In response to "Q&A: 10 things you need to know about the PPACA ruling"
Our founders put our freedom into our own hands after they won long, hard battles against tyranny. Over the past several generations, our political elite has taken our freedom away gradually but steadily to increase their own power. Obamacare is the natural culmination of this assumption of power that our political elite have been allowed to take from us by those who benefit from their patronage, and who use our media to tell us how to think and act against our own best interests.
Justice Roberts read us the rules and tells us that our freedom is ours to take back, but only if we do it ourselves. He could not do this for us, and it was not his place to do so. If we want our political elite to take our money with the power that Congress has and tell us what to do with our lives, all we have to do is vote for such people. If we want our freedom back, we have to throw out those politicians who prefer their power over serving we the people in fairness, honesty, humility and justice. I am ready to take back my freedom. Are you?
–Sunforester
In response to "Advisors: Consider the split annuity/Roth conversion strategy"
Great! I see two commissions here, which is fine if that's what it's all about.
"Assuming a hypothetical growth rate of 7 percent…" If you don't like that illustration, let's assume a hypothetical growth rate of 8 percent, or maybe 10 percent. Don't guess we'd want to use returns that fit within the actual caps of the index annuities available these days.
I love this: "Instead of crediting a company-declared interest rate of say 4 percent, 5 percent or 6 percent, the gains are linked or indexed directly to the performance of a leading market index."
No, we wouldn't want to credit with a company-declared interest rate of 4 percent, 5 percent or 6 percent. Really, we wouldn't? And where would we find a no-bogus-bonus MYGA at 5 percent or 6 percent, just in case we did? So, instead, we'll use an index capped at 4 percent? Oh, no way! Let's use a monthly cap that even as low as 1.5 percent we can say there is a "potential" to make double-digit growth "assuming" that volatility doesn't steal their lunch money in a double-digit-down month or a number of single-digit drops, sorta like what we've had for the last few years, which is why volatility is priced so high and caps are so much lower these days.
I'm glad the author, in another article extolling the virtues of being a company man or woman, mentioned doing right by the customer. It's nice to see a little lip service paid to that every now and then. I didn't see lip service paid to that here. Probably why I'll never be a company man. I'm a client man, and proud of it!
–Caustic_Commoner
In response to "They said no. Now what?"
Great advice. People work with us because of the relationships we develop. "Not now" does not mean never. Keep them in the loop, offer sound advice, and let sales prospects know items of interest or concern to them. You don't know when people are ready. We need to be.
–Joanne Black
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