Wealth Visor Blog

Featured Professional: Thomas Cunningham

by Jan on September 23, 2011

Thomas Cunningham is an independent insurance agent from Manchester, Maryland. His practice offers viable solutions for retirement, income replacement, disability, and long term care.

I started in this industry…About 3 ½ years ago I decided that it was a good career move, and I never dreamed that it would be as personally rewarding. Now I can’t imagine ever doing anything else, everyday I’m helping people. They often come to me with anxiety and stressed over their finances, and I am able to offer solutions and I see the stress just melt away.

I am different because…I’m building my practice on the philosophy that “I depend on my clients to help me build my practice, and I can’t grow unless they are bragging about me, and have the peace of mind that I will be there for them through thick and thin and always put their interest first.”

One area clients tend to overlook is…Disability and Long Term Care

The most important advice I tell clients is… Most people have built their financial foundation with the following priorities- 1) just got paid lets have some fun 2) Better keep enough to pay the bills 3) Is there anything left over for savings? 4) future needs and responsibilities. Financially successful people have the opposite have the opposite priorities. The second thing that I tell them is there are only two types of personalities when it comes to money, savers and spenders. Both can be financially successful, but they have to first understand which one they are and second have to understand how to be financially responsible with their personality in mind.

The worst piece of advice I’ve ever heard is…Surrender your cash value life insurance policy so you can qualify for Medicaid. There are many options available to someone facing the Medicaid spend down all of them typically better then surrendering their cash value life policy.

New clients should know…I’m am here to answer questions and equip them to be able to make wise financial decisions for themselves.

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Logic and Emotion in Personal Finance

by Jan on September 20, 2011

Today’s blog tackles the psychological balancing act that is necessary to effectively manage one’s money. While working towards our financial goals, it is easy to focus purely on quantitative details, while overlooking the qualitative aspects of a decision. Adam Baker, a Get Rich Slowly staff writer explains how important it is to have the emotional mind cooperate with our logic-based financial decisions, through various personal experiences. “Trying to change a habit with only your logical mind quickly leads to exhaustion. You cannot succeed with willpower alone.”

Playing with Numbers
“When Courtney (my wife) and I first started our financial turnaround, we started the basics of tracking our spending, starting a budget, and creating a list of every debt we owe. We laid everything out to the penny. We knew exactly how much interest we were adding to our debt each month. At one point, we could even tell you how much our average toilet paper spending changed on a month-to-month basis.”

Neither Adam nor his wife are professional accountants, and the commitment needed to continue their current tracking was wasting precious time, and diminishing their wealth. Additionally, a small error in math would lend itself to hours of backtracking and stress.

Next, they tried simply tried rounding dollar amounts. Expenses were rounded up while they rounded down all income. It was a simple change, but had a profound effect on the couples processes. “Suddenly tracking became fun. It was no longer a chore, but something we actually enjoyed! We could get a snapshot of how we were doing with quick mental math.

Not only did the rounding lift a huge load off the couple’s shoulders, it also created a small monetary buffer as well. Baker explains, ” if we budgeted $80 for our $76.50 electric bill each month, we’d have a little left over. Same result if we tracked our spending as $10 when lunch was only $7.98. The extra dollars and cents accumulated more quickly than you might think! At the end of each month, we were left with a couple hundred dollars as a buffer.”

Defeating Debt

Adam shares a few popular methods to defeating debt:

Highest interest first. The logical or mathematical option is to pay off whichever debt has the highest interest rate. This ignores any emotional or psychological aspects, but results in the fastest theoretical path.

The debt snowball. Popularized by Dave Ramsey, this method suggests paying off your debts from smallest to largest. The idea is to find early success, celebrate the small wins, and build momentum.
The debt tsunami. This is the name Courtney and I created to label the own path we took. We prioritized our debts by how intense our emotions were about each debt.

