Economy

Making Your Money Work Harder: A Solution to Inflation and Economic Challenges

In today’s economic climate, many are grappling with the impacts of rising inflation, decreasing savings rates, and the overall erosion of money’s value. The question on everyone’s mind seems to be: “How can I counteract these economic trends and make my money work more efficiently?”

The answer lies in optimizing the efficiency of your money. Let’s delve into why this approach is critical and how you can start making your money work harder for you.

Understanding the Impact of Inflation

Inflation has become a pressing concern for many households. You might not need to be reminded that grocery bills are climbing, credit card debt is surging, and savings accounts are yielding diminishing returns. Just a year ago, savings rates were around 6.2%, but they’ve now dropped to approximately 3.7%. This decrease reflects a broader economic challenge where everyday expenses are rising faster than the value of money saved.

Moreover, essential expenses such as homeowners insurance, car purchases, and utility bills are also contributing to financial strain. It’s evident that saving money has become increasingly difficult, and it requires a concerted effort to set aside funds amidst these growing costs.

The Risks of Traditional Financial Strategies

Many people resort to conventional financial strategies like paying off their mortgage early, keeping all savings in retirement accounts, and paying off credit card balances monthly. While these actions seem prudent, they have a common downside: they place your money out of your control.

  1. Paying Off the Mortgage Early: Accelerating mortgage payments ties up your funds in property rather than keeping them liquid for other needs or opportunities.
  2. Keeping Savings in Retirement Accounts: Retirement accounts are valuable but often restrict access to your money. These restrictions mean you can’t utilize these funds in emergencies or investment opportunities.
  3. Paying Off Credit Card Balances: Paying off credit cards monthly is wise, but it also diverts money that could otherwise be used for investments or to build emergency savings.

These strategies, while seemingly sound, may leave you feeling financially trapped if unexpected expenses arise or opportunities present themselves.

A More Effective Approach

So, how can you navigate these financial challenges? The key is to make each dollar work harder by using it for multiple purposes. Instead of simply saving or investing in traditional ways, focus on making your money more efficient. This approach involves:

  1. Optimizing Your Financial Strategy: Assess how you’re currently using your money and identify areas of inefficiency. A minor tweak here or there can lead to significantly better financial outcomes.
  2. Addressing Financial Leaks: We examine five critical areas where inefficiencies often occur: taxes, retirement planning, funding for college education, mortgages, and major capital purchases. By plugging these leaks, you can enhance your overall financial health.
  3. Building a Solid Foundation: Before taking on riskier investments, ensure you have a robust financial base. This strategy allows you to invest in volatile assets with a safety net in place.

The Financial Golf Swing

Think of improving your financial strategy like perfecting a golf swing. Just as a refined golf swing yields better results, optimizing how you handle your money can lead to more favorable financial outcomes. Over our 30+ years of experience, we’ve developed strategies to identify inefficiencies and opportunities, helping clients achieve their financial goals.

Ready to Enhance Your Financial Efficiency?

If you’re interested in learning how to make your money work more effectively for you, we’re here to help. Schedule your free strategy session today and discover how you can improve your financial efficiency.

Remember, it’s not just about how much money you make; it’s about how much money you keep that really matters.

Saving for Retirement: Making Your Money Work Efficiently

Saving for retirement isn’t just about putting money aside; it’s about ensuring that your savings can support you throughout your retirement years. In today’s financial landscape, where balancing current lifestyle needs with future financial security is crucial, understanding how to maximize the efficiency of your savings becomes paramount.

The Current Retirement Savings Landscape

Across America, many households grapple with the challenge of preparing adequately for retirement. Fidelity’s 2022 Retirement Report reveals sobering statistics: the average 401k balance is $112,000, which falls far short of what’s needed for a comfortable retirement. Even more concerning, only 55% of Americans are actively participating in any form of retirement account.

If you’re among those diligently saving for retirement or have substantial savings, it’s essential to consider how to protect and optimize those assets. Saving in qualified retirement accounts defers tax payments until withdrawal, posing uncertainties about future tax rates and financial security.

Efficient Retirement Planning Strategies

Financial advisors like us can assist by focusing on two key strategies:

  1. Enhancing Investment Returns: Often involves seeking higher returns, typically requiring higher risk tolerance. While potentially lucrative, it’s crucial to weigh the risks carefully.
  2. Optimizing Financial Efficiency: This approach centers on leveraging your existing assets more effectively, whether through lump-sum savings or optimizing cash flow. The goal is to align current spending with future financial needs while maintaining liquidity and control.

