Photo Credits: http://ribbu.com/
It has been a crazy winter in the Chicago area. Mother Nature has brought us a very little snow in December or January. February brought about 25 inches, and now it is March and we are getting hit with the biggest snow fall of the year. Today O’hare has already cancelled 1000 flights and it just started to snow. Many Schools have closed in preparation for the six to ten inches they are forecasting.
Since many people have either gotten an unplanned day off, or are stranded or now being forced to take public transportation, it might be a great day to review your insurance needs.
A few things are going on that affect your insurance future. First, unless you have been living under a rock since 2010, The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, aka health care reform, takes full swing in January of 2014. Because of this you are seeing insurance carriers beginning to prepare as they will have to conform to the essential benefits of the law. Because of that, most insurance carriers are no longer guaranteeing your first twelve months of rates. They cannot because on January 1, 2014, all plans must include the twelve essential benefits. What I believe will happen is they will keep your rate where it is until January, then adjust the rate accordingly. We are also seeing in this market higher than normal rate increases. Again, I think companies are just trying to get ready for this rate increase storm.
Another big thing in Washington is the debt crisis, sequester, and well let’s just say spending problem we have in this Country. Today is a great day to look into your retirement future. With the Country over 16 Trillion dollars in debt, a good question to ask is, “Do I think in the future taxes will go up or down to pay for this debt?” If you think taxes will go up, then the next question is, if I have “tax deferred” products in my portfolio because I thought when I retired I would be in a lower tax bracket, do I still think the same way?” If you believe you will be in the same or higher tax bracket when you retire, then you need to consider getting out of tax deferred products and moving toward Tax-free products. There are very few products that can accomplish that objective. The Roth IRA is one of them. The other one is an Indexed Universal life product. That is right, life insurance is one of the best investments to use for your retirement. Tax codes 7702 (a), 72 (e) and 101 (a) provide you with a Non-Qualified Alternative to your 401 (K) or the stock market or your traditional IRA.
Light the fireplace review your insurance watch the snow fly. Stay warm.
Eric Wilson