“Courtney and I started our financial turnaround with the debt snowball, but quickly realized that we cared much more deeply about some of our debts when compared to others. For example, our debts to family members weighed heavily on us even though they carried no interest and no formal monthly payments. We also felt much more empowered when we paid off gambling debts or credit cards that represented our most ridiculous spending choices. Making progress on these increased our pride and fueled our passion to the point where we felt unstoppable! We created a way to gauge our emotions on each debt and every few months would revisit our list. Each time we focused out energy on those debts we hated the most.”

What financial challenges have forced you to consider emotions in the context of a financial decision? Share your stories in the comments section below.

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What’s new on WealthVisor.com!

by Jan on September 18, 2011

As WealthVisor.com grows, our development team is working hard to release new features that will ensure your visit is enjoyable, efficient and productive. The latest features will streamline processes for clients and professionals alike! Read on to find out what we have been working on recently.

Professional Dashboard

Our new dashboard feature will put financial professionals directly in the driver’s seat of their online presence. A broad range of analytics is now available via “Profile Stats.” Professionals can gain easy and convenient access to statistical data including: Profile and Search Result views, personal and company website clicks, featured listing and spotlight ad clicks, and many more! Browse through the new Profile Stats today to get a clearer understanding of the data available to you.

The “My dashboard” tab also includes a designated field that will quickly get you up to speed about all things “Q&A.” Browse answered and unanswered consumer questions, adjust notification settings, and see how you compare to other professionals!

Promote, Promote, Promote

The promote tab in your profile contains a host of new features that will surely stimulate your brand within WealthVisor.com across on the web. You can share your profile on the major social networks to get the word out about your profile. You can also solicit questions from friends and clients, submit your own frequently asked questions and invite your peers to join you on WealthVisor.com

Showcase Your Expertise With Expert Q&A

Many professionals have been active on our Q&A section and this has proved to be a great way to show off expertise while helping the community at the same time. You’ll also notice that we added professional leader board to highlight those individual who have contributed the most to this new community. Our users love these ranking and appreciate the contribution made by WealthVisor.com professionals.

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Sharing

If you are like us, you too love sharing your opinions. We have added the ability to share profiles, questions and even specific answers to facilitate the distribution of information found on our site. Additionally, clients and professionals can Facebook “Like” or Google “+1” professionals, questions in Q&A, and company profiles.

Whether you are a new user, or a seasoned vet, take a few minutes to check out all the great new features at WealthVisor.com. This is just a small step to becoming the most comprehensive online source regarding financial professionals. Expect more updates are we continue to grow and improve! If you are a financial, insurance or tax professional and have not joined already, sign up for free today and use WealthVisor.com to help build your business.

Are there are features that you would like to see implemented? What are your favorite, and least favorite features? Leave a comment with your suggestions!

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Featured Professional of the Week: Chris Kim

by Jan on September 16, 2011

Chris Kim is a Vice President, Wealth Advisor for Tompkins Financial Advisors. He works closely with an internal team of financial planners and analysts to provide a variety of solutions focusing on wealth management, financial planning, risk management and tax planning. Chris received his MBA degree with a dual major in Finance and Decision Science from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. As an adjunct faculty member of the School of Business at Ithaca College, Chris enjoys teaching finance courses including Personal Finance, Business Finance, and Financial Markets & Institutions. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his wife and two children, and enjoys golfing in his free time.

I started in this industry… as a an emerging markets analyst in Asia in 1992 and worked in the sales & trading rooms of the multinational investment banks in New York, London, and in Asia.

My ideal client relationship is… I believe there is more to investment management than just the numbers. It takes commitment, effective communication and trust between the advisor and the client to plan out a strategy, and it requires a competent advisor who is prepared with global experience under various cycles of the market. My ideal clients see me as their trusted financial advisers who plan for them to achieve their goals.

The most important advice I tell clients is… I often refer to a quote from Warren Buffet, ‘Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.’