Our Four-Step Approach to Financial Efficiency

  1. Identify Inefficiencies: We start by pinpointing areas where your financial resources may be underutilized or misallocated.
  2. Break Inefficient Habits: The toughest step involves discontinuing practices that hinder financial growth or security.
  3. Save Strategically: Redirect resources into vehicles that offer both immediate utility and long-term security, ensuring you can meet current needs while preparing for the future.
  4. Leverage Assets: Implement strategies where your money works for you, ensuring you maintain control over your finances rather than external entities.

How We Can Help

We specialize in safeguarding and enhancing your wealth through personalized strategies. Our goal is not only to grow your wealth but to empower you with financial efficiency and control. Whether you’re planning for retirement, aiming to protect your assets or secure your family’s future, our strategies are designed to align with your goals.

Ready to safeguard your financial future and ensure your money works efficiently for you? Schedule your free strategy session today and discover how we can help you achieve your financial aspirations.

Remember, it’s not just about how much money you make, it’s about how much money you keep that really matters.

The Triple Threat of Inflation Strangling Our Finances

We all know that inflation is running wild these days, but do you realize that there are actually three types of inflation we’re trying to combat at once?

The first and most obvious type of inflation is the one we see every day, price inflation. It’s the cost of goods and services and their price increases. We see this every time we go to the grocery store, every time we go out for dinner, every time we fill up our gas tank. We don’t need some government agency to tell us that inflation is up, although they’re telling us it’s down.

The Federal Reserve has two tools in its toolbox when it comes to combating inflation. The first is to raise interest rates. And that will hopefully slow down the economy and the effects of inflation. The second is to buy back bonds. This takes money out of circulation and tries to squeeze the money supply within the economy.

Here’s a good question. Who caused the inflation? Wasn’t it the Fed? Didn’t they print more money? Isn’t that sort of like the fox guarding the henhouse? I don’t know. Maybe I’m just cynical.

Now, to add on the second layer of inflation, it’s called wage inflation. Workers everywhere who are feeling the effects of price inflation are striking or lobbying for more wages. Why? Because they’re falling behind.

Recently the UPS workers had a strike and their union got them from a $135,000 contract to a $150,000 contract. However, most employees don’t have the pull of a union to increase their wages. So the question becomes, how do you keep up with these increasing prices when your salary or your income isn’t also increasing?

But here’s the issue. As these workers receive higher wages, that causes more price inflation. Because those wages increase the cost of the goods and services that the consumer is buying. The consumer always bears the brunt of all of these decisions.

The third type of inflation is something called lifestyle inflation. And this comes from the combination of the prices inflating and the wages not increasing. And what happens is, that because consumers aren’t necessarily slowing down their spending, they’re forced to put their charges on credit cards. And what that adds is an extra layer of cost, because credit cards have an interest rate being charged.

Basically, what’s happening is prices are increasing at a rate that’s faster than the wage increase. And consequently, what happens is people don’t know this or realize this. As they’re making their purchases, they’re realizing they don’t have enough money and if they want to make that purchase, they have to use their credit cards.

In December of 2022, the credit card debt across America was $916 billion. At the end of July 2023, it stands at over $1 trillion. People are charging on their credit cards now more than ever. And, compounding the increase in balances, is an increase in interest rates and a slower payback period. So what’s happening is people are charging more, getting less, and paying it over a longer period of time because the interest rate is eating into their cash flow.

The question becomes, how does this transition into not only the current lifestyle of people but also into their future lifestyle and their ability to save for their major milestones and eventually for retirement?

In the second quarter of 2023, more people opted out of their retirement accounts than ever before. This makes it clear that people aren’t saving as much for the future. But whether you’re ready or not, these milestones are going to creep up on you.

If you’d like to get started saving for your future, putting yourself, your business, and your family in control of your cash flow and your assets, be sure to check out our free web course, the Four Steps of Financial Freedom that explains exactly how we take our clients through this process.

And remember, it’s not how much money you make. It’s how much money you keep that really matters.

Unraveling the Stealth Tax and How Inflation Impacts Your Wallet

Have you noticed it costs a lot more simply to exist these days? They call inflation the stealth tax because it’s not written in the tax code, but it affects every single one of us. So what impacts inflation?

