Services
RVS Financial, LLC is a full service agency that prides itself in maintaining the highest standards of professionalism. We serve the public in the following ways:
- We Create Solutions:
All too often, insurance agents or financial advisors make product recommendations before fully understanding what the specific need of a client may be. While the recommended product may be a fine product from a top-rated company, if it fails to offer the absolutely best solution for a specific and clearly defined purpose, it is an unsuitable recommendation.
- We Work for You, Not the Insurance Companies RVS Financial is an independent consulting agency with access to many different companies and solutions. Because we are not “captive” to one or a limited number of provider companies, we have the ability to make truly unbiased recommendations based only on the needs you have to be filled.
In addition to being fully licensed, our agents are specially trained in areas of Financial Planning and Estate Planning. Many also carry professional certifications and/or degrees. We can help people in the areas of:
- Life Insurance (Term, Universal Life, etc.)
- Medical Insurance (Major Medical, Medicare Supplement
- Annuities (Fixed and Equity Indexed)
- Long Term Care protection (through both insurance and alternate LTC strategies)
- Disability Income Insurance
- Estate Planning
- Financial Planning
In addition, we specialize in helping:
- people with their insurance coverage at the most economical premium possible.
- seniors to increase their income while also reducing taxes, including tax on Social Security.
- families create large, tax-free estates for their heirs, without market risk.
- people restructure their estates to reduce or eliminate exposure to Probate, Estate Taxes, creditor attack or predatory litigation.
The purpose of insurance is to offer an affordable way to protect oneself from a potentially catastrophic financial loss due to some unexpected event. Being adequately insured is the smartest way to avoid disaster if you become sick, disabled or die prematurely. However, as important as it is to have adequate insurance, it is also possible to be over-insured. Sound Insurance Planning is not about “buying more,” it is about having the right balance. Too much insurance in one area not only wastes precious resources, it frequently deprives a person of necessary coverage in another area. Our professionals can help with that delicate balance.Insurance coverage is broken down into two broad categories:
- Property and Casualty (home, auto, liability, etc.). AIN does NOT offer these services.
- Life and Health - RVS Financial offers all these services:
- Annuities (Fixed and Indexed)
- Life Insurance (Term, Whole Life, Universal Life)
- Disability and Long Term Care coverage
- Health (Medical) Insurance including Medicare Supplement
To learn more or receive a free consultation, contact us today.
Most people who work, one day envision they will retire and live life at a more relaxed pace, without the pressure of a “9 to 5″ daily schedule. Unfortunately, an estimated 98% of Americans are not financially prepared to retire and live the way they’d thought. Sound financial planning is really two processes: Retirement Planning and Estate Planning. Planning for the money that WILL be spent during that person’s lifetime is Retirement Planing. Estate Planning is the money that WILL NOT be spent during a person’s lifetime (hence passed on to the next generation through inheritance). Retirement planning is becoming increasingly crucial in today’s market, even if you are already retired. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans confuse Retirement Planning with “Wealth Accumulation.” There is an unfortunate misconception prevalent in the financial services community that “growth iseverything and more growth is better than less growth.” While nobody would argue that growth is good, being a slave to accumulation alone is not planning. The following should also be included in the equation:
- Tax Status - It’s been said that “How much you grow doesn’t count, it’s how much you keep.”
- Current and future income needs - Consider that money is either spent by you in your life or it is passed to someone else after you die. Thus, if your purpose is to grow money for your own use, then clearly an exit strategy is necessary. Unfortunately, few people understand how to properly project and structure a lifetime income from a given starting amount.
- Age - The older a person becomes, the less time they have to grow money before needing it. With any accumulation strategy, TIME not “TIMING” is a person’s most important asset.
- Risk - It is impossible to get high returns without entailing some risk. As a general rule, the closer to retirement one becomes, the less total risk they should tolerate. Unfortunately, one of the most common mistakes made is based on withdrawing “interest” off a portfolio and relying on growth to replace the income received. Unfortunately, unless that portfolio is in a fixed account, doing so could risk invading principal in any year that the return did not match the income withdrawal. From that point forward, without disproportionate growth, principal will be invaded annually until the entire account is gone.
Whether you are already retired or are looking toward planning your retirement, you will benefit from talking to a knowledgeable planner. Every agent at RVS Financial is trained and/or certified in the area of strategic financial planning. Let us show you how you can:
- Increase income while reducing taxes
- Keep up with inflation while reducing risk
- Have market growth without market risk
- Protect your income-producing assets from creditor attack, predatory litigation or probate
This, the other half of “Financial Planning” is about the transfer of assets from you to someone else, either during your life (”inter vivo”) or after your passing (”testamentary”). Unfortunately, too few people really understand the impact of good vs. poor planning in this area. There are actually three levels of Estate Planning:
- Asset Preservation
- Asset Protection
- Asset Leveraging
Asset preservation
is concerned with minimizing loss at transfer due to Estate an Inheritance taxes and/or Probate.
The laws regarding Federal Estate and State Inheritance tax are very complex. Sometimes called “death taxes” this term is a misnomer. Actually, these two taxes are transfer taxes and the tax code recognizes five different versions: Gift tax, Federal Estate tax, State Inheritance tax, Generation Skipping Transfer tax and Step-up in Basis (for Capital Gain tax). Recent proposals to “eliminate the death tax” are nothing more than means of shifting the bulk of transfer tax from one side of this arena to another and the end result is that while some people will benefit, others will be harmed. Rather than assume that some future action by Congress will make your tax liability “go away”, take action to plan for yourself. Good planning can reduce or eliminate exposure to these taxes and thereby save your heirs the horror of seeing what they thought was their inheritance disappearing into the coffers of the IRS.
Probate is another source of estate erosion. Probate is the legal process of settling estate ownership and transfer. Amazingly, many people believe that a will expedites this process, but actually it invites it. A will is the decedent’s requests to the Probate Court. The problem with probate is that it costs time and money, it is a public affair and the beneficiaries are the last to receive proceeds rather than the first. Good planning can reduce or eliminate exposure to Probate so your assets are transferred to the heirs efficiently and privately.
Asset Protection
is concerned with minimizing exposure to loss from any unexpected event, be it loss of principal in an account, an uninsured loss, litigation, or creditor action. People can’t know the future or what events will transpire to create financial burdens. Assuming that because nothing bad has “happened yet”, ignores an important reality - and risks the financial well-being of an estate. Sound planning can protect the estate from loss due to these events. Depending on your situation it is possible to:
- Have market-like growth without any risk or cost
- Protect your assets from creditor attack or litigation
- Be fully insured without being over-insured
Asset Leveraging
Where over 90% of all traditional estate planning stops with the first two planning objectives (preservation and protection), asset leveraging is by far the most exciting. Leveraging is the immediate and often substantial increase in net worth. One of the most common forms of leveraging, but certainly not the only one is through the use of life insurance (see article on Life Insurance Planning). Leveraging can accomplish two things:
- Immediately reduce tax exposure (thus increase net worth)
- Substantially increase the size of an inheritance
Talk to a RVS representative to discover solutions to your financial needs.
