August 2009

Financial safety and risk

by Dr. Tomas McFie

Have your 401Ks turned into 201Ks? What's your place in the market now after 40-90% of your portfolio has been wiped out? Are you planning to work longer and harder than you planned on just 12 months ago because of recent market changes?

Chances are you will have to! And all because you were never taught the truth about money, rate of return, safety and risk! If you're like most folks this fact probably makes you a little angry.

But, suppose that:

***  There was a financial instrument with a track record stretching back 1,400 years, one that was so solid it could survive the Great Depression intact, earned untaxed interest at a competitive rate, could be borrowed against at will regardless of credit conditions and that could be used by individuals as well as major corporations and banks as a safe harbor during economic turmoil. [1]

***  You could take your assets and make them as liquid as cash and have them backed up by contractual law? [2]

***  You could play like the big boys… have the use of your money while it still earned a guaranteed rate of return as if you'd never touched it? [3]

***  You could play the market like a Ben Bernanke, from an inside view. [4]

Then you'd be talking about using a participating whole life insurance product and becoming your own banker.

Today, many people are facing unintended consequences due to so-called financial planning. Most folks have no knowledge of what to do, where to turn or who to listen to. And that's because we've been taught what to think instead of how to think.

"The information that is being taught today about money has created some wealth but, at the same time, created more debt and bankruptcies than ever before in history."[5]

Have you been told the truth about money? If you haven't, when do you want to find out what the truth really is? The solution is knowledge! Knowledge is power and will put you in control of your own financial future.

The first thing you need to understand is that there are only three types of money: money you spend, money you save (put aside for retirement, etc.), and money that you transfer to others.

Most financial planners focus on the first two types of money and ignore the third. But I've never met anyone who wants to lower his or her present standard of living for a non-guaranteed future, have you? This is why most financial planning fails to deliver what it promises. There are no guarantees with conventional financial planning methods. Nobody likes to skimp now for the possibility in the future of a better (but still "slim pickins") retirement.

When you become your own banker, you discover how to avoid this financial planning nightmare. You literally take the money you're currently spending and make it return to you after you've spent it! Once it comes back to you, then you can use it again without having to go out and earn it all over again. This is a nice little secret the wealthy have known about for years. This is why the wealthy purchase and use participating whole life insurance. It's not about the death benefits but the life benefits -- the benefits they receive in their lifetime because they understand how money, guaranteed rate of return, safety and risk work.

Life insurance isn't a risk in the same sense that investments are a risk. With life insurance the risk (death) is known and therefore is classified as a "manageable" risk.

The risk involved with investments -- derivatives, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, qualified plans, etc. -- is unknown; therefore it can't be manageable but instead is classified as a "likelihood of loss."

Manageable risk is one reason why life insurance premiums can earn guaranteed rates of return, which are non-taxable, while investments cannot. This manageable risk also provides a strong safety factor that is built into a mutual whole life insurance policy's cash values. This is a safety factor which cannot be matched anywhere else in the marketplace. And as John Girouard wrote: "mutual whole life has the record of safety and guaranteed rate of return which dates back 1,400 years" (Forbes.com, February 10, 2009). That's a strong track record that just can't be beat!

A client sent us this e-mail: "Don'tcha just love it when a banker calls up and asks 'What are you going to do with all that money?' Translation: 'You have a lot of money and WE want to make money with it, please; we'll give you a good deal .025% interest.' Not joking. He actually offered that. Unreal. When I can make at least 10% why in the world would I loan it to the bank at .025% or 'double the deal with an 11-month CD at 2%' -- why in the world would I take him up on that?! This is the second time the bank has called me asking me that. I love it. Tables are topsy-turvy for the first time in my life. Fabulous!" -- Walt and Ruth Ann, H., Salem, Oregon

References

1. John E. Girouard: "A Financial Bunker For Scary Times," Forbes.com, 2-10-2009.

2. Cash Values in a participating whole life insurance product.

3. "Cash Value Life Insurance," Probe Volume 54, number 17, page 3.

4. Barry James Dyke: ThePiratesofManhattan.com

5. Leonard A. Renier: "Learning to Avoid Unintended Consequences."

(To learn more, contact Dr. Tomas or Michele McFie at 866-502-2777, team@life-benefits.com  or www.life-benefits.com . "I have been associated both professionally and personally with Dr. McFie and can tell you that he has the highest of standards in his character, morals, ethics, and actions. He is a Godly man who does his best to help others acquire success. When developing business or personal relationships, trust is the number one factor that must be considered. I do highly trust this fine man and I have no qualms in telling you that you can do the same." --Dr. Todd Osborne, Ringgold, GA.)