Category: Financial Planning

Is the U.S. headed towards financial doomsday?

April 12th, 2011 by Pamela Yellen | 34 Comments

Financial Doomsday? People concerned about the declining value of the dollar have been asking us how that might affect the value of Bank On Yourself policies. Some have even asked if they can buy policies in other currencies.

The frequency with which we’ve been receiving these questions seems to be picking up recently. And I believe the reason for that is the endless parade of financial advice-givers who are all too happy to take your U.S. dollars to tell you why those dollars will be worthless… and why our economy is on an unavoidable collision course with destruction.

These merchants of gloom and doom appear to have one goal in common: To so paralyze you with fear that you let them do your thinking for you as you rush to take their advice.

Good Advice?

These merchants of gloom and doom appear to have one goal in common: To so paralyze you with fear that you let them do your thinking for you as you rush to take their advice.

I won’t insult your intelligence by doing the same.

What I will do is pose some questions designed to help jump start your powers of critical thinking.

You see, I’ve been studying the newsletters, videos, and articles churned out by these doomsayers. Some of the information in them is well researched, although the conclusions they draw from it can be a stretch.

But the problem is not so much with any facts or statistics they may quote. It’s what they leave out that concerns me.

So I’ll hope you’ll take a few moments to ponder these questions, before rushing to take the advice of these prophets of doom…

Click here to read the Confiscation Order...

Be Smart: Ignore All The Financial Experts…

April 7th, 2011 by Pamela Yellen and Dean Rotbart | 1 Comment

Ignore All The Financial Experts Who Advise You to Scale Back Your Expectations and Lifestyle

The chorus of gloomy financial experts is singing a ballad of restraint. They warn that we all must adjust ourselves to a “new normal,” in which we lower our expectations and scale back our lifestyles.

The supposed villains are many and include: persistent high unemployment; the devastated real estate market; rising energy and food prices; record budget deficits; the possibility of a double-dip recession; international turmoil; and, well… you name it.

You have no choice, caution the pessimistic gurus, but to swallow:

Earning less on your investments and savings for the foreseeable future

Downgrading your current lifestyle to make up for the loss of investment returns

Having less income at your disposal due to rising prices and the threat of inflation
Getting socked with higher tax rates as the U.S. Government struggles to close its budget gap, and cash-strapped states and cities do likewise
Pushing your retirement out – perhaps indefinitely
Living on less if you do eventually get to retire (that is not only less than you live on now – which these downbeat financial representatives have always claimed is a retirement must – but less even than “the less” they were already advising you get by on just a few years ago)

Sticking with the financial counselors who have been at your side all along because they remain your best source for guiding your future financial planning

To all of these bitter pills, we can only respond… B.S.

Announcing the winners of the “what inspires you to save” contest!

March 31st, 2011 by Pamela Yellen | 1 Comment

Last week we held a contest about what inspires or motivates you to save money. The response was overwhelming and with many so inspiring and heartfelt entries, it was very difficult for our team to pick the six winners…

After much deliberation, five members of the Bank On Yourself team each picked their favorite entry – each of these winners will receive their choice of a $25 dining gift certificate or a personally autographed copy of my best-selling book, Bank On Yourself, for themselves or to give as a gift to someone they care about.

And together, the team picked their favorite entry and that person won a $100 American Express Gift Certificate. (All winners will soon be receiving an email letting them know how to claim their prizes.)

Read on to be inspired by the winning entries…

Enter our "what inspires you to save" contest!

March 23rd, 2011 by Pamela Yellen | 76 Comments

People are inspired to save money for different reasons. Share what inspires or motivates you to save in the comment box below and you could win one of six prizes we’ll be awarding, including five prizes of your choice of a $25 dining gift certificate or a personally autographed copy of my best-selling book, Bank On Yourself, for you or to give as a gift to someone you care about.

Post your entry in the comment box below...

Five members of the Bank On Yourself team will each pick their favorite entry for the dining certificate/autographed book prizes. And together we’ll pick the most inspiring entry and award that person a $100 American Express Gift Certificate. (Sorry – U.S. residents only.)

Just post your entry in the comment box below by Monday, March 28. The prize winners will be notified by email on Friday, April 1, and the winning entries will be featured in that day’s blog post.

Save for something that excites you!

Research shows that people are more likely to save if they are saving for something that excites them, rather than because they “should” save.

