Becker & Associates

It's Life Insurance Awareness Month! 

I hope everyone will devote a few minutes to just give thought to what you and your family  would do if one or both of the "Parents/Partners" of your family were suddently "gone".  It's a fact that most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck these days...a sudden loss could be devastating. 

How would you continue to provide for your family, pay the mortgage or rent? Pay for day to day needs of a family?  If you suddenly had to go get a job, who would be home to care for the kids? Google the cost of full time childcare in your area.

This won't happen to YOU?  Just listen to the news and read the local papers...or get out and talk to real people about real life instead of watching "reality"TV.  It happens to families around us every few minutes.

It is NOT too expensive to insure against this horrible catastrophe and I CAN PROVE IT.  I challenge everyone to keep a ledger for just ONE MONTH.  Write down every penny you spend especially including the impulse items, the candy bar at the gas station the magazine at the checkout stand, the junk your kids are bugging you for every time you go to the store but it's not their birthday yet.  Then at the end of one month, add up all the items you could live without and illuminate the amount of money you have just dicovered you have to put towards something useful like Life Insurance!

Take my challenge and then email me with the amount of money you now have monthly to put toward "something" of value and I will show you what your options are with no obligation whatsover!  Email me, be sure to put "Your blog" in the subject box so I know  what your email is about and don't delete it thinking it's spam.  I will let you know what your options are for FREE,  with no obigation whatsoever and no bothering you if you're not interested!...but I guarantee you will be interested if you open your mind and start planning for your future.

PS-I represent all admitted carriers in the States where you live, not just one company.  I work for my clients, not the carriers...I "represent" the carriers best for my clients.

Older folks who want to purchase Life Insurance are often unable to find a term product longer than 15 years. For folks in their 70's, guaranteed coverage to age 90 seems to provide them with enough confidence that a death benefit will pay out to their beneficiaries – if only a 20 year term product were available…

Protective Life’s Custom Choice UL can be a solution. Below is an example for a 75 year old male, preferred non tobacco. When dialing out the guaranteed death benefit to age 95, not only can we provide you with coverage for 20 years, but also maintain term-like pricing. In fact, this product is so competitive that based on the profile mentioned, 20 years of coverage is lower in cost than the most competitive 15 year term product!  Look at these comparisons:

Male Age 75 Preferred Non-Tobacco (Term = Most competitive carrier/product based on premium)

Product                               Guarantee       Annual Premium      Death Benefit

15 Year Term                           15                     $ 8,093                    $250k

20 Year Term                           N/A                        N/A                       N/A

20 Year GUL (Protective)        20                      $7,835                     $250k

30 Year GUL (Protective)        30                      $9,680                      $250k

At 70 years old – the last age at which only a few carriers will still offer 20 year term, you should still consider this product. The table below shows that a 70 year old male, preferred non tobacco can save significant amounts of premium with 20 years of UL coverage in comparison to the most competitive 20 year term product. And if you would like coverage for 30 years to age 100 we can still provide the security you need while mirroring these term prices.

Male Age 70 Preferred Non-Tobacco (Term = Most competitive carrier/product based on premium)

Product                                Guarantee       Annual Premium      Death Benefit

15 Year Term                            15                      $3,705                     $250k

20 Year Term                            20                      $5,605                     $250k

20 Year GUL (Protective)         20                      $4,877                     $250k

30 Year GUL (Protective)         30                      $6,439                     $250k

Contact us for more on how the Protective Custom Choice UL can positively impact your Life insurance needs.

Life Insurance... Everyone knows somebody who has had a loved one die unexpectedly.  We all have many stories of famlies who've been forced to change their lifestyle dramatically because of the unexpected loss of a breadwinner or a homemaker spouse/partner. 

All one needs to do is to think about what YOUR family would do if you suddenly were not there.  If you were the breadwinner, how would your spouse/partner and children deal with the loss of your income on top of the loss of you?  If you are a homemaker or "Stay at Home Parent", how would your spouse/partner deal with the loss and replace all that you do?  Just google the average cost of full time childcare and housekeepers in your area...how much per year would it cost to replace YOU?  What about paying the mortgage or rent? What about all those plans you had for your children as they grow up?

