Personal Finance Blog for Retirement and Investment Advice

Why half of households will STILL struggle in retirement

Even with the run-up in the stock market and housing prices, half of all American households are at significant risk of not being able to maintain their current standard of living after retirement.

That’s the conclusion of a surprising new study released last week by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

That’s only slightly better than the Center’s National Retirement Risk Index showed in 2010, in spite of a 45% inflation-adjusted increase in the stock market and a 6% increase in home prices since then.

In fact, the Center’s research shows the picture is even worse than in 2007, which is why the study concluded…
[Read more…] “Why half of households will STILL struggle in retirement”

Miss seeing these stories affecting your finances?

Judging by the questions we’ve been getting from subscribers, there’s a good chance you may have missed one or more of these recent important stories…

1. Why You Need Dow 32,000 TODAY

stock-market-rollercoaster

With the stock market hitting record highs on an almost daily basis, you may be thinking it’s time to throw caution to the wind and go “all in.”

stock-market-rollercoaster

Before you do, check out this article showing why the Dow would have to be over 32,000 right now – TODAY! – to give you just a 5% annual return since May, 1999… after adjusting for inflation.

Even with the Fed’s massive continuing stimulus propping up the stock market, that’s still more than DOUBLE where the Dow is today.

Get the facts and see the proof here.

2. Consumer Alert! Video Reveals the Scary Truth…

[Read more…] “Miss seeing these stories affecting your finances?”

How bloodthirsty bank vampires drained me of 1,693% interest

Yep – I got charged an annual interest rate of 1,693% on a card I don’t even run a balance on! This will spook the living daylights out of you, so keep reading and find out how to make sure this doesn’t happen to you!

The Bank On Yourself Method Lets You Bypass Banks Altogether

The Bank On Yourself method lets you have access to the money you need, when and for whatever you need it. There are no applications to fill out and no qualifying.

NRnduZFfC4M

Watch the video to the right to learn how it works.

NRnduZFfC4M

Watch the video to the right to learn how it works.

You can pay your loans back on your own terms and you don’t have to worry about late fees, collections calls if you’re late or you miss some payments.

Check out our helpful Consumers’ Guide to Policy Loans here.

Did you know the typical family can potentially increase their lifetime wealth by hundreds of thousands of dollars by financing their major purchases through a Bank On Yourself plan? Find out how much bigger your nest egg could grow (without the risk or volatility of traditional investments) when you add the Bank On Yourself method to your financial plan. Just request your free Analysis here now (if you haven’t already).

REQUEST YOUR
FREE ANALYSIS!

Financing things through a Bank On Yourself plan even beats directly paying cash for things for several reasons.

You may not realize it, but you finance everything you buy, because you either pay interest when you finance or lease things… or you lose interest and investment income you could have had if you’d kept your money invested. Saving money in a Bank On Yourself policy first – and then using it to make major purchases – allows your money to continue growing as though you had never touched a dime of it.

growth of your money

I know of no other financial vehicle that gives you that same advantage, do you?

And not only do you get that advantage when you Bank On Yourself, it also lets you beat the banks at their own game, while providing you with a guaranteed, safe, predictable way to grow your nest egg.

Tale of a Savvy Consumer

Scissors cutting a credit cardFormer teacher Ed Ingle and his wife decided to take a policy loan to do some home improvements soon after starting a Bank On Yourself policy, “Just to see how this whole loan thing worked. It was so easy that now we laugh at the idea of trying to understand the process. There is no process. It’s our money!”

In the first two years, Ed and his wife put the policy to work in several ways. They are putting their son through a private college through the plan. “No money goes to the bank,” Ed notes.

He purchased a car using the policy… and “no money goes to the bank!”

He also financed his wife’s graduate school through the plan. (“And no money goes to the bank!”)

Ed says he no longer worries when the stock market rises and falls. He no longer worries about the interest rates banks are charging. He’s in charge of his own finances from here on out. (And no money goes to the bank!)

An Interest Rate of Almost 1,700% Per Year?

My husband Larry and I haven’t run a balance on a card in years. We have a handful of cards we use for convenience and to get points and airline miles. We get our statements emailed to us, then pay them off in full online each month.

vampire

Last month, Larry realized we didn’t get the statement for the card we use for personal expenses. When he checked the account, he realized it was one day past the due date, so he immediately paid it. We discovered there would be a late fee and some interest due. The balance was around $3,500, so we figured the interest would be maybe a few bucks, right? Wrong!

