The Dow's Down 350+ Points - Time to Act!

The stock market closed down drastically on June 20th. It was the second day straight day of losses following Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s announcement that the Quantitative Easing program could end.
 
On that day, many financial advisors locked their office doors, hide under their desks and just let the phones ring and ring. They were avoiding the panicked calls from their clients whose financial portfolios were taking yet another beating (losing almost 4% in two days!).
 
At The Hidden Wealth System, our doors were open, our Wealth Architect advisors could clearly be seen walking around in the open and oddly enough, our phones weren't ringing off of the hook, unless it was a call from a traditional stock market investor that was finally sick and tired of not making any gains. Why weren't our existing clients calling us to check on their retirement savings?

Because our proven, safe-money retirement solution provides a way for our clients to participate in the up side of the market while never suffering a loss when the market goes down. In fact, our clients haven't lost a single dime in the worst economy since the great depression.
 
Sound intriguing? Want to learn more? Click the link below to watch our 10 minute video. Then, if our common sense, peace of mind retirement solution sounds right for you, give us a call and schedule a meeting with one of our specially trained Wealth Architects. You've worked hard for your money, we'll work even harder to protect it.

Here's the link to that video:
www.HiddenWealthVideo.com

More Wall Street Volitility - Get Off the "Dow Jones Coaster"

Do you have money in the stock market? If so, you are no doubt suffering from whiplash caused by watching the market shoot down, down, up, and then down some more. It’s like riding on a roller coaster that you really didn’t want to get on in the first place.

But, it doesn’t have to be this way! There’s no reason to ride on the “Dow Jones Coaster” every day. Our clients did not lose a single penny during these recent market swings. That’s because they only participate in market gains; they never give back any of their earnings. In our unique design you never have to make up for any losses. Not only is The Personal Protected Pension Plan™ safe from market loss but, when you retire, your distributions are tax-free.

If the past month has taught us anything, it’s that our political system is a mess—and it’s dragging the economy down the tubes with it. Between the debt ceiling debacle and the continuing European debt crisis, traditional investments face a completely uncertain future. To make matters worse, when the economy begins to recover (or even before then), inflation is likely to erode any hard-fought gains that the market may experience.

What should you do? The answer is quite simple: stop exposing your retirement to market risk! The Personal Protected Pension Plan™ is tax-free, market risk-free, and protected against inflation. Stop exposing the fruit of your life’s work to unnecessary (and rapidly increasing) risk. Stop riding on the Dow Jones Coaster for hours a day!

To see if The Personal Protected Pension Plan™ is right for you, email Millie, our Client Concierge, at millie@TheHiddenWealthSystem.com or phone her at (866) 998-7699. Please provide Millie with the two best times to contact you. We are currently experiencing a high volume of inquiries and two contact times will insure that she is able to reach you. There is absolutely no reason for you to subject yourself to the rapidly increasing volatility of traditional stock investments. Wall Street is simply not the solution for couples and individuals that are looking for steady, reliable growth. Contact us today and let us help you discover and uncover your hidden wealth!

Do You Want to Work Into Your 8o's?

As the economy continues to sputter and the cost of living continues to increase, baby boomers are becoming increasingly concerned about their ability to retire—and with good reason. For those fortunate enough to still have a job, salaries have typically held steady or even been cut. Meanwhile, gas prices continue to climb, while investments and real estate have largely lost value. Add to this unpleasant cocktail the threat of major inflation in the near future and it is very easy to see why prospective retirees are concerned.

As economists dissect recent data, they are coming to the conclusion that many baby boomers will have to work well past the age of 65 before they can afford retirement. In fact, some economists are suggesting that many would-be retirees will be forced to work well into their eighties before they have enough saved for retirement. While some have dismissed these forecasts as overly gloomy, it is a mistake to ignore them altogether. It is a fact that our economy is currently experienced painfully weak growth—at a time when we need to be adding jobs rapidly to keep unemployment under control. The future of our economy is also very unclear, as many of our manufacturing and communications jobs have been outsourced. And while the stock market has rebounded from the crash of 2008 and 2009, investors remain unconvinced that the recovery is going to last. Finally, even if our economy is able to overcome these obstacles and regain strength (not to mention full employment), there is little question that inflation will be a factor in years to come. The question is not whether we will experience inflation or not—the question is how severe will it be?

