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The Financial Recovery Bill: What you need to know

This week, the American Congress passed a massive new Financial Overhaul Bill.

Among other things, this phone book of new regulations purportedly seeks to close loopholes in a system that led to the 2008 economic collapse. However, in my opinion, this bill not only is unnecessary, its additional onerous regulatory "super boards" and red tape will be like adding gasoline to a fire.

You see, the bill has absolutely nothing to do with speeding up the economic recovery.

Instead, it is simply more of what we have come to expect by way of a larger power and revenue grab by the federal government. For instance, Section 342 of the Bill mandates that all 12 federal financial regulatory boards utilize a prescribed ratio for hiring certain ethnic, race and gender employees, and further, that any company those federal boards do business with are similarly mandated those same affirmative action mandates.

Are you kidding me? This is what the Obama administration and Congress thinks is the most important job they have to do?

To add insult to injury, what the government should have done instead of focusing on mandatory discrimination is to renew the tax decreases that have been in effect for the past decade and are scheduled to end Dec. 31, 2010. But it didn’t and so American workers, their families, retirees and small businesses are about to be slammed with huge tax increases in less than six months.

On January 1, 2011, virtually every citizen will be adversely impacted.

For example, instead of paying no tax on assets transferred at death to family members as has been the case, beginning January 1, 2011, all assets are subject to a “death tax” of as much as 55%! And for the living, the tax increases will be on almost every form of income. On dividends. On capital gains. On earned income.

The ugly, disgusting truth is that the United States of America has racked up an unsustainable debt. It owes so much money to foreign governments that the amount is almost incalculable. To raise money, our government has seized control of the automotive industry, the banking industry, the health care industry and now dictates whether and how private business can pursue oil and gas exploration — both on and off shore — even as drilling leases off the US coast have been signed by the Spanish, Russians, Chinese and Vietnamese.

There are only two schools of thought regarding monetary (money) policy. Either allow the private sector to increase tax revenue through economic growth, or use the government to increase taxes on what enterprise already exists. Unfortunately, the government reigning in Washington now is firmly planted in the latter school of thought. Our government’s reach into the business and purse of America’s citizens and businesses is unprecedented.

Is there any island left that the government isn’t reaching for? Any place where you can still maintain some control? Yes, there is, and it is in one of the most unlikely places: Your own life insurance policy.

Right now, you can use a particular type of life insurance product to set aside literally as much money as you want for tax free growth and then use that account later for tax free income. That’s right, no dividend tax, no income tax, and no capital gains tax. It accumulates in the cash value of your life insurance policy until you want to access it. It really is that simple. And this is one of the very few situations where I recommend virtually everybody take advantage of this financial instrument!

You might be thinking that the government is sure to catch on and take this tax free opportunity away. Maybe. But in every single tax law change in the last 120 years, life insurance was able to “grandfather” its policyholders; meaning that if you already owned a policy, you got to keep the existing tax benefit.

There are a lot of technical issues associated with setting up one of these plans, so be sure to talk with a licensed, knowledgeable professional such as an RFP.

Don’t be fooled by all of the hoopla on the front deck of the Titanic. You can protect your savings from the tax-and-spend plans of our government by moving some of your savings into a life insurance policy. Don't wait until your savings has dwindled, and don't wait until you see your money going out the door to Washington from these new taxes that are coming in 2011.

Take control and do something today to protect yourself!

Click here for a referral to someone I trust and recommend.

Do you have an opinion about how Washington is managing our nation's economy? Add your comment here now.

Posted by stephen@recalibratetoday.com at 2:09 PM

Comments

7/10/2010 at 03:43 PM by Tom

You certainly bring up some interesting points regarding the government's "financial reform" bill. Additionally, the point about life insurance is worth considering, particularly in view of the current and likely "tax" situation. Life insurance may be worth considering for additional reasons, rather than its original purpose.


7/13/2010 at 07:18 AM by Stephen Bolt

Absolutely. Let's look at the life insurance scenario. Typically, people invest their retirement money in the stock market through mutual funds, 401k or a stock portfolio. But over the past decade, the S&P 500 (best overall measure of the stock market's performance) was zero. I mean literally flat. Nothing. So, if you go back another five years the return averages about 5% and over the past 20 plus years it has averaged about 8-9%. But even that's misleading as an "net" result to an investor because mutual funds have expenses, and a managed stock portfolio would have commissions. Then on top of all of that, once the investor becomes a retiree and wants to start pulling some money out of his or her account every dime would be taxable.

Example: say you are invested for 20 years in a 401k and during that time the stock market has averaged 9%. Typically, you'll lose at least 1% right off the bat because of expenses, so now you're down to 8%. Then, as you begin pulling money out, you'll pay (as of January 1, 2010) up to almost 40% in tax on your distribution. So, if you need say $5,000 a month of income from your 401k, in order to "net" that after taxes, you'll have to pull out a whopping $8,333! That difference can quickly start reducing your principal.

By contrast, if a person were to use a certain type of life insurance program set up to maximize return, minimize internal expenses and qualify for all of the tax advantages, I think that a net return of 8-9% on the cash value is definately attainable over a 20 year period and there would be NO TAX EVER on either the retirement income, or the life insurance death benefit. On top of that, there are no mandatory minimum or maximum age requirements for contributions and distributions like the government established programs such as IRA's and 401k's. That said, I am not advocating that everyone should rush out and cancel their 401k and buy a life insurance policy. You first need to take into account the tax savings you get on your 401k contribution, as well as other factors. What I am saying is that in a growing number of situations, because of the government's unsustainable debt coupled with its philosophy of incrreasing taxes and controling individuals' investment behavior, I think anyone who is seriously interested in using the most efficient methods for maximizing retirement income would be missing a serious opportunity if they did not look long and hard at a life insurance instrument with a licensed professional who knew what he was doing.


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