Summary: Financial Planning Vehicles Over the past four and a half decades, Doug's clients have often asked him about what he looks for in a financial planning vehicle in which they'll be placing their serious cash. Serious cash refers to the money they're not willing to jeopardize that's being set aside for future use. It's been earmarked for very serious goals like retirement or other long-term future goals. The four features Doug looks for include the following: * Liquidity—this means the ability to access their money when they need it with a simple electronic funds transfer or a phone call. Take care not to confuse liquidity with mere convenience. * Safety—this simply means that whatever they've set aside for the future is protected from loss. It also means that any year they make money, it becomes newly protected principal. * Predictable rates of return—efficiency expert Dr. Edward Deming has pointed out that the key to successful management of anything in life is predictability. This doesn't mean pie-in-the-sky rates of return, it means stability and predictable growth despite the market's ups and downs. * Tax-advantaged—this refers to savings vehicles where their money can accumulate tax-free rather than tax-deferred. Tax-deferred savings are subject to whatever future tax rate may be and the harsh reality is that almost no one ends up in a lower tax bracket at retirement. These features strike some folks as too good to be true. They don't understand that these tax-free provisions have been part of the Internal Revenue Code for over 100 years. Just because the crowd chooses to ride the stock market roller-coaster and sock away their serious money in IRAs or 401(k)s doesn't mean that better vehicles don't exist. It simply means that not enough people have yet learned and implemented the strategies that give you the four essential features listed above. There's a world of difference between a vehicle that offers liquidity, safety of principal, predictable rates of return and tax-advantaged rather than tax-deferred status for your serious money. <a href="http://liveabundant.com/events/">Understanding that difference</a> is what will likely separate those who may end up outliving their retirement savings from those who will not. It's a difference worth knowing. Start by <a href="http://liveabundant.com/free-analysis/" target="_blank">visiting with a wealth architect</a> today. *Life insurance policies are not investments and, accordingly, should not be purchased as an investment.
