Have you ever considered litigation funding to boos your financial portfolio? If not, you should. It is a relatively new concept in the financial planning world, and one with which you may not be familiar. Yet it can be incredibly lucrative and an excellent and smart way to invest your money. If you don't know about litigation funding yet and are interested in using it to increase your wealth, here are the details that can change your financial world for the better. With litigation funding, a client, who is called a funder, pays a certain sum of money to a law firm, and receives an even greater amount back from the firm in two to three years. The amount the investor will receive back is secured, because it is backed by a legally binding contract between the investor and the law firm. For example, a funder could give a law firm $10,000. According to their contract, the funder would receive $20,000 back from the law firm in two years, or $25,000 back in three years. The amount the funder receives back is guaranteed, so the investor is making a smart and sure investment. With litigation funding, the investor can also get 100 percent of their principal investment back at any time if they request it from the law firm in writing. This makes the investment an even better one for the funder, as they can get their money back with no questions asked if they need it back before the contract period ends. Investments can be made in any increments of $10,000 at a time. By participating in litigation funding, the investor is getting a piece of the lucrative legal settlements business. Legal settlements can be worth millions of dollars. Using litigation funding as an investment vehicle allows an investor to give someone with a legal settlement all of their money up front instead of in payments, while being guaranteed a significant return on their investment after a specified period of time. If you have a substantial amount of money to invest, putting it into litigation funding is a smart financial move.

So, you've just had a baby. You are enjoying the wonder of being a parent. It is a beautiful, magical time that you should enjoy to the fullest, as babies grow up so quickly. Yet there is one thing you should also be doing at this time that is very much rooted in the real world and not the magical world of new parenthood. That thing is financial planning. You have several important decisions to make when you have a new baby, and you need to make financial planning arrangements for each of them. Here are some of the things you need to take into consideration financially when you have a new baby. Planning for your baby's inheritance is one thing. You should know just how much of your estate your child will get. If you have other children or are planning to have more, these additional children need to be a part of your estate planning, too. Talk to an estate lawyer to make arrangements for this type of financial planning and get advice. You should also make arrangements for what will happen to your child and how he or she will be supported financially if something were to happen to you. You must come up with guardians for your child, and make financial arrangements for their upkeep to adulthood and possibly beyond, depending on the extent of your financial resources. Again, an estate planning lawyer can help you do this correctly and in a way you will be sure to approve. Finally, you need to plan for your child's college education. Whether or not your child goes to college, he or she needs a fund. It should be started when the child is a baby, so it will have grown through regular contributions and interest by the time the child is college age. If the child goes to college, the money will all be there for an easy educational experience. If the child does not go to college, the money can be used to help him or her get a strong financial start in the real world, such as starting their own business and/or getting a quality place to live.

One of the things you need to do for all of your children is to establish a college savings plan for them. Whether your child goes to college or not, a college savings plan is beneficial. With the the rising costs of a college education, it is smart to start planning and saving when your children are babies. That way, you can avoid the inflation on college, and make sure everything is paid for when the time comes for your child to decide if college is for them. Here are some ways you can develop sound college savings plans for all of your children. First, you can do pre-paid college if your state has such a program. Pre-paid college is a state run program in some states where parents contribute to a fund run and managed by the state. They contribute a certain amount on a regular basis from the time their children are babies to the time they graduate from high school. The amount contributed will be enough to add up to being enough to cover a college education at today's prices by the time the child graduates. Children who use these funds to go to college are guaranteed a college education even if prices have increased significantly. It is an excellent way to avoid inflation on college costs. If the child does not go to college, he or she can withdraw the money and use it to get started in the real world. Another way to save for college is to use an interest-bearing savings account that you contribute regularly to through payroll deductions or automatic bank account deductions. It doesn't allow you to avoid the rising costs of a college education, but there can very well be a significant amount of money in there by the time your child graduates from high school, depending on the amount of your regular contributions. Like a pre-paid college account, the money can be used to allow your child to start a business and/or get a nice home or other things to help them make strong start in the real world upon graduation if he or she decides to not to go to college.

