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If you've ever been in a position where you were responsible for creating content for a website, blog, newsletter, podcast, radio show or video, then you know how much of a struggle it can be to sometimes to find interesting subject matter to discuss. Particularly when you've been at it for a little over three years and you know that you've gotta come up with something at least once a week.
Additionally, we have a need to keep things entertaining and somewhat interesting from a selfish perspective.
And then there are times where good fortune smiles upon us and this is one of those times. The gods have showered us with so many great things that we literally had to spend time deciding which items would most benefit our audience. We really enjoy podcasts like the one we've done for today and sincerely hope the at you will as well.
Oh yeah, in the intro, Brandon accidentally said this was episode 134 and I didn't discover it until after I had already produced the full episode. I can assure you this is episode 140 if you will overlook our little snafu.
Here are the stories we're discussing on today's episode:
Only 25 Percent of Families Seek Advice of Financial Professional–a recent survey commissioned by Allianz finds that about 25% of families surveyed (4500 total) actually work with some sort of financial professional. The report was intended to address the needs of “modern families” which Allianz describes as same-sex couples, single-parent households. adult children living with parents, blended families, families with older parents and young children.
But do modern families have more or less financial security than traditional families? Well, the survey attempts to draw some conclusions in that regard. Find out what we think about the data.
The IRS Provides Answers on After-Tax 401k Rollovers–It seems that for a while people who had after-tax money that they contributed to a 401k have had some difficulty discerning the tax consequence of making withdrawals.
The IRS has given an answer about whether or not these after-tax contributions can be rolled into a Roth IRA?
Misleading Indexed Annuity Ads Cause Problems–Regulators in Iowa and Kansas have turned up the heat on indexed annuity ads. Indeed this is one of the first and rare occasions that we have seen a regulator state that they are willing to hold FMOs (Field Marketing Organizations), IMOs (Insurance Marketing Organizations), NMOs (National Marketing Organizations), and the insurance companies themselves responsible for misleading advertisements surrounding the sale of fixed indexed annuities.
Quite a divergence from the past. This is something we've been saying was a problem for quite some time. Most marketing organizations and the companies themselves seem to feel that as long as they put a disclosure at the bottom of marketing material that reads “For Agent/Broker Use Only” they have absolved themselves of responsibility. Iowa and Kansas don't agree with that logic.
Companies That Don't Sell IUL Don't Like it Very Much–The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has announced that it is focusing on indexed universal life (IUL) being sold in the state of New York. They are concerned (with good reason) about some overly optimistic projections they have seen in certain IUL illustrations.
And there are two different groups weighing in on how to stop this bad behavior.
1. The American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) has its own proposal of how to fix it.
and
2. A coalition of four life insurance companies–MetLife, Northwestern Mutual, New York Life and OneAmerica have floated their own proposal as to how to fix the problem. Interestingly enough, neither of those four companies offers an IUL product but they have a lot to say about disclosures surrounding IUL.
All we can say is, “We told you so.”
As always, we welcome your feedback and are available to answer any questions that our audience might have…just go over to our contact us page and fire off an email or give us a call.