One area clients tend to overlook is… The importance of global diversification. Most of the U.S. investors have less than 30% exposure in non-US assets, however we all agree that the U.S. economy is far less than 70% share in global economy.

The word that best describes the philosophy of my approach is… a commonsense value approach to investing.

The best thing about my job… As a fee-only independent RIA firm & fiduciary specializing in wealth management, I am positioned to do what is in absolute best interest of my clients without exception.

In my spare time… I enjoy spending quality time with my family and teaching finance courses at a local college.

Are you interested in being one of our Featured Professionals? It can increase your exposure at WealthVisor, and it’s free! Please forward your inquiries to info@wealthvisor.com

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Understanding Your Risk Tolerance

by wealthvisor on September 14, 2011

Choosing which investment to commit to should be regarded as a thorough, and even tedious process. One of the critical factors to consider when selecting your investments is Risk Tolerance, generally defined as the degree of uncertainty that an investor can handle in regard to a negative change in the value of his/her portfolio. To get a better understanding of the attributes that compose Risk Tolerance, why it’s important and how to use it to your advantage, keep reading! Today’s blog comes to you from Mint.com

1. Investment knowledge and experience

The first aspect of risk tolerance is your familiarity with a particular investment market. Most people know that the stock market is “risky” when the economic outlook is uncertain. Price volatility of the averages translates to volatility in individual stocks. But beyond that, if you have gone through market swings in the past and you know how to recognize market swings, you are better equipped to remain calm during volatile times. For example, you may realize that a big dip in a stock’s price is going to be temporary because that company is a leader in its industry and is also well-managed.

2. Income and asset levels

Your risk tolerance is also defined by how much money you earn and how much you have in your portfolio. If you earn very little and have a small portfolio with just a few different assets, you cannot afford a large loss. If you have a diversified portfolio that you have built up over many years, you also know that you can afford a loss in one issue, because it will not impact the entire portfolio.

3. Age and living circumstances

If you are a young investor, you can afford to take bigger market risks. With more time to go until retirement, you also have more time to rebuild after a loss. However, if you are going to retire in only a few years, you cannot afford big risks. The same restrictions apply to your living circumstances. A young single person is going to invest differently than a married couple with children and a mortgage.

4. Long-term investment goals

What are you saving toward? The range of possibilities includes retirement security, a child’s college education, or a desire to start your own business — or all of these. Your priorities determine your risk tolerance. A few priorities, such as retirement, are critical, whereas others (such as traveling around the world after retirement) are optional. The more critical an investment goal is, the less risk tolerance it can bear.

5. Personal preferences

Finally, those personal preferences (Coke versus Pepsi, for example) are also important. It may be something as simple as a product preference or as broad as a market attitude. Some people love stocks but hate real estate, others love mutual funds but hate stocks. The reasons are not as important as that personal “comfort zone.” To succeed as an investor, you need to be happy with your choices.

No investor is immune from the often irrational and emotional actions or reactions within the market. In fact, that’s what makes investing and trading interesting. However, it certainly improves your chances for a satisfying and profitable experience if you also understand why some investments are better choices for you. Risk tolerance is much more than just exposure to possible losses. It defines who you are as an investor.

Do you have any additional tips for properly assessing Risk Tolerance? Share them in the comments section!

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Top 10 Most Searched Professionals this Month

by Jan on September 13, 2011

Listed below are the Professional Profiles that have seen the greatest number of views over the last 30 days, from August 13, to September 12. Didn’t make the cut this time? Continue reading to increase your chances for next month!

5. Cora Parks

8. Chris Kim

10. Arkady Uchenik

Wondering what you can do to increase your exposure within WealthVisor? It’s easy! Start by completing your profile, or checking to see if it could use an update. Additionally, allow searching consumers to better connect with you by becoming one of our weekly Featured Professionals (send inquiries to info@wealthvisor.com). Finally, keep a lookout for the beneficial new feature that will be released to WealthVisor next Thursday!

