Thursday, May 1, 2008

More Bottom Life Profits by Hiring a Specialist to Evaluate Your Annuity

While watching golf on TV the other day I was inspired by the name on the hat that Phil Michelson wore. I Googled them and found out they were business consultants. Their expertise was consulting with medium to large companies to evaluate their business practices and to locate bottom line methods to increase profit. I thought how in the world did I miss this for my little annuity business.

I hired a business consultant to look at all aspects of my business and help me make better business decisions so I can be just like GM, Boeing and United Airlines. The overall cost was a little more than $5,000 and I spent about 2 days answering questions and filling out questionnaires. All the information was entered into their computer and it must have cranked on it for at least a day. The report was mind-blowing; things I had never even considered were introduced to me.
They had evaluated all my expenses and the bottom line were these ideas.

? Send E cards and save on postage.
? Buy all my stationary in bulk based on a 12 month need.
? Use only ATMs that have no fees.
? Cancel magazine subscriptions and use the internet for my news.
? Cancel my whole life insurance policy and replace it with term.
? Make my 2 employees coshare their health insurance cost.
? Cut back on Starbucks and make coffee at the office, quit going out to the coffee shop.
? Buy copy paper in bulk one pallet at a time and make the stationary company store it for me until I need it

I read all 99 of their suggestions and thought... not no, but Hell No!

Who wants to live like that? Who wants to be that extreme. What should I do if I want to have a better bottom line? It was very easy, see only 10 more people in a year and this will result in 1 ? more annuity sales. Based on my average care size of $77,000 this would provide an additional $10,000 to my bottom line. Only 10 more new seens a year! How simple is that?

Here is my plan for expense reduction?.DON?T!!! Life is way to short for this type of bottom line drive.

When your whole focus is on reduction and not sales you become very negative and not proactive. We are annuity salesmen and we need to be active and proactive.

One terrific tax benefit I did receive from my consultant, I got to write off his consulting fee. My attitude is that it is much simpler to sell than to reduce.

Bill Broich is a 30 year annuity salesman who helps agents generate annuity leads. Visit his website to learn more - Annuity.com
#BREAK# #TITLE#Attention Annuity Salespersons - Control Your Own Destiny#/TITLE#

Sales organizations love to sign you up. Contracting you is one of their greatest joys and why shouldn?t it be. You do the work, you invest your money and they get the cream of the overrides. What do they invest in you?Oh yes I know?.Service! In my book, service is a synonym for greed.

Answer these questions:

? How many times have you had an annuity marketing company attempt to recruit you?

? How many telephone calls and emails do you get each week from annuity marketers?

? How many times has a marketing company offered you free leads as an incentive to contract?

? How many times has a marketing company offered you their ?secret? CD to learn what how the big boys do it?

    Insider Secret Number 1:
You control your contracts Here is my very first rule and one I hope you will adopt. Get a pre-release letter! When you contract with a marketing company they forget to tell you about being released in the future!

? What if your situation changes?

? What if you found a marketing system better suited to your personal situation?

? What if you wanted a change?

? What if we did not satisfy your marketing needs?

? How do you get released?

Do not become a slave to your FMO, demand the pre-release, they all will do it!

    Insider Secret Number 2:
Most annuity sales marketing organizations do not know how to sell annuities. It is the old saying.. Those that can?t sell, TEACH!

Learn how to sell annuities and how actually market yourself and your business from ?those that do.? This is an easy topic to check out, just ask your FMO how they would make a sale in a specific situation and their answer is always based on product. Try it and see for yourself. If you are committed to working with an FMO, also hire yourself a coach, one who has sold and who can sell. This is the very easiest direction.

    Insider Secret Number 3:
Insurance company products are designed for only one reason, to maximize profit to the insurance company.

The newest, latest and greatest annuity is just a new wrapper around the same old product. The insurance company buys bonds to guarantee the performance and no matter how you look at it, the yield and the annuities are all in the same arena. Just more sizzle. If you chase the new products you will be just that ?a chaser.?

Chasers never build a practice, never have anything worthwhile to sell to their clients other than the newest wrapper on the same product.

Be different! Sell annuities based on the benefits they can provide to the owner. The real reason to buy an annuity is not based on yield but on benefits.

Learn these secrets and do as much for yourself as possible. Rely on the FMO as little as possible.

Bill Broich is a 30 year annuity salesman who helps agents generate annuity leads. Visit his website to learn more - Annuity.com

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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Private Annuity Trusts - Supercharge Your Retirement

You have made some great investments in Real Estate or in a Stock Portfolio. Congratulations! Now you are ready to retire on your gains. But wait. To benefit from your investment appreciation, you're going to have to sell some or all of those assets.

If you sell your investment property, you will need to pay capital gains tax to the Federal Government, State, and you will also pay recaptured depreciation. If you're in California, add another 3 1/3% in withholding. That's a huge chunk of change, and a big blow to your savings.

If you sell your stocks, you'll be giving up at least 15% to capital gains. There is also no guarantee that the long term capital gains rate will remain at 15% forever. It could increase down the road.

How can you start receiving income but not get hit with huge amounts of tax?

For real property, there is a 1031 exchange into a tenant in common property. This works well for investors that don't want to manage property anymore, but still enjoy the benefits of real estate ownership. This is a subject covered in many of my previous articles.

