Category Archives: Insurance

2013 Garrett Planning Network Retreat

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The Garrett Planning Network 13th Annual Retreat was recently held in Kansas City, Missouri. I am a member of the Garrett Planning Network. It is a group of about 300 financial planners that offer financial planning on an hourly basis, each member owns their own firm. I have written about the Garrett Planning Network before.

I attended the conference and earned continuing education credits by going to various educational programs, which I need so that I can keep my designations and licenses such as:

  • CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
  • CHARTERED RETIREMENT PLANNING COUNSELOR℠
  • NAPFA Registered Financial Advisor

During the four day conference I attended various educational programs such as:

  • State of the Industry
  • The 7Twelve Portfolio: A Better Balanced Portfolio
  • Long Term Care Planning – Past Present Future
  • Estate Planning Update
  • And others

Ron Rhoades, JD, CFP ®  of ScholarFi, Inc., gave one of the Keynote addresses on the state of the Industry:  Will Fiduciary Duties be expanded – by the DOL or the SEC? In the fast-paced presentation, professor Rhoades covered various trends about the CFP Board, marketing of financial services and future effective business models.

Craig L. Israelsen, Ph.D. gave a keynote address on the 7Twelve Portfolio: A Better Balanced Portfolio. Laurence B. Siegel, another keynote speaker, spoke on Wake up and Smell the Coffee! Investors are Poorly Prepared for Retirement – A Balance Sheet Solution.

Throughout the year, the Garrett Planning Network, has three or four conference calls each month.  One of the most beneficial outcomes of my annual trip to this retreat, is getting together with this group in person. On Thursday I was with a group of Garrett Planning Network members and Sheryl Garrett as Sheryl rang the closing bell at the BATS Global Markets stock exchange, the third largest exchange in the world. We took a tour of the exchange.  It was inspiring to learn about the volume of trades that goes through there.

Another a highlight for me, is that I met Gail Marks Jarvis and she signed a copy of her new book for me. She is a very knowledgeable journalist for the Chicago Tribune and really roots for the consumer.  One discussion point that really connected with me was something she mentioned at the book signing table.  She talked about the fact that investors do not care about percentages they care about dollars.  Their dollars.  I agree wholeheartedly.  It is something that I have kept in mind for years when I talk with someone about what allocation model is best for them.

Garrett Planning Network is a terrific group of professional financial planners who, like me, work with clients on an hourly basis.  We share ideas and act as a resource for each other all year, so it is so nice to get together once a year and see each other again.

Financial Resolutions

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I believe that just about everyone has some sort of financially related To Do item sitting on their To Do list.  And they have every intention of taking care of it.  However, so many other more time critical things seem to keep the financial items from getting to the top spot of the list.

If you are going to resolve to get some of your financial To Dos To Done, what actually matters – how it got done or that it got done?  I will come back to that thought in a minute.

When people come to see me they have accumulated a list of tasks, and it is so easy to see how  that happens in our busy lives.

You take a new job – a nice jump up the career ladder.  Something needs to be done with that old 401(k).  But what?   You’re busy with the new job right now.   So you put it on The To Do List.

Your income is higher now with the new job, should you have more life insurance?  Or is the life insurance at work enough?  You did buy some whole life from that guy that came to the house when you first got married.  Is that still the right policy for you or not?  So you put that on The To Do List.

Your kids are getting older, and you haven’t saved as much as you had intended for college.  How much can you afford to put away for their college vs. how much should you be saving for our own retirement?  Well, the kids are in middle school, you have a couple more years, so you put it on The To Do List.

At work they keep changing your investment choices and you don’t know what to pick.  You don’t have the tools to see all of your investments together and create a diversified portfolio that incorporates all of your accounts, but you know that you need to do it one day.  But you don’t have the time right now.  So you put that on The To Do List.

Sometimes when potential clients meet with me in the free Get Acquainted meeting they tell me that they feel bad about not taking care of these things themselves.  I stress to them, that I do not want them to feel that way.  I tell them that when I have electrical problems at the house, I call an electrician.  And when I have serious plumbing problems I call a plumber.  I have had a handy man come to the house a few times to work though lists of little things that were annoyances.  Sometimes you call in a professional to help you with your list.  And it feels great to work on that list.

So if you are making a resolution to get your financial To Do items To Done, make a plan to either do them yourself, or to contact a professional to help you do them.  Because when you mark them off the list, what actually matters – how it got done, or that it got done?

Resolve to take action today!

Have a Wonderful New Year!

Long Term Care Insurance: Protect your nest egg

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You spend your entire working career putting aside money in order to have a sufficient nest egg in retirement so that you can do the activities that you enjoy with the people you care about most.

There are risks to that goal that you need to be aware of and you need to take steps to mitigate that risk.

One of those risks is that you or your spouse will become ill and need some type of expensive assisted living care for an extended period of time.

Cost of care in Missouri

In the state of Missouri the average cost of assisted living care is $54,000 a year.  Consider what impact a three year, $162,000 stay would have on your portfolio while a spouse is still living at home with the usual bills.  Or, if you are single, you will often still have your usual day-to-day living expenses because family members are often hesitant to sell your home, in the hopes that you will return, or they are not yet ready for the task of selling.  Now consider the fact that healthcare costs are increasing faster than the standard rate of inflation and you can see how an extended stay could be a risk to your retirement goals.

Purchasing a policy 

A Long Term Care policy can cover different types of nursing care ranging from in home care to a private room with fully-assisted living care.

You can purchase a policy to cover the majority of the cost, or even just a portion in order to help offset the cost, if something were to happen to you.

Purchasing a LTC policy can help preserve your assets so that they can last your lifetime, and help financially protect a spouse should one of you require expensive care.