Manage Your Money

"Roughly 20% of corporate and public pensions in the US now use hedge funds along with stocks and bonds."

Do you know where your money REALLY is?

Learn about annuities, dividend paying, high cash value life insurance products - products that you can use for your own retirement funding.

No Will

According to Thompson Financial, roughly 70% of parents between the ages of 18 and 39 do not even have a will for their children in the event of a premature death.

Get a will at the VERY least......................!

Estate Planning and Insurance

Do you have an estate plan? A will? A trust?

You should. Without creating one, you could be subjecting loved ones to headache upon headache should something happen to you.

There are various levels of estate planning. A will, durable power of attorney, trusts, etc. Work with an attorney well versed in these areas (call me for a referral).

I'm in the process of creating a trust. Our life insurance beneficiaries will be changed to the trust. Creating a trust will avoid probate for my family and to take advantage of estate tax exemptions if available AND the biggest factor to me right now.... I have younger children. A trust can delay fund distributions until the age I deem appropriate. Not many 15 years are ready to manage an inheritence, in my mind.

Is it expensive to create a trust? Well, there is a big difference between cost and value. Creating a trust is something I valued and found the money to pay for.

Workers Compensation - 7 Common Mistakes

Workers' compensation claims have a high impact on return to work and costs to employers.

The seven biggest mistakes employers make:

1. Not visiting the claim offices and sitting "chair side•bCrLf with the adjuster to see the process firsthand
2. Not meeting with all service providers
3. Not having onsite file reviews regularly and not attending reviews
4. Not using a medical doctor to review medical records and reports, but relying on adjusters to make medical decisions
5. Not customizing account handling instructions
6. Not staying involved-many employers put aside responsibility for their employee's medical care and return to work, relying on the claims adjuster
7. Not receiving assistance from your broker.

Soft Market - Get Ready for the End?

From Agent and Broker Magazine:

The 5-year soft market is coming to an end, according to a report by Advisen Ltd. The company predicts that average rate levels for commercial insurance will level off by the second quarter of 2009 and begin to rise in the fourth quarter of 2009 or the first quarter of 2010.

Advisen estimated the property-casualty industry was $100 billion overcapitalized at the end of 2007. U.S. policyholders’ surplus declined $3.6 billion (7 percent) during the 12 months that ended Sept. 20, 2008, according to A.M. Best. Towers Perrin predicted there would be up to an $80 million decrease in surplus by 2008’s end.

Advisen states that because of the absence of large insured natural catastrophes, underwriting losses combined with weak investment returns should begin increasing rates in 2009 and 2010. One or more large catastrophes could accelerate the process. However, Advisen predicts that the global recession may delay the return of hard market conditions by suppressing demand for insurance.

The 5-year soft market is coming to an end, according to a report by Advisen Ltd. The company predicts that average rate levels for commercial insurance will level off by the second quarter of 2009 and begin to rise in the fourth quarter of 2009 or the first quarter of 2010.

Advisen estimated the property-casualty industry was $100 billion overcapitalized at the end of 2007. U.S. policyholders’ surplus declined $3.6 billion (7 percent) during the 12 months that ended Sept. 20, 2008, according to A.M. Best. Towers Perrin predicted there would be up to an $80 million decrease in surplus by 2008’s end.

Advisen states that because of the absence of large insured natural catastrophes, underwriting losses combined with weak investment returns should begin increasing rates in 2009 and 2010. One or more large catastrophes could accelerate the process. However, Advisen predicts that the global recession may delay the return of hard market conditions by suppressing demand for insurance.

Growth and Security = Annuities

A recent U.S. Census Bureau study notes that by 2050, there will be more than a million Americans age 100 or older. If you get to age 60 and are married, there’s a 40 percent chance that one of you will reach age 95. Such life expectancies bring with them a greater need for growth and security.

Annuities can fit the bill. Tax deferred, you won't lose your principal, your interest rate is locked in, your gains are locked in with certain riders, etc. So many choices and worth taking a look at.

Business Succession Planning

Successful business owners tend to be very busy and unwilling to talk about next week, let alone next year or 20 years from now. Then along comes a divorce, a family squabble, a death, disability, retirement or an unsuitable heir, and the business is on the road to ruin.

Don't let this be you. Let's sit down and talk about succession plans. Where do you want your business to go with OR without you? Are your key employees covered? Can you operate without them?

Super important issues to think about - for you AND your family.

Golf Balls and Liability

A client's son called the other week. On a Sunday. First round of the season, first hole of the season, first drive of the season. Ever anxious in Michigan's 65 degree weather that day; crash. Window smashed.

Well, the homeowner came out looking for the owner of the golfball. What a way to start the season.

Liability is inherent in your homeowners policy. Now, he could have made a claim against the family's policy - but the family would lose their standing loss-free discount, etc. The woman and the client's son ultimately determined the damage to be 310$. Luckily it was not a big doorwall! Just an expensive start to the season for the golfer.

