Thought for the day:

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Thought for the week:

Most of what I read is about the economy and politics. I read financial analysts who sell their opinions and columnists who give them away. What interests me lately is that I am not reading or hearing anything that is encouraging me to invest a lot of money.

I have a couple of money managers that take care of my important money (that’s the money my wife knows about) and then I have a little investment account that I use to entertain myself by trading and doing things that seem to be right at the moment. Sometimes I win and sometimes I loose; and all the time I am glad those money managers who are taking care of my wife’s money. They just tell me “don’t expect too much for a while”…until some of the economic and political issues are settled and there is a clearer path ahead.

Each week, I write this BLOG (please comment if you like)  discussing our insurance-based products and strategies and I compare them to the other financial assets with which most folks are more familiar. And I see that “my stuff” is doing well, or at least as good as that other stuff; but with a lot less excitement. Don’t get me wrong, excitement is good when that is what you are looking for…like a roller coaster, or sky diving. But I’m not hearing too much joy at the year-end parties about how exciting people’s investments are these days.

I think there is a very good chance we will have another, uh, market adjustment in the near future. Two reasons I say that. One, we are almost due, since we haven’t had a serious one in four years. Two, no good news. Everything is bad in Europe, and in the U.S. we are either going “over the cliff” or we are going to increase taxes on the rich and borrow and spend more money. Sometimes I think we should just go over the cliff and get it over with.  I’m glad I’m not retiring soon; partly because I still need to help more planners to understand how important it is, to include insurance products in their clients’ investment portfolio; and to be aware of the uncertainties they face and how fragile their portfolios will be if the bad stuff happens financially at a time when other “bad stuff” is happening personally.

That’s what adding insurance to the portfolio is all about…reducing the risk and volatility while increasing the predictability of results. I hope you will make 2013 the year you become more accomplished in Insurance and Annuities. Add them to your own portfolio and suggest that your clients do the same. We are here to help.