Teacher Pensions Plans - $93 Billion Underfunded

Over the past year or so, I have been teaching in my educational workshops that private and government pensions are going away. Here is just the latest example of how this prediction is manifesting itself.

In a study published in April, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research found that the 59 pension plans that cover most teachers in the United States are underfunded by $332 billion. However, that estimate is based on using an eight percent discount rate. When the researchers applied the same standards private plan are required to use – that is, a six percent discount rate – the shortfall is $933 billion – three times the original estimate!

The study concluded that once states fully realize the true shortfalls in their plans they will likely take action to contain future benefits. One option they will consider is to move away from the defined benefit that plans provide today, and/or reduce benefits to future plan participants.

The ground truth here is that the rules of retirement are changing. The concepts that have applied to retirement in the past can no longer be counted on for those of us who will be retiring in the future. America's aging population, the general decline in government revenues and corporate profits combined with devastating losses in the stock market are causing both government and private employers to make drastic changes to their pension benefits. In the short term, this takes the form of underfunding the plans, not funding the plans at all and eventually, not offering any pension benefits.

What's the answer? Now more than ever, we must take responsibility for designing and funding our own pension plan. We can no longer assume that our employer will take care of this for us. That's why I have developed the Personal Protected Pension Plan™ inside of our Hidden Wealth System™.

This is a plan where your money grows at a guaranteed 7-8% tax-free rate, is immune to market loss and then is transferred to you (or your heirs after you pass), tax-free! You can even build-in inflation protection for your retirement income so that, as inflation rises, the income you receive from your Personal Protected Pension™ increases, thus protecting you retirement lifestyle. We can even show business owners how they can build a Personal Protected Pension plan for themselves!

Want to learn more? Visit the Personal Protected Pension Plan™ section of our web site at:

Build Your Own Personal Protected Pension Plan

Worried About Social Security? Prepare Now!

Are you worried about Social Security's future? Well, join the crowd.

As the national debt soars, the pressure on Washington to cut spending is rising. Social Security is bound to become a part of the cost-cutting conversation.

The program is projected to pay out more this year than it takes in, which is as much a function of the weak economy as it is an aging population. The New York Times reports that, if nothing changes, Social Security will be able to pay full benefits through 2037 after which, payroll taxes will only provide enough income to pay out about only 75% of benefits.

Most experts agree that the program needs to be bolstered for the long-term. Some proposed solutions are:

1. Raise the retirement age to 70 for people who are at least 20 years away from retirement,
2. Increase the Social Security payroll tax,
3. Subject more income to the payroll tax,
4. Reduce initial benefit payments and
5. Cut cost of living increases to beneficiaries (this would affect current retirees).

Don't like these options? Too bad. At least some combination of them will be required in order to keep the program alive, in the long-term.

What can you do about it? Stop depending on the government (and your employer) for your retirement. The government has shown that it cannot be financially responsible and most companies today do not offer pensions. Instead, they offer 401(k) or 403(b) plans that require employee contributions. The company then manages these plans (some times ineffectively). When they employee retires, they are then able to take distributions from the plan's contributions and earnings.

To be successful in retirement, you need to do what made you successful before you retired-rely on yourself. There is a way for individuals to create their own Personal Protected Pension Plan! This type of plan is protected from market loss, grows tax-free, can a accessed tax-free and anything remaining after your death can be passed to your heirs, tax-free.
Does this sound too good to be true? Do you want to learn more? You can explore this fascinating concept in detail in the Personal Protected Pension Plan section of our website. I encourage you learn all that you can so that you can take charge of your own financial future.

Power Principles for Success is a Best Seller!

All of us here at The Hidden Wealth System, The Chuck Oliver Team want to say, "thank you!" Your support has propelled us into the number one spot on one of Amazon's Best-Seller Lists. We are also currently in the top five on two other lists. We made best-seller on only the second day of sales and we would still be climbing except that the first printing of the book has now sold out on Amazon!

But don't worry, there are more copies coming. If you're interested in assuring that you get your copy, just email us here at info@hiddenwealthradio.com and let us know.

Without your interest in this book, none of this would be possible. Thanks for your kind words and encouragement that all of you have provided to us. We greatly appreciate you, and we just can't say it enough!

Power Principles for Success!

As many of you are aware, I have been working on a book with several of my colleagues who were named, along with me, to America's PremierExperts. America's PremierExperts is an organization that recognizes experts in their filed that are spreading knowledge and creating awareness in area of expertise. The experts have made significant contributions to their industry and the marketplace as a whole.

Interacting with the group this year has been a remarkable experience and I have learned so much by spending time with them. If I could wrap up everything I learned from them over the course of the past 12 months, I would, but that would be next to impossible.

I would tell you that the book we all contributed to, Power Principals for Success: America's PremierExperts Share their Biggest Success Secrets for a Life of Health, Wealth Happiness and Prosperity is the closet thing there is to summing up my experience with this group!

We'll be launching the book on July 22nd and I encourage you to purchase a copy and discover the knowledge that's being shared. We've put together a huge bonus package to help launch the book. By buying the book you'll receive hundreds of dollars worth of bonuses!

I appreciate your support. Watch for my blog post next week to get the details on how you can get these great bonuses.

Keeping Your Plan on Track

Part of my job as a Wealth Strategist is to help my clients to stay on track with their financial plan. This includes helping them to avoid making big money mistakes. I've recently developed a list of five, thought-provoking questions that can help clients to realize mistakes that they may not be aware that they are making:

1. What is the process that you use to budget or examine your consumption activities? The answer to this question can help you keep your family's spending within your acceptable limits.

2. Do your goals and aspirations have realistic time lines? This answer helps to keep you from setting unrealistic expectations for your financial plans.

3. Do you know what you can do, so that you can share with others what you want to do? The purpose of this question is to explore if you have adequate protection against unforeseen losses.

4. How have you strategically diversified your investments in order to reduce unpredictable fluctuation? This answer will help protect you from unnecessary investment risk.

5. Will you outlive your retirement resources? The answer to this question will determine the effectiveness of you inflation impact plan.

The Tax-Free Financial Future

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If you had an investment account that would allow you to substantially grow your money, withdraw that money and then transfer that money tax-free to the next generation, all without risking your investment principle; how much money would you put into that account? The correct answer should be, “all of it!”

I’m on a mission to let as many people as possible know that such a unique product exists. It’s called The Personal Protected Pension Plan and we’ve trademarked this design name. There is no need to gamble your and your legacy’s financial future on wildly fluctuating financial markets and products. I want you to be aware that there is a sure bet available which I’ve detailed in my e-book entitled “A Tax-Free Financial Future.”

I’m so excited about this discovery that I’m offering a free copy of this e-book on our website. Please share this with those family and friends that you believe can benefit from the information. Just click on the link: The Tax-Free Retirement.

Also, don’t miss our informative talk-radio show, “Your Hidden Wealth,” which I host on Orlando’s 540 WFLA Monday nights from 6:00-7:00 pm. If you live outside of the Orlando listening area or have problems tuning-in, please visit the radio show’s website to stream the show live or browse the archives: Hidden Wealth Radio.

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.