Odd that I waited all of forever, until this moment, to post a blog. Why?
If you’re reading this, I may have reached out to you recently, which may have seemed to be coming out of nowhere.
Why I’m reaching out to old friends and acquaintances:
(1) To reconnect, catch up, and make up for lost time:
Yes, I seem to be coming out of nowhere. Truly. I have not been active on social media (especially Facebook) for many years now, and the only thing I regret about that is that I missed out on your lives, if for no other reason than to be present with you and share in your ups and downs, your birthdays, weddings, triumphs, hardships and everything in between. Everybody knows by now that for Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and most of the rest of them, we’re the product. The calculation I made was that my modicum of privacy and extra time was worth disengaging from my friends, family and acquaintances. I think I was wrong about that. I could have tried to corral everyone I know onto a different platform. By the way, MEWE seems to be a good privacy-first alternative where members have total control over their media (with Tim Berners-Lee on their advisory board). There are other alternatives as well, and in the future I most post about those as well.
(2) To offer an opportunity:
I've joined a company whose mission is to leave no family behind financially. I received my insurance license and I'm working toward my Series licenses. Actually not that hard to do. The opportunity and the mission is greater and more important than ever in this incredible time of turmoil, mass unemployment, uncertainty, and tens of millions of people retiring. I'm sure you agree. Millions of people need to rollover their 401(k), set up Roth IRAs and annuities, protect their assets. Millions of people are looking for career changes. Maybe you could be one of them?
(3) To be of service:
Of course, to be an insurance agent is to be of service in a crucial way. Insurance protects against loss, provides income replacement plans for people who become disabled, and provides a vehicle to store value in a tax-free way to use in your lifetime to finance business ventures, homes and college expenses. Side note: my father sold insurance for 23 years for Allstate, and in all of that time I never learned about "infinite banking" (or variously called "family banking", "banking on yourself", etc). So I imagine most people aren't aware of this concept. Here it is in a paragraph:
Buy a dividend-paying life insurance policy with cash value and a death benefit (ask me which one), and if you're able, front-load it as much as you can (without triggering the Modified Endowment Contract IRS rule). Within a few years, you take out a loan against your own cash value as collateral, up to the total amount of the cash value. Because your policy pays dividends, the value of the cash value balance will continue to grow at a rate that exceeds inflation, tax-free. Your policy loan rate is usually refunded so it will end up being better than you can get from a bank (nice little arbitrage). When you pay the loan back, you pay yourself back. You could use that loan to fund a college education, car, house, or a business venture or other investment. Pretty simple. The most important part is paying your loan back, because you don't want to rob your own bank. (1) Why not just save? Well, because of the opportunity cost. Your money is still working and gaining interest while you're also using it for other purposes. (2) Why not just invest in the stock market or anything else that generates a higher return? Because of the tax consequences (insurance is a tax-free vehicle as long as you pay your own loan back, or you don't withdraw more money than the principle that you put in), and also because of the opportunity cost of taking that money out of an alternative investment and using it for some other purchase.
No, I'm not making this up. Here are some books on the subject:
Money, Wealth and Life Insurance
Becoming Your Own Banker
But our company doesn't just sell insurance. We provide free advice to help people manage their finances, debts, plan for their futures and retirements in tax-advantaged ways. We help structure their estate plans with wills, revocable living trusts, advanced directives, financial and medical powers of attorney, letters of intent to return, and HIPAA letters. All of this not only protects people when they are the most vulnerable and asserts their power legally when they can no longer voice it. The revocable living trust is an absolutely essential component to protect your assets from legal action and taxes, to maintain your eligibility for certain kinds of government financial or medical assistance when you most need it, and to pass on your legacy the way you intend.
This will be the first of many blogs I post. I'll reveal more about my personal story as time goes on. In the meanwhile I want you all to know that I'm safe, I'm well, and I'm continuing to learn and grow. I wish the same for all of you. Thanks for reading!
Reach out to me on LinkedIn or on my contact page.