First and foremost, it has to be the amount of money in circulation. The Federal Reserve, which is not part of the federal government, defines M2 money supply as the amount of money in circulation, plus money set aside in retirement accounts.

So why does that matter? Well, 20 years ago, the M2 money supply was $4.9 trillion. 20 years later, it stood at over $21 trillion. In 20 years, it grew by 400%. The reason that impacts inflation is that you have more dollars chasing the same amount of goods and services. That increases the price of those goods and services. 

So basically, as the government is digitally printing more and more money, the value of that dollar is going down every single time. And what’s happening is, as the government’s trying to decrease inflation, they’re putting a squeeze on that money supply, taking money out of circulation to try to bring inflation back down to a reasonable rate of what they define as 2%.

But what impact does that have on us as consumers, whether we’re a family or a business? Well, we’re fighting to buy the same goods and services with a pre-inflation cash flow in many cases, it could cause a severe cashflow pinch in your economic system. Our money has less buying power, meaning we’re buying fewer goods and services with the same dollars. That’s called the depreciation of the dollar.

One of the most recent pinches that we felt is with homeowners insurance because it only comes around once a year. But all of the costs of labor and materials have gone up so much that the cost of insurance for your home has also increased because it’s not locked in.

Here’s another thing that impacts our finances. 20 years ago, the federal debt stood at $5.6 trillion. Today, it’s over $32 trillion. In five years, it’s projected to be over $40 trillion.

Have you guys ever checked out nationaldebtclock.org? It’s kind of freaky.

Although the national debt is projected to increase by 70% in the next five years, the amount of taxpayers is only projected to increase by 8%. Where is the government going to get the tax dollars to pay for everything? And what impact will that have on our ability to live our lives and save for the future?

This is why it’s important to pay taxes on our dollars now and pay debt on our income now, rather than postponing it into the unknown future. Because the government has obligations and they’re going to have to pay for those obligations, but they’re not our obligations. By paying taxes on our income now, we’re not postponing that into the unknown future and taking it one step further and saving in a place that’s sheltered from taxes, where we pay taxes on the money once and then never have to pay a second time, is imperative to our financial security going forward.

Wouldn’t the best way to make your money last longer be to reduce or eliminate the taxes that you’re going to have to pay in the future? This is why it’s important to make your money more efficient. And again, one of the things that you can do is to shelter your money from taxes, but also do it in a way that you have access to that money. So you’re not deferring the tax, or kicking the can down the road, you’re sheltering the money. That’s a big difference.

If you’d like to learn about how we put this process to work for our clients so that you’re able to keep the money in your family and your business and out of the government’s checkbook.

Check out our free web course, The Four Steps to Financial Freedom that details exactly how we put this process to work. Or, if you’re ready to get started, feel free to schedule your free strategy session today.

And remember, it’s not how much money you make, it’s how much money you keep that really matters.

Effects of Inflation on Whole Life Policies and Premiums

With inflation being a hot topic these days, a natural question may be, are my life insurance policy and my life insurance premiums inflation-proof? And how exactly are they impacted by inflation?

Based on the data inflation is officially a problem that we’re going to have to deal with. And based on experience, we all know the impacts of inflation. In December 2021, inflation stood at three-quarters of 1%. It wasn’t even calculated at 1%. In August of 2022, inflation was over 9%. And in December of 2022, it was down to 4.6%. Still a far cry from 75 basis points.

Now they call inflation the stealth tax because we don’t see it as a tax. It’s nowhere in our tax returns. It’s nowhere on our payroll checks. However, it impacts each and every single one of us, some more than others. We know we’re dealing with inflation, every time we go to the grocery store, every time we fill up our gas tanks, every time we get our utility bill, we are experiencing the damaging effects of inflation.

Now, pivoting to life insurance, how exactly does inflation impact the death benefit and the premiums? Well, keep this in mind. Inflation impacts everything. The question that needs to be answered is, is inflation impacting us positively or negatively? Because the news is not all bad.

Take your premiums, for example. With a whole life insurance policy, your premiums are locked in for your whole life. Whether your policy is a ten-pay policy paid up at 65 or a paid-up at age 121. Those premiums are contractually guaranteed to never increase. So the longer you can extend that premium payment period. You’re also paying those premiums with dollars that have been affected by inflation. So when you get to the tail end, let’s say age 121, the value of those premiums has been greatly affected by inflation. 