Ya know what is awesome? Today many people are living to 100 years old and beyond.  Think about the oldest person you have ever met or known.  Personally, the oldest person I met was a Tuskegee Airmen who was 105 years old.  I have a distant family member that is 108 years old.  However, I had a client whose cousin lived to be 116 years old!!! Imagine the history these people have seen through their lifetimes. The one thing that is just about definite is, with age comes the eventual need for assistance with everyday needs.  Needs or 'Activities of Daily Living' (ADL) as a young adult you take for granted, do not even think twice about.  ADLs such as dressing yourself, just getting from the bed into the bathroom.  Getting in and out of the shower by yourself.  Cooking for yourself, cleaning your home and how about getting in that car to go get some groceries.  Or something which used to be so easy such as going from sitting in your favorite chair to go and sit on the couch. As you age or if you have a critical illness like a heart attack, stroke, or cancer you may recover from the illness , but many times leaves you having to rely on others to meet your ADLs.  Something what used to very elementary for you like dropping a spoon and picking it up now can become very difficult for you to retrieve that spoon. How many of you currently are care takers for your parents? How many have placed your parents in assisted living facilities?  How many of you know of someone in their twenties or thirties who had the misfortune of being in a bad accident and now has to rely on someone to assist them with one of the 'activities of daily living'? NHHC is costly and can deplete a retirement portfolio very quickly.  $100,000 could be wiped out in less than two years. In New York it would not even cover one year of coverage.   However just utilizing that same $100,000 towards a Total Living Care (TLC) Life Insurance Policy would extend that $100,000 to cover 3 years of NHHC and would retain a death benefit for your beneficiaries (even in New York market). So...how prepared are you for long-term care, especially you baby boomers out there? There are remedies within the industry that can take the financial burden of long-term care expenses off your retirement portfolio. These remedies are:

• Long-Term Care Insurance
• Long-Term Care Annuity
• Life Insurance Policies with Long-Term Care Rider
• Total Living Coverage (TLC) Life Insurance Policy
• Critical Illness Insurance
• LifeCare Funding
• Litigation Funding
• EquityKey
• Life Settlement
• Reverse Mortgage
• Medicare

I'd recommended you contact a trust worthy financial professional to explain the advantages as well as the disadvantages of each of these remedies.

A new study from researchers at Edward Jones found that most American families cannot afford to send their child to college and nearly two-thirds of thos families are unaware of college-saving plans like the 529 plan. "While the cost continues to be a major concern, Americans still recognize the value of a college education – so finding ways to manage those costs becomes paramount in the process," Steve Seifert, principal at Edward Jones, said in a statement in response to the firm's fourth annual 529 Plan Awareness Survey. ORC International's CARAVAN Omnibus Services analyzed landline and cell phone interview responses from 1,008 U.S. adults to compile this data, the firm says. The 529 plan was first offered in 1996, here in the United States, and is a state or state agency sponsored college savings product that allows individuals to save and invest on tax-advantage basis to pay for tuition, boarding, books and other education related expenses. If you are looking for more information on the 529 plan, I have written about it many times here on my blog. Click here to see those articles!    

I come from a family who loved going on camping trips for summer vacations when I was growing up. Now, I will never forget this one split second when my mother took the extra precaution to check everything out prior to allowing us to cross a creek. She made a instant decision that we needed to change direction because where we were headed was very bad. Good thing she did...it saved our lives. Let me backup so you have the full story. Our camping trip this one summer took us into the Rockies in the southwest. We had just arrived at a beautiful lush camping site in the lower mountains., My sisters and I were so excited (per usual) as we hopped out the car. Dad setup camp while Mom took the three of us down to the little creek that ran not too far from the campgrounds. The air was warm and the sky clear as the sun peaked lazily through the tops of huge trees. The creek was pretty wide, but not too deep. We had found a huge boulder to sit on that overhung over the creek, while we looked for the shortcut to cross that would be easiest. We saw an area just to the right of the huge boulder. Mom said she would remain on the rock so she could watch as we crossed or waded in the shallow water. I looked at my Mom as my sisters and I descended towards the clear crisp water. I could tell something was on her mind as I watched her eyes search the area. Just as we were about to enter the water she shouted "STOP!!" She called us to immediately come back up on top of the boulder. We were so confused as well as disappointed, but we never questioned Mom when she used that tone. So, we immediately came back up to the rock. Once there, we asked "Why can't we wade in the water here and cross to the other side? It is the shortcut." Mom said, isn't safe to take shortcuts sometimes. Take a look under the boulder we're sitting on. We all laid on our tummies and peaked over this huge rock that extended over the creek. Guess what we saw?! Directly underneath that boulder was a large family of water moccasins. Their venom, if bitten, is quite deadly. They're the rattlesnakes of the water. As we peeped underneath us we saw at least 10 water moccasins of different sizes under that rock. The mother was huge, a good six feet! Mom decided it best to not shortcut going across the creek. Clearly a change of direction was needed. It was better to walk a ways down where there were no boulders and it was wider, but clear vision on both directions for us to wade and cross the creek in safety. Camping taught my sisters and I that it was worth the pain not to take shortcuts. At times a change in direction is necessary and the outcome...oh so much better. Where we were headed, without that change would have been devastating. Life in the wild forces one to become very alert and it develops a strong sense of character and courage to take action and change course of direction when necessary.