Be well
Ryan
If you’re reading this, I may have reached out to you recently, which may have seemed to be coming out of nowhere.
Why I’m reaching out to old friends and acquaintances:
(1) To reconnect, catch up, and make up for lost time:
Yes, I seem to be coming out of nowhere. Truly. I have not been active on social media (especially Facebook) for many years now, and the only thing I regret about that is that I missed out on your lives, if for no other reason than to be present with you and share in your ups and downs, your birthdays, weddings, triumphs, hardships and everything in between. Everybody knows by now that for Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and most of the rest of them, we’re the product. The calculation I made was that my modicum of privacy and extra time was worth disengaging from my friends, family and acquaintances. I think I was wrong about that. I could have tried to corral everyone I know onto a different platform. By the way, MEWE seems to be a good privacy-first alternative where members have total control over their media (with Tim Berners-Lee on their advisory board). There are other alternatives as well, and in the future I most post about those as well.
(2) To offer an opportunity:
I've joined a company whose mission is to leave no family behind financially. I received my insurance license and I'm working toward my Series licenses. Actually not that hard to do. The opportunity and the mission is greater and more important than ever in this incredible time of turmoil, mass unemployment, uncertainty, and tens of millions of people retiring. I'm sure you agree. Millions of people need to rollover their 401(k), set up Roth IRAs and annuities, protect their assets. Millions of people are looking for career changes. Maybe you could be one of them?
(3) To be of service:
Of course, to be an insurance agent is to be of service in a crucial way. Insurance protects against loss, provides income replacement plans for people who become disabled, and provides a vehicle to store value in a tax-free way to use in your lifetime to finance business ventures, homes and college expenses. Side note: my father sold insurance for 23 years for Allstate, and in all of that time I never learned about "infinite banking" (or variously called "family banking", "banking on yourself", etc). So I imagine most people aren't aware of this concept. Here it is in a paragraph:
Buy a dividend-paying life insurance policy with cash value and a death benefit (ask me which one), and if you're able, front-load it as much as you can (without triggering the Modified Endowment Contract IRS rule). Within a few years, you take out a loan against your own cash value as collateral, up to the total amount of the cash value. Because your policy pays dividends, the value of the cash value balance will continue to grow at a rate that exceeds inflation, tax-free. Your policy loan rate is usually refunded so it will end up being better than you can get from a bank (nice little arbitrage). When you pay the loan back, you pay yourself back. You could use that loan to fund a college education, car, house, or a business venture or other investment. Pretty simple. The most important part is paying your loan back, because you don't want to rob your own bank. (1) Why not just save? Well, because of the opportunity cost. Your money is still working and gaining interest while you're also using it for other purposes. (2) Why not just invest in the stock market or anything else that generates a higher return? Because of the tax consequences (insurance is a tax-free vehicle as long as you pay your own loan back, or you don't withdraw more money than the principle that you put in), and also because of the opportunity cost of taking that money out of an alternative investment and using it for some other purchase.
No, I'm not making this up. Here are some books on the subject:
Money, Wealth and Life Insurance
Becoming Your Own Banker
But our company doesn't just sell insurance. We provide free advice to help people manage their finances, debts, plan for their futures and retirements in tax-advantaged ways. We help structure their estate plans with wills, revocable living trusts, advanced directives, financial and medical powers of attorney, letters of intent to return, and HIPAA letters. All of this not only protects people when they are the most vulnerable and asserts their power legally when they can no longer voice it. The revocable living trust is an absolutely essential component to protect your assets from legal action and taxes, to maintain your eligibility for certain kinds of government financial or medical assistance when you most need it, and to pass on your legacy the way you intend.
This will be the first of many blogs I post. I'll reveal more about my personal story as time goes on. In the meanwhile I want you all to know that I'm safe, I'm well, and I'm continuing to learn and grow. I wish the same for all of you. Thanks for reading!
Reach out to me on LinkedIn or on my contact page.
Be well
Ryan
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