Whether you're 25 years old and single or older with a family, there is a policy for you.  With the array of products available on the market today, there is no situation we cannot insure for, no budget we cannot work around.

Do this exercize; take a ledger and write down every nickle you spend throughout the month whether it's cash, credit or check and write down what you spent it on whether it's a soda and a candy bar when you stop for gas (shockingly, LOTS of people spend more than they know on items like this) or "impulse" items at the checkout stand at Target or the market.  Do this for one month then total things up.... turn the light on!, illuminate your spending habits and take measures to stop the things you see that are unnecessary.  I promise you, you'll see that you can afford to allocate something toward your retirement and your Life Insurance.....the two most important things you can save for starting ASAP!

By buying Life Insurance when you're young and healthy ensures you will be getting the best "rating" which leads to the least expensive premiums for the life of your policy.  It's amazing to see how much of an estate you can build using Life Insurance products.  There are products today that pay more interest than any bank with no downside market risk like the stock market has.  The Indexed Universal Life Products of today are paying a minimum "guaranteed" interest rate of 2% with no downside risk of loss of your principal and any interest earned should the stockmarket crash.  The historical data shows that over the decades, the "average" has resulted in overall earnings of approximately 9%!  Those that lost in the market is because of the risk inherant in the stockmarket.

Contact me for a quote or to discuss what may be the best way for you to move forward and get on track with Life Insurance!

We all know by now that $720 BILLION was borrowed from our Social Security fund by the current administration to pay for it's new Government run HealthCare. We got exactly what a citizenry who was not paying attention or holding their congress accountable for things like actually READING the bill before even considering imposing it on Americans can expect to get.

Throughout its 75 year history, Social Security has provided critical economic security to millions of retirees, families, children and the disabled. Social Security is paid for by the dedicated contributions of workers and their employers, has administrative costs of less than one percent, and since it cannot borrow to fund its operations, Social Security does not contribute to the deficit. No wonder that Americans from all walks of life consistently and overwhelmingly support our nation's most successful social insurance program -- a level of support that is not achieved by other governmental programs.Social Security is self-financed, cannot borrow, spends less than one percent on its administrative costs.

The government borrows these Social Security funds to pay for other government spending -- but is obligated to pay interest on these borrowings -- and pay back the borrowed funds in full when they are needed by Social Security for benefit payments. WHY aren't they paying it back?

A look at the federal budget over the same time frame reveals a starkly different picture -- many years of deficits, with only a few years of surplus -- a surplus that disappeared during the G.W. Bush Administration. In 1993, a Democratic Congress and President Clinton, without a single Republican vote in either the House or Senate, enacted a budget plan that put it on a path to elimination of the deficits --and brought the budget into balance, and then later into surplus.

The taxpayers of America bailed out the banks -- wouldn't it be fair now to ask the banks to pay back what they have cost Social Security? A tax on financial transactions and a tax on Wall Street bonuses, with revenues dedicated to Social Security, would pay back to Social Security and its contributors what has been taken from them.

Pay Back Social Security! -- The Government Has Borrowed More from Social Security (easy pickens) than any Other Entity or Foreign Government.

Another argument made by Social Security opponents to raise fear about the national debt is how much our government has borrowed from China. They never mention how much our government has borrowed from Social Security. In fact, the government has borrowed more from the Social Security surplus than it has from any other source in the world, including China. As a result, Social Security now "owns" nearly 18 percent of the federal debt, making it the largest single holder of US debt. The government owes almost twice as much to Social Security as it does to China and Hong Kong. ...and most Americans have no idea about this debt it seems, and are doing nothing to demand that the Feds pay US back!

We elect people who take our Social Security fund to fund a Government run Health Plan and just sit and watch the carnage done to what we've worked and contributed to for our whole lives. This "taking", "stealing", "Borrowing" or whatever we call it...the pillaging of a fund that working folks paid for, taken in order to pay for programs that the government will pay for is nothing more than a move to control the largest segments of the American economy.

How many Americans over 50 do you think are ready for life with no Social Security? The answer is not many! Only about 10% have saved enough to live life without a dime from social security.