Where are you headed?...in particular where are you headed with respect to your retirement? The majority of Americans, especially the baby boomers started saving for their retirement in the last century. Remember the comfort you felt tucking away money into your 401(k), IRA or company pension?  Similar to that feeling of security my sisters and I felt when we thought that section of the creek was safe to wade in and cross.  Look where we were headed though... All was going so well, right?...until the 2007-2008 market crash.  However, the reality is from 2004-2013, the S&P endured a major recession which unfortunately caused an unprecedented downgrade in the U.S.'s credit rating.  Also, the bond buying by the Feds had tapered down from $85 billion per month to $45 billion.  This bond buying is what has artificially propped up the stock market. The S&P 500 is the most accurate measure of the stock market as a whole.  This index gauges the performance of the stocks of the 500 largest companies in the U.S. Think about the expectations you had in your retirement portfolio prior to 2004.  Up until that point portfolio values were soaring as well as the real estate market. Although it appears the S&P index has rebounded, but has it really? Quite a few major prominent researchers like Harry Dent, James Rickards, and Doug Hill "fear a 70% stock market collapse is imminent in the near future followed by a $100 trillion American meltdown." Over the past several years the dollar is steadily being devalued as the Fed prints and pumps more money into the system.  The result...inflation and taxes increasing. This country is still waiting to hear how Congress and the President intend to resolve the existing $17 trillion deficit. As we all lay down on this huge boulder looking over the edge at all these 'water moccasins' that are swarming around in the economy today...what does one have to do now to ascertain the ultimate security so many strive for in retirement?  What's the best way to position your portfolio to avoid being bitten? The number one concern of the baby boomer generation is 'not running out of money' during the retirement years.  How can increased medical expenses that come with aging be financed?  What's the best course of action to ascertain there is something left to pass on to our heirs? Since no situation is exactly the same, the resolution for each of these concerns is slightly different.  However, there are some common denominators that can be set in place. As we wade down the stream towards our retirement years, change in direction is imperative in your portfolio otherwise you'll find yourself "ending up where you are heading"...into the "moccasin's den'.

"NO one knows for certain when the next significant market correction will occur. Yet what Karla Leonard, CEO and Asset Manager of IMI Asset Management Company in Ontario, Calif. does know is that her recommendation of not keeping all of one's financial assets in a qualified plan remains in effect. "You should know that the values of these plans are predicted to lose 70 percent of their value the next time the market corrects," Leonard wrote in her company blog in mid-February 2015.   She believes concentrating all of or even a large percentage of one's assets in the pre-tax, qualified investment plans usually offered through employers is much riskier than investing in alternatives. She asks clients and anyone reading her blog, "Are you in a position to afford the loss?" As it is fairly safe to assume that the resounding answer is, "No," Leonard advises clients to consider placing a portion of their portfolio funds into a qualified/non-qualified longevity annuity contract. "There is no other vehicle that can be used that will work like an annuity," Leonard said.  They provide guaranteed income for both lives.  The remaining principal, interest and bonus paid, are paid out at death.  The principal can't go down, you get upside potential of the market and avoid all the losses.  You don't get all the growth, but you can never loose.  Longevity annuities continue even if the account goes down to zero." Since the Great Recession from 2007 to 2009 Leonard said she has noticed a sharp increase in client concern that they may outlive the drawdown phase of their accumulated wealth in their retirement years. People are searching for someone they can trust that will guide them through this," Leonard said.  "They need to know how to protect their assets so they can live out their dreams they have for their retirements." That in large part, is why she is a staunch proponent of life insurance and long-term care insurance. While we want to do the best we can for our loved ones, there is a limit to what human beings can do on their own without skilled nursing assistance," Leonard said. "The time to get long-term care insurance is now, before you need it.  The younger you are when you purchase it, the lower the premiums will be."  By Felix Bedea [article appeared in THE SUIT magazine Issue 28  March 2015]