June 2016

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend as now summer is officially here. Judy and I spent Saturday out on the lake, and it was beautiful! I'm always amazed at all the absolutely stupid stuff I see people doing out on the lake! It's incredible that more folks aren't hurt out there, but I guess everyone is not a boat freak like I am.

As always, we're keeping busy at the office. A few of the annuity companies are getting ready to "trim back" on some of their offered benefits, while others are pushing for new business by offering innovative strategies that look pretty impressive for those that want the potential for "safe growth" on their investable assets. Life insurance rates continue to drop (yes, I said drop), because of the new actuarial tables being put into use this year. That's a good thing folks, and any of you thinking about life insurance, legacy planning, or tax planning should take advantage of this while in good health so you can hedge against the IRS ending up with most of your hard earned life's work instead of your heirs!

SPECIAL NOTE: Fidelity & Guaranty Life & Annuity has just offered a limited time 3.15% guaranteed fixed annuity rate for 5 years. The offer starts June 6th and will probably run for a month or so. For additional information, just give us a call and we'll give you the particulars.

Kelly is heading off to Nashville, TN next week for another educational event with one of the nation's top retirement planners, so hopefully we'll pick up a few more strategies to help our clients. Learning never gets old. Enjoy this month's articles.

And, as always, remember: THE PURPOSE OF THE MONEY DICTATES WHERE YOU PUT IT!

James D. Stillman

Annuity Myths - Part 3

Lake Norman Magazine, June 2016

In April, I wrote an article about the different types of annuities and mentioned six common annuity myths that we hear on a fairly consistent basis. Last month we tackled the first three annuity myths, so this month we'll discuss the remaining three myths.

A) "Fixed and Fixed Indexed Annuities are not regulated": Folks, this one is really very simple. This myth is simply not true, and you should run from anyone that says it is! They are either blatantly lying orwildly uninformed, period. Neither one of those options is good when it comes to someone giving financial advice, right? These types of annuities are not regulated by the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), but are strictly regulated by state insurance commissioners, as well as federal regulators. We work with both securities and insurance at our firm, and I can tell you that the annuity regulation is every bit as tough as the securities regulation, if not even more so. And, to be honest, I'm not so sure why people hold the SEC in such high regard, since they couldn't even catch Bernie Madoff, for goodness sake!

All content is intended for informational purposes only. Any guarantees are for insured products only and are dependent on the claims paying abilities of the insurer. All investments carry some risk and you should be advised by your personal financial advidor before implementing any strategies discussed, as they are not suitable for everyone. James D. Stillman is an Investment Advisor Representative of JDS Wealth Management Corporation and Global Financial Private Capital.

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This Month

Annuity Myths - Part 3

The Fighting Irish of the Investment World

Can The S&P 500 Predict Economic Cycles?