Income Certainty in an Uncertain Economy

Don’t let a volatile market and inflation keep you from planning your future. There are safe earning options available.

Article Contributed by David Armbruster and Robert Keeler

I have been working with retirees for a number of years now and I am always interested in what concerns people have when it comes to their finances. There are several consistent answers that continually arise but none more common than income.

There are people from all walks of life that are concerned about outliving their money. How do we get through this with a volatile market and consistent inflation knowing that at the end of the day there will be enough money to sustain a favorable lifestyle?

It is a valid question and a real concern and without appropriate planning, there could certainly be some very real consequences.

There is good news in this story however. There are programs available in the investment world designed specifically for the purpose of income generation. Not just income until you run out of money, but income that CAN NOT BE OUTLIVED.

They are called annuities. Many of you reading this may have experience with annuities and many of you may have heard terrible reviews about annuities as well. Some of the information is true and some should be left by the curb with the trash. What I can tell you, is that annuities present an opportunity to generate a lifetime income stream that can’t be outlived as opposed to the alternative methods of income generation typically used such as a bond portfolio and other market-driven investment options.

I am a registered investment advisor representative and will maintain that there are effective ways to generate income in the securities world that have been used effectively for years. However, none of these methods has the protection of principal that the equity-indexed annuity does.

These programs allow for growth when the market does well and protection from loss when the market fails. These programs also offer clients opportunities to use certain riders to guarantee income for life while still having the ability to grow the underlying cash value of the account. This enables the investors to have a consistent income stream whether or not the investment performs well.

On top of the income, it also protects and grows the cash value that supports the income with no market downside so that there can be dollars leftover to pass to the investors loved ones if so desired. These riders are so effective that the income stream can persist even past the distribution of all of the original principal and any growth that would have been earned.

This is a security that many investors are moving towards with today’s current market conditions. As with any investment vehicle, these products are not right for everyone and certainly not right for all of someone’s assets.

However, the equity indexed annuity provides for the opportunity to grow with market potential overcoming the lackluster fixed rates available today and brings protection that almost no other market driven program can offer. It is a nice marriage of features.

Being able to add to that, the option for lifetime income with growth opportunity of the base value simultaneously taking place, makes for an attractive offer. For many retirees, the worry of a foregone income stream is now a thing of the past due to the implementation of programs such as these. 

David Armbruster is President of the Financial Division of Cornerstone Wealth and Tax Advisory Group, Inc. in charleston south Carolina as well as an Investment Advisor Representative through the Investment Advisor Alliance, LLC. This column is for informational purposes only. Please consult an investment advisor prior to any financial decisions. 

One of the greatest challenges facing retirees is finding a way to maintain their lifestyle when there is no longer a company paycheck coming in each week. Each family now needs to create an income stream from their own resources that has, hopefully, been saved through the years. They also must determine their income needs for this lifestyle.

There are several ways to generate a stream of income from these funds including the drawing from a diversified portfolio, using the dividends and income from a portfolio, earning interest in a fixed income portfolio that coincides with your needs, and the use of annuities.

Annuities can be an important way to ensure a specific amount of income each month, but since they are an insurance product I will discuss the first three.

Drawing funds from a diversified portfolio means you will be taking money from the investment accounts. You are effectively counting on the growth and steadiness of the portfolio’s returns to fund your retirement. During periods of negative returns retirees will need to decide if they really need the full draw; if the percentage chosen as a withdrawal rate is reasonable, this should not be a problem.

Designing an investment portfolio of high yielding equities and income producing instruments often leads to investment in financial and utility stocks, as well as, preferred issues. These will often be value stocks, or stocks that trade at a ‘cheap’ price compared to what the company is worth; however, investment in individual equities leads to other risks of which to be wary. Also, companies in this category may be companies in dire straits and as such may not continue a lofty payout rate.

This method is often used when the investor wishes to leave the principal untouched and live solely off the dividends. Building a portfolio of bonds that approximates the cash flow needs of an investor seems like a sure bet.

