation adjusted pensions like Social Security are a good thing but she fails to tell the readers that they can create that for themselves with their own assets. This is something everyone with assets should be doing with at least a significant percentage of their retirement assets and their general assets.
The key points in the strategy we recommend are the following. Position a majority of your assets where there is NO risk of market loss due to economic market turbulence. Lock in each years gains protecting them from downturns in subsequent years. When possible shelter your assets during the growth mode from current income taxes. Deferred income taxes allow you principal and your previous years earning growth to continue to grow without creating a tax liability that you have to pay off when you file your annual taxes. You need to insure that your assets have the opportunity to grow at a rate that can beat the rate of inflation consistently. Remember that this year the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has risen at a rate of 5%. This is the highest CPI adjustment in a number of years. The products we are talking about do usually have early surrender charges on a sliding scale. These can be 10-15% but you have control over when you take the money out. Many clients never have to pay a surrender charge at all. By timing your withdrawals to the surrender charge free withdrawal schedule you can almost always avoid paying any fees at all! You are in control! Finally do all of these things usually without a collection of annual fees and charges that typically run 2% or more of total assets per year. Remember that if you hold those types of assets for 20 or 30 years the fees continue to add up and may have generated total fees that cost you an amount equal to 40-60% of your initial contribution. These fees certainly will reduce the asset value that you get to keep or walk away with.
What single product can and has consistently met all of these criteria? The answer isn't found at your bank and isn't generally offered through your local broker. There is only one type of product that offers all of the positive things discussed and doesn't have the annual fees and charges listed above. The products we are talking about are long term saving vehicles. Only Fixed indexed Annuities do all of the positive things listed above and usually, avoid the annual fees on the downside. When you do add a rider to a fixed Indexed Annuity the maximum rider charge is usually 1/2 of 1% or less. There are currently products that will guarantee an increase in Income Account Value of up to 7.2% per year. This doubles your income every 10 years and quadruples your assets in 20 years. When you do decide to begin withdrawing income from the product you can create a Lifetime Income Stream that you cannot outlive.
We can help!
polarisfinancialservices@gmail.com
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
I
Thursday, July 17, 2008
How to Increase Eligibility for Student Financial Aid
We work with clients to improve financial aid eligibility for college The amount of financial aid your student may qualify for is based on family assets and income. Saving in the form of stocks, bonds,mutual funds,savings and checking accounts,bank CDs, investment real estate and money market funds are all considered assets. Consequently, your net worth in these products count against you in financial aid eligibility determination used in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
We can help you reallocate your assets so your financial portfolio is treated favorably in the FAFSA process. We offer several financial instruments that provide safety and protection of your principal while also reducing FAFSA qualifying assets. You have absolutely no risk of market loss with these products!
If your family income exceeds FAFSA guidelines, we offer long term investment strategies that provide safe, secure growth. Products such as Coverdell Education Savings Accounts, 529 Plans, ROTH IRA Plans, and other general tax deferred savings vehicles all are available to help pay for college costs.
We look forward to assisting you and your student with college funding. How can we help you?
Please contact us here or on the website.
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
polarisfinancialservices@gmail.com
We can help you reallocate your assets so your financial portfolio is treated favorably in the FAFSA process. We offer several financial instruments that provide safety and protection of your principal while also reducing FAFSA qualifying assets. You have absolutely no risk of market loss with these products!
If your family income exceeds FAFSA guidelines, we offer long term investment strategies that provide safe, secure growth. Products such as Coverdell Education Savings Accounts, 529 Plans, ROTH IRA Plans, and other general tax deferred savings vehicles all are available to help pay for college costs.
We look forward to assisting you and your student with college funding. How can we help you?
Please contact us here or on the website.
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
polarisfinancialservices@gmail.com
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Health Insurance Will Your Former Employer Cut Back On Benefits
The AARP Bullletin newsletter for July August 2008 had an interesting short article on a growing benefits problem for retirees. They talk about companies that had committed to providing health insurance benefits for their retirees. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) passed a regulation that permits companies to cut back on health insurance benefits when the former employee becomes eligible for Medicare at age 65. For many retirees Medicare plans are not equal to the benefits through their former employers plans. Understand that although employers have been given the right to modify plans not every employer will do so. However the economic pressure will continue to encourage employers to do so. Make your voice heard to your current and your former employers.
We all need to be planning to take care of ourselves for retirement income, retirement planning, health insurance and Long Term Care needs. The trend for companies to cut back on health benefits and pensions continues. I can help with planning and implementing your financial strategy.
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
VA LTC Benefits VA Aid and Attendance Program
Under certain circumstance long term care coverage is provided
without cost to those of our veterans or their spouses who qualify.