A candy bar back in the sixties cost, what, $0.10? Today, you’re lucky if you could get a Snickers for $1.50. Think about that in terms of your premium. Your premiums are going to stay the same. But if you waited all that time, it’s going to feel like a nickel. And that’s the point. Inflation is going to affect your life insurance premiums positively because the dollars are going to have less purchasing power, the longer you extend your premium payment periods.

Now, going on a little tangent, the same applies to your mortgage. This is why it’s important to consider taking out a 30-year mortgage instead of a 15-year mortgage because you have a lower payment to begin with. And by the end of that term, that payment is going to feel like nickels. 

Inflation is also impacting your death benefit. So if you start out with a death benefit, let’s say, to pay for a funeral. The longer you extend that payment period or the longer you live, the value of that death benefit is going to buy less of a funeral. You may not be able to pay for the band or the dinner. Maybe just the burial.

When I first started in financial services back in the mid-eighties, we were selling burial policies for $5,000, meaning you could have paid for a funeral for a little bit less than $5,000 and had some money left over. Today, you can’t touch a burial for anything less than $15,000.

So the point is inflation is always going to be there. It’s always going to be affecting us, sometimes positively, sometimes negatively. But the point is we’re going to have to deal with it. 

The only way to combat inflation on a long-term basis is with proper planning. If you’re ready to start planning for your future, whether it be premium planning or death benefit planning, be sure to schedule your free strategy session today.

And remember, it’s not how much money you make, it’s how much money you keep that really matters.

Cracking the Code to Properly Save for College

Have you ever wondered how people afford sending their children to college? Sometimes the first child is manageable, the second is tight. And by the third or fourth child, it’s downright impossible. Today, we’re going to talk about how to set yourself up financially to send your children to college and afford that college tuition. 

The cost of college education has been rising at a rate that is significantly higher than the rate of inflation. Basically, that means that what it’s going to cost you to send your children to college is growing much faster than the income that you’re earning. But here’s the deal. If your income grows fast, that factors against you when you’re filling out the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

We call inflation the stealth tax because we don’t see it on our tax returns, but it affects each and every single one of us. When it comes to the cost of college, not every family is going to pay the same amount of tuition for the exact same school. You see, it’s calculated based on four factors: parent’s income, parent’s assets, children’s income and children’s assets. So when it comes time to send your children to college, you want to make sure you keep those numbers looking as low as possible.

But the question becomes, how exactly do you do that? How do you set your family up in a position so that you’re paying the lowest legal amount you have to your to send your children to college so that you could get out ahead in the long run?

What you’re trying to do is maximize the amount of federal aid that you receive. And if you do that in so doing, you’re making your money more efficient. What we’re trying to do here is show you how to send your children to college with minimal impact on your ability to save for your future and with minimal impact on your current lifestyle.

But here’s the issue. Traditional methods of paying for college and saving for college are going to leave you pinched. Here’s a secret, 529 savings accounts count against you when it comes to federal aid application. So by doing the right thing and saving for your children to go to college because that’s a major capital expenditure, you’re actually decreasing the amount of aid that your family’s going to qualify for because you did the right thing to save for college. 

If it seems like you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. I got news for you. That’s the way they set it up. You see, everything that served you well financially up until the point your children are applying for federal aid, will work against you going forward after the application for federal student aid. 

No parent should have to choose between sending their child to their dream school and funding their own retirement. But unfortunately, that’s what it comes down to a lot of times in these college funding situations. Because you know what wasn’t factored into the FAFSA calculation? How much money parents are paying towards their own debt on a monthly basis. And clearly the amount of debt you have is going to impact not only your lifestyle, but your ability to pay for your child to go to college, especially if you plan on doing so without derailing your own retirement. There’s only so much cash flow to go around.

If you have a lot of debt payments, there’s only so much leftover at the end of the month. What happens is a lot of parents are forced to decrease their retirement savings at the time they’re sending their children to college so that they’re able to finance the cost of college tuition.

Here’s the solution.

You really should be looking at ways to make your money more efficient because the more efficient your money becomes, the better prepared you are to take on or tackle this increased expense of sending your child or children to college.

At Tier 1 Capital, we look at things through the lens of control. Are your financial decisions putting you in more control of your cash flow and assets or in less control of your assets? Whoever controls your cash flow controls your life.

No parent wants to stand in the way of their child pursuing their dreams but we see so many times where children have to make a decision between almost bankrupting their parents and pursuing their dreams.