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Frugal Back to School Shopping

by Jan on September 9, 2011

According to the National Retail Federation, we’ll spend $68.8 billion outfitting our students for school this year.

More than 80% of the nearly 8,700 people surveyed say that the downtrodden economy has affected the way they’ll shop for school supplies. For example:

30.7% will comparison-shop online
38% will buy store-brand or generic products
44.6% will spend less overall

Consider these tips from the folks at WealthVisor, and some ideas from the Get Rich Slowly Blog to get the most bang for your buck during this back to school season!

Shop at Home, and From Home First
Once you have reviewed the excessively lengthy “Must-Have” list of supplies for your child, start by shopping at home. This means looking around for staple supplies such as rulers, calculators, lunchboxes, and backpacks. Unless those items are honestly worn down, re-use them (a single highlighter mark on the side of a backpack does not render it expendable!). Saving on the things you can will allow you to spend on the things you child wants. Best of all, your actions will convey a frugal mindset to your child, make it even more apparent by directly involving them in the process.

Once you have managed to save a bunch by rummaging through your home office, it’s time to hit the online stores! The web is your friend when it comes to comparison shopping. In the information age, shopping online will save you money, and a whole lot of time. The major retailers like Walmart, Target, and Office Depot will surely have at least a couple of “Loss-leader” items each, snag those quickly and move right along!

If money is really tight (hi there, all you downsized parents!), try these frugal hacks:

Look around your house for pencils and pens. Hint: The only place they aren’t is…right by the phone.
Whenever you’re in a place that gives away writing implements, take one and say “thank you.” If your fourth-grader is embarrassed to be seen with a credit-union pen, keep them around for doing homework and save the Bics and Dixon Ticonderogas for school.
If last year’s spiral-bound notebooks were only partly used up, tear out the old pages and start afresh.
Don’t give pencil sharpeners to kindergarteners or first-graders. They get a little carried away.
Hand sanitizer really is required in many schools. Small bottles of the stuff will likely go on sale at drugstores and office-supply emporia. Here’s the rule: Junior keeps it in his backpack, not his desk at school, so you can refill as necessary from the jumbo bottle you got at Costco.
Start looking now for discounted gift cards to pay for these things as well as for any clothing (more on that below).
Truly desperate? Talk to the school nurse or principal about doing a little “shopping” in the lost-and-found. At my daughter’s school, unclaimed goods were given to kids whose parents couldn’t afford certain items.

What other methods have you used in keeping back to school shopping fiscally manageable? Share your creative ideas in the comments section below!

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IRS Releases “Registered Tax Return Preparer” Test Details

by Jan on September 7, 2011

Throughout this year, the IRS has been working on a new initiative to increase it’s oversight of the tax preparation industry. It began with requiring that all for-profit tax preparers register with the IRS, and receive a Tax Preparer Identification Number, or TPIN. Those who pass a background check, a tax compliance check, 15 hours of continuing education, along with the newly instated competency test will earn the new designation of “Registered Tax Return Preparer.”

Specifications concerning the exam have very recently been posted, and can be seen at the IRS website. In essence, the article gives an overview of what materials will be covered within the test; the main categories include: Preliminary Work and Collection of Tax Payer Data, Treatment of Income and Assets, Deductions and Credits, Other Taxes, Completion of the Filing Process, Practices and Procedure, and last but not least, Ethics. It will consist of multiple choice questions based on all of the above topics. Also noteworthy, there is currently no limit on the number of times candidates are allowed to take the exam!

Good news for lawyers, Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) and Enrolled Agents (EAs), You are exempt from testing and continuing education because of the more stringent professional testing and education requirements you have already been subject to. Also exempt are supervised employees of lawyers, CPAs or EAs who prepare but do not sign.

What do you think about the fact that 62% of approximately 730,000 return preparers that have registered and received PTINs this year, but do not hold professional designations? Post your answers in the comments section below!

