Education Center & Business Solutions

Education Center

Below are brief summaries of some of the topics that may arise as we explore your long- and short-term financial goals. The information will give you something to consider as you prepare for our initial review.

Accumulating Retirement Assets Retirement can signify a lot of things to a lot of people: sailing off into the sunset with your beloved; never having to worry about waking up early to catch the morning train; finger-painting with your grandkids. But to make these dreams a reality, you'll need to create a nest egg that will make your retirement years as comfortable, if not more, as when you were working. Essentially, it's never too early to think about saving for your golden years. As the average lifespan increases, you should be prepared to put aside more to accommodate a longer retirement. We understand the importance of having enough to spend during your retirement. That’s why we offer a variety of insurance and financial products that can help you fund your retirement, and make the money you’ve worked for years to save go even further.
Charitable Giving: The 10 Advantages Of Donating Life Insurance Proceeds

1. Your Gift Is Maximized. In addition to your current outright gifts, life insurance offers the opportunity to make a significant ultimate gift. Life insurance can help create a major gift that otherwise may have been unaffordable.
2. Your Legacy Lives On. You get tremendous satisfaction helping your church, school, or other favorite charity. And when you give the gift of life insurance, you are assured that your support and its impact lives on. Your gift might create a scholarship fund, or help continue a program well into the future.
3. Your Personal Assets Remain Intact. Using life insurance as the gift helps avoid invading your assets, which are intended to benefit and provide for your heirs. The premium can fit easily into your annual or monthly budget. (Note that you will need sufficient funds to pay the premiums to keep the policy in force.)
4. Your Charity Receives The Proceeds Of Your Gift Promptly. Your gift of life insurance is not subject to probate delays or estate settlement costs.
5. Your Premiums Are Income Tax-deductible.* Your gifts of premiums to purchase life insurance, if the policy is owned by the charity, are income tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. (Of course, the charity must qualify as an exempt non-profit organization.)
6. The Policy’s Proceeds Are Not Included In Your Estate. Life insurance proceeds paid to the charity you name as beneficiary are not included in your estate if the charity owns the policy. Should you choose to retain ownership of the policy, the policy’s proceeds are included in your estate, but the amount paid to charity is estate tax deductible as a “charitable bequest”.
7. Your Charity Has Access To The Cash Value Of The Policy. If your charity is the owner of a permanent life insurance policy, any cash value build-up within the policy is available to the charity for emergencies via policy loans, which will reduce the available death benefit.
8. Your Privacy Is Private. Since the gift of life insurance is a private matter, it can be kept confidential, without being exposed to public or family view, if that is a desire.
9. Simple To Arrange. Your agent can show you several ways to give the gift of life insurance, all assuring that your intentions will be honored.
10. Your Insurance Gift Is Backed By The Strength Of An Insurance Company.

If you are a business owner, you have the added responsibility of your business to worry about on top of your family. The following information can help you start thinking about possible solutions to your needs and help you prepare to consult with us.
Helping Your Business Grow Don’t have a Harvard MBA? You're not alone. Most successful entrepreneurs started out with what seemed like a good idea and ended up running a business of their own. How can you learn to manage the business side of business? Read, study, ask lots of questions, and seek out sound advice from your tax, legal and financial advisors. You can also turn to us to discuss how the insurance and financial products that we offer can help you support your business growth plan. Business Continuation Planning As a business owner, you are the lifeblood of your organization, the driving force behind its success. Have you considered what will happen to your business when you are ready to retire? Do you have children or other family members ready to continue the family business? Or is there another successor in line who will be able to pick up the reins? Most of all, if you died prematurely or became disabled, will the business you worked so hard to build be able to continue...and will your family be financially provided for? Tough questions, yes, but ones you need to ask. Retirement/Estate Planning One of the nice perks of being self-employed or a business owner is that you don't HAVE to retire. You're a doer. You like to make decisions and see results. But maybe someday -- perhaps when you're 65, 75 or older - you just might WANT the option to trade the fun and frustration of work for golf, gardening, vacationing with the grandkids or sitting back and relaxing with family and friends. Just as important, you also want to have all your ducks in a row, so to speak, when it comes to making sure your loved ones are well provided for in the future. Neither of these goals just happens. They are the result of decisions you make today. That means retirement planning and estate planning – mapping out a strategy to create options for you and for your family. Fortunately, there are more retirement and estate planning choices available today than ever before for business owners and those self-employed. We are here to help you begin the process of planning. As the old saying goes: Those who fail to plan...fail. Life Insurance for Risk Management As a business owner, you live with risk. That's the nature of business. You take on risk when you borrow money to expand, launch a new product or service, hire new employees, or extend credit to customers. There are dozens of risks in business...and few guarantees. Successful business owners, therefore, work to minimize risk, so they can focus on meeting their objectives. Life insurance is a risk management tool. For instance, if your company invested in new facilities or new vehicles, you would insure their value against the danger of theft, fire and accident. In the same way, life insurance can help protect the value of key employees to your business, reduce the risk that a loan might default if something happened to you, and, most of all, reduce the risk that your business and your family would suffer financially if you did not live to see your long-term plans completed. Employee Benefits Finding quality employees is half the challenge. Keeping them – and keeping them well motivated – is the other half, especially in today's tight labor market. One way to do that is to provide competitive benefits. I know, when many small business owners hear the words "employee benefits," they immediately think, "one more expense I can't afford!" If this sounds like you, you might want to think again. Two reasons: (1) Carefully selected benefits can help reduce costly employee turnover, boost morale and, in turn, help assure your company's stability and productivity. (2) Benefits need not cost you an arm and a leg. For example, a voluntary payroll deduction program lets workers – including you as an owner-employee – acquire valuable benefits at virtually no cost to you.