For example, my husband Larry and I have two grandchildren living a couple states away. We call or Skype them (almost like being there!) every Sunday. Last Sunday, Halle, who’s in second grade, told us her favorite subjects now are science and math. She’s learning the multiplication tables, and we spent nearly an hour quizzing her – she would happily have kept doing it for another hour, but our brains were fried!

Halle’s brother Jake loves playing basketball. He’s a head taller than his classmates, so who knows where that will lead…

Anyway, a few years ago, we started savings plans for Halle and Jake’s college educations.

Doing that just feels so motivating. And because we’re saving the money in a Bank On Yourself policy, rather than an investment account or a 529 Savings Plan, we know the money will be there when needed. And if they decide to become entrepreneurs instead of going to college, the funds can be accessed without the restrictions or penalties common to 529 and other plans.

(Compare saving for college in a Bank On Yourself policy versus a 529 Plan)

So what inspires or motivates you to save?

Just post your entry in the comment box below by Monday, March 28, and you could win one of the six prizes described above!

Should you be worried about the Dow’s plunge?

March 17th, 2011 by Pamela Yellen | 12 Comments

If, like most Americans, you have a substantial portion of your nest-egg in stocks and mutual funds, I urge you to take a few minutes to read this right now…

The U.S. stock market has lost considerable ground and volatility has returned with a vengeance. The situation is precarious in both Japan and the Middle East.

But the recent stock market plunge was virtually assured before the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan.

Here’s why…

We’re doing it again: Buying stocks after big gains in the markets.

In 2008, 2009 and most of 2010, mutual fund investors in almost every month took more money out of stock mutual funds than they added. Then, in January, someone hit a switch.

Investors decided that it was time to get back into the stock market. Keep in mind this decision came after an almost 100 percent gain from the market bottom in 2008. So in December we pulled $10.6 billion out of equity mutual funds, and in January we poured an estimated $30 billion into the market.

Do you see the problem here?”¹

The problem, as this article from The New York Times blog titled, “Are We Buying High All Over Again?” points out, is that investors are repeating past bad behavior. Just as they have done throughout history, and just as they will continue to do for the rest of time.

How Good of An Investor Are You Really? Ask Your Doctor!

March 9th, 2011 by Pamela Yellen | 2 Comments

Executive Summary: The life-long costs of neglecting your health can be staggering. Expenses include out-of-pocket medical bills as well as losses of productivity and quality of life. Too many people watch their investments more closely than they do their health. Illness brought on by lifestyle choices, such as smoking, overeating, lack of exercise and stress, accounts for as much as 70% of nationwide health care spending.

By Pamela Yellen and Dean Rotbart

In mid-December 2008, a skeletal Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc., canceled his scheduled presentation at the annual Macworld conference, triggering investor fears that the company’s visionary co-founder was seriously ill. A month later, Jobs announced his first health-related leave of absence. He began a second leave this past January.

During the 30-day period when concerns about Jobs originally surfaced, the shares of Apple stock dropped 14%, or $12 billion in market value. Healthcare Costs

The shareholders of Apple weren’t worried about the potential hospital bills and other medical costs that Jobs would incur. Comparatively speaking, those expenses would be a drop in the bucket.

But Apple shareholders – confronted with the loss of Jobs’s services, perhaps for good – instantly realized the true cost of sickness must also be measured in loss of productivity, leadership and innovation, among other attributes a key executive brings to his or her company.

For tens of millions of Americans who are otherwise mindful of how and where they stake their money and retirement savings – including many successful Bank on Yourself participants – the importance of investing wisely in their physical health is a lesson they have yet to master.

That’s a huge fiscal mistake

Physician heals his financial ills with Bank On Yourself

March 2nd, 2011 by Pamela Yellen | 6 Comments

After losing half of his retirement savings not once, but TWICE, during the past decade, Dr. Bryan Kuns decided, “there has to be a better way.”

A family and occupational medicine practitioner for 25 years, the doctor realized that, at age 50, he and his wife might only have one more chance to get it right. “I need some more guarantees than taking a chance and gambling again with my retirement,” Bryan realized.

A little over one year ago, he heard about Bank On Yourself. Intrigued, he began reading everything he could get his hands on about the concept. Then he requested a referral to a Bank On Yourself Professional and a Free Analysis.