A portfolio of bonds paying interest at roughly monthly periods to create income fulfills the need for steady pay. The drawback, though, is the lack of appreciation potential and that the principal is only attained at maturity with reasonable surety. If there comes a need to sell the instrument, the market price may be substantially lower than the price paid.

The thought of a fixed income product often gives an investor a false sense of security regarding the valuations. Upon maturity and the need for reinvestment, this method leaves your income to the coupon rate available in the market. While annuities, equities, bonds, and all investments inherently carry risk; there are ways to mitigate a prospective catastrophe, one of which is to diversify in as many ways as possible.

The best portfolio for the investor is one that achieves reasonable goals, has a high likelihood of lasting through the investor’s lifetime, and does not keep them constantly worried.

A balance of the three methods above may be the answer. A portfolio diversified across asset classes with a supplement of high yielding sectors in the equities and a well planned fixed income allocation will provide the flexibility, potential for growth, and income needed to help a retiree comfortably live in retirement – assuming the starting value is sufficient. 

Robert Keeler is CEO and portfolio manager at The Investment Advisor Alliance LLC, a RegisteredInvestment Advisor. IAA can be reached at 800-607-3340. This column is for informational purposes only.Please consult an investment advisor prior to any financial decisions.

Uncovering $350/mo in savings- Client Success Story with Randy Harvey

Imagine this scenario. You’re retired and living on a fixed income. You have a life insurance policy that you try to pay a little extra into each month, and you pay a LOT for your health insurance. $400/mo to be exact! To make matters worse, The Medicare Supplement you have does not offer drug coverage, and you and your wife both take a number of prescriptions. You don’t have anything extra in your fixed monthly income to pay for your prescriptions so you’ve been racking up a hefty credit card bill. The bill now totals $8,000 and you see no way possible to pay this down, as you just keep adding to it every month with your expensive prescriptions. What would you do? Can you see any way out of this situation?

This is exactly what one couple was faced with when they met with their Cornerstone Wealth Representative Harry “Randy” Harvey, a certified Senior Advisor who was providing financial reviews to this family and their neighbors.

Believe it or not, Harvey was not only able to save this family money on their monthly prescriptions, he was able to help them completely pay off their credit card debt AND save $350/month on the cost of their health insurance! If you’d like to see how he did it, watch this month’s Client Success Story video, or read on below.

Client Success Story with Randy Harvey

 

“This family is dear to my heart,” Harvey relates. “When I met with them they felt they were in dire straights and saw no way out of their predicament.

“The couple was paying $400/month for their Medicare supplements and they did not have drug coverage included in their plan. They were putting the cost of their prescriptions onto credit cards each month, racking up over $8,000 of debt!”

Fortunately, there was a silver lining. While meeting with them and conducting a full financial review, Harvey discovered that they had been overpaying each month on their life insurance policy and this had created a cash value within the life insurance policy of over $9,000.

First, Harvey switched the couple to a Medicare Advantage plan WITH drug coverage. This cost them only $50/month TOTAL and covered both husband AND wife on their health insurance with a drug plan included! Now they no longer had to worry about putting prescriptions onto their credit card. Plus they were saving $350/month on their health insurance! That kind of savings is HUGE to someone on a fixed income.

Next Harvey facilitated a change in the couples life insurance policy. They were able to take some of the cash value into from the old policy and dump it into a new one. This gave them the same death benefit with a monthly premium that was $2 less per month than the previous plan. Finally they used the remainder of the cash value to fully pay off their credit card debt.

As you can imagine, this couple was overjoyed at the outcome!

“It was a win/win and in the end everyone went home happy,” Harvey says.

Stories like these are why we at Cornerstone STRONGLY encourage everyone to meet with a licensed representative for a financial review EVERY year! You never know what kinds of savings or opportunities may be uncovered!

Don’t hesitate! Set up a review today, at NO COST to you!

