I was doing some work today on lifetime annuities for a 62 year old male and 60 year old female.  A lifetime annuity is exactly like a pension plan.  The investor buys the annuity from a life insurance company which, in turn, trades the dollars invested for a guaranteed lifetime income.  The income that is received by the investor is dependent, to some degree, on current interest rates at the time the annuity is purchased.  While an annuity can be a great way to have financial security in retirement, is today a good day to be buying an annuity due to the low level of interest rates?  Well, as in all things in life, it depends what your needs are and it depends on how you look at it.

A good friend of mine introduced me to a book written by her Uncle (now in his mid 70's).  His book is a reflection of his life growing up on a farm in Kansas.  The book is a wonderful collection of stories that illustrate just how much our society has changed these past 50 years.  Her uncle went on to live a successful career as a lawyer in New York City until the day he was diagnosed with ALS.  Over the past 7 to 10 years his physical condition has declined considerably, yet his zest for life has not.

Just after the hockey game ended tonight I was flipping through the channels and I came across "Deal or No Deal".

Tonights episode was both exciting and shocking.  When I turned on the program only 4 cases were left: 3 on the board and the 1 case chosen by the contestant.  What was interesting was the fact that two of the four cases were for $1 million dollar.  In this situation the person had a 50% - 50% chance of $1 million.  Great odds by any count!

The next case he openned was NOT one of the million dollar cases.

When it comes to things like Life Insurance, more medical information upfront is a sure fire way to pay substantially less over time.   As the saying goes "something is only as good as to what you compare it to!"

For example, some insurance products are "underwritten" at the time of application while others are "underwritten" at the time of claim.  What does this mean?

It means that your original application is either thoroughly reviewed when you apply OR the real review of your application, and claim, does not occur until you make a claim on your benefits.

On March 9th the Toronto Stock Exchange closed at 7566.  This is similar to the low we saw in late November 2007.  However, since March 9th we've seen some very impressive gains and some positive buying momentum.  Today the market climbed throughout the day, which is always a positive sign of increasing buying activity.  Since March 9th the Toronto Stock Exchange has risen by 23%.

However, at this time we are getting close to levels where, in the past, there have been more sellers than buyers.

The purpose of this blog is to communicate important investing, portfolio and market information.  I will provide my observations on these issues so as to have clear communication on a timely basis.  If there is nothing much to report, my comments may be very brief.

Please let me know if there are certain questions you have that you would like to have answered and I will post them on the blog.

I hope you find this to be of value!

Doug.

I come across interesting Financial Planning issues all the time.  This may relate to things I've read in a book or newspaper, things that are being advertised on TV or the internet, or things that I've learned from others.  The purpose of this blog is to post my views and observations on topics that relate to any number of financial issues.  Feel free to send me an e-mail at any time asking about something that you've seen or read.  Odds are others have seen the same thing and have the same question.