Called the Aid and Attendance benefit, this program is an under-utilized
benefit that can provides upwards of $2o thousand per year to help
a veteran or the surviving spouse of a veteran pay for long term health
care costs including home health care, assisted living or even nursing
home expenses. The benefit is paid regardless of the need for care,
provided the veteran or spouse is older than the age of 65. There are
income and asset restrictions that apply so not all veterans are eligible.
Even if they do qualify a suppleemental LTC policy may make sense.
There are millions of veterans who served during WWII, the Korean
War, the Vietnam War, or the first Gulf War who fall into the category
of needing help with at least one activity of daily living (ADL). There is
no requirement that the veteran actually served in the war zone. It is
just required that they served in the US military during the time of the
conflict. I have two brothers one served in Vietam and the other did his
duty stationed in the US. Both of them may be eligible for coverage if
qualifying conditions are met. Neither has a military related disability
but they may qualify because they served during a period of war,
served a total of 90 days of active duty and received an honorable or
general discharge.
Neither Medicaid nor Medicare will provide a private nurse for home
care. The Aid and Attendance benefit may be available to help pay the
cost. This benefit may provide enough extra income to allow them to
pay for care while avoiding Medicaid spend-down. Reimbursement for
care does not require that care is to be provided by a licensed
professional. It may be provided by a friend or family. For more
information on the VA Aid and Attendance benefit visit you local VA
office, your veterans organization or go online,
www.vaaidandattendance.com
http://www.vaaidandattendance.com
We would be happy to help
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
without cost to those of our veterans or their spouses who qualify.
Called the Aid and Attendance benefit, this program is an under-utilized
benefit that can provides upwards of $2o thousand per year to help
a veteran or the surviving spouse of a veteran pay for long term health
care costs including home health care, assisted living or even nursing
home expenses. The benefit is paid regardless of the need for care,
provided the veteran or spouse is older than the age of 65. There are
income and asset restrictions that apply so not all veterans are eligible.
Even if they do qualify a suppleemental LTC policy may make sense.
There are millions of veterans who served during WWII, the Korean
War, the Vietnam War, or the first Gulf War who fall into the category
of needing help with at least one activity of daily living (ADL). There is
no requirement that the veteran actually served in the war zone. It is
just required that they served in the US military during the time of the
conflict. I have two brothers one served in Vietam and the other did his
duty stationed in the US. Both of them may be eligible for coverage if
qualifying conditions are met. Neither has a military related disability
but they may qualify because they served during a period of war,
served a total of 90 days of active duty and received an honorable or
general discharge.
Neither Medicaid nor Medicare will provide a private nurse for home
care. The Aid and Attendance benefit may be available to help pay the
cost. This benefit may provide enough extra income to allow them to
pay for care while avoiding Medicaid spend-down. Reimbursement for
care does not require that care is to be provided by a licensed
professional. It may be provided by a friend or family. For more
information on the VA Aid and Attendance benefit visit you local VA
office, your veterans organization or go online,
www.vaaidandattendance.com
http://www.vaaidandattendance.com
We would be happy to help
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
Monday, July 14, 2008
Does your advisor have skin in the Game
I was reading a number of industry articles and blogs today. One in particular struck a cord for me. It is a blog authored by Kim snider of Texas. http://kimsnider.blogs.com/
She was citing some work done by Kinnel who works for Morningstar.
She points out that many fund managers Don't have any skin in the game. That means that they are not buying what they are selling. The study showed that 59% of foreign stock fund manager had no skin in the game, 65% of Tax bond fund managers had no skin in the game, 70% of balanced fund managers had no skin in the game, 78% of muni fund managers studied had no skin in the game! WOW! How do you like those numbers!!!
I promise I will never sell a client a product I would not want to own or have my parents own!
Should you trust a financial fund manager that does not own a significant amount of the products that they manage. I would expand on that and apply it to brokers, insurance agents and advisors. Should you use any professional who doesn't put his skin in the game. I for one believe in what I offer my clients and have always put my skin in the game.
I thought it was great because it really made me think. Whats the difference between just being a salesman and being a really great advisor. A mere salesman is only concerned with selling you something. A great advisor or planner views themselves as a partner helping you grow your assets and meet your goals. I strive to be a great advisor. I view myself as a partner in helping you meet your goals. If you agree that that is what you want in an advisor I'd definitely be happy to speak with you about working together to HELP you meet your most important goals. For a great advisor its not just about the money. Frankly, I made more money before I became an advisor. You know what, I'm definitely happier doing what I am doing now! I spend a great deal of my time ,energy and assets on educating my clients. Sometimes it pays of financially and frankly sometimes it does not pay off. This is the way I would want to be treated so it is the only way I will treat my clients!!