Randy Harvey has been helping retirees in South Carolina since 2005, and for many years before that in New Hampshire. He enjoys living in sunny Summerville South Carolina where he resides with his wife Vicki. In his spare time Randy plays golf and is an active member of his church, St. Paul’s of Summerville. To set an appointment with Randy, contact Cornerstone’s corporate office at 843-376-3350.

Maximize Growth and Preserve Wealth -Client Success Story- Troy Bell

Who wouldn’t want to earn the best rate of return on their investment? Who wouldn’t want to know that their life-long earnings were safe from the risks of market decline? Many pre and post retirees feel that it’s not possible to have BOTH of these options. It seems too good to be true, but the reality is, we help clients to maximize the growth of their investments AND safely preserve their wealth EVERY DAY!

Our advisor Troy Bell has just such a story he would like to share. Watch his video by clicking the link below or scroll down to read more about it.

Client Success Story with Troy Bell

“I had a client that had in excess of $500,000 increments in about 3 different banks. Her money was earning a very low rate of return, less than .04% on each investment. No one had ever talked to her about fixed index annuities. When I met this client I wanted to help her in ALL areas of her retirement planning, so we handled her life insurance needs first and then we worked on answering her health ins questions as well. She had a school aged child and two other children going off to college and I was able to consult with her on all of these area.

“Then we were actually able to pull together those investments from all three of those banks and after introducing her to a fixed index annuity we increased her rate of return and almost tripled the amount of money she was earning, on a tax deferred basis.

“She wanted to maximize growth and preserve wealth and we were able to help her accomplish those goals in a very efficient way.”

“Her investments weren’t something she was living off of, this was legacy money to leave to the children and grandchildren and she wanted to maximize growth and preserve wealth and we were able to help her accomplish those goals in a very efficient way.

“As a result she’s come back several times and purchased policies on family members and I will be helping her father with his investment portfolio as well.

“Servicing people’s needs at that level is really what I get the most enjoyment out of. It’s not a job at that point, it’s not work. It’s something you just enjoy doing because you’re actually helping someone.”

 

Troy Bell is a native Charlestonian and a 1988 graduate of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA.

 Troy has a history in the financial   services industry, with past experience working as a Loan Officer and Bank Manager and as an Insurance Manager for AIG. He joined the Cornerstone team in 2014.

 His hobbies are horseback riding, swimming and tennis. Troy is also on the Board of the South Carolina      Association of Community Residential Care Programs.

 

 

 

Making a Retirement Budget

Believe it or not, a retirement budget leads to more fun in retirement! In addition, making a retirement budget helps you avoid one of the biggest retirement mistakes people make – which is spending too much too soon.”

Quoted above is an except from an about.com, Money over 55, article. (View full article here- http://moneyover55.about.com/od/budgetingsaving/a/How-To-Make-A-Retirement-Budget.htm)

Why is making a retirement budget so important? There are many factors that you may end up having no control over when it comes to retirement income, such as when you retire, your Social Security, and the rate of inflation. The one thing you CAN control is your personal spending.

It seems as though many retirees throw the budget out the window when they finally have that retirement check coming in, and unwise or excessive spending can end up being a huge detriment if the retirement funds are not covering what is leaving your bank account.

Others haven’t had to budget in many years and are used to living comfortably without much worry for the balance on their credit card. This can all change when you are suddenly on a fixed income.

The wise course of action is to look at your spending habits now and see where you can start adjusting and adapting to make a smooth transition into retired life.

This type of planning is not difficult and can be started with only a few hours of time, but it’s easy to put off. Why not start working on it today?

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Your last 6 to 12 months worth of bank account statements
  • Your last 6 to 12 months worth of credit card statements
  • Last two paystubs for you (and your spouse if you are married)
  • 10-12 colored highlighters
  • Last year’s tax return

Use the information on the items above to see where your money has been going and use the highlighters to group expenses into categories.

Above referenced article gives 5 steps to using this information to create your retirement budget.

STEP 1 – Make a list of all your fixed or required monthly obligations.