** Had the woman come home to a broken window and not known who had hit the ball, she could have filed a claim with her own homeowners policy. Again, in the case of 310$, she'd be out the 310$ as it's not a high enough level of damage to make a claim, in my opinion.

Whole Life - a pretty conservative asset

Regardless of age, every portfolio should balance risk and safety.

Every financial product, including life insurance products, fit into an asset class. You need to balance all of those assets so that you can sleep at night while maximizing your assets' returns.

Amazing stat: The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement. Life insurance products can help.

Life insurance products are the only investment that allow you to accumulate money tax free, enables you to access the money tax-free, and blossoms in value and transfers free of income tax when you die (provided premiums are paid and up to date).

Whole life products can offer guarantees for the things that mean the most to you.

Danger of Outliving Your Money...

Biggest pitfall to retirement? Ask most people what that is and they typically say that their concern is running out of money.

Ever consider an annuity product? Annuities, in their most basic form, are designed to deliver tax defferred retirement income for life. Annuity products can be a nice addition to a well balanced portfolio.

Clients are increasingly turning to these products to protect nest eggs against wildly gyrating equities markets resulting from 2008’s credit crunch and, now, a deepening recession. Given plunging stock prices, once high-flying stocks and mutual funds no longer seem like a sure path to a comfortable retirement. Hence the growing appeal of products that can guarantee a steady income and protection of principal.

Attention Condo Owners

You DO require coverage!!

I had lunch with an attorney friend last week. He has a new client. You don't want to be his new client. The client is renting her condo. The woman who is discontinuing her lease of the condo, has told the condo owner that she tripped and fell off the step between the garage and the home.

Ugh. The condo owner called this attorney. The attorney asked who her homeowner's insurance was with. She replied "I don't have any. I didn't think I needed any".

Condo owners - you are generally (check with your association for your specific condo bylaws) required to carry coverage for the "drywall in". Meaning just about everything that you can see with your eyeballs, you'll want to provide coverage for. And, as we see in the case above, you'll also be purchasing PERSONAL LIABILITY coverage via your policy. You can go as high as 1million and your annual policy is likely only a few hundred dollars a year. In addition to the million dollars in coverage, defense costs of a claim are provided with your policy.

You can pay $400/hour for a top notch attorney or pay $400/year for a condo policy... which do you think the client in this story would pick if she could pick again...

Don't go without.

Shooting the Messenger

In Michigan, with some of our insurance carriers, we (agents) must provide what we sometimes feel are silly items to the company. We agree with the clients. "why do they want or need that?".... We say the same thing. But, our job is to deliver to the company what they need to keep a client's rate intact.

Most good agents will explain this to their clients. They'll understand that it's not Joanne asking for this information, it's Joanne doing her job of keeping your coverage where we want it to be.

I've had a couple incidents this week where clients get pretty irritated (and of course, part of my job is that it can be taken out on me or our support staff - comes with the territory - it's still a great job most of the time!)

So, if this has ever happened to you Mr. or Mrs. Client (and 80% of the time things are pretty smooth), please don't feel picked on. Every company requires different proof of this or proof of that and it might require me to chase you down for further info. I'd prefer not to do it, too. But, I want you to receive the deal you signed up for with me. Hang in there!

Changing Jobs? Lose a Job?

Remember that many, many employee sponsored group plans will not provide you life insurance coverage post leaving a job. One day you might wake up having left your employer of 28 years and suddenly you need to buy your own life coverage. Now, you've gained 20 pounds and it'll cost 1800/year.

Understand your benefits, control what you can, when you can.

Time Equals Money...

Life Insurance. The longer you wait; the more expensive it gets.

Think about the following:

· Mike is 41 and in great health. He's going to purchase $500,000 of 20 year term insurance.

Price? 44$/month

· Mike is 46 and in pretty good health. He has borderline blood pressure numbers and his cholesterol count is a bit high. He's going to purchase $500,000 of 20 year term insurance.

Price? 118$/month

· Mike is 50 years old. He's gained an extra 30 pounds over the years and takes cholesterol medication to control his count. He needs to purchase $500,000 of 20 year term insurance.

Price? 182$/month


Don't wait. Life changes. Lock in your rates.

From claimsjournal.com

Whoops!

New York Skydiver Charged with Bilking Workers' Comp

The back injury that supposedly prevented Jacob Bancroft from working apparently didn't keep him from jumping out of airplanes.

The 28-year-old Hudson Falls, New York resident has been charged with illegally collecting $83,000 in workers' compensation benefits for a back injury he said he suffered while working as a press operator.

State Insurance Department officials say a fraud investigator observed Bancroft running a construction company, volunteering as a firefighter and hiking. They also say surveillance videos showed him skydiving after he was declared disabled in February 2007.

He's been charged with insurance fraud, grand larceny, falsifying business records and workers' comp fraud.