Feel free to visit the website. Take our survey and let us know how we could help you!
www.columbufinancialplanningpros.com
She was citing some work done by Kinnel who works for Morningstar.
She points out that many fund managers Don't have any skin in the game. That means that they are not buying what they are selling. The study showed that 59% of foreign stock fund manager had no skin in the game, 65% of Tax bond fund managers had no skin in the game, 70% of balanced fund managers had no skin in the game, 78% of muni fund managers studied had no skin in the game! WOW! How do you like those numbers!!!
I promise I will never sell a client a product I would not want to own or have my parents own!
Should you trust a financial fund manager that does not own a significant amount of the products that they manage. I would expand on that and apply it to brokers, insurance agents and advisors. Should you use any professional who doesn't put his skin in the game. I for one believe in what I offer my clients and have always put my skin in the game.
I thought it was great because it really made me think. Whats the difference between just being a salesman and being a really great advisor. A mere salesman is only concerned with selling you something. A great advisor or planner views themselves as a partner helping you grow your assets and meet your goals. I strive to be a great advisor. I view myself as a partner in helping you meet your goals. If you agree that that is what you want in an advisor I'd definitely be happy to speak with you about working together to HELP you meet your most important goals. For a great advisor its not just about the money. Frankly, I made more money before I became an advisor. You know what, I'm definitely happier doing what I am doing now! I spend a great deal of my time ,energy and assets on educating my clients. Sometimes it pays of financially and frankly sometimes it does not pay off. This is the way I would want to be treated so it is the only way I will treat my clients!!
Feel free to visit the website. Take our survey and let us know how we could help you!
www.columbufinancialplanningpros.com
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Struggles saving for retirement and college
A recent Putnam Investments Reseach Study has confirmed what many of us already know. In the absence of a true pension plan at work saving for a young childs college education at the same time we are trying to save for our own retirement is a daunting challenge! To make matters worse, almost 50 private lenders and non profit lenders have quit writing student loans in the past year. Some of this is aggravated by the bank lending mess we are currently in. Some of todays headlines suggest that the mortgage lending mess is not yet at the bottom.
Now more than ever we need to be able to look at all possible avenues for obtaining college funding. We need to be thinking scholarships and grants first, followed by maximizing our eligibility for Need Based Financial Aid. Some forms of Financial require repayment and some do not require that the money be repaid.
Several dozen extremely well endowed colleges and universities are prepared to guarantee that if you are admitted. you will be able to graduate Student debt free. You will still have to contribute the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) but after that the College or University is prepared to kick in enough Financial Aid or Work Study income to allow the student to graduate without student loans.
There are perfectly legal techniques that we can often use to increase a students eligibility for Need Based Financial aid. That is one of the services that we offer our clients.
Now more than ever we need to be able to look at all possible avenues for obtaining college funding. We need to be thinking scholarships and grants first, followed by maximizing our eligibility for Need Based Financial Aid. Some forms of Financial require repayment and some do not require that the money be repaid.
Several dozen extremely well endowed colleges and universities are prepared to guarantee that if you are admitted. you will be able to graduate Student debt free. You will still have to contribute the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) but after that the College or University is prepared to kick in enough Financial Aid or Work Study income to allow the student to graduate without student loans.
There are perfectly legal techniques that we can often use to increase a students eligibility for Need Based Financial aid. That is one of the services that we offer our clients.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Interest Rate highlights and Long Term Disability
Two topics for today
Several Interest Rate updates to add
several new interest rates for various terms of product have just been added. These are guaranteed rates for the full term. Contribution minimums apply, and early withdrawal rules also apply.
4 year term 5.0% per year
6 year term 5.3% per year
Disability Risk and how to pay for it
I just came across a recent summary of a study sponsored by the Life foundation.
Long Term Disability is considered to be a disabling injury or illness making it impossible for a worker to work for a period of 90 days or longer. Short Term Disability is defined as an injury or illness making it impossible to work for a period of less than 90 days. between 35-40 % of workers have some form of short term disability coverage and only about 30% of companies employees have access to LTD coverage. Not all eligible employees have elected this coverage.
Out of 140 plus million employees in the US only about 5-6% have comprehensive Long Term Disability income policies in place through work or through private policy purchase of Long Term Disability (LTD) coverage. Many employees have coverage through Workers Compensation which will provide coverage for a work related injury but provides no benefit for illness or non work related injury. These facts mean that most employees have no protection or at best inadequate coverage for Disability risk.
Employers take note this is a desirable benefit. Providing coverage can actually help the company save money on their Workers Comp premium. Employees take note. tell your boss or HR department that you would be interested in a benefits package including some LTD coverage. Especially in a group setting this coverage is relatively modest in cost.
