Everyone knows about the serious financial hardship that typically follows a major diagnosis such as cancer or a heart attack.  What many people don’t see are the serious, long-term, devastating effects such a diagnosis has on not just the person with the medical condition but also, the family around them.
Families struggle to stay financially above water while at the same time, struggle to keep the family unit intact…oftentimes with little success.  Such are the parts of the collateral damage that can last far beyond the actual medical condition itself.
Tune in this Wednesday, 1/27/16 at 9:30am (or anytime thereafter via podcast) by clicking here to hear this latest installment of Wicked Insurance Matters Radio Show with Greg Durette titled, The Toll of Illness. 
We will discuss such topics as:

• The emotional impact and guilt caused by the financial hardship
• The cost of plans derailed by the diagnosis
• The importance of getting emotional support
• The critical need to rely on excellent advisors

I am honored to have one of the foremost authorities on this subject joining as my guest to discuss these important issues.  His name is Russell Illes.  Russ is the Author of Duct Tape Won’t Fix This and an 8-year cancer hospice volunteer. He is co-founder and leader of a men’s support group that has been together for 26 years. His goal is to create a safe and supportive place for fathers of children with life-threatening illnesses begin a conversation. His book is available on Amazon.
Please visit his website: www.DuctTapeWontFixThis.com  and his Facebook Page at The Magic Hat Project.
Contact: Russell Illes / 617-827-0225 / Email: [email protected]
Please take 30 minutes and listen to the powerful insights Russ will share with us all.

Money Flavors and Vehicles.  Tune in this Wednesday, 1/20/16 at 9:30am (or anytime thereafter via podcast) by clicking here to hear this latest installment of Wicked Insurance Matters Radio Show with Greg Durette.
Non-Qualified v. Qualified money.  Do I get a tax break for this type or that type of money?  What are the differences between IRA/Roth IRA/401k/403b/SEP/Defined Benefit Pension?  What does any of that stuff have to do with annuities, stocks, bonds, mutual funds or even life insurance?!
These are some of the most common question I hear from clients all across the country, from every walk of life.  These terms, plans and products are so commonly thrown around, it is a wonder anyone has any money left at all!
In this show, I hope to take a whack at simplifying all these things and with any luck will be able to answer questions like:

• How do all these different things work with each other?
• Which things can never be combined?
• How severely your taxes can be impacted by making one small mistake with one of these.
• And much more.

It is time to sit down, take a pencil, and learn these incredibly important terms and what they mean to you, your savings and your retirement.
Take 30 minutes to arm yourself with knowledge and once and for all, let the mumbo jumbo clutter be cleared!

You worked your whole life…saved…invested wisely…avoided market risk and are set up to have a financially worry-free retirement.  Then it happens…a momentary lack in judgement on a dark and rainy night.  Driving home from the grocery store you feel a thud followed by a sickening scream.

Someone you never saw was crossing the road in a crosswalk and you hit them causing serious bodily harm.  Regardless of how or why, you are now facing serious liability issues.

There goes a lifetime of great financial planning down the drain…just like that.

Well, it doesn’t have to be that way.  There are ways to protect you, your family and your assets from circumstances like this.  One such way is liability insurance.  The questions then become how much should you get, how much does it cost and where can you go to get it.

Tune in this Wednesday, 1/13/16 at 9:30am (or anytime thereafter via podcast) by clicking here to hear this latest installment of Wicked Insurance Matters Radio Show with Greg Durette, How One Car Accident Can Ruin Your Retirement. 

To help drive these and other points home, I am pleased to welcome Attorney Karl Vrana, the principal of Vrana Law Offices located in Raynham, MA as my guest this week.  He is one of the country’s top personal injury lawyers and will share his experiences in this area.  Experience is something he happens to have quite a bit of.  After graduating from Suffolk University Law School in 1974, J.D. cum laude, he went on to build a preeminent firm in the field of personal injury and medical malpractice law among many other concentrations.  Besides being a member of all local and State bar associations, he has also committed to serve his local community through various elected positions in town government. Professionally, he has helped his clients collect many millions of dollars in settlements for all manner of unfortunate happenstances.

He can be reached at 508-822-7300 or via email at [email protected].

This is an important show if you are interested in protecting the assets we help you build.

2016 promises to be a wild ride...especially for your money!  We have a Presidential election, interest rates creeping up, terrorism messing with oil prices and a whole host of other major (and minor) events looking to make keeping your money safe a daunting challenge.

Thank goodness the Wicked Insurance Matters Radio Show with Greg Durette is here with the next show titled, Money Trends for 2016!  Just click the show title to hear it live, this Wednesday, 1/6/16 at 9:30am Eastern time or, anytime after on this blog page.

This show will discuss these events as well as many of the strategies you can use to secure and grow your money and income regardless of these circumstances.

No, we will not be recommending putting your money in your mattress or burying it in a coffee can (I actually have wild and crazy story about that very thing) but, will be making some creative and well-worn suggestions to get the most out of your money...and hopefully help you sleep better too!

So grab a cup of coffee, sit back and relax.  2016 is here.  The time to be ready is now.

Okay, here we go again!  It’s that time of year when I subject you, my clients, friends and colleagues to my end of year wrap up (a.k.a. rant/missive/opus/etc.).

