GFG & M Financial

I recently attended the 2020 M Financial National Advisors Conference (NAC) held at the Boca Raton Resort and Beach Club in Florida. M Financial firms are encouraged to invite advisors with whom we work (most often tax, legal, trust and investment advisors) to participate in a relaxed, educational and collaborative environment. This allows our advisors to learn what M is doing globally in estate, business and tax planning, to become acquainted with other professionals, and to enjoy a few days at an excellent resort in a warm climate.

The meeting opened with Wes Thompson, President of M, and John Barry, Chairman, discussing M’s extensive transition enterprise-wide to elevate the M client experience and value to a level even greater than it is today. They discussed M’s focused efforts to create new technology, build outstanding educational tools for our advisors and joint venture partners, and to establish processes to identify and recruit top talent… all aligning with our mission to further raise the bar with regard to what we deliver to the market and our plans for diversification.

Wes and John spoke of M’s industry leadership which emanates from our exceptional high net worth clientele, our ownership of M Reinsurance, lower actual mortality experience, and an average policy size that is ten times and policy persistency three times that of the rest of the industry. The result: lower expenses, lower costs, better underwriting offers, and enhanced advocacy for our clients.   

Continue reading “NAC 2020 Updates” →

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the start of a New Year, it’s easy to make a New Year’s Resolution. “This is the year I will lose 15 pounds.” “This is the year I will stop smoking.” “This is the year I will put my financial house in order.” However, for me, a resolution is forgotten as quickly as declared if there is no “why” behind it. I need a purpose and a reason, and I need to see the end game.  For lasting results, I need the effort to be tied to a vision that fits some plan for change.

 

Many years ago, particularly because of a change in my personal life, I committed to a healthy lifestyle for all the apparent reasons. I was genetically predisposed to high cholesterol and had been smoking for several years.  I started on a very low-fat diet and then down a path that took me through the activity de jour: racquetball, jogging, Feldenkrais, Kung Fu … and then finally yoga. These activities resulted in regular, small deposits to a fitness bank. Along the way I studied Kabbalah and meditation. Today, you can’t pick up a magazine or newspaper, or go online, without seeing something on mindfulness.  Others around me watched, and, as expected, I took a great deal of kidding. But others who may not have verbalized it followed suit their own way. Most recently, many friends have entered classes with the yoga instructor my wife and I have become so fond of over very many years.

 

There are many components to a healthy lifestyle with the hopes that it results in healthy aging. Along with nutrition and activity, for me it’s a mindset that extends to my family and friends, my business, and my community.

 

Here are the core principles I follow for healthy living and healthy aging:

 

Care about what you put in your body

What you eat matters, and directly impacts energy level and health. After many years on a diet low in fat, and because of sensitivities I later learned about, I went gluten free. I’ve worked with a nutritionist to better understand what foods I should skip, and those I should try.

 

Keep moving and stretching

I’ve practiced yoga regularly for 17 years, in a small, semi-private class setting with an outstanding instructor. I have also engaged in regular aerobic exercise for 35 years along with meditation.

 

Community is key

I joined the Council for Jewish Elderly (CJE) SeniorLife’s Board of Directors 30 years ago, having now chaired or participated on many working committees. Since 1972, CJE SeniorLife has enhanced the lives of older adults and their families through a comprehensive network that includes housing, health care, community services, health and wellness education, life enrichment programs, and applied research.

 

As current chair of the Marketing Committee, I’ve helped to launch the CJE Academy. Its purpose is to offer thoughtful and important educational events to the broad Chicago affluent community focused on improving lifestyle and healthy aging. We’ve had a speaker from Tempus, a startup focusing on data-driven precision medicine and cancer. We’ve also had people speak on how heart and brain health are impacted by one’s physical, mental, emotional and social activities, how social connectivity affects aging,  and how sleep patterns influence health and the importance of positive habits.  I am proud of this work and invested in bringing education to a broader audience.

 

I’ve built my career, and our business, around this same mindset.

Goldstein Financial Group exists to serve clients and advisors with solutions that help people and families. By living internally what we offer externally, we don’t take for granted the trust placed in us to solve complex problems.

 

We believe through collaboration, not competition, our clients benefit most. If we can educate clients and their other advisors about tools or resources available that may help their situation, we always do. Often, we host luncheons for advisors and clients featuring guest speakers on various topics that may be of particular interest. For example, we’ve had an integrational medicine practitioner discuss the benefits of eating clean with clients and advisors.

 

For me, I love what I do because it directly aligns with my personal core values.

 

I would love to hear from you on what is important to you for healthy living and healthy aging. Send me an email at agoldstein@goldsteinfinancial.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overview

Mrs. RE’s husband passed three years prior to our meeting. He had created an industrial, commercial and residential real estate business in a medium-sized university community. Mrs. RE’s new trust and estate attorney created a new trust and funded it with a $70M sale of discounted assets. Read More…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overview

The T&E attorney engaged GFG to analyze the portfolio and identify potential cost savings. The composition of family trusts were changing, and cash flow was an issue. Reduced dividend crediting rates had affected paid up additions and term insurance component of portfolio.

GFG proposed a tax-favored 1035 exchange of the policy cash surrender value into two new product chassis, resulting in reduced annual premiums, same level of death benefit and long term/lifetime death benefit guarantees. Read More…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Within the life insurance industry, there is an exodus occurring: people are exchanging existing whole life contracts for new universal life policies. Why is this?

Read more.