So what are some practical steps you could walk away with and apply?

Number one is to look at where you’re giving up control of your money unknowingly and unnecessary. We call these wealth transfers. The five areas that we focus on are taxes, mortgages, how you’re funding your retirement, how you’re paying for your children’s college, and how you’re making major capital purchases. And let’s face it, isn’t college a major capital purchase?

Number two would be to build in flexibility to your plan. First, you find the inefficiencies, regain control of that cash flow, and then save in an area where you own and control. And the importance of that is the flexibility to send your children to college to pay for vacations, to pay for any expenses that come up, and then eventually also use that money to retire without the restrictions placed on accounts by the government for example.

Remember, it’s not how much money you make, it’s how much money  you keep that really matters.

The Inverse Relationship Risk between Bonds and Interest Rates

Everyone knows that interest rates are finally on the rise. But what you may not realize is what’s going on under the covers. What’s happening to the bond market as these interest rates rise? Do you realize that there’s an inverse relationship between interest rates and bond prices? Let’s take a deep dive on what this means for you.

Let’s start at the beginning. What the heck is an inverse relationship, and how is there one between interest rates and bond prices? Well, it’s real simple. When the interest rates rise, the value of the bond or the price of the bond goes down. And when interest rates go down, the value or the price of the bond goes up.

Now, in and of itself, it may not mean a whole heck of a lot to the average investor, because if you’re holding the bond to duration or till the end of the bond period, there’s no problem. If you bought a 4% bond and interest rates went up to 5%, you’ll still collect your 4% at maturity. The problem is when you’re either renewing rates or exchanging bonds, that’s where the problem comes into play.

There are three main risks with this inverse relationship. The first is interest rate risk. Interest rate risk really comes into play if you need to sell your bond before maturity. If you need to sell your bond before maturity and interest rates have risen, the value of your bond may have gone down and consequently you’ll receive less than you were supposed to receive. You will lose money.

Risk typically isn’t associated with bonds, as they are considered a safe investment. But as we see here with this inverse relationship and rising interest rates, it can leave you exposed. This could also be a little bit of an issue because bonds are relatively liquid. If it comes down to it and it’s between selling your actual investments, stocks, real estate or mutual funds, it may make more sense to sell your bond, because it’s the most liquid. But the point is this. You have to recognize the fact that bonds are not risk free.

The second issue that could arise between this inverse relationship of interest rates and bonds is opportunity cost. And basically what that means is you might have better opportunities with higher interest rates, meaning that savings accounts, CDs, annuities or newer bonds might have higher interest rates than the existing bonds that you hold, making the value of your bonds worth a little bit less.

Now, the problem arises in this case, when you want to sell your bonds because they have a low interest rate, you can make more money, more interest somewhere else. So let’s get the bonds out of here. We could get a better opportunity somewhere else. But what happens is, we have to sell those bonds. You can’t redeem the bonds before the maturity date, so you have to sell them on the open market. But with that, they have a lower market value. So you could incur double loss in a sense.

Our third and final issue with this inverse relationship, and that is portfolio volatility. Bonds tend to be more stable than other investments, such as stocks and maybe even mutual funds. And consequently, they’re an ideal candidate for diversification of portfolios and risk management.

What this means in plain English is when you have a riskier portfolio full of real estate stocks and mutual funds, oftentimes advisors will incorporate bonds into the portfolio to stabilize and make sure you’re not losing all of your money, or all of your money is not at risk. But here’s the problem. During volatile interest rate environments, when the bond interest rates rise, because of the inverse relationship, the value goes down and that introduces risk to an asset that you may have considered to be less risky.

So, ultimately here’s the point. Fluctuation in bond interest rates can have an adverse effect on your overall portfolio performance.

Is Your Cash Flow Prepared for Student Loan Repayment

The most recent word on the street is that student loan repayments are going to begin again in October of 2023. What does that mean if you’ve been spending that money instead of saving it or paying toward your student loans all along? Well, basically, it could mean that you’re going to experience a cash flow pinch. Between inflation, high interest rates and now an extra debt payment it’s all about cash flow. Whoever controls it, controls your life. Let’s talk about how to create some cash flow relief and set yourself up for a better financial tomorrow.

They call inflation the stealth tax because it’s not written in the tax code, but it affects each and every single one of us. Some more than others. And recently, the costs of goods and services has been increasing at a faster pace than our income can keep up with.

