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Industry Spotlight > Broker Dealers

Safety first

By Van Mueller

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vanHistorically, September is the most dangerous month of the year for stocks. October is the second most dangerous month. This is compounded by the fact that the global economy is facing one of the most perilous times in history. Knowing this information, what should our clients’ strategy be?

Safe. Safer. Safest.

Economic danger is everywhere. Agents must diligently identify these dangers because it is imperative that we prepare clients to successfully weather the coming financial storm. But our most valuable expertise is in positioning clients so they can actually take advantage of these dangers.

We do not, and cannot, know with certainty what will happen in the future. A big mistake could cause significant damage to clients’ savings. So an intelligent, prudent strategy would always employ safety first. We provide those safe strategies.

Surveys show that Americans are more afraid of running out of money than they are of dying. Understanding that is the difference between success and failure in our industry.

If you are attempting to make people rich, you will have overwhelming competition. You will lose more sales than you win with that strategy. But if your goal is to prevent your clients from ever being poor, you have no competition.

Our industry and products are the only ones that can calm clients’ fears by providing guaranteed lifetime income. We do not make people rich. They accomplish that using their own unique abilities. Our strength is having the ability to ensure that our clients will never become poor.

The biggest threat to the American people is inflation. It is clear that the only way government will be able to provide the benefits it has promised is to print more money. Problems arise due to the unintended consequences of using inflation as the solution. Stocks, bonds, commodities and interest rates will all experience dramatically increased volatility.

What is the best strategy for inflation protection? Never lose any money. Many of our products employ new money/old money strategies that provide successful outcomes for inflation. Our industry can also provide laddering techniques to increase interest rates as inflation increases. We have many tools.

And it is much easier to take advantage of the opportunities provided by market drops and interest increases when you are coming from a position of safety. Planning ahead is all that is required.

Other dangers include tax increases, natural disasters and medical catastrophes, to name a few. Fortunately, our industry has strategies and products to cope with all these challenges. What an amazing time to be an insurance and financial professional.

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