Insurance, Goal Setting, and Debt Reduction
Our 3 Latest Posts: Insurance Scams, Married? How to Crush 3 Common Goals Together, and Debt Payoff Planner Budgeting Sheet
Insurance Scams
There are many occasions in which life and disability insurance are necessary. My wife and I have term life insurance policies and long-term disability insurance. As a matter of fact, I believe long-term disability insurance is one of the most important protection products available that is underutilized.
We have written in past posts about how selecting the appropriate life and disability insurance for you and your spouse.
A simple rule of thumb is to buy insurance products for insurance and investing products for investing. Some insurance salespeople do not make it that simple. Unfortunately, some sell shady investment products through insurance products even though they are not licensed to sell investment products. Here is a brief history of how it is legal.
The History
Insurance salespeople can sell indexed products without a securities license because they are state-regulated. The SEC, however, has fought since the 1990s for federal securities oversight of indexed products after receiving numerous consumer complaints and regulatory actions from state attorneys general regarding the products' reliance on equity indices and comparisons to directly owning stocks.
The SEC approved Rule 151A in January 2009, which would have converted indexed insurance products into securities (a classification for investments) starting in January 2011. Several leading providers of indexed annuities and indexed life products sued the SEC. They simultaneously lobbied Senator Harkin to amend the "Restoring American Financial Stability Act" to reverse Rule 151A to keep the regulatory responsibilities of indexed products out of the hands of the SEC.
The insurance lobbyists were successful, which is why the problems persist today.
Married? How to Crush 3 Common Goals Together
Most surveys find that roughly half of Americans set some New Year’s resolutions. It’s a thing. Type it into Google, and you’ll find 276,000,000+ suggestions.
Did you make a New Year's Resolution? According to surveys, only 9% of Americans who make resolutions complete them, and 23% quit by the end of the first week.
If you did set a New Year’s Resolution, chances are it is to:
Save more money
Be happy
Exercise more.
We are well past January 1st, but that shouldn't stop you from restarting with the steps you need to keep the promise you made to yourself. If you’re married, we will share how you can still achieve these goals or any New Year’s Resolutions you and your spouse have established together.
Save More Money: Establish Systems for Financial Success
We are creatures of habit, and habits are formed mainly from what is easiest to do now. Whether you and your spouse want to save more money, pay down debt, or spend less, you need to put systems in place that make good choices easier and bad choices harder.
Take, for instance, saving more money.
Start by making the time to establish a new checking or savings account at a financial institution different from where you do your primary banking. Online banks, credit unions, or community banks often have high-yield options.
If you and your spouse use your savings and checking accounts from the same bank, what often happens is that people treat the accounts as two checking accounts, moving money back and forth between them. When the savings is out of sight, it is out of mind.
Ask your employer for the paperwork needed to establish a second paycheck deposit. Split a portion of your paycheck into your new savings account. You’ve now automated saving, making it harder to spend and easier to save.
New: Debt Payoff Planner Budgeting Sheet
The new Debt Payoff Planner is included with a Tiller subscription. Existing users can install it directly from the Tiller Money Feeds extension for Google Sheets and Excel.
Avalanche Method
The avalanche method involves paying off your highest interest rate loans first. Upon paying off that loan, your savings will be applied to the highest interest-rate account. The process is then repeated.
Tiller's Debt Payoff Planner models the Avalanche Method.
This method will help you repay your loans the fastest and most efficiently. When your first loan doesn't get repaid quickly, the avalanche method can be discouraging.
Share this post with friends and family who will benefit.