Get a "Two-for"- Life Insurance with Long Term Care

Posted on July 17, 2015 at 4:25 PM Delete

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Using your Life Insurance for Long Term Care Expense:

Life Insurance policies are ever changing to meet the needs of our ever changing society. All the buzz is now on Long Term Care coverage, but if you've ever gotten a quote you know it is not cheap! Also, what if you never need it? Once you've paid the premium to the carrier for a Long term Care policy, it's GONE and you have nothing to show for it. Though there are benefits to having a comprehensive LTC (Long Term Care) policy...you can spell out the benefits in a more precise way, add on riders for COLA (Cost of Living Adjustments), etc, but the fact remains that it's expensive and if you never use it, it's money down the drain.

Do not mistake my message to mean LTC is not important! It is VERY important...in fact more important than ever, there are just more creative ways of getting it these days.

Using a Life Insurance policy with a guaranteed Death benefit and adding a 4% LTC rider is a very interesting solution. Let's use this example: You are healthy enough to purchase a $500,000. face amount and you become ill enough or have an accident and meet the requirement to be able to tap into your policy for its LTC benefits (the requirement for ALL LTC policies is just about the same, whether a policy or a rider) is being unable to do at least 2 of the ADLs - Activities of Daily Living). Using a $500,000. Death Benefit policy with the LTC rider of 4% per month = $20,000. per month available to you.

Per the IRS, at this time the maximum amount you may receive from your policy on a tax free basis is $330 per day or $9.900. per month. This is because the LTC benefit is essentially considered getting your Death benefit early. Depending on your needs, whether it be paying for a facility, paying for homecare, paying a relative to take care of you, you may decide to take only the tax free portion from your policy, but the full 4% is still available.

Then let's say you get better and return to life as normal in 6 months, you have taken or "used" (at $9,900. mo.) $59,400.00 of your Death Benefit thus reducing your policy's Death benefit to $440,600. This amount will be passed on to your heirs tax free OR be available for another round of LTC usage.

If you are 70 1/2 years old and are receiving "RMD"s (Required Minimum Distributions) from retirement funds that you don't really need, you can turn taxable income into tax free money using this strategy!

In summary, you've used tax free death benefits to pay for your Long Term Care needs and the money you've invested in your Life insurance is still there!

Example - A $500,000. Policy would cover the IRS maximum monthly LTC payment of $9,900. for 4.2 YEARS!

Some Statistics for the USA: For someone with a 90-day Elimination Period, the lifetime chance of someone buying coverage at age 60 and using policy benefits was 35%. So, 35% will use their coverage and 65% will not. As you might assume, the decline is because during those first 90 days, some people will recover and some will die.

Here is some meaningful information on nursing home lengths of stays as published in the Association's 2008 LTCi Sourcebook. Remember, that most long-term care is actually received at home but there are still fewer statistics about home care utilization for "long-term care" needs. When we get relevant ones we will publish them for consumers to read. Notice that the length of time that anyone stays in a Nursing Home is well under five years! We must consider the time that most people need in home care too, please see "Long Term Care Info & Statistics" blog for more info.

Average Length of Stays (Nursing Homes)

5 years or more - 12.0%

3 to 5 years - 12.0%

1 to 3 years - 30.3%

6 to 12 months - 14.2%

3 to 6 months - 10.0%

Less than 3 months - 20.0%

Average Length of Stay in Years

Female - 2.6 years

Male - 2.3 years

Married - 1.6 years

Single / Never Married - 3.8 years

Widowed - 2.3 years

Divorced / Separated - 2.7 years

Categories

Health care Reform - How Politics affect you (4)

2016- Small Employer Groups of 2 to 100 Employees (2)

2016-Employers with 100 or more Employees (2)

Life,Death and Illness & Injuries Happen, Be Ready! (7)

Disability Income Products (1)

Life Insurance for YOUR Retirement! (3)

Over 50 or 70 1/2 and taking Retirment distributions? (2)

Life Insurance-Term Care included! Any Age (3)

Long Term Care, Expensive- there's a more affordable Way (3)

Toll free 866.277.5147

Using your Life Insurance for Long Term Care Expense:

Life Insurance policies are ever changing to meet the needs of our ever changing society. All the buzz is now on Long Term Care coverage, but if you've ever gotten a quote you know it is not cheap! Also, what if you never need it? Once you've paid the premium to the carrier for a Long term Care policy, it's GONE and you have nothing to show for it. Though there are benefits to having a comprehensive LTC (Long Term Care) policy...you can spell out the benefits in a more precise way, add on riders for COLA (Cost of Living Adjustments), etc, but the fact remains that it's expensive and if you never use it, it's money down the drain.