Meanwhile, you have been working hard for decades, saving and investing your money in hopes of reaching retirement while you are still young enough to enjoy it. Now, through no fault of your own, your plans are in jeopardy. I have good news for you, however. It’s not too late to seize control of your financial future. A carefully crafted plan can help you weather the economic storms we are currently experiencing—and will make the retirement of your dreams possible. Get in touch with us today and let us create a strategy to protect you from the dangers of inflation and economic stability.

The Loss of Confidence in Traditional Investing

Investors seem to be growing tired of the financial roller coaster where their accounts post slow gains for a number of years and then those gains, plus some of their original principal, vanish when today's volatile markets take an unexpected tumble. In 2008, many people's 401k and IRA accounts lost 31 percent and most have not recovered back to what they had as their original principal. This pattern has been going on for decades and it seems many investors have now had enough.

Investors are getting fed up with the same traditional advice of investing in IRAs and 401(k)s, to postpone taxes and then having to deal with the ravages of market volatility on their long-term gain. In my experience as a wealth strategist, I've never had a client come to me from a traditional advisor that had a tax exit strategy or an inflation impact plan as part of their overall financial strategy. These are things that traditional planners just don't consider or deem important.

According to a new survey from Prince & Associates, 81 percent of investors with $1 million or more in investable assets plan to take money away from their current advisor. An even larger number, 86 percent, plan to tell other investors to avoid their advisor. Only two percent of those surveyed plan to recommend their firm to other investors.

It doesn't take a financial genius to realize that deferring taxes to a later date as tax rates continue to rise, placing money into investments that lack liquidity and placing the rate of return for a retirement nest egg in variable products are not winning strategies. Yet, these are only three of the major problems with traditional investments.

If you're tired of: giving your gains (and principal) to the market every few years, not having access to your money until your 59.5 years of age, having to take minimum required distributions at age 70.5 and worring if inflation will deplete your retirement income, please schedule a no-cost, no-obligation discovery meeting to determine if our planning strategies are right for you. Please call (866) 998-7699 to arrange a meeting or visit our website: http://www.thehiddenwealthsystem.com/

The Top Five Beneficiary Blunders

Dayana Yochim, writing in the Motley Fool (http://www.fool.com/) listed five common mistakes that people make when completing the beneficiary form for life insurance policies. I thought it was worth mentioning them here as well.

1. You assume that your will is going to take care of all the details. Your beneficiary designations always take precedence over your will. Make sure that your will and your beneficiary forms are consistent with one another. If you have a trust, make sure you designate the trust as the beneficiary, not the person you name in the trust to inherit the money.

2. You subject your heirs to an avoidable tax bill. Failing to name beneficiaries on your IRA (or consigning the IRA to your estate) robs your heirs of the ability to maintain tax-advantaged growth over their lifetime. Without a beneficiary, your IRA money will be probated and your family will be required to withdraw the money within five years. If your heirs, with the exception of your spouse, withdraw the entire IRA (which most do) they will incur an immediate tax bill, and all subsequent earnings and capital gains are subject to federal income tax.

3. You forget to update your beneficiary forms. This is a very common mistake. You fail to change your beneficiary designations when the beneficiaries marry, divorce, come of age, die or you decide that they should no longer benefit from your passing. Do you really want your ex-spouse to realize an unexpected windfall?

4. You fail to designate a back-up beneficiary. If your primary beneficiary isn't around to collect and you don't name a second beneficiary, the court will decide who inherits the proceeds. You can name multiple primary and secondary beneficiaries. Don't be afraid to spell out how you want your assets divided.

5. You name minor children as beneficiaries. Until children reach the age of majority (either 18 or 21 depending on your state), minors can only inherit limited amounts. You should designate a financial guardian or set up a trust for minor beneficiaries. Make sure that the trustee or financial guardian has detailed instruction on how to manage the funds until the minor(s) come of age. Also, don't forget about mistake number three; eliminate the trust or guardianship when the beneficiaries reach majority.

You can avoid all of these mistakes by having someone with detailed legal and financial knowlege review your beneficiary forms and then compare them with your will or trust documents. Make sure that you schedule this review annually to insure that you are keeping up with changes in the law and changes in the personal situations of you and your beneficiaries.