Brandon Roberts 
Some time ago, I covered an article written by CBS Market Watch contributor Allan Roth, which was an exposé on the popular book Bank on Yourself®.
I had hoped that it wouldn't die with Allan Roth's swipe at Pam Yellen, but several months passed and I began to think that Pam was going to pull a card from the old public relations bag of tricks and just ignore this until it went away. But about a month ago, Pam struck back, and came out swinging.
This one has been around for a while but is picking up steam recently, are they going to start taxing life insurance?
Given the fiscal cliff and the we have an answer no wait no we don't whip saw that has been taking place in Washington, it's no surprise that every fear monger out there has taken a moment to jump on this train. Let's not forget NAIFA and IFA-PAC's constant need to recruit and open up members' wallets by shrilling this one at every luncheon and on every newsletter (they're coming and their coming after us!). We can't always hate them though, props of course, for their work on 151a.
But whether we like it or not we're in a pretty serious financial situation and that means we have to take all theories about how Congress will rob Peter to pay Paul. So, let's discuss why or why not Congress will drill deeper into your pockets and start raiding your life insurance policy for tax revenue.
Ohio National Life has announced its 2013 dividend interest rate. This was actually announced a few weeks ago, and announcing has been on the to-do list, but we were a tad side tracked.
Ohio National will pay out $76 million in policy holder dividends for in 2013.
I'll be very up front about the fact that I'm stereotyping badly with today's post regarding financial advisors and cash value life insurance. I realize there's a lot of liberal interpretation regarding what it means to be a “financial advisor.” But for today's purposes, we'll refer to financial advisors as those who primarily focus on gathering assets to manage.
The long awaited deal is done and the sale of Aviva Life USA to Athene Holdings has officially been announced.
Whole life blending, as we've discussed before, is a process for designing cash value life insurance to maximize cash value available to the policyholder/client and income potential.
Still, there are those who like to suggest it doesn't matter. Those who would spend time arguing against a policy that is designed to maximize paid-up additions when it comes to your annual outlay.
We recently realized that we made a big mistake when it comes to how we talk about this. And today, we'll fix that mistake.
Cash value life insurance is a funny subject. I strongly admire and strongly detest this product within the American system of finance, long known for its stable returns and obscurity. Proponents tout its many benefits while opponents scream about its expenses and lack of disclosure.
For those who have followed us for a while, you'd expect today might be one where we reinforce the benefits and side with the cash value friendly crowd.
You'd be sorely mistaken.
Lots of agents learn very early in their career that a Modified Endowment Contract is a bad thing. Perhaps it's because they hold the first-in-first-out and tax free via loan distribution privileges in such high regard that losing those benefits seems to kill the whole thing. I'll admit that these benefits are certainly coveted and optimal, but there are times when intentionally owning a modified endowment contract might makes sense, in fact a lot of sense.
The New York Life Insurance Company has announced its 2013 dividend.
New York Life will increase its dividend payout by $100 million, an 8% increase in total dividends paid over last year.
Penn Mutual has announced its dividend for participating policies for 2013. Penn will pay out a total of $31 million in policy holder dividends, which represents a 2% increase over dividends paid out in 2012.