According to the Federal Reserve, in the last quarter of 2022, consumer debt increased by $6.1 billion, which was one of the highest recorded quarterly increases. And that’s just in three months. This is proof that the cost of living is increasing faster than our income. If you don’t have the cash flow built in, it makes sense just to obligate your future income and put it on the credit card.

However, with student loans coming due and yet got another bill that we’re going to be responsible for, how are we going to fit this into our cash flow? This is why it’s more important than ever to make your money more efficient. You see, there’s only so much revenue coming in. There’s only so much income coming into your household or coming into your business. It doesn’t make sense to be using your money inefficiently and wasting the control that you had over that money. That’s why our process is more important today than it’s ever been, because we show you how to regain control of your money. 

What that looks like is looking at your cash flow for areas of wealth transfer. Areas you’re giving away control of your cash flow unknowingly, meaning you’re not aware of it and unnecessarily, meaning it can be corrected. And once you’re able to identify those wealth transfers, you could start saving in an area where you own and control, so ultimately, your goal could be to regain the finance function and control of that finance function in your life so that you’re less dependent on banks and credit companies for access to capital in the future.

You see conventional wisdom teaches us to save in areas where we don’t control that cash flow. Let’s take a look at a 401k, for example. Yes, we’re saving for retirement, which is admirable. However, when it comes to making these small milestones along the way, we don’t have access to that money and we certainly don’t have access to it without paying taxes, and a penalty in most cases.

You might be saying, “Hey, I’m using my money very efficiently.” Well, this is where the problem is. If you’re implementing conventional wisdom or traditional financial advice, in all probability, your money is inefficient. When we say inefficient, what we mean is your money is not accessible when you need it for whatever you need it. No questions asked. If your money is inefficient and inaccessible, that can create some huge financial problems.

I would argue that most financial struggles come from not having access to money when you really want or need it. Take, for example, when student loans are coming due. Imagine if you had access to money, instead of feeling pinched, you can have some cash flow relief built into your system. Flexibility is key when it comes to these issues.

If you’d like to learn exactly how we help our clients to become more in control of their cash flow and their assets Check our free web course that lays out exactly how we put this process to work, The Four Steps to Financial Freedom.

Remember, it’s not how much money you make, it’s how much money you keep that really matters.

5 Core Elements to Financial Security

Have you ever consider what impact external elements are going to have on your ability to thrive and retire one day? Let’s talk about the five core elements that have a huge impact on our financial security.

Have you ever heard, ask a better question and get a better answer? This applies to financial planning as well. If you’re asking the wrong financial questions and having the wrong financial discussions, you’re never going to land with the right financial solution. We learned many years ago that the traditional financial planning industry isn’t having the right financial discussion. 

It was obvious from the beginning that the traditional planning process was and still is, based on math. The industry was using math to achieve future financial assumptions and accumulation results over a period of time. And let’s face it. Math is math. When done properly, it’s right. But here’s the problem. When applied to the future, the core elements change the results dramatically. 

There are actually five core elements that are going to impact the accumulation of your wealth. Those five elements are risk, taxes, regulation, inflation and depreciation of the dollar. All of these elements are going to have a dramatic effect on the accumulation of your money. $1,000,000 today is not going to have near the buying power as $1,000,000 in 30 years.

But the problem is the industry is still using that math and saying, “Hey, you’re going to have $1,000,000”, and you’re thinking, I’m going to be able to have $1,000,000 based on today’s core elements. The problem is we don’t know what those core elements are going to be 30 years from now. Heck, we don’t even know what they’re going to be two years from now. And here’s the problem. Many of the financial solutions offered up by the financial services industry contain these five elements.

That’s why it’s important to protect your money from as many of these core elements as possible, namely, risk and taxes. Control what you’re able to control and the rest will fall into place. 

You need to focus on controlling what you’re able to control, because, there are other elements that we aren’t able to control that are going to impact our financial security in the future. But, by controlling the things that we have the power to control, we are able to stack the odds in our favor.

But here are the questions you really need to ask.

Which of these five core elements do you want in your plan? Which of these five core elements do you have control over? Are the solutions you’re being offered, are they eliminating these core elements or are they feeding these core elements?

When it comes to financial security, it’s an important to protect your assets from all of these elements that you’re able to. If you’d like to learn more about how you can protect your assets from these five core elements, schedule your Free Strategy Session with us today.

And remember, it’s not how much money you make. It’s how much money you keep that really matters.