There is another powerful concept. It's called a Private Annuity Trust. These trusts have been around since 1939, but until the last few years have primarily been used for Estate Planning purposes. The Private Annuity Trust also works extremely well for Retirement Planning. It is fairly complex to set up and administrate, so many financial planners, real estate brokers, CPAs and Attorneys still don't know much about them.

The procedure is basically this.

1. A Private Annuity Trust is established. You, the seller become the annuitant.

2. A fair market appraisal is done to determine property value.

3. The seller can negotiate a sale price at the appraised value.

4. The property is transferred to the trust and the trust is now the seller of the property and retains the proceeds.

5. The proceeds are invested by trustees (not the annuitant) and an arrangement is made to pay the annuitant (and perhaps their spouse) in monthly payments for the remainder of their lives. The capital gains tax is spread out over the course of your lifetime. If you pass away before your estimated average calculated life span, the remainder of the assets pass to the beneficiaries. The balance will be passed free of Estate Tax, Gift Tax, Generation skipping tax, and Transfer tax. Any capital gains tax still due will be paid before disbursement.

6. Other properties or stocks can be added to the trust at a later time, and recieve the same benefits.

As an example, let's say you have a million dollar gain on a property. You might very well owe 350K in taxes. With a Private Annuity Trust, all one million goes to work for you, and you can receive montyly income for the rest of your life. The exact amount is determined by your age and the time you choose to begin receiving your payments. You have the option to defer receiving payments until the age of 70 1/2. This allows the assets to grow compounding and tax deferred, and allows for greater income in the future.

The trust removes the assets from your estate, as the trust now owns them and the annuitant relinquishes control over how they are invested.

Setting up a Private Annuity Trust can definitely give a turbo boost to your retirement bottom line. Ask yourself, would you rather give a "gift" to the government in a big lump sum, or would you like to pay in small chunks and have the bulk of your profits working for you and earning compounded interest for years to come?

Paula Straub will guide you through the process of keeping your Capital Gains working for you and generating passive income. To receive your invitation to her free teleconference, visit Save Capital Gains Tax

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Friday, January 4, 2008

Buy Annuity Leads

The financial products such as annuity are created keeping in mind the expectations of certain type of prospective customers. The age of the prospect comes in this type. So are his/her income group and the type of profession they are engaged in. Needless to say that, in order to sell its investment products, the financial companies have to reach out to the targeted customers first. Hence the agents of the financial companies are generally on the look out for the database of such customers. This information is sensitively profiled by specialized research firms and is offered as leads to agents and financial companies needing this database. These leads are generated from various sources which include websites that are developed to monitor genuine customers who are surfing the Internet for buying annuity.

While leads are very important for selling annuity, however certain factors should be taken into consideration while buying them. It?s crucial to know, how the research company operates and by using which methods the leads are being generated by the research company. Instead of buying the leads from the first authentic company one comes across, it pays to search for more companies in order to get optimum benefits. The cost of acquiring the leads is also significant. The terms of payment should be clearly discussed before entering into a payment contract. There are some companies that raise monthly bills for providing leads. It must also be ascertained whether the leads are sold only to one agent/ company. For better results while playing safe, the leads should be bought in small amounts from various firms. This way, the quality of the leads and the firm providing these databases can be safely assessed without incurring much cost - a good deed indeed for good leads!
Buy Annuity provides detailed information on Buy Annuity, Buy Annuity Leads, Buy Fixed Annuity, Buy Retirement Annuity and more. Buy Annuity is affliated with Fixed Annuities.

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Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Annuity Buyers

Annuities are a series of payments made by an institution like an insurance company to the annuitant (annuity holder) at regular intervals over a fixed time period. Most of annuity buyers are from middle-class families having household income less than $75,000 a year, and their main objective is to have an income after retirement.

According to one survey, the average age of an annuity buyer is 66 years old and retired. Generally these people think that their financial needs after retirement will not be covered by a pension or other employment related retirement funds. They invest in annuity plans to have guaranteed income. A person can purchase an annuity if a lump sum is received like a pension, the sale of land or house or any inherited property.

A potential annuity buyer, particularly first time buyer, should be very careful in deciding the type of the annuity to invest in and on the insurance company to go with. Some annuities offer guaranteed income and some s do not. Some annuities offer returns even after the death of the annuitant, but some types of annuities provide income only for a fixed time period. The excess income over the total premium amount is tax-free in some types of annuities, whereas in some other cases, the excess income is taxable. Therefore, the buyer has to understand the basic types of annuities in order to decide which type is suitable for their financial situation.

The buyer can seek the help and advice of finance professional or annuity broker.

Before purchasing an annuity, the buyer has to understand the payment options. For instance, the company may pay some types of annuities only after the death of the annuitant and some after a fixed time period ranging from five to twenty years. The buyer should know about front-end loading fees, yearly maintenance fees and surrender charges. Another important point to know is the credit rating of the insurance company by agencies like Standard and Poors and Moody?s and Fitch. These agencies assess the insurance company?s ability to meet all of its claims on time. After considering all these criteria, annuity buyers need to select the best annuity to purchase and to later on enjoy.



Cash For Annuities provides detailed information on cash for annuities, annuity brokers, annuity buyers, annuity payments and more. Cash For Annuities is affliated with Cash Out Refinancing Scams

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