Whole life has a simple objective, to ensure your “whole” life, in other words, it will pay the benefits anytime during your whole life, regardless of how long you live. All you need to do is pay the premium.

Life insurance is a contract between an insured person (the policyholder) and the insurer. The premium pays for guaranteed benefits in case of death, but there are other features that can provide additional protection as well.

In exchange for fixed premiums, whole-life policies offer life insurance protection and tax deferral on growth by accumulating cash value with competitive interest rates.

In exchange for fixed premiums, an insurance company promises to pay a set...

October has always been a devilish month for Wall Street.

 

Black Tuesday was Oct. 29, 1929. Black Monday was Oct. 19, 1987.

 

And the crash of 2008 happened on October's doorstep on Sept. 29, 2008, when the Dow dropped over 777 points. The Dow notched a new low for the year and closed below 30,000 for the first time since June 17. The 30-stock index flirted with the bear market territory causing concern and stress.

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These are the days of Chicken Littles! In this climate – despite historically low unemployment, robust GDP, and soaring consumer confidence – the stock market still has wobbly legs with no real end in sight.

The problem is not just the current concerns...

Did you know that you have a valuable asset that is often overlooked and may not be included in conversations regarding your financial portfolio?  It’s your life insurance policy. Many people are not aware that a life insurance policy is an asset that can be sold with some of the terms being set by the owner.

All too often, life insurance owners surrender their policy to the insurance company instead of getting a quote in the “secondary” market for what it’s actually worth.  The market value of a life policy can be as much as eight times more than the surrender value!  If you have a life policy that is unwanted, unneeded, or has become unaffordable, you can get a quote for...

Pretend you are a corn farmer, and it is time to sow your seeds.

It’s spring, and it’s time to plant seed corn for the yearly crop. The government shows up and offers you a proposition: You can pay taxes now at a meager rate on just the seed corn, or you can wait until the harvest and pay taxes on the full harvest, all of the kernels on all of the ears of corn on all of the stalks – and, oh, by the way, tax rates are going up before the harvest begins.

How much are they going up between now and the harvest?

Well, who knows, but probably a whole lot.  Now, which sounds like a better deal?  Upon hearing this scenario, almost everyone would choose to pay their taxes on just the...