Filed under: Personal Finance, Estate Planning, Life Insurance, Annuities, Financial Education
Most people mistakenly believe that once they stop working, their net worth will shrink as they draw on assets for living expenses. Many people who are still working into their 60s and 70s also believe that it's too late to add any significant wealth to their estate. Neither of those has to be true -- if you have a well-designed plan.
Whole Life Policy
Let's consider a client who is 64 and plans on working another 10 years. He is reallocating some existing assets and putting some extra cash into life insurance. We are not talking about an end-of-life policy sold by the truckloads by TV personalities with a $10,000 payout to cover funeral expenses. This might be a good call if you have very little in assets and worry about your kids paying for your funeral. This client has some resources, so we could do something a little more creative.
He elected to fund a whole life policy with $25,000 a year for eight years for a total of $200,000. His starting death benefit is $310,000. If he dies in the next eight years, his family would receive $310,000 to $508,000, depending on when that happens. If he reaches 72, he will have the entire $200,000 that he put into the policy over those eight years back in the form of cash value in the policy. He is free to take loans and disbursements, or just let the money sit and grow during the rest of his lifetime.
Should he reach 85, he would have more than $376,000 of cash value in the policy -- even though he has only paid in $200,000 into it. Upon his death, his family will receive more than $470,000 of tax-free cash. He will more than double his estate by simply reallocating assets and letting tax-free compounding and guarantees go to work. Meanwhile, he can access the cash he is funding the policy with. If he does, he will lower the death benefit, but he has no need in the foreseeable future.
Fixed Indexed Annuity
Another client, who is 70, had concerns about leaving money behind to benefit a child with a mental handicap. The first step was finding a rock-solid trustee to make sure any money benefits the child after the death. Since the client was 70, the cost of life insurance was prohibitive.
The client had put away $300,000 for the child. The last market downturn had cost $130,000, but most of those losses have been recouped.
The client was very clear on wanting no market risk and elected to go with a fixed indexed annuity with a death benefit rider. This rider guarantees that the $300,000 will never decrease in value and will increase at a minimum of 4 percent -- plus any indexed market gains. The least average growth rate combined with the 4 percent percent guarantee means that if the client dies in 10 years, the client will leave behind more than $650,000 in cash. If the client lives only five more years, annuity will leave behind $488,000.
A fixed indexed annuity can also have a lifetime income rider that guarantees you income no matter how long you live and even if the underlying cash goes to zero from income withdrawals. The National Association of Fixed Annuities has more information about how these products work.
John Jamieson is the best-selling author of "The Perpetual Wealth System." Watch his video of the week for more information covered in this weeks article.