A week later we got an email that floored us. It notified us of a $15 late fee, PLUS a $162.30 interest charge for being one day late with our payment! That’s 4.64% interest per day – 1,693% interest per year! 

A whole page of fine print on the statement tried to explain all the “gotchas.” But it’s a fact that banks and finance companies are gonna get you one way or another. Why? Because they can. 

Isn’t it time we used banks for our convenience, and not for theirs?

Of course, we now have this credit card set up for automatic payment in full each month. And if you have cards you pay in full each month, I suggest you do the same (if you haven’t already), to make sure this never happens to you.

You can fire your banker when you join the Bank On Yourself Revolution

It’s fast and easy to get started. Just request a free Analysis here, if you haven’t already, and find out how much more lifetime wealth you could have when you tell banks to go take a hike and become your own source of financing. But please do it today while it’s fresh on your mind!
REQUEST YOUR
FREE ANALYSIS!

Are you putting your retirement savings in prison?

Ted Benna, "Father of the 401(k)"

Ted Benna is known as the “Father of the 401(k).” In the late ‘70’s, he worked as a consultant to business owners whose main agenda was “How can I get the biggest tax break, and give the least to my employees, legally?”

Ted Benna, "Father of the 401(k)"

Tax nerd that he was, Benna discovered an obscure part of the tax code – section 401(k). Voila! By 2012, nearly 75% of all company pension plans had disappeared!

What does Mr. Benna say about his beautiful 401(k) baby today?

If I were starting over from scratch today with what we know, I’d blow up the existing structure and start over!”1

Uh oh.

Per the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions: “After a lifetime of hard work, many seniors will find themselves forced to choose between putting food on the table and buying their medication.” The U.S. Census Bureau says the average value of 401(k) accounts of pre-retirees between 55 and 64 is only $170,645; the average value of their IRAs is only $147,345. And half of all those close to retirement age have less than $50,000 in these plans.

Something went horribly wrong. Actually, several things went horribly wrong, not only with 401(k)’s but also their kissing cousins: IRA’s, Roth Plans, 403(b)’s, SEP-IRA’s and so on.

And the problems with these government-controlled plans are in these five key areas:
[Read more…] “Are you putting your retirement savings in prison?”

Wall Street Wall of Shame: A Month of Scams, Scandals and Shenanigans

Seems like every time I turn around there’s yet another scam artist on Wall Street ripping us off! Everywhere I look, some financial whiz kid is making a buck for himself out of the hard-earned dollars of everybody else!

But I dunno – is it really that bad? Maybe I’m exaggerating?”

investment scams

So I decided to check it out and track the scandals of banks and Wall Street for just one month. I picked August (August, 2013), because, heck, it’s summertime and things should be pretty slow on the scams, scandals and shenanigans front, right?  I mean, aren’t all those guys off in their multi-zillion dollar summer homes in the Hamptons or the Caribbean during August? Kinda like Congress where nothing at all happens when they go on recess?

investment scams

Turns out the answer is yes and no. Yes, they were off vacationing, but no, that didn’t slow them down. In this should-be-sleepy month of August, I found dozens of reports and articles that made me cringe, cry, gnash my teeth and spit!

Here are some of the month’s lowlights:

#1: When It Sounds Too Good to Be True, It Is!

SAC Capital Advisors is accused of running a corrupt hedge fund. Evidence of insider trading is substantive, though SAC claims that it was “hard work and know-how” that created the firm’s 30% annual returns over the past couple of decades. The indictments against the firm say otherwise.

But oddly, Steven Cohen, hands-on manager and founder of the firm, isn’t named in the indictments. Gosh and golly, it turns out he “doesn’t read his emails” so isn’t responsible.  In fact, this month Cohen threw a lavish party at his ten-bedroom, 9,000-square-foot home in the East Hamptons while those of us without insider information fired up burgers on the grill.
[Read more…] “Wall Street Wall of Shame: A Month of Scams, Scandals and Shenanigans”

Top Five Recent Stories from Bank On Yourself

Judging by the questions we’ve been getting from subscribers, there’s a good chance you may have missed some of these 5 important recent stories…

1. New Wealth-Killing Revelations About Your 401(k) and IRA

I'm going to retire and live off my savings...