To make a super effective retirement budget, break this list down into three parts:

  • Essentials: This includes expenses that cover food, clothing, housing, transportation and health care.
  • Non-essential monthly obligations: Although we all may think of cable TV as an essential, it is not. Non-essentials are things like cable, cell phone, gym memberships, subscriptions and other items you receive bills for.
  • Required non-monthly expenses: Items like property taxes, insurance premiums, auto registration and home warranties may come up once a year. Be sure to take these periodic expenses and calculate their cost on a monthly basis and include it in your retirement budget.

STEP 2 – Research your costs for health care before and after retirement.

  • Get estimates from your employer, from AARP sponsored health plans, for from an independent health insurance agent (Cornerstone has over 75 Licensed Representatives across the Nation) so you have accurate idea of these costs by expected retirement age. Account for these costs on your after-retirement budget.

STEP 3 – List all your flexible or optional expenses.

  • This all the fun stuff, like travel, hobbies, sports and entertainment.

STEP 4 – Write down some thoughts on how you want to spend your time in retirement.

  • Ask your spouse to do this also. Think about the things you want to be able to spend money on in retirement. Begin to think about changes you may be willing to make that would reallocate money from items that are less important to items that are more important.

STEP 5 – Calculate Fixed verses Flex

  • Total all your expenses.
  • Total all your fixed expenses separately.
  • Divide your fixed expenses into your total expenses.

How much of your retirement income will go toward fixed expenses? Does this align with your thoughts in Step 4 on how you want to spend your time in retirement?

The About.com article concludes with the following thought: “As a general rule of thumb, if you want more fun in retirement, find ways to lower fixed expenses so you can have more flex to spend on the hobbies and interests you most enjoy!”

Cornerstone Representatives are trained to help you make the most of your retirement in a number of different ways. Are you possibly paying too much for your health or life insurance as mentioned in step 2? Are your investments giving you all the earnings they could? Our agents are available, free of charge to answer these types of questions for you. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you would like help in planning your retirement budget!

Protect Yourself From Fraud!

Throughout history, those looking to do harm to others tend to prey on the weak and naïve, or those who lack a strong support system. Sadly, in our day, this often ends up being our Senior Citizens. Because of this, we live in a world where Seniors are often the target of financial fraud.

As a mature American, or the child of one, what can be done to make sure you or your relative does not become the subject of such abuse?

An article on MSN Money * focuses on steps that individuals and their families can take and emphasizes the importance the individual participating in the policing of his or her own finances if possible.

One important step is to consider WHY many Senior Citizens are targeted. “According to the FBI,” the article states, “seniors are targeted because they often have nest eggs, they come from a generation that was more trusting, and they’re often too proud to report the fraud. Another reason the elderly sometimes hesitate to report they’ve been ripped off? They’re concerned their relatives might see this as a sign of declining mental capacity and they don’t want to lose their independence. Smart and unscrupulous thieves know all this and try to exploit it.”

When fraud is detected, it can be frightening and confusing for the parties involved. For this reason, the FBI has come out with a comprehensive, yet easy-to-read, list detailing the different types of fraud and how to prevent them. Click here to view the information on the FBI’s Website. http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud/seniors.

With all this in mind, it can be daunting to bring someone new into your financial life. At Cornerstone, we understand those fears and do our best to make your experience in dealing with us as reassuring as possible.

Feel free to take a look at this article to see more steps YOU can take to protect yourself from fraud and scams when working with a retirement planner. Protect Yourself from Fraud During Financial Review.

Information for Those Concerned With Protecting Elderly Relatives

As brought out in the article, Credit Card Fraud is one of the most common types that seniors face today. Here are a few steps that can be taken to help elderly relatives avoid becoming a victim!

Talk to your relative about email scams. You can’t be around your relative constantly, so take the time to explain why he or she should never give a credit card number by email to buy a product. These scams often promise a great product — anti-aging products, for example — but scammers need your credit card information. This type of scam also happens over the phone. Seniors get a call and are offered a new product that promises, say, youthful energy. Once scammers get your loved one interested, they ask for a credit card number to seal the deal.