On a recent visit to a Hospital based Rehab facility visiting a family member I met several young patients one as young as 25 years old. They were not disabled due to a work place accident and therefore were not eligible for Workers Comp.
Policies are available to cover a period from 2 years, 5 years or up until the patient reaches age 65. One of our clients wanted coverage to age 65 but with his medical history we were able to get him coverage for a maximum of 5 years. Some occupations are difficult to get through underwriting. Occasionally by working with multiple carriers we can get coverage for hard to insure occupations.
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
polarisfinancialservices@gmail.com
Several Interest Rate updates to add
several new interest rates for various terms of product have just been added. These are guaranteed rates for the full term. Contribution minimums apply, and early withdrawal rules also apply.
4 year term 5.0% per year
6 year term 5.3% per year
Disability Risk and how to pay for it
I just came across a recent summary of a study sponsored by the Life foundation.
Long Term Disability is considered to be a disabling injury or illness making it impossible for a worker to work for a period of 90 days or longer. Short Term Disability is defined as an injury or illness making it impossible to work for a period of less than 90 days. between 35-40 % of workers have some form of short term disability coverage and only about 30% of companies employees have access to LTD coverage. Not all eligible employees have elected this coverage.
Out of 140 plus million employees in the US only about 5-6% have comprehensive Long Term Disability income policies in place through work or through private policy purchase of Long Term Disability (LTD) coverage. Many employees have coverage through Workers Compensation which will provide coverage for a work related injury but provides no benefit for illness or non work related injury. These facts mean that most employees have no protection or at best inadequate coverage for Disability risk.
Employers take note this is a desirable benefit. Providing coverage can actually help the company save money on their Workers Comp premium. Employees take note. tell your boss or HR department that you would be interested in a benefits package including some LTD coverage. Especially in a group setting this coverage is relatively modest in cost.
On a recent visit to a Hospital based Rehab facility visiting a family member I met several young patients one as young as 25 years old. They were not disabled due to a work place accident and therefore were not eligible for Workers Comp.
Policies are available to cover a period from 2 years, 5 years or up until the patient reaches age 65. One of our clients wanted coverage to age 65 but with his medical history we were able to get him coverage for a maximum of 5 years. Some occupations are difficult to get through underwriting. Occasionally by working with multiple carriers we can get coverage for hard to insure occupations.
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
polarisfinancialservices@gmail.com
Monday, July 7, 2008
Planning for Retirement
Hewitt Associates has just completed a study where they project that a retiree will need 126% of their pre retirement income in order to maintain their quality of life into retirement. This is a long term projection factoring in inflation, increasing lifespan and increasing medical costs in retirement. This number is higher than most of the other studies indicated. The exact number needed is subject to interpretation or estimation but what is certainly clear is that workers are not saving nearly enough to provide for a comfortable retirement. Social Security is likely to meet no more than about 30% of a retirees income needs. This assumes that the post babyboomers or late boomers will have any solvent SS benefits available at all. This gets even worse as income rises. 2/3 or retirees are saving less than 80% of their income needs. Only about 1 worker out of 5 will be able to retire comfortably without needing to significantly alter their standard of living.
The remaining 70-100% of income needs to come from savings, investments,IRA's, 401K or pension plans or equity harvested out of their home utilizing reverse mortgages.
We help clients determine where they are today and improve the picture for their future.
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
The remaining 70-100% of income needs to come from savings, investments,IRA's, 401K or pension plans or equity harvested out of their home utilizing reverse mortgages.
We help clients determine where they are today and improve the picture for their future.
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
Thursday, July 3, 2008
VA Education benefits
July 3 2008 Subject improvement in Education benefits for Veterans
Veterans having served in the military after sept 11, 2001 are entitled to an improved VA education benefit for college funding. This will cover college cost for up to 4 years of education. The maximum reimbursement will be based on the cost of a year in the most expensive public school in your state of residence. Additional money will also be available for housing and for books.
If you have completed school yourself you may be able to share this benefit or part of this enhanced benefit with your spouse or your children. The benefit period expires 15 years after you leave the military.
Contact your VA center for additional clarification or details.
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
Veterans having served in the military after sept 11, 2001 are entitled to an improved VA education benefit for college funding. This will cover college cost for up to 4 years of education. The maximum reimbursement will be based on the cost of a year in the most expensive public school in your state of residence. Additional money will also be available for housing and for books.
If you have completed school yourself you may be able to share this benefit or part of this enhanced benefit with your spouse or your children. The benefit period expires 15 years after you leave the military.
Contact your VA center for additional clarification or details.
www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
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