While doing research for my new book (The Bank On Yourself Revolution, due out on February 11), I came across four stunning new revelations about 401(k)s and IRAs. If you have money in one of these plans, I urge you to read this exposé to find out how to protect yourself from making costly mistakes.

I'm going to retire and live off my savings...

 2. Is Bank On Yourself “Snake Oil”?

[Read more…] “Top Five Recent Stories from Bank On Yourself”

What’s the difference between dumb money and smart money?

Have you ever heard the old Wall Street adage, “In investing, the majority is always wrong”?

Hold Buy Sell

Have you ever told yourself you’re done with the stock market forever?! But then the market starts to rise. The Wall Street jocks tell you non-stop what you’re missing out on. Your friends talk about how much their investments are going up – and you jump back in because you can’t stand the pain of watching it rise day after day without you!

Hold Buy Sell

I heard a well-respected investment analyst interviewed about why he believed the stock market rally still had legs in spite of the fact that it had recently nearly doubled.

He said, “People who missed out on the rally will jump in and propel the market higher.” Really? Have you heard that old saying…

If you’re sitting at a poker table and you can’t figure out who the sucker is, it’s you?”

The investing world has a specific technical term for that kind of investing: dumb money. When the dumb money is piling into the market, you know it’s about to reach a top. And when the dumb money is fleeing the market, a bottom isn’t very far away. Dumb money, which is a heck of a lot of investors, misses the mark on both sides.

Students of history will tell you how rare it is for a market to continue rising after such an extraordinary rally – only a handful of bull markets in S&P 500 history have gained more than 100%. And right now, with the market up about 150% from the bottom, the air is even more rarefied.

The problem is that none of us knows when the market will top out… or how deep the crash that inevitably follows will be. History reveals that the faster and higher the market goes up, the steeper the fall.

The real estate market is getting pretty frothy, too. The Case-Shiller home price index was up 12.2% in May over a year ago – the biggest year-over-year jump since near the peak of the housing bubble in 2006.

Paper wealth versus real wealth

During the last bubble that peaked in 2007, few people anticipated that both their retirement accounts and their home equity would be decimated at the same time.

That’s when it became painfully clear that the balances of our investment and retirement account statements and the appraisals of our homes were nothing more than a bunch of eye-popping numbers on paper. Those numbers repeatedly sucker many of us into believing we have real wealth and financial security when we do not.

Last week, Wall Street journalist Brett Arends noted…

Mom and Pop investors have returned to the market and have been buy stocks since the beginning of the year.  History says their timing is absolutely terrible.”

The last bubble burst just six years ago, and already many people have forgotten the pain of the Great Recession. According to the behavioral finance experts, part of the reason for this is that we humans have an amazing capacity to forget our losses and exaggerate our successes.

But the more important question is – what lasting lessons did you learn from the financial crisis?

Take this quick survey and share your biggest takeaway with us!

If you find yourself tempted to follow the “dumb money” into stocks, real estate and other volatile investments (and there’s no question that watching markets rise without you day after day can be very painful), I encourage you to keep in mind these words of George Santayana:

“Those who can't remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” - George Santayana

Take some time and reflect back on the lessons you’ve learned since 2000 before acting.

Then find out how much financial security and peace of mind you could have when you take the volatility and randomness of the market out of your financial plan. When you Bank On Yourself, your plan never goes backwards and both your principal and gains are locked in. That’s where the smart money is.

The typical investor lost 49% or more of their nest-eggs – TWICE – just since 2000. It could happen again in five or ten years… or even tomorrow. Is that a risk you really want to take again?

Request Your FREE Analysis and Find Out Your Bottom-Line Numbers!

No two Bank On Yourself policies or plans are alike – yours would be custom tailored to help you reach as many of your short-term and long-term goals as possible. There’s no obligation and no one is going to twist your arm. So take the first step and request your FREE Analysis now, while it’s fresh on your mind!
REQUEST YOUR
FREE ANALYSIS!

3 Steps to a Financially Stress-Free Life

Has financial stress become the new normal for most of us?