Do not mistake my message to mean LTC is not important! It is VERY important...in fact more important than ever, there are just more creative ways of getting it these days.

Using a Life Insurance policy with a guaranteed Death benefit and adding a 4% LTC rider is a very interesting solution. Let's use this example: You are healthy enough to purchase a $500,000. face amount and you become ill enough or have an accident and meet the requirement to be able to tap into your policy for its LTC benefits (the requirement for ALL LTC policies is just about the same, whether a policy or a rider) is being unable to do at least 2 of the ADLs - Activities of Daily Living). Using a $500,000. Death Benefit policy with the LTC rider of 4% per month = $20,000. per month available to you.

Per the IRS, at this time the maximum amount you may receive from your policy on a tax free basis is $330 per day or $9.900. per month. This is because the LTC benefit is essentially considered getting your Death benefit early. Depending on your needs, whether it be paying for a facility, paying for homecare, paying a relative to take care of you, you may decide to take only the tax free portion from your policy, but the full 4% is still available.

Then let's say you get better and return to life as normal in 6 months, you have taken or "used" (at $9,900. mo.) $59,400.00 of your Death Benefit thus reducing your policy's Death benefit to $440,600. This amount will be passed on to your heirs tax free OR be available for another round of LTC usage.

If you are 70 1/2 years old and are receiving "RMD"s (Required Minimum Distributions) from retirement funds that you don't really need, you can turn taxable income into tax free money using this strategy!

In summary, you've used tax free death benefits to pay for your Long Term Care needs and the money you've invested in your Life insurance is still there!

Example - A $500,000. Policy would cover the IRS maximum monthly LTC payment of $9,900. for 4.2 YEARS!

Some Statistics for the USA: For someone with a 90-day Elimination Period, the lifetime chance of someone buying coverage at age 60 and using policy benefits was 35%. So, 35% will use their coverage and 65% will not. As you might assume, the decline is because during those first 90 days, some people will recover and some will die.

Here is some meaningful information on nursing home lengths of stays as published in the Association's 2008 LTCi Sourcebook. Remember, that most long-term care is actually received at home but there are still fewer statistics about home care utilization for "long-term care" needs. When we get relevant ones we will publish them for consumers to read. Notice that the length of time that anyone stays in a Nursing Home is well under five years! We must consider the time that most people need in home care too, please see "Long Term Care Info & Statistics" blog for more info.

Average Length of Stays (Nursing Homes)

5 years or more - 12.0%

3 to 5 years - 12.0%

1 to 3 years - 30.3%

6 to 12 months - 14.2%

3 to 6 months - 10.0%

Less than 3 months - 20.0%

Average Length of Stay in Years

Female - 2.6 years

Male - 2.3 years

Married - 1.6 years

Single / Never Married - 3.8 years

Widowed - 2.3 years

Divorced / Separated - 2.7 years

Categories

Health care Reform - How Politics affect you (4)

2016- Small Employer Groups of 2 to 100 Employees (2)

2016-Employers with 100 or more Employees (2)

Life,Death and Illness & Injuries Happen, Be Ready! (6)

Disability Income Products (1)

Life Insurance for YOUR Retirement! (2)

Over 50 or 70 1/2 and taking Retirment distributions? (2)

Life Insurance-Term Care included! Any Age (3)

Long Term Care, Expensive- there's a more affordable Way (2)

Smart Money Moves for Young parents

As soon as most parents bring their first new baby home fromthe hospital, the realization of the newfound responsibility that a child brings kicks in.

Here is some advice to help you along your path to finacial security:

Create a will and contingent trust.  This is one of the most important first steps. Choosing a guardian for your children helps make sure they are raised by someone who you think will share the same values. A contingent trust helps ensure that the money your child receives from all of your hard work and planning is distributed according to your wishes instead of giving them complete control over everything the minute they turn 18.

Update beneficiary documents. Make sure you double check all of your retirement plans and insurance policies so something doesn’t fall through the cracks. Many accounts with beneficiary designations never pass through your will, so it is important that these are also updated.

