Myths, Lies and Damn Lies

The advent of social media has proven to be both a blessing and a curse. The double edged sword of vast amounts of information freely flowing 24/7/365 is filled with myths, lies and damn lies.

The perpetration of scams, fraud and predatory sales manipulation is easier than ever before. Instant credibility is created through well-meaning organizations and operations. Unfortunately these entities survive on advertising dollars and therefore take a position of enabler. When an organization thrives through advertising money they have a mandate to look the other way. They have no responsibility to provide any due diligence or do even nominal research on anyone who is willing to pay dollars to advertise. Of course there could be the perception of a moral and ethical responsibility to protect the investors, consumers and public from bad advice, mis-information and flat out lies, yet the reliance is on the archaic advertising laws.

An incredible amount of the investor and consumer public live under the false impression that “everything on the internet is true; it must be because it’s on the internet.” This lie has been promulgated by the major social network operations which I won’t bother to name because you know who they are.

One such business based social network organization has myriads of groups which are started under the guise of a source of information and education. Conceptually this would be akin to Napoleon Hill’s master-mind group concept. Sadly, these groups rapidly descend to spam, scams and other manipulative sales motivations. A master mind group is formed to share insight, wisdom, and experience and through such to generate greater impact then the individual could accomplish alone.

Napoleon Hill would be rolling in his grave if he could witness what many social media groups have turned his precious concept into. The many groups are passed off as Angel Investment, Venture Capital, Investment groups, and many other business specialties well too many to list. In all of these groups the moderators (when there is a moderator) cherry pick based upon their own conflicts of interest. Rarely is there a truly educational and informational group in the mix. The most damaging issue of all is that these groups become fertile ground for scams and frauds to be perpetrated. Now, scammers and fraudsters don’t even need to invest in the promotion of their dark intentions, as they can simply slip into any social media portal and prey upon the 100’s of thousands of available potential victims.

This all can be controlled and easily avoided through the process of having a 3^rd party advocate. An advocate is only concerned with the best interest of their client. There are no conflicts of interest, internal biases or ulterior motives. The advocate exists to inoculate and insulate the client. Total inoculation and insulation is developed through education, media sourcing such as webinars, tele-conferences and virtual web based activities.

The Advocacy Network is your master-mind group formed to enhance your ability to make smart decisions about money.

Over the coming weeks I will be producing blog spots that will identify common myths, lies and dam lies in the financial market place. Believe me when I tell you there are too many to list and I could produce pieces for the next several years and not cover even a quarter of the scams, frauds and sales manipulations in the financial markets. As an investor, consumer or business you need to be aware of the potential abyss vying for your dollars on a daily basis. I look forward to serving you in your quest to make smart decisions about money.

 

Karl Schilling

321-250-1445 O

321-947-3220 C

www.theadvocacynet.com

Skype: karl.schilling5

Everything Old is New Again!

The Advocacy Network is focused on inoculating and insulating investors, consumers and businesses against scams, fraud and predatory sales tactics. As an investor, consumer or business entity the most evident threat is predatory sales tactics. After all even scammers and fraudsters need to sell their propositions. Eliminating the scams and fraud is the easiest part of our work; the difficult aspect is continually identifying and eliminating the predatory sales tactics used by entire industries.

Financial services are a vital part of any individual’s personal financial health and one would expect to find safety in an industry created to protect your financial well-being. Unfortunately the industry is awash with gimmicks and predatory sales tactics. Yet you must be able to integrate such financial tools such as Life Insurance, Annuities, and Health Insurance along investment vehicles into your financial plans.

The risk protection of insurance products is the foundation upon which a strong financial lifestyle is created. The insurance agent has a crucial role in you and your family’s financial well-being.

Having spent over 20 years in the Financial Services industry as an agent, manager and sales trainer I can attest to the myriad of manipulative sales practices that are taught and perpetrated against an unsuspecting public. Many of these tactics have been around since the 1920’s and certainly there are several that have been staples since the 1980’s. Let’s review just a few of the most common marketing gimmicks used to entice you into a bad decision about money.

·         The ticking time bomb of taxation on life insurance and annuities.  This has been a very common tactic since the early 1980’s and the Reagan tax changes. Since that time Congress has continually sought ways in which to gain tax revenue from retirement based usages in these products. Life Insurance continues to have a tax-free privilege through the proper usage of loans against cash values. This has long been one of the most effective means of creating tax-free income, yet the reality in planning is that this should never be the major purpose in developing a life insurance plan. Of course if this is the only reason people purchase Life Insurance then Congress would certainly put an end to this process. As to annuities there is no better vehicle to provide an income one can never outlive. For the concern of living too long annuities create a guaranteed stream of income and of course are a vital tool in proper retirement planning. The difficulty is that the industry has made these products so complicated that many times the agents who sell them have no idea of what is going on little alone educate an unaware public. In reality the annuity is a very simple concept and can be easily explained to you the consumer. SO why has it become so extraordinarily complicated? It seems that the creation of mass confusion works to the benefit of the insurance carriers. This confusion can hide the fact that not everyone needs an annuity. That’s right annuities are not right for everyone. There are circumstances where the financial benefits and restrictions of an annuity do not fir. This is called “suitability” and the insurance industry has made it more complicated the never in this arena.