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September is Life Insurance Awareness Month!

by Jan on September 6, 2011

Thursday, September 1st commemorated the kickoff of Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM), an annual event founded by a non-profit organization called the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE). September is a month to raise awareness about the importance of Life Insurance, and encourage all Americans to make sure that they have adequate Life Insurance protection. Marvin Feldman, President and CEO of the LIFE Foundation says, “Whatever your age or your circumstances, if there are people who depend on you, you need life insurance. And that’s what LIAM is all about – to help educate people about the importance of proper insurance planning and to encourage the millions of people who don’t have adequate coverage to take steps now to protect their loved ones.

At WealthVisor, we understand the importance of protecting your loved ones through financial planning. We strive to equip consumers with the tools and information they need to connect with financial professionals. As such, our blog will post 3 features highlighting resources that will allow consumers and insurance professionals to capitalize on Life Insurance Awareness Month. This week’s post is directed at supporting the Marketing and Sales efforts of Insurance Professionals.

A Dozen Sales Ideas to Help You Leverage LIAM
LIFE has a range of tools and resources that you can use to reach out to any type of client or prospect. Be sure to use LIAM as an opportunity to remind people in your community of the need to protect the ones they love with life insurance. Consider integrating some of these ideas into your LIAM plans:

1. Spread the word about the “7 Wonders of Life Insurance.”

The “7 Wonders of Life Insurance” is a great marketing theme, and LIFE created a poster describing the 7 Wonders that you can hang in your office. Or hand out the 7 Wonders scroll pen at face-to-face meetings or include the 7 Wonders free downloadable flyer in client mailings. Whichever one you use, they’ll be reminded of all the wonderful things that life insurance can do for their loves ones.

2. Give clients a second chance.

Play the short “Legacy of Love” video. Its clever forward/backward script tells the story of a woman who got a second chance to put
things right. It’s sure to get clients thinking about how they want to be remembered—for having left their family a legacy of financial hardship or one of love and financial security. (Available online at www.lifehappens.org/legacy or on DVD.)

3. Conduct an iNeeds Analysis.

Allow prospects to do their own “math” to figure out how much life insurance they need. Pull out your iPhone or iPad and let them use LIFE’s free Life Insurance Needs Calculator iPhone or iPad app—right then and there.

4. Get back to basics.

LIFE’s “What You Need to Know About Life Insurance” brochure is a great life insurance primer, which includes two real LIFE stories. Mail it to clients and prospects with a brief handwritten note, or give it to them at the fact-finder meeting so they can read it between appointments.

5. Help insure a stay-at-home parent.

Use Nicolas Virgen’s realLIFEstory—either the video or the one-pager flyer—when you meet with a family that is hesitant about insuring a stay-at-home mom or dad. As Nicolas says, buying coverage on his non-income earning spouse was one of the best decisions he ever made. The one-page flyer and video are also available in Spanish.

6. Wear a “giveaway.”

Purchase a number of the newly redesigned “LIFE Happens” gel awareness bracelets. Wear several at once. When someone asks what the bracelet says, give them one, tell them about LIAM, and explain that what you do for a living is help people plan ahead for life’s uncertainties.

7. Deliver a life lesson.

No one wishes to leave their families penniless and in dire straits, but that’s what can happen when a breadwinner doesn’t do proper life insurance planning. The LIFE Lessons videos and one-pagers tell heart-wrenching stories of families struggling to make ends meet after the death of the main breadwinner. It’s hard to say no to coverage after seeing a story like this.

8. Let the pictures do the talking.

Show clients one of the photo-montage videos “The Wonders of Life” or “Crazy4Love.” Both videos feature user-generated content from LIFE-sponsored photo contests, and remind Americans that you buy life insurance because you love people and want to protect them financially. You can also embed both videos on your website. Go to the “embeddable videos playlist” at http://www.youtube.com/lifefoundation.