Purchase life insurance.  Consult with an Insurance profefssional to determine what best fits your needs and your budget.  When deciding on life insurance, always consider how things can change in the future and never purchase more than you know you will be able to afford into the future.

Buy disability insurance. When you are young, the cost of coverage is less and your health may be at it's best.  Your future earning potential is your biggest asset. Get as much disability insurance coverage as you can to comfortably cover your income if you get sick or injured and can’t work. A disability lasting longer than three months is much more common than you think.

Consider a small whole life insurance policy on your child. This accumulates tax-free savings and has a guaranteed purchase option, which gives your child the option to purchase additional insurance when she is an adult, regardless of her health at that time.

These ideas are to help families preserve their wealth through generations.  If responsibly acted on, this advice will help you accomplish your goals.

11 Worst Money Mistakes to Make in Your 30's!

1. Saving too much in the wrong places.

Investing is important, but don't put off saving for other big purchases coming along, especially if you're starting to have kids or looking to buy a house, that you want to have savings for.

Contribute money towards a retirement fund but don't forget to set aside money for other things, such as a house, car, vacation, or your children's education. This could mean setting up multiple savings accounts (which, right now, are not earning much in the way of interest) or the use of interest earning Life Insurance products....kind of like killing 2 birds with one stone by protecting against the loss of a spouse you can also save and earn interest that may be much higher than any bank is paying.

2. Prioritizing your kid's education over your own retirement.

While focusing too heavily on the 401(k) is a common mistake, not setting aside enough money for retirement also remains a big issue, especially when kids enter the picture.

Obviously, your child's education is important, but your number one priority in your 30s — even if you have a family — should be retirement.  Think long term; if you don't set aside enough money for your own retirement, your child may have to support you in the future, which could end up being more expensive in the long run than student loans would be, or worse, they will have not have the abililty to help or be interested in helping you and you'll be on your own.  Helping an aging parent/s can put a damper on your children's ability to save for their own retirement and their children's education, etc.

"Make sure you're on pace for a decent retirement before you start setting aside money for college. Once you're on pace for that, and you have extra funds that you can set aside for a goal like college, definitely do that. You can start a 529 savings plan or interest earning Life Insurance products when the time is right.

3. Neglecting insurance.

Insurance in general — health, life, home, and disability — often gets put on the back burner, for two main reasons: It's not something that's fun to talk about, so it often gets put off longer than it should be.  Many times, people don't get great insurance advice. I cannot stress enough the importance of purchasing Life Insurance when you are young!  Not only will your premiums be lower for the life of your plan, but you will most likely be in your best health in your 20's and 30's.

Until people have children, they just don't seem to consider the importance of Life Insurance, but the earlier you buy, the more you'll be able to afford due to age and your health status.  Even if you purchase an inexpensive "Term" plan that has a good conversion option, it's like getting your foot in the door and "saving your insurability".  When you choose to convert it will be based on your age at the time of conversion but the rating you were issued at to start with will remain the same regardless of any health changes, weight gain, etc. and will not change or effect your premium.

4. Not having long-term disability insurance.

One type of insurance that gets neglected more so than others is long-term disability insurance, but not having it can be extremely risky.  Disability insurance is meant to provide income should you be disabled and unable to work, which is more likely to happen that many of us may think. It's estimated by the Social Security Administration that over 25% of today's 20-year-olds will be disabled before retirement.

Many people will pick up group life insurance (which you lose if/when you lose that particular job), which is usually barely enough for final expenses and covers you only if you die, but they don't think about the disability — especially if it's not paid for by the company — and that's your bigger risk. You're not dead, but you can't work, so now you have to watch yourself go broke.

5. Not talking about money when you're planning to get married.

It's not a fun or easy conversation to have, but discussing your personal finances, spending patterns, and financial plan with your partner is crucial.  Many couples often have this conversation too late in the relationship (or not at all).  By the time they're finally sitting down to discuss it, there's already a big emotional investment in the relationship, which causes couples to overlook major financial differences.  Nothing can put stress on or even ruin a marriage like money problems!

The conversation must happen, and the earlier the better. First, you have to understand the financial background of your partner which allows you to understand how they make financial decisions. Next you can move into the conversation about whether or not you want to separate finances if you're both working; if you decide to combine them, you must agree on how to spend the joint money.

