Life insurance can be the great equalizer in a world of inequality. Retired couples can statistically bank on the woman outliving her husband 87% of the time. The average female survivor lives to age 93. That means that half of American women will live longer than that! Recently, Susannah Jones lived to the age 116. She was born in 1899, giving her the distinction of being America’s last tri- centurion. But she’s not the oldest documented person in the Guinness Book of World Records. That honor is held by Jean Calment who died in 1997 at 122 years, 164 days. Women generally outlast their husbands and live longer, a lot longer. Living longer can generally be a good thing if you have wealth and your health. But many middle class widows have neither. When their husbands pass away, they generally lose their spousal benefit in lieu of their husband’s benefit. So if the husband’s Social Security monthly benefit is $2,500 and her benefit is $1,250, she’ll elect to have her husband’s larger benefit, but she loses hers in the election process. They were earning $45,000 a year in Social Security benefits, now she’s earning only $30,000 in benefits. For most   Read more…

Small business owners rarely have an overall plan that dictates the daily operations of their business and maps the achievement of the milestone goals they set along the way. But a business exit plan is just as important as its start up strategy. Who will own your business at retirement? Who will own your business if something happens to you? Do you have partners? Are they equal partners? Do you want your spouse to own your business, or do you want it to be divided up among your family? What are you doing to recruit, retain and reward your key employees? These are just a few of the important items that need to be addressed as a business owner. One common goal when you’re building a business is to one day sell it to partners, key employees or even a competitor. Often closely held family businesses desire to transfer the company to family members. The ultimate sale of your business at retirement is ideal, but life doesn’t always cooperate. Life insurance can fund business succession plans if things don’t go as planned. Life insurance can fund the transfer of ownership with discounted dollars for those family members or business partners   Read more…

Life insurance is generally viewed as protection for the breadwinners of a family and a way to fund favorite charities. It’s used in corporate coverage for business partners and key employees. But whole life cash value insurance has been viewed a conservative savings vehicle that can generate tax-free income via policy loans.1 Policy loan distributions are not includable for the provisional income test to determine Social Security benefit taxation. Many conservative savers use whole life insurance as a bond alternative that has done quite well against the yields of ten-year treasury rates. The dividends and projected performance are not guaranteed, but the contractual cost of insurance and interest credited is guaranteed. That fundamental fact can redefine the low beta risk using a whole life insurance policy. Conservative savers appreciate the contractual guarantees, which are subordinated by many blue chip mutual companies with strong balance sheet financials. You still have a death benefit, but the design of the plan is based on tax-deferred accumulation and tax-free distributions via collateralized policy loans. Whole life insurance, as a bond alternative, is gaining some significant traction in advisory circles, who are looking to protect their clients from undo exposure in the bond market, especially   Read more…