Personal Finance Blog for Retirement and Investment Advice

Flight to Safety: What to Do With Your (Remaining) Money After Stock Market Delivers a Drubbing

August 9th, 2011 by Pamela Yellen | Leave a Comment

Investors have short memories.

Keeping that in mind, you might want to print this column and save it at the ready. It is timely reading this week and without any doubt will be again — sooner than any of us want to admit.

Along with death and taxes, one certainty in life is that the stock market will gyrate wildly, each time robbing investors of any remaining sense of financial well being.

When a stock market quake hits, stunned shareholders always get airborne, seeking a flight path to safety. In the immediate aftermath, my in-box overflows with queries from shell-shocked individuals searching for quality alternatives to the Wall Street temblors.

My answers are pretty much the same each and every time, although I must admit I remain puzzled why so many people who cry “foul” when Wall Street shakes, soon behave like “fowl” and — despite their badly damaged nest eggs — wing their way back to their 401(k)s and other Wall Street roosts, often within weeks or months.

So, fully aware that I will likely be pressed into writing some variation of this column again in the not-too-distant future, I present three of the questions I’m asked most frequently and my replies:

1. Is Now the Right Time to Shift into Gold?

Dow Down 512 points – Have You Had Enough Yet?

August 4th, 2011 by Pamela Yellen | 1 Comment

Protect your hard-earned money!

The markets are crazy and the economy may be unraveling. We have some important and timely articles, interviews and advice planned in the coming weeks on how to protect your hard-earned money. Subscribe to our free newsletter today, so you don’t miss any of it! You’ll also be able to immediately access my new 18-page Special Report absolutely free when you subscribe.

The Dow is down 1,300 points (give or take) in just the last two weeks, plunging more than 500 points today alone

The risk has been increasing daily that we will fall into another recession (if we aren’t ALREADY there), making it likely that the volatility in the markets will only continue – and maybe get worse.

If you have money in the stock market and you haven’t read the article I wrote on “Why You Need Dow 27,000 Today,” I urge you to read it now.

Are you sick and tired of the “hope and pray” method of building wealth?

Do you want to have a nest egg that grows by a guaranteed and predictable amount EVERY single year?

Have you just plain had enough?

The drop was the largest one-day decline in three years

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, and you haven’t already added the Bank On Yourself method to your financial plan, please, please, please – DO NOT PUT IT OFF ANOTHER DAY!

Request a free Analysis now. When you request your Analysis, you’ll get a referral to one of only 200 financial representatives in the country who have met the rigorous requirements to be a Bank On Yourself Professional.

The Professional selected for you will be able to answer any questions you may still have and show you exactly how much money you can count on having in your plan at any point in time.

If you don’t like what you see, there’s no obligation at all and no one is going to twist your arm or try to hard sell you.

But at least you’ll know whether Bank On Yourself makes sense for your situation.

Wall Street already lost more than 45% of investors’ money – TWICE – just in the last decade

You may not vividly remember the sting of the last crash, but please don’t fool yourself into thinking it isn’t going to happen again.

More than $2 trillion of wealth has been wiped out in the past two weeks, but NO one lost a single penny in their Bank On Yourself plan. It’s an asset that has increased in value EVERY year for more than 160 years and remains the ultimate financial security blanket in both good times and bad.

So, request your free Analysis now.

A Do-It-Yourself Fix For The Economy, Deficit, Social Security and Unemployment

August 1st, 2011 by Pamela Yellen and Dean Rotbart | 7 Comments

Executive Summary: The best solutions to America’s economic woes and political gridlock won’t be found in the nation’s capitol. We must return to our roots, where family, neighbors, church and community provided shelter from financial storms and health crises. The road to fiscal redemption begins at your doorstep.

There are all manner of proposals, schemes, social engineering programs and wishful thinking being weighed as possible government responses to the seemingly unsolvable financial problems our nation faces.

Depressing economy news Our economy wobbles on the edge of a second recession.

Unemployment refuses to yield despite trillions of dollars of taxpayer-funded stimulus.

The words default and U.S. debt – once unthinkable in the same sentence – now harmonize with alarming regularity and require an Atlas-like effort to keep hoisting our nation’s debt ceiling higher and higher.

As for the government programs designed to safeguard the health and financial security of our senior citizens, they have been unmasked as Ponzi schemes so massive that Bernie Madoff’s multi-billion dollar Wall Street fraud is really but a drop in the bucket by comparison.

To whom do we turn to lead us out of this mess? The President? The leaders of the House and Senate?