6. Spending too much money on the wedding.

Too many people are spending an absurd amount of money to have a huge wedding.  Today, the average wedding costs a whopping $26,000.

Host a smaller wedding, and use the extra money to put toward a down payment on a house. Pulling off a great wedding under $5,000 is possible if you plan on a budget.  It's a better idea to go small and save big!

It does come down to personal preference; if a big wedding is important to you, that's fine — just start saving for it early on.

7. Going all out on the first kid.

When the first kid comes along, what tends to happen is that new parents will overspend on top-of-the-line cribs, bottles, clothes, and nursery accessories. Spending issues that we tend to see in 20-somethings will level out until the kids come along, and then it explodes.

You want to raise your child in a comfortable environment, but check yourself before dropping a couple grand on that fancy stroller and draining your savings, as there are bound to be unexpected costs to arise.  Also, babies grow fast!  Why spend tons of money on things that you're only going to use for a few months or even a year or two?

The worst all parents are guilty of is buying every cute toy you see.  You reason that your child "needs" this to grow up with or learn on.  Many parents come home as many as 5 times per week with "something" for the baby.  Keeping a spreadsheet of your expenditures (even the small ones like the energy drink and the candy bar at the gas station stop)  will help you SEE what you are spending and where you can cut back. 

For the cost of a toy, most 30 year olds can buy a half million life insurance policy!  Cut out ALL impulse spending and see how much you can save or invest in your insurance needs!  Most babies are happier with some pots and pans or a can full of ping pong balls than the expensive toy anyway.

8. Overspending on cars.

Another area the experts see overspending is cars. "People get bored with cars quickly. They always want a new car and so they're always dealing with a car payment.  But it's a hugely depreciating asset. You don't want to be putting a lot of money into something that's going to be worth nothing after a certain number of years.

Egan says to space your cars 10 years apart. After buying a new one (Buying a used car with low mileage could be the best deal you can get, as soon as you drive a brand new car of the lot it's depreciated (check the Kelly Blue Book on this!), be sure to pay if off in five years max; that way, for the next five years, you can build up other savings. After 10 years, hit the dealerships again. If you took good care of your previous car, you may even be able to trade it in, which will help with the payment of your next one.

Another option is leasing a car.  The monthly payment is usually much less than if you "buy" the car because in a lease situation you're only "using" the car and there is no equity at all when leasing.  You'll have a monthly payment forever doing this, albeit a lower one, because each time you turn in your leased car for a new one, the new payments start right up.

9. Going to graduate school for the wrong reasons.

Graduate school comes with a hefty price tag, which is why you want to be positive you're going back to school for the right reasons, especially if you're paying for it out of your own pocket.

It should definitively aid your career track, but if you don't know what you're targeting to do after you get the MBA, that's not the right path. If getting your MBA will help you secure a position that you want for your long-term career, then it's a perfect solution.

10. Taking a job for the short-term money.

You're preparing to enter your peak earning years by your mid-30s, and it's important to prepare for this phase of your life.

You don't want to just be taking jobs for the money at this point.  You want to be taking the job that is going to prepare you to make a lot more money in your late 30s and early 40s.  Hone your skills and be ready to be the best at what you do.  This will ensure a higher chance of getting and keeping a job and of earning higher wages or salaries. 

Look at what you decide to do as a "career" and be the one that employers are looking for like never being late, looking neat and professional no matter what your position, don't take time off for non-emergency situations (this makes you unreliable!), Do the best work you can, by just putting in the minimal required effort for the task you're given says to your employer, you don't really care about your job.

11. Assuming you'll have more money in the future.

While optimism is a good quality to have, too much can be dangerous, especially when it comes to money.

People tend to assume they'll be making significantly more money in their 40s, he explains, which they use to justify overspending in the present moment. This is the number one mistake most young people make.

The rule of thumb should be to live below your means. If you can't afford to buy the new car, then buy certified pre-owned. Savings first should be your mentality: Save for retirement first, then prioritize other things you wish to save for or spend with whatever is left over. What people typically do is the opposite of that, thinking, I've got to buy this, this, and this, and whatever's left, I'll save.

Pay your future first, and make sure your present is secure.  Be in control of your future.  It's not as difficult as it seems if you make saving a LIFESTYLE!