It’s an answered prayer. I’m sleeping a lot better at night, now. The guarantees that this program has are what I was looking for.” –Dr. Bryan Kuns

Bryan offered to share his story with you. Whether you already use Bank On Yourself, or you’ve been considering adding it to your financial plan, you’ll learn something of value from this interview. You can listen to the interview by pressing the play button below, or you can download the entire interview as an Mp3 and listen on your own player or iPod…

You can also download a transcript of the interview here.

In this interview, you’ll discover…

[Read more…] “Physician heals his financial ills with Bank On Yourself”

Retiring Boomers’ Savings Fall Far Short

February 23rd, 2011 by Pamela Yellen | 2 Comments

“The 401k generation is beginning to retire, and it isn’t a pretty sight.”

That’s the conclusion of a recent Wall Street Journal study.¹ But the most shocking revelation is just how big the gap is between how much retirement income people will need to maintain their standard of living… and how much they’ve actually saved:

Many have less than one-quarter of what they’ll need

And how are they dealing with this challenge?

Facing shortfalls, many are postponing retirement, moving to cheaper housing, buying less-expensive food, cutting back on travel, taking bigger risks with their investments and making other sacrifices they never imagined.”¹

Like Carol Dailey, who is continuing to work at age 71 because her 401(k) took a hit in the 2008 market crash. She also cut back spending for entertainment and food, and is substituting boxed wine for the ones she used to enjoy from her favorite vineyards.

Her financial representatives is planning to help her be able to retire by shifting her assets into riskier investments that can “return 10% a year.”

Hmmm… I wonder if that’s the same financial representatives who advised her on where to invest her money prior to the 2008 market plunge?

If people could take more risk, and do it successfully, why haven’t they been doing that all along?

Isn’t that the classic definition of insanity?

How much more evidence do we need to know that 401(k)’s and “doing all the right things we were told to do financially” aren’t working?

Market Rally? Why you shouldn’t get carried away…

February 3rd, 2011 by Pamela Yellen | 25 Comments

There is something occurring right now that concerns me… and ought to concern you, too. So I urge you to pay close attention to this blog post…

Individual investors are moving into stocks and riskier investments

Since the financial crisis, and until very recently, individual investors (that’s you and me) largely avoided stocks. But now, as the stock market continues on a sharp rise that is already one of the steepest in history, people begin to fear they will miss out. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal¹….

Stock-market fever is one of your biggest enemies as an investor… It’s pure instinct. We’re hard-wired to run with a stampeding herd and to seek safety in numbers.”

The article advises that you shouldn’t trust the crowd, because, “they’re usually wrong. Time and time again, studies show the public invests at the wrong time – they get bullish and buy after shares have risen, and then panic and sell after they have fallen.”

Just as they did before the housing bubble burst and just like they did before the dot.com crash. And just like they have done throughout history.

The article notes that, “too many TV market pundits talk like they’re on ESPN. It gives the stock market a phony air of urgency and excitement.” And it reminds us that, “if you’re buying, higher stock prices are bad, not good.”

Wall Street lost more than 40% of our money -TWICE – in the past decade

How can you be sure they’re not about to do it again?

AAII vs. Bank On Yourself: Total Knockout in Round One

January 26th, 2011 by Pamela Yellen | 13 Comments

Last week, I posted the rebuttal I wrote to the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) review of my best-selling book, which declared the concept “too good to be true.” BOY Boxing Gloves

Since AAII said they would not publish my response or correction of the misinformation contained in their review, I told them I would publish it here and let YOU be the judge of whether AAII was twisting and omitting things… or being fair and unbiased.

The response was swift, surprising and universal. There were so many insightful comments made that I couldn’t pick only three to award prizes to, as was my original plan.

So I picked ten (the winners are listed at the end of this post – check to see if your comment was one that was chosen). And I’ve excerpted from a number of the comments here, so I can share some of the highlights with you.

Jeffrey summarized the thinking of many commenters about AAII this way:

AAII naturally committed the typical strategic blunders essential to the charade proposed by the investment industry (Wall Street) and financial professionals (a.k.a. traders, gamblers, speculators, etc.). Any attempt to allow people an opportunity to truly grow wealth, reduce risk, and prepare for a more stable environment challenges the status quo of buy and lose (commonly referred to as buy and hold) and then industry pundits (AAII) start the negative attacks in order to establish fear of finances and preserve their base of profits. AAII omitted important aspects of your plan, distorted facts of your plan to promote obfuscation, and blatantly twisted all aspects of your plan in order to destroy your credibility.

Thank you for presenting people with an opportunity to actually prepare, plan, and realize a better financial picture.”