Turn Off the News and Ignore the Economic Naysayers: You Are Not a Statistic

August 1st, 2011 by Pamela Yellen and Dean Rotbart | Leave a Comment

The numbers alone can be overwhelming.

Everyday, we are bombarded by news reports – and those who parrot them – reminding us of how dire our economic circumstances are.

Daily Reminders

Consider how demoralizing it is to be constantly reminded that your chances of finding employment – or holding onto the job you still have – dwindles if you have outdated skills, live in certain regions of the country, belong to specific ethnic groups, or have passed your 40s?

Look at the high percentage of fellow citizens who are out of work, or awash in credit card debt, or underwater on their home mortgage, or reliant on food stamps, or lacking adequate health insurance, or holding too little savings (especially if they lose their jobs or face a crisis), or likely will have to live as paupers in retirement.

If you fall into some or any of these categories, why even bother to get up in the morning? After all, your fate is not your own. You are but a leaf on a raging river, being carried along by forces too strong to resist.

Although millions of Americans, sadly, do subscribe to such can’t-do thinking – and no doubt money misery does enjoy plenty of company – these “helpless” victims of the economy are absolutely wrong.

They are not a statistic and should never think of themselves as such

They are individuals, blessed with free will and living in a country where opportunity remains one of our most abundant natural resources.

Proud Americans — We can heal what ails our country’s economy – beginning one citizen at a time

Personal creativity, willpower, persistence and a commitment to do whatever it takes to succeed are far more reliable social safety nets than unemployment insurance, supplemental nutrition assistance (food stamps), Medicaid or Social Security. Moreover, they are all well within our absolute individual control.

If you (or a family member, friend or neighbor) are out of work, your unemployment rate is 100%. If you find a job, or create one for yourself, your unemployment rate drops to zero.

It really doesn’t matter what percent of the population was in the same boat with you when you determined to place your fate squarely in your own hands.

What matters is your commitment and diligent efforts to get out of the boat on your own and serve as a shining example of how others can follow your lead.

We can heal what ails our country’s economy – beginning one citizen at a time.

The Recession is Over… If You’re On Wall Street

July 28th, 2011 by Pamela Yellen | 9 Comments

There have been a spate of articles in the financial media recently encouraging retirees to catch up on savings shortfalls by investing as much as 40-60% of their nest egg in the stock market.

These “experts” promote the concept as if it makes perfect sense to make up for your gambling losses by doubling your bets.

To me, it’s appalling that anyone would advise those who are already retired to gamble their life’s savings on the volatile, risk-filled world of Wall Street.

But my message – that Wall Street is unstable and potentially as explosive as nitroglycerin – is really not age specific. The stock market can (and will) blow up in your face at any age.

For most Americans – and Wall Street goes to great lengths to hide this truth – the stock market is a promise unmet.

The success myth hyped by the financial services industry is like a casino showcasing its big winners, without mentioning that the prize pool derives from the much larger pool of losers who generate huge profits for the operators, but who themselves walk away worse off than if they had stayed at home.

Money isn’t the only price that the Wall Street casino extracts from most investors

Getting to Know Pamela Yellen, President of Bank On Yourself

July 21st, 2011 by Pamela Yellen | 13 Comments

In this candid conversation, Pamela Yellen really lets her hair down and reveals things about herself she’s never talked about before.

In this interview, you’ll learn…

Pamela’s early investing mistakes
How she first learned about the Bank On Yourself method of wealth building
How Walt Disney, J.C. Penney and other influential people have used this method
Why Banks use this to meet their Tier One (safe and liquid) Capital reserves requirement
Why Bank On Yourself Professionals earn much lower commissions than other forms of life insurance sales
Why this concept is not included on insurance licensing exams
Pamela & her husband Larry
Bank On Yourself “Inc.” doesn’t sell insurance or charge consumers anything…so how does it make money?
Introducing the Bank On Yourself Nation…soon to be the center of the universe when it comes to financial literacy education and learning to be self-reliant

So checkout this fast-paced interview now by pressing the play button below, or you can download the interview as an Mp3 and listen on your own player or iPod…

And if you still have any unanswered questions about Bank On Yourself or Pamela Yellen, please tell us in the comments box below…

Grow your money safely and predictability even when the markets crash…

Wondering how the Bank On Yourself method can help you reach your financial goals and dreams in the shortest time possible… without the stomach-churning ups and downs of traditional investments?

Request a free, no-obligation Analysis now to find out. When you request your Analysis you’ll also get a referral to one of only 200 financial representatives in the country who have met all the rigorous requirements and training needed to be a Bank On Yourself Professional.

