A recent Wall Street Journal Article has this shocking news about 401(k)s: they dropped 24% in 2008.
The author goes on to say that this could have been worse – because the S&P 500 declined by 37% in the same year.
BUT – be careful. She later writes that doesn’t mean 401(k)s did any better than the market average. Why? Because that data includes worker contributions! So the losses were actually worse than 24%, but people kept adding to their accounts!
Someone with a small 401(k) could have lost much of its value in the market, but if she contributed that same amount during the year her account would have shown no change.
Is that how we are going to prepare for retirement? Contributing more and more every year and not knowing if the money invested will grow or shrink?
No wonder author Garrett Gunderson (see Wednesday's blog on Retirement Myths) says, “A 401(k) is not the "safe" and "smart" plan that you have been told it is; in fact, it's an extremely risky investment for most people.”
No wonder people worry if they will have enough money for retirement. It is not secure money. Why lose money? There is no need to lose money – you can have no downside risk and still have upside potential in an annuity.
Showing posts with label risk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label risk. Show all posts
Friday, November 13, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
A Comprehensive Insurance Solution
“Living Benefits”
What is wrong with life insurance?
Traditional life insurance has the drawback of covering only 1 emergency – your passing away. And with term insurance, the vast majority of policies will never be paid because they are outlived. But the leading causes of death in America are also the primary causes of disability, the need for long term care, and ultimately most cases of financial struggle.
Every 29 seconds someone suffers from a coronary event, and 45% of heart attack victims are under the age of 45.
Every 45 seconds someone suffers from a stroke.
The chance of developing cancer during your lifetime is 1 in 3 for women, and 1 in 2 for men.
Of all Americans who reach age 65, about 60% will eventually need some form of long term care.
There are so many challenges a family faces long before the worst possibility of losing a loved one. What is wrong with life insurance is that it doesn’t address all these risks.
What is wrong with disability insurance and long term care insurance?
Disability insurance is very important for the breadwinner of the family to have, for how many months can your family live without that income? And yet, disability insurance will never pay the full amount of the income, and often comes with waiting periods.
Long term care insurance is another valuable protection, because the costs of long term care are so high that it protects your assets from being depleted in the event you need this care. However, many people hesitate to get it because they don’t know for sure that they’ll use it. Or what if you have a heart attack or stroke, but recover enough that you do not trigger the long term care because you can still perform the activities of daily living?
A Comprehensive Solution
The solution to these shortcomings of traditional, separate insurance policies is to get one policy that will provide “Living Benefits” as well as death benefits.
It is now possible to get such a policy through a 150-year-old, A-rated mutual company. The one policy will pay in three ways:
· Acceleratd living benefits
· Retirement income benefit
· Death benefit.
We can design a policy to cover disability, chronic and terminal illness, and long term care. In addition, you will be able to access the value for retirement or other needs.
We all have multiple risks to insure against, and it is hard to know which one we will need first. A “Living Benefits” life insurance policy provides one combined, affordable solution to all of these needs.
What is wrong with life insurance?
Traditional life insurance has the drawback of covering only 1 emergency – your passing away. And with term insurance, the vast majority of policies will never be paid because they are outlived. But the leading causes of death in America are also the primary causes of disability, the need for long term care, and ultimately most cases of financial struggle.
Every 29 seconds someone suffers from a coronary event, and 45% of heart attack victims are under the age of 45.
Every 45 seconds someone suffers from a stroke.
The chance of developing cancer during your lifetime is 1 in 3 for women, and 1 in 2 for men.
Of all Americans who reach age 65, about 60% will eventually need some form of long term care.
There are so many challenges a family faces long before the worst possibility of losing a loved one. What is wrong with life insurance is that it doesn’t address all these risks.
What is wrong with disability insurance and long term care insurance?
Disability insurance is very important for the breadwinner of the family to have, for how many months can your family live without that income? And yet, disability insurance will never pay the full amount of the income, and often comes with waiting periods.
Long term care insurance is another valuable protection, because the costs of long term care are so high that it protects your assets from being depleted in the event you need this care. However, many people hesitate to get it because they don’t know for sure that they’ll use it. Or what if you have a heart attack or stroke, but recover enough that you do not trigger the long term care because you can still perform the activities of daily living?
A Comprehensive Solution
The solution to these shortcomings of traditional, separate insurance policies is to get one policy that will provide “Living Benefits” as well as death benefits.
It is now possible to get such a policy through a 150-year-old, A-rated mutual company. The one policy will pay in three ways:
· Acceleratd living benefits
· Retirement income benefit
· Death benefit.
We can design a policy to cover disability, chronic and terminal illness, and long term care. In addition, you will be able to access the value for retirement or other needs.
We all have multiple risks to insure against, and it is hard to know which one we will need first. A “Living Benefits” life insurance policy provides one combined, affordable solution to all of these needs.
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