9. Wear a conversation starter.

Wear a “Life Happens” baseball cap or T-shirt when you’re at the gym or around town running errands. People will invariably ask you, “What does ‘Life Happens’ mean?” That could be the beginning of a new long-term client relationship.

10. Make your reception area life insurance friendly.

Play the new 5th edition realLIFEstories DVD. Disc 1 features 27 life insurance stories! Then set out a bowl of “Insure Your Love” M&Ms. Both are guaranteed to start a conversation.

11. Send a personalized e-card.

Choose from 20 life-insurance themed electronic greeting cards—from the serious to the silly. It’s an easy way to make life insurance top of mind before you phone for an appointment. Simply select a card, put in an email address and add a short note. Try them at www.lifehappens.org/ecards.

12. Make an emotional appeal.

When you send out approach letters, include the “Because He Loved Me” or the “Because She Loved Us” one-pager. Both “love poems” deliver powerful messages about life insurance without ever mentioning the words life insurance. They’re proven to be very effective at helping producers to schedule more appointments, so give them a try in your practice.

Unless otherwise noted, all LIFE materials can be found at www.lifehappens.org or through the online catalog at www.lifecatalog.org.

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Featured Professional: Dennis Cherenkov

by Jan on September 2, 2011

Dennis Cherenkov has seen over seven years of experience in the accounting/finance industry. He is happily married with one child, a baby boy. Recently, Dennis has made a transition into financial services and is building a practice by helping families make the right financial decisions toward getting out of debt, building wealth, and protecting it. Dennis is honored to be a top contributor with WealthVisor.com, where people with money related questions can get answers from various financial professionals.

I started in this industry…I transitioned into the financial services industry from the accounting and finance industry in September of 2009. The reason was that I got tired of processing millions of dollars for corporations while families that I knew where struggling to get ahead. I had a calling to start helping families manage their personal affairs in a more effective way, and the opportunity presented itself shortly after.

I am different because… I have not been “properly” indoctrinated to be a salesman of financial “products”. I use sarcasm with my quotes because there are a lot of “advisers” who sell ridiculous products which are rip-offs or gimmicks at best, which benefit the company and salesperson first, and the client last. I am different because I have the heart of a teacher vs a heart of a salesman. I believe that most people will make the right choice if given enough of the right information.

The most important advice I tell clients is…If you do not understand it, or cannot explain it to a sixth grader, do not buy it. If that is the case I will be more than glad to go over the information one more time.

The most unusual question I’ve heard from a client was…Where were you twenty years ago? I get similar questions quite often actually, ranging from five to twenty years.

One area clients tend to overlook is… the risks they are exposed to in their current plan or lack of a fundamentally sound plan.

My favorite part about helping clients is… seeing the expression on their faces after finding out what their end result can be if they implement the strategies I teach them like get out of debt, build up a solid emergency fund and then start building wealth with great intensity and determination.

The most challenging situation I had to solve for a client was… Recently, I had a couple who was in their sixties and the wife had a durable power-of-attorney for her mother who was in her early eighties. She also had Alzheimer’s and was being put in a nursing care facility. My job was to make sure that the money lasted as long as possible, while paying for her care. I had to make sure the legal work was done properly, that the plan was suitable for the client, and that the client’s power-of-attorneys knew what was going on by understanding the risks and possible rewards in each potential situation. I am happy to say that I took a considerably smaller commission in order for them to have the proper liquidity and proper asset allocations in their financial plan. At the end of the process I had a solid financial plan and one very impressed and happy family.

The best thing about my job… when the client implements my plan early enough in life, they change their future family tree for the better. Matter-of-fact, it is often much better.

The worst piece of advice I’ve ever heard is… “Get a credit card and start building your credit score so you can start getting ahead.” Having debt and building a high credit score is not an indication of winning financially. It is often the other way around.

New clients should know…That I value their time, as well as my own. If I go through the effort of analyzing their situation, find out what they want to achieve, and create a plan that will get them to where they want to go faster, I expect them to implement that plan.

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