If you’re feeling financial stress and worry, you’re not alone. But it’s not inevitable. You don’t have to panic about your present or agonize about the what-ifs in the future. In this blog post, I’ll share three time-tested keys to achieving financial peace of mind, so you can weather whatever curve balls life throws at you…

Step 1: Have a Sizeable Liquid Rainy Day Fund

Life happens, and we should all expect the unexpected. Without safe and liquid cash reserves, how will you cope with:

  • A medical emergency?
  • Disability?
  • A broken major appliance or leaky roof?
  • Loss of a job?
  • A family member needing assistance?

Without a sizeable liquid rainy day fund, you may be forced into selling or liquidating your nest egg assets prematurely—the investments you planned on keeping over the long haul. When this happens, the timing is often terrible. You’re at the mercy of current market conditions and forced to sell at the worst possible time.

Honestly? That’s how the majority of people live. Their fortunes depend on Wall Street, the Dow Jones, the next paycheck coming in. (Great Grandma at least had that old jelly jar filled with cash!)

But what if your financial pyramid looked like this?

[Read more…] “3 Steps to a Financially Stress-Free Life”

Important 401K and IRA Advice

While doing my research for my new book (The Bank On Yourself Revolution, to be published on February 11), I came across four stunning new wealth-killing revelations about 401(k)’s and IRA’s.

If you have money in one of these plans, I urge you to read this advice about your 401K and/or IRA today to find out how to protect yourself from making costly mistakes:

Wealth-Killer #1: The fees you’re paying may be much higher than you think

Target Date Funds

I’ve written in the past about how Congress passed a law in 2006 protecting employers from liability as long as they automatically put employees’ contributions into certain types of mutual funds, known as “default” investments.

Target Date Funds

Target-date funds (TDF’s) have emerged as the default investment of choice. Unfortunately, they’ve also proven to be very risky AND they’re among the most costly mutual funds you can buy. (Would it surprise you to learn the mutual-fund industry lobbied Congress to get that law passed and make sure their interests were protected? Didn’t think so.)

So last month, an article in Forbes (“The Trouble With Target Funds”) revealed that, according to the prospectus of one popular target-date fund, your projected fees and expenses for each $10,000 invested is $2,478 over a ten-year period (assuming it grows at 5% a year).

That’s 25% of your savings!

So, if you had $300,000 in that fund for ten years, you’d get soaked for – are you sitting down? – $74,340! (And that’s just over a ten-year period!) It also doesn’t take into account all the other fees you’re charged in a 401(k).

The author of this article concluded…
[Read more…] “Important 401K and IRA Advice”

Why I swore I’d never write another book

I absolutely did not want to write another book… but I wanted to share with you what changed my mind.

Yup, after months of brain-numbing work and putting in hours that could kill a horse, I just sent the manuscript of my second book off to the publisher. The title is, The Bank On Yourself Revolution: Fire Your Banker, Bypass Wall Street and Take Control of Your Own Financial Future.

BankOnYourselfRevolution_FrontCover-sm

It will be published early next year, and there is no doubt in my mind it will hit all the best-seller lists, just like my first book. (Of course, I’ll let you know how you can get an autographed copy.)

BankOnYourselfRevolution_FrontCover-sm

This book is incredibly well documented and will blow the lid off the “conventional financial wisdom” and expose it for what it really is – a way for Wall Street and the banks to continue to line their pockets at our expense.

Writing my first book in 2008 was one of the most painful experiences of my life. It was all-consuming of my time and energy for nearly a year. I swore to my husband Larry that I would never, ever again set myself up for the stress of looming deadlines, the agony of the editor’s red pen, and the loss of so many weekends and so much sleep. Nope. Never again.

Then the book hit the best-seller lists. (That was nice and softened the pain a bit.) And we got tremendous response from folks who were thrilled to have discovered Bank On Yourself. (That was even better.)

Are you ready to have the peace of mind of knowing at least a chunk of your nest-egg is in a plan that goes in only one direction…

UP
And has never had a losing year in over 160 years? You can know the guaranteed value of your Bank On Yourself plan at any point in time before you decide to move forward. To find out what your numbers would be, request your FREE Analysis, if you haven’t already.
Request Your Analysis Button

But then the backlash started. (Not fun at all.)

[Read more…] “Why I swore I’d never write another book”