Keep an eye on caregivers. Maybe your parent is still at home and has home health care a few days a week. Or maybe in a nursing facility with nurses and various medical assistants always present. Hopefully, they are dealing with professionals who are trustworthy. Just keep in mind that there are many reports of caregivers using a credit card belonging to people they’re taking care of. It’s awful that someone could stoop so low. But it happens all the time.

If you can, it’s best to visit your elderly relative frequently and shred any mail with personal information on it. If your loved one has credit card accounts, you can view account activity online with them. You can even opt out of paper statements altogether. That way, credit card account numbers won’t be within easy reach of whoever is in the room. Credit card fraud can still occur, of course, but by frequently checking your parent’s accounts online, you’ll notice if something suspicious pops up on their statement.

Even if you can’t visit often, you can still check their credit card accounts online every week from your home. But ask for permission so they don’t feel as if you’re invading their privacy.

Keep an eye on other family members. Unfortunately, family members are often the ones who rob their parents or grandparents. If you have a family member with a problem such as drug addiction or gambling debt, that’s a red flag and warrants additional caution. When people are desperate for money, they can justify taking it from anyone. They’re counting on the fact that no one will notice. You can prove them wrong by keeping on top of your relative’s credit card account activity.

Check the mail. You can learn a lot from the mail. Is your loved one getting letters from “charities” asking for a donation via her credit card? If she’s getting letters from organizations, she may have sent money to them previously. Looking at credit card accounts online is a good way to make sure she isn’t authorizing payments to fraudulent entities.

Pay attention to new friends. The National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse recommends keeping track of any new “best friends.” The relationship may be innocent, but if it’s sudden and there’s an age difference, this may be a red flag that someone is planning to commit fraud.

______________________________________________________________________

* http://money.msn.com/credit-cards/protect-grandma-from-credit-fraud

Lost Life Insurance Policies

Did you know that in the last few decades an estimated $1 BILLION dollars in life insurance benefits remain unclaimed? How is this possible? The answer is simple. Lost Life Insurance Policies. In this week’s post, we’d like to reference a recent article found on Yahoo Finance entitled “Life Insurers Pressed on Lost Policies.”*

The article begins by mentioning a woman, named Mary Lou, who was surprised to receive a check for $7,000 more than a decade after the death of her father. The check was from unclaimed life insurance policies her father had taken out previously, that his family had no knowledge of.

At the time of her father’s death, Mary Lou inquired with the insurance company with whom she knew he had policies, to see if there were any other accounts. She was told at the time that they didn’t owe her anything else. As it turns out, that $7,000 check was for three policies that she didn’t have a policy number for.

Mary Lou voices her concern for the situation as it may affect others, “Can you imagine all the millions or billions of dollars that belong to other people and they don’t know to claim it,” she says, in Yahoo’s article?

Backing up Mary Lou’s statement, state regulators estimate that over the decades life insurance companies have failed to pay well over $1 Billion in death benefits. The reason? Because it’s up to the beneficiaries to file a claim following death.  One industry official says that whatever the amount is, it’s a “very small percentage” of total claims paid. “We know the percentages represent real people and we’ve been working with policy makers on ways to ensure all policyholders get the benefits they deserve,” said the official, Bruce Ferguson of the American Council of Life Insurers.

Recognizing that new technology can help alleviate this problem, insurance companies in many states are being required to check old unclaimed policies against death databases, and to make payouts to those they owe.

Most insurance companies will probably not fight these regulations. Yahoo’s article went on to state that opposing a requirement to check the databases would be particularly difficult given that many insurance companies already check them when it’s in their interest- for example, to learn about the deaths of annuity customers because such deaths usually end the insurers duty to make payments under retirement-income contracts.

As many such modern systems are slowly being implemented into this industry, the process of handling insurance claims is no doubt going to undergo some changes. The article mentioned above referenced a number of such changes that are already taking place.