The warnings of previous years apply.  Run now while you have the chance.  If you have meds available, you may opt to take them in the dosage prescribed.  If you are a drinker, please do.  We have learned few other things can help once you start reading.  As always, we are not responsible for burning eyes, raging emotions or objects flying randomly from your clenched fists.

Now, on with the wrap up.

2015 was a year of public contradictions and magical events.  Let’s first look to one of the most anal retentive and punitive organizations in the world (IRS).  They only recently discovered that David Copperfield was in charge of their emails.  It was truly amazing to watch their emails disappear and reappear with a regularity rivaled only by Metamucil users.  In this same year, they launched dozens of investigations of non-profit organizations, based in large part, for their inability to provide what they determined should be adequate documentation.  Contradiction and magic…quite a combination.

Speaking of emails, as many wish to do and many others wish would stop, it appears a duality of rule enforcement exists within the highest levels of our government as well.  How else could we see certain high ranking officials use personal servers for classified and sensitive communications while at the same time, seeking the right to shut down the internet should it be deemed in the “national interest”?  Magic or contradiction?

We finally have seen a religious (some would say political) leader in Rome be a controversial yet disruptive leader of one of the world’s oldest religions which, on the one hand was long awaited yet now, often criticized for being “non-traditional”.  Sometimes  even called too traditional.  Contradiction?  I guess perspectives matter too.

The economy remained flat while those in government claimed a great victory thanks to a “robust” recovery.  I travel quite a bit and talk to many people around the country.  The words “robust” and “recovery” have been conspicuously missing.  Contradiction or simple observation?

It is encouraging to see more and more folks paying attention to their surroundings and paying less attention to what our mainstream media attempts to foist upon as news.  This is vexing to those in that media as they are not adapting well to a populace looking to facts beyond common spin tactics.

Look at the race for President.  Regardless of which side of the political divide you are on, most will agree it is refreshing to finally see the establishment politicians having to answer to non-politician candidates garnering public support.  A support, mind you, not favored by the established political machines.

It sort of reminds me of the days when politicians of all parties were Americans first and party members second.  MAGIC!

2015 saw a lot of great things happen in my business world too.  Future Secured Financial launched a wholesale subsidiary called PandC4Life.com which helps property and casualty brokers around the country bring Life Insurance, Annuities, Long Term Care Insurance and Disability Insurance to their clients.  Within just a few short months of its launch, it is now reaching nearly a quarter of a million clients of these brokers with the products and services they need.  We expect to that number to increase to over 10 million next year.  Wow.

Of course, no discussion of 2015 would be complete without mentioning the launch of the greatest podcast radio show in the history of humankind.  That’s right, I am talking about Wicked Insurance Matters Radio Show with Greg Durette!  Hah!

Seriously, besides being a great deal of fun, I have been able to cover a ton of subjects from the insurance products mentioned above to elder abuse prevention to special needs and many more things that are important to everyday financial life.  I have been fortunate to have some excellent guest experts from around the country and look forward to a great year with many more guests and subjects that will hopefully be of interest to you. 

I want to thank everyone for listening in and providing me with fantastic show topic suggestions.  Keep them coming!

Truly magic.

On the traditional business front, we saw tremendous growth in all areas of our business and are forever grateful for those of you that have chosen to work with us for your insurance, retirement, estate and college planning needs.  There are many options out there and the fact you work with me and continue to refer your friends and colleagues means more than you can possibly know.

If I haven’t said it enough, I will here…Thank you for your business.

Okay, enough of my shameless self-promotion and back to the world at hand. 

The world has become an interesting place.  We saw the “contained” JV team burst out into a global threat while at the same time, one of the world’s biggest sponsors of terrorism has apparently become such an ally we couldn’t wait to give them $150 billion dollars on the promise they will now be nice.  Bonjour!

 Hopeful Magic?!

Natural disasters have become the new battle cry to allow ever more governmental control over energy even while the polar ice cap in the south continues to grow ever larger.  Where are the cheering throngs of activists that should be celebrating their long sought after victory for the environment?  Contradiction?

I could go on and on but, if you were paying attention, you saw the same senseless riots, criminal shootings and injustices we all did.

So what to do?

The answer is simple.  Do the right thing.  Take care of your family.  Take care of your neighbors.  Raise our children with a strong sense of right and wrong.  Let’s work together to keep terms like “affluenza” out of our lexicon.

Responsibility with consequences can do wonders.  It did for us so, where did it go?

2016 will be a crazy year…make no mistake about it.  We will be confronted with the opportunity to be driven further apart or become united once again.  Election years have a way of doing that.

I will make one challenge to all.  We all complain about the media and everyone else pitting us against each other, either by race, religion, economic status, etc.  Here is the challenge:  The next time you are asked to fill out a form, be it medical, census, or whatever; instead of selecting your pre-determined “category”, click the box that says “Other” and write in “American”.

I have been doing this for years.  Imagine the turmoil we could throw those that seek to divide us into if we all did.  Imagine if we were all just Americans first?

So there you have it.  My spin on a year of challenge and triumph…and a hope we can do better yet again.

I know we can because we always do. No contradictions or magic required.

From the bottom of my heart, I wish you the very happiest New Year ever!