Strategy to Accomplish a Debt Free Lifestyle

In today’s economic environment, with high interest rates and high inflation, anyone could end up with a credit card balance. But the question is, how do you get out of that debt as quickly and as efficiently as possible? And how do you do it in a way where you actually come out better off than you were before?

Whether you’re buried in debt or you’ve accumulated more debt than you’re comfortable having. You want to get out of debt as quickly as possible. But following conventional ways of getting out of debt leaves you with no money and leaves you more frustrated after the debt is paid off than you were before you started paying off your debt.

Think about it. Conventional wisdom teaches us that debt is bad and that we need to get out of debt as quickly as possible. And the way most people think about debt, that means putting all of your extra cash flow towards that debt to bring it down to a zero balance as soon as possible.

But we need to be able to enjoy life along the way, even if we have accumulated more debt. And more importantly, we also need to be able to save for the future so we don’t end up in this situation again.

That’s why it’s important to think outside the box so that you can get your debt paid off as quickly as possible and begin to save or put yourself in a position where you have access to money so you can also enjoy the benefit of having a good income. 

We were speaking with a client this week who made a great income $200, $300,000 a year, but he has $1,000,000 of debt. And he asked if is there a way I could actually manage this and still retire, because he’s 59 already.

This is our favorite part of the job. Showing people how to get out of debt more quickly than originally planned. Plus, saving for retirement.

Conventional wisdom teaches us that you need to put all your money towards debt. But if we don’t break that debt cycle by saving outside of the debt, even if he knocks out the million dollars of debt, at the end of the day, using conventional wisdom would only leave him at the zero line and no better off for retirement.

And here’s the point If he focuses all of his free cash flow to paying off his debt, he can’t begin to save until his debt is paid off. He is violating one of the key variables of compound interest. He’s giving up his time. And this is not a mutually exclusive choice. You can start to save and you can pay off your debt quicker if you do it the right way. 

You see, all you have to do is add one extra step since you already have a pretty good income. All you have to do is redirect some of those debt payments into an account that you own and control and have access to. It’s only adding one extra step, but that one extra step makes a huge difference over a lot of time.

You see, this client had 12 payments leaving his control every month, and all you need to do is to stop one of those payments from leaving your control and redirect it back into your control. And when that happens now, you can reverse the flow eventually on all 12 of those payments.

By using a specially designed whole life insurance policy designed for cash accumulation. This client is able to tackle his debt while saving simultaneously. You see, you start by redirecting one or the extra debt payments towards the policy. Start building up that cash value, that pool of cash that you own and control. And once you have enough, you pay off your smallest debt and then you have a free debt payment that you’re able to redirect into your policy to knock down that policy loan.

So now in the policy, we have the premiums building the cash value as well as the policy loan repayments, building that cash value. And what happens is exponential as we continue knocking down each and every single one of those 12 debts, we have more and more cash flow going towards our control instead of away from our control as it is now.

And that’s why you can get out of debt quicker using this method because you’re filling up your cash value with two hoses. One, your premium deposits, and two, your loan repayments.

Have you accumulated a huge sum of debt or just more debt than you’re comfortable carrying? Well, there could be a way to get out of debt faster by adding one extra step.

You see, instead of pushing all your money to outside entities, credit cards, banks, mortgage companies by adding this one extra step and paying yourself first. You could break the debt cycle in your life so you’ll be less dependent on banks, credit companies and other outside sources for access to money and instead have a pool of cash that you own and control to take back the finance function in your life.

We are not using any extra cash flow. This is all cash flow that’s built in our clients income, cash flow that’s already currently being used to repay the debt. It has actually no impact on his day to day to add this one extra step. But, what it does have an impact on is his future and his family’s future. Although we’re paying off the same amount of debt and we’re using the same cash flow, at the end of the day, we’re left with a pile of cash that the client owns and controls and is able to use. Whether it be down the line to finance future purchases, go on vacation, make an investment, or even further down the line to fund his retirement.

That’s why our process to get you out of debt quicker allows you to one, get out of debt. Two, get out of debt quicker. Three, begin to save today so you can take advantage of the magic of compound interest. And number four, we can show you how to get all those policy loans paid back so that when you go to retire, you can use that money to supplement your retirement income.

If you’d like to learn more about exactly how our process works, check out our free web course, The Four Steps to Financial Freedom. And remember, it’s not how much money you make. It’s how much money you keep that really matters.