Of course we all look forward to a time when this process has been completely ironed out and everyone has a perfect way to keep track of all of the policies they and their family have. But in the mean time, the monetary figures mentioned most likely only strengthen your resolve not to be one of the many whose unclaimed benefits make up that staggering $1 Billion.

Taking advantage of free help which can keep you from becoming part of that statistic is definitely a wise course.

At Cornerstone, your advisor becomes your advisor for LIFE. They work with you to put together a portfolio with all of your information which we keep on file and make available to your beneficiaries when you pass away. This ensures that any policies you have are processed properly and your legacy is paid out to those you left it to.

Contact us today to set up an appointment where we can help you manage all of your insurance policies and investments in one place. Our services are always provided at NO COST to you!

*http://finance.yahoo.com/news/life-insurers-pressed-lost-policies-030100774.html

The Future of Social Security

Social Security taxes- They’re taken out of every paycheck. We all see the figures every few weeks on our stub and although a small part of us wishes we could hold onto that money, we know that it’s going towards a good cause, so we let it slide. We are appreciative of a system that is supposed to take care of us after we retire. At least, that’s how it used to be.

When Social Security was enacted in the 1930’s it was a great bargain for its recipients because payroll taxes were very low.

“For the early generations, it was an incredibly good deal,” said Andrew Biggs, a former deputy Social Security commissioner as quoted in a Fox News article.* “The government gave you free money and getting free money is popular.”

The article says that if you retired in 1960, you could expect to get back seven times more in benefits than you paid in Social Security taxes and more if you were a low-income worker, as long as you made it to age 78 for men and 81 for women.

However, in recent years those numbers have changed drastically. According to a 2011 study by the Urban Institute, the average married couple retiring last year paid $598,000 in Social Security taxes during their careers and can only expect to collect about $556,000 in benefits if they live into their 80’s.

Fox’s article explains why the decrease is happening.

“The shift among middle-income workers is happening just as millions of baby boomers are reaching retirement, leaving relatively fewer workers behind to pay into the system. It’s coming at a critical time for Social Security, the federal government’s largest program.

“The trustees who oversee Social security say its funds, which have been built up over the past 30 years with surplus payroll taxes, will run dry in 2033 unless Congress acts. At that point, payroll taxes would provide enough revenue each year to pay about 75 percent of benefits.”

This leaves future generations either getting fewer benefits or paying higher taxes, and individuals who fall into this bracket are less than pleased. One recent college graduate states that she recognizes the money she pays in now, isn’t going to be waiting for her when she retires. “If I wanted Social Security 50 years from now I would have to hope that someone else is still working and putting money aside in their paychecks to pay for my Social Security at that point,” she says.

Some have taken a more aggressive approach and opened their own private retirement accounts to ease their worry that Social Security won’t provide adequate benefits in the future.

David Armbruster, Investment Advisor Representative in South Carolina, sees more and more clients of the younger generation, who are interested in finding the best place to invest their funds.

“They know that although their parents and grandparents have been able to rely on Social Security, it may not be there, or be sufficient when their turn rolls around, and they don’t want to take any chances,” he says.  “The biggest problem that we see overall when it comes to retirement funding is that costs are going up and benefits are going down. For our younger generations, it is imperative, more so now than ever before, that they be involved in their own retirement planning. IRA, 401K, Roth IRA and other retirement vehicles are becoming more and more important. These younger generations will be responsible for their own retirements. Gone are the days of waiting for Uncle Sam to pass out a paycheck. Self sufficiency is a must.

“There are a lot of wonderful investment vehicles out there. Some of the best programs around right now are annuities. Inside annuities we can find protection from market risk, guaranteed growth moving towards retirement, and guaranteed income once we get to retirement. For many folks, annuities will be the tool that can be used to create their own “social security” checks. Pensions are a thing of the past. Social security is moving that direction quickly. People are going to have to get smarter about their planning or plan on working for a lot longer.”

For more information on the types of products discussed above visit www.cswta.com.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/07/new-retirees-receiving-less-in-social-security-than-paid-in-marking-historic/

the future of social security

The future of social security