If you do not take advantage of owning a life insurance policy, you are missing the boat.
I know what you’re thinking, insurance has had a bad rap for many years. The reason for the negative thinking is that like most professions where you are only required to undergo a brief and intense course, (unlike a 4–6-year degree,) and pass a licensing program to claim to be a professional, not everyone who achieved this milestone went on to be educated at the next level of understanding: how to act as a fiduciary. There are even certifications for becoming a fiduciary, but that is a whole other story.
What’s key is that once you’re a licensed professional,
it is your OBLIGATION and RESPONSIBILITY
to act as your client’s fiduciary.
That said, the number of professionals who do act as a fiduciary, or who understand the intricacies of insurance is not as high as you might expect.
If you are an average American worker with or without life insurance, you may not have heard about Kai-Zen. Back in late 2016 when Michigan Coach Harbaugh was negotiating his contract, he negotiated a compensation package where the University paid his Kai-Zen plan premiums. The plan would go on to make him an extremely well protected and wealthy man. What’s so special about this plan? Here is a review from one of the co-founders of Kai-Zen who took advantage of using this strategy.
“Like most high-income earners, I understood that my social security benefits and 401(k) contributions would not be sufficient to fund my personal retirement needs. I was also aware that 70% of my retirement income would need to come from what I was able to accumulate and save on my own. With two of my three kids in college, I had been advised by every financial planner I spoke with that at a minimum I would need protection that would replace my income if I became ill, needed long term care, or passed away prematurely. In addition, I would need to save 30% of what I currently earn to maintain my current lifestyle throughout retirement and invest it in the market to keep up with inflation. As if that wasn’t enough, I was also told that I needed to defer even more of my salary into pre-tax investments, and that I would need to pay for all these benefits out of pocket at a time that my expenses were the highest they had ever been.
In my search to find solutions, it was frustrating and disappointing to find that every financial advisor I reached out to for a solution was offering the same traditional plan that didn’t offer any cost efficiency.
I needed a way to change the status quo. Determined to solve this issue, my partners and I did our research, developed relationships, and created our own strategy we call Kai-Zen. Kai-Zen changed the status quo by offering the one thing no one else was offering, leverage. Kai-Zen offered me the only real opportunity to get the extra cash I needed to fund a strategy sufficiently. With the additional money added to my contributions, I was able to participate in a strategy that provided everything I needed. It provides me with death benefit coverage, protections against critical illness, supplemental retirement income, the potential for upside market capture without market losses, growth compounding tax deferred, access to income tax free loans, and the leverage to add three times more money to my strategy. That’s tough to beat.
I admit I am biased, but I am also a cynic. I looked at my own situation, how much money I could afford to set aside, and what could go wrong. I’ve run thousands of simulations and comparisons and I can’t find another strategy that comes close to providing what I can get with the Kai-Zen strategy.”
From the Zai-Zen website:
“Kai-Zen has received an overwhelmingly positive reception from a broad range of senior level executives including CEOs, Vice Presidents, CPAs, lawyers, bankers, and brokers.
It has been especially rewarding to witness the enthusiastic response from individuals who really understand the unique value delivered by Kai-Zen,
which is exactly why all of the executives at NIW participate in Kai-Zen.”
This is powerful stuff! Let me briefly outline how the plan was set up for Coach Harbaugh. The University started with giving a $4 million dollar loan to Harbaugh in 2016. He would then receive $2 million for the next five years to pay the insurance premiums. “Harbaugh does not need to repay the loan until he dies, as long as that insurance policy remains active. Upon his death, the university can recoup the investment it made, and the rest of the insurance payout leftover after the loan is settled will go to Harbaugh’s beneficiaries. If the policy is stopped, Michigan will still be able to get its money back from the insurer.”
If Harbaugh dies while Michigan is paying the premiums, his heirs will still get 150% of the premiums paid into the policy. Harbaugh can borrow against the policy while alive as long as 150% of premiums remain intact. This is like the Infinite Banking solution. “It allows Harbaugh to avoid traditional banks, getting access to money that can then grow significantly larger. While he does have to pay back the loan eventually, by the time he pays it off the money he has will dwarf the amount he needs to return to Michigan.
The University of Michigan, from an asset accumulation (endowment) perspective, is one of the top ten universities in the United States. Seems like smart people making smart business decisions.”
This is what we mean by the power of leverage.
We are all about educating consumers to all the possibilities, not just those options that a certain agency sells. Know your choices. If you’d like to learn more, reach out to us for a free consultation. Email us at info@mvplwrc.com or call 775-365-9429.