Decision Tree Financial

Get a term life insurance quote

2015-05-19T13:57:00.002-07:00

Are you looking for a simple hassle free way to get term life insurance quotes without having to talk to a life insurance agent?

Getting term life insurance quotes online without having to talk to a provide your personal information can be done at our buy life quote website. When you are ready to buy, you can fill in your contact information and only then will an agent contact you to get your coverage in place. When a person understands the price they should pay for life insurance, they will receive the best deal possible.

Whole Life Dividend History of Guardian, MassMutual, NYLife and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Companies

2014-07-15T20:29:00.000-07:00

A slide show of the dividend history of Guardian, MassMutual, NYLife and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Companies.

Whole Life Insurance Cost Too Much?

Find the Best Term Life Insurance Rates Here

Whole life insurance dividend rate of return history from Kevin Wenke

How to pay for a ROTH IRA Converstion

2014-03-29T09:51:00.003-07:00

There are a lot of ways to pay for a ROTH IRA conversion.

For starters, a ROTH IRA conversion tax can be paid over the next two years tax returns. So if a person converts a traditional IRA in 2014, they can pay the tax 50% in 2014 and 50% in 2015. This fact can ease the burden of paying the tax.

When the tax is due, the money needed can be obtained by:

1) Reducing the amount of IRA contributions being made - A person should always take advantage of an employers match if it is available. However, once this is met, remaining contributions can be reallocated to pay of the government and create a tax free asset.

2) Money from savings - Since the tax lien the government has on a traditional IRA isn't really the account owners, using money from savings will not affect the networth of the individual when used to pay off the government.

3) A Home Equity Loan to Pay ROTH IRA Taxes - Using the same thought process, a person is in debt to the IRS using a traditional IRA. Reallocating that debt and putting a lien on a piece of property does not affect the total debt of an individual.

Five years after converting an IRA to a ROTH, the principle amount involved in the conversion is 100% available to an individual for any reason. The money used to pay the taxes can be left in the ROTH or they can be removed to replenish a saving account or pay of a loan used to pay the tax.

Identity Theft has Become a Huge Issue when Protecting Your Finances

2011-06-09T22:04:00.001-07:00

There have been numerous instances of computer hackers stealing credit card and other personal information from large institutions around the world.

Today it is being reported that over 200,000 Citi customers have had their credit card data stolen when Citi Bank's systems were hacked.

click here for story

Where this information ends up is anyone's guess. Inevitably, if you are a victim of your identity being hacked away from your bank, doctors office or a department store you once shopped at. you can assume that the stolen information is being sold to an unscrupulous individual or organization. These entities will attempt to create some type of harm to you.

They may take the information to get a job, buy a house or receive medical care.

Take time to protect yourself with a comprehensive Identity Theft Insurance Plan.

A good plan will monitor your credit continuously alerting you if there is suspicious activity occurring.

In the event your information is stolen and you discover a thief used your ID to get a job in a state you never lived, bought a house that ends up in foreclosure or visited a hospital to have surgery that accumulates medical bills, your ID theft protection can assist you in repairing the damage saving you time, money and aggravation trying to fix it yourself.

If all of these data breaches have you worried about your identity, consider taking steps to protect it today.

Medical Insurance for the International Traveler.

2009-08-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

Click for Global Travel Health Insurance Quote

When I ask clients what they want to do when they retire, "travel" usually is on the top of the list. More specifically, traveling outside the United States.

Living in Orlando, an international community, there are many residents that are leaving the USA during their working years too.

A surfing trip to Nicaragua, a two month family visit to Yemen and a business trip to Jamaica. All reasons people I know have left the USA in the last year.

When you go out of the country, your health insurance benefits likely do not follow. In order to protect your health and receive the best care available, while also protecting your assets, it is wise to consider purchasing a global health insurance policy.

These policy's can be for short durations (5 day minimum) to long term health insurance policies for the career globe trotters.

People who should consider global health insurance policy's include:

1) Vacationers traveling outside the USA
2) Exchange Students
3) Business Professionals traveling or living outside the USA
4) Missionaries
5) Families with relatives visiting the USA from other countries

Health issues can arise anytime and anywhere.

You could catch a nasty bug from drinking the water in Mexico, fall off of a roof you were helping to repair in Ecuador or have one of your children come down with a fever that needs immediate medical attention while in Asia.

Regardless of where you are, you deserve the best care available and don't want to have to worry about costs after the fact.

A little forethought will go along way.

I have included a link to IMG Medical Group on top of this article to inquire about this coverage. If you are a international traveler, you may consider bookmarking this link for future reference.