Bank On Yourself Round-Up for week of July 13, 2011

July 13th, 2011 by Pamela Yellen | 2 Comments

Here are short summaries of three of the most interesting and thought-provoking items that have crossed my desk this week. Enjoy… and tell us what you think!

Would you be prepared if you suffered a 30% pay cut?

A shocking new report reveals that the average person’s pay levels off when they’re in their 40’s. After that, about all you’ll be likely to count on will be cost-of-living adjustments to keep pace with inflation.

That will come as a real surprise to many people who assume their pay will continue to rise as they get older.

And if you lose your job while in your 50’s, you’re likely to remain jobless longer than when you were younger, according to the report.

Read this sobering and well documented article from the Wall Street Journal.¹

What’s your best self-defense? When planning for retirement, assume the only salary increases you’ll get will be cost-of-living adjustments. And identify a worse-case scenario – such as a 20% pay cut during your final ten years in the workforce – and try living on that income and putting the rest into savings.

Some Common Sense Thoughts on the Need for a Declaration of Financial Independence

July 1st, 2011 by Pamela Yellen and Dean Rotbart | 7 Comments

Executive Summary: Given the poor track record of the government and private sector when it comes to safeguarding the financial security of Americans, the authors propose a Declaration of Financial Independence in which individual citizens pledge to take responsibility for their own lifelong financial well being.

Americans need a financial revolution in 2011 as surely as we needed a political revolution in 1776.

Our system of earning, saving and investing money simply is broken. It relies way too heavily on the tag team of government and mega-banks and financial institutions, and way too little on the self-reliance and individualism that made our nation great.

The federal government, by every reasonable standard, has proven to be a poor steward of our money and financial security.

The lockbox that was supposed to be Social Security – with Uncle Sam holding our funds – repeat, “our” funds – for us, turns out to be a thinly veiled Ponzi scheme that is rapidly draining to insolvency. Ditto Medicaid.

It was the circus-like policies of the government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that led directly to the housing crash in 2008 and turned the American Dream – owning one’s own home – into a financial nightmare for tens of millions of us.

The federal government poured close to $600 billion taxpayer dollars into the bailout of unstable private businesses, including AIG, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, General Motors, etc. – rather than permit the free market to right its own wrongs.

Bank On Yourself Round-Up for week of June 23, 2011

June 23rd, 2011 by Pamela Yellen | 11 Comments

Here are short summaries of three of the most interesting and thought-provoking items that have crossed my desk this week. Enjoy!

What would it be like to retire on $260 a month?

Have you ever thought about what kind of lifestyle you would have if your retirement plan only threw off $260 a month?

It’s a question a lot of Americans are going to have to start asking themselves.

A shocking article appeared this week on SmartMoney.com ¹ revealing how much money the typical person approaching retirement actually has saved in their 401(k) and/or IRA. And it’s not a pretty picture…

Pre-retirees — What would it be like to retire on $260 a month?

A typical pre-retiree taking withdrawals the way most people actually do would only be able to take $260 a month.

Oh, yeah – the article didn’t even mention you gotta pay the taxes you deferred all those years on that money!

How much do you think is going to be left for food, housing, utilities, car expenses, medical expenses not covered by Medicare, etc.? You’ll be lucky if you can scrape by at all, let alone enjoy even the smallest of life’s luxuries.

Of course, maybe you’ll have Social Security and Medicare to rely on. Or maybe not…
[Read more…] “Bank On Yourself Round-Up for week of June 23, 2011”

Bank On Yourself Round-Up for Week of June 9, 2011

June 9th, 2011 by Pamela Yellen | 3 Comments

I hope you enjoy these short summaries of three of the most interesting and thought-provoking items that have crossed my desk this week…

Brave new world of financial planning?

Can a new blood test tell you how long you’ll live? And if you knew how long you would live, would you change your financial life?

A blood test showing how fast people are aging will go on sale over the counter in Britain later this year. It measures the length of your “telomeres,” structures at the tips of your chromosomes. Scientists now believe these are the most accurate measure of how quickly you’re aging.

Financial planners say the test could add more science to their practice.¹

As one financial planner noted…

From a financial point of view, it would be great information to have. But from a psychological standpoint – that’s a hard question. I don’t think I would want to know. I think it would make me depressed.”

How would you feel about knowing when you’re likely to die? And how would your financial decisions change as a result?

Tell us in the comments box below…

New Research: Most Americans in deep financial hole

The financial status of American households may be even darker than we thought, according to a new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research.²