What is your perception?

2009-07-27T19:30:00.001-07:00

Perception

..something to think about...

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk..

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:

The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment aboutperception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.... How many other things are we missing?

10-Year Term Life Insurance may be your best solution

2009-07-22T04:49:00.000-07:00

I had a call the office the other day from a couple looking to purchase life insurance. They were 31 and 30 years old, just had a new baby, owned a small business and were looking to purchase life insurance on each other each other and their new child.

I found out that they had very limited assets as they were just starting out. It is safe to say their biggest asset was each other and their ability to earn a living in their business.

They had heard that term life insurance is the best insurance to own. The couple wanted to purchase two 20-year term policies, one on each spouse. They came to me because they were looking for the best price on the insurance and knew I was an independent carrier with access to 80 different carriers.

Not knowing anything else about them, I agreed that term was their best solution.

I asked the question though "What happens if the heart attach doesn't kill you?"

Kind of shocked and confused, the young couple looked at each other then looked at me and said "What do you mean?"

Remember, life insurance only pays a benefit if one of you pass away. If there is a major illness like a heart attack or cancer that doesn't lead to your passing, there won't be a benefit to support your family.

20-year term life insurance is guaranteed for 20 years, however you pay a 30-50% premium in the first 10-years to be sure you have the same insurance rate the second 10 years.

For example, a 31 year old standard health male would pay $600 per year for $1MM of 10 year term and $900 per year for 20 year term.

That is $300 per year extra. (FYI, assuming a 31 year old lives to 41, they can apply for a new 10 year term. The 10-year term price for a standard 41 year old is $900, the same price as a 20 year term!!)

The $300 savings can be used toward insuring other risks like the inability to work. Remember, the largest asset my couple had was their ability to run their business.

Now I know someone might be asking "But Kevin, what if at the end of 10 years I can't get a new policy because of health issues?"

Great point! This needs to be addressed.

There are two types of 10-year term policies. Renewable and non-renewable. Non-renewable policies end at the end of the "term". Therefore a Non-renewable 10-year term would end at the end of 10-years and in order to have life insurance, one would have to apply and be accepted for a new policy.

Renewable term policies can be renewed after the guaranteed period (in this case 10 years) on a year to year basis and be held for a specified age usually to age 95.

Therefore, your worst case scenario is that after 10-years, you have an increase in your price if you are uninsurable but you saved $$$ for the first 10-years that either allowed you to save more or purchase insurance to cover another very important insurance coverage.

There are other strategies to consider too.

A financial plan is only as strong as its weakest link. Finding the best priced insurance policy from a strong insurance company and purchasing a 10-year term policy instead of a more expensive 20 or 30 year term provides for the same insurance protection and allows you to strengthen your overall plan so you can get farther ahead financially.

Understand your choices, make an informed decision.

What Are Your Investment Expectations?

2009-07-09T08:15:00.000-07:00

In my practice, I see the mindset people have as they watch the likes of Stafford and Madoff being carted away to court and jail is they want to get involved with where there money is invested. They are however still looking for that consistent and unrealistic 12-15% growth though. The optimistic outlook people have, wondering what stocks or sector to "get in to" and which ones to avoid reminds me of someone looking for the gypsy with a crystal ball accurately for which number will come up in a roulette wheel every time the wheel is turned. This is a real problem.

I find investors are looking for the highest rate of return and the best money managers available without even asking "why" they want to put capital at risk.

On the front line working directly with clients, we have to manage peoples expectations of what the "risk-reward" reality is. Furthermore, proper allocation and goal achievement is done in a very non-sexy way of what I like to say is like throwing strikes, fielding ground balls, and hitting consistent singles to win the game. There rarely is anyone that really has a relief pitcher with a 105 mile an hour fastball that is going to come in dazzle the crowd and be invincible. Yet people are always looking for type of investment in the next Warren Buffet, Microsoft or Wal-Mart stock in its infancy and most are severely disappointed when the actualization doesn't meet the expectation just like Madoff and Stafford. We want to believe that there are real things that are too good to be true.

The Aesop Fable "The Tortoise and the Hare" is a great story I feel people need to be reminded of. After the tortoise won the race against the fast rabbit, he looked at the rabbit and said "Slow and Steady always wins."

People need to define what it is they want, educate themselves on the reality of the situation they have and set realistic expectations to position themselves for the best worst case scenario.

If people can understand something is too good to be true, that there are no crystal balls and slow and steady always wins we will be a much healthier and wealthier society.