·         Seminars, freebies and other manipulations. The most common marketing tool over the past 15 yrs. or so has been the use of seminars. Now there is nothing innately wrong with an educational seminar, in fact it is a good thing. But the industry has manipulated an educational event into a predatory sales hunt and certainly a product pitch. Life Insurance planning and Annuity planning is a personal issue and needs to be individually programmed. It is never a one-size fits all remedy. So. While information in a seminar setting is useful, it is only useful in general terms and once it moves into one size fits all generalizations it becomes manipulative. Your safest move is to avoid seminars as you can get all the general information you need through totally independent sources.

·         Social Security optimization. Another oldie but goody. This used to be known as pension maximization in the 80’s-2000’s. Now with the economic crises surrounding the government programs it has focused itself on Social Security. The reason for this is less people have pensions now and therefore the biggest market place exists in Social Security. With 10,000 Baby Boomers turning 65 every day the market is abundantly plentiful with those who are Social Security eligible. Once again there is solid and useful information to be had about your Social Security; unfortunately it doesn’t need to be used as a manipulative sales tool for you to purchase more financial products. Being fully honest at this point in time how many of you actually believe the Social Security system will last long enough to actually make good on its payouts to the entire universe of baby-boomers? It would seem that delaying your social security check for a larger payout from a system that may well be bankrupt in less than a decade is not a very prudent financial decision.

·         Retirement planning. Long the holy grail of the Financial Services industry, this concept has left a long a brutal trail of predatory sales tactics and manipulations. Once again we have a very individualized personal scenario that is treated with a one-size fits all mentality. Such issues as life-style, Life-experience, Life-expectancy and legacy desires are all vital parts to a congruous retirement plan. This also has to have flexibility in its design as life is never a totally linear event. Making smart decisions about money today and tomorrow require a consistent mental and emotional approach to these factors. You have to ask yourself some very crucial questions and acknowledge what has happened in the past along with what is probable in the future. The normalcy effect will not serve you well in today’s ever-changing society. One simple concern is any existing ERISA qualified retirement savings you now have (IRA’s, 401k’s, Keogh’s SEP’s etc...) as all these plans could well be targets of the government’s debt concerns in the near future. Would you be comfortable if the government determined that these funds should be in a GRA (government retirement plan) which would simply annuitize your balances and make payments much like Social Security? It is not only a possibility it has been discussed on Capitol Hill and will continue to get more traction as the runaway debt continues to grow exponentially. Over $17 trillion dollars is presently in these types of accounts. You have serious decisions to make.

                                               Industry Marketing example for Agents (Producers)

 

The stark reality is that in marketing and sales everything old is new again, yet in today’s economic arena nothing old will ever be new again. There are many other areas of concern when it comes to predatory sales tactics and the marketing tools used to attract investors, consumers and businesses. The Advocacy Network is an organization that keeps our members educated and aware of all these manipulative behaviors. Our only concern is your best interest.

 

Karl Schilling

321-250-1445 O

321-947-3220 C

Skype: karl.schilling5

www.theadvocacynet.com

 

Preeminence and Smart Decisions about Money

Jay Abraham has defined preeminence as “being totally focused on adding value for the other side and understanding what value looks like.” The most intriguing result of victimization in any scam, fraud or predatory sales tactic is the distinguishable lack of value transferred in the process. These events are always totally one-sided in that the only gain in the process is by the scammer or fraudster as they steal time, money and psychic energy.

 The grand loser in this is always the victim. There is no preeminence in this transaction, nor is there any long term relationship value. With this very obvious equation there remains an extraordinary amount of victims created on a daily if not hourly basis. How can this be?

It all starts within the victim; no one can scam, defraud or manipulate you unless you allow it. The power of avoidance always lies with you, yet the psychological triggers are rarely understood on a personal level. As such manipulation becomes a very simple process which leads to the greater risks of scams and frauds.

Predatory sales tactics are the invite to every level of scam or fraud. It all begins with a sales pitch. I want to make it very clear that professional sales people are vital to our everyday lives and our overall financial well-being. The grave obstacles lie within the industries which promote predatory sales tactics and strive to make sales revenue at any cost. The lack of value transfer is a poor decision about money.

A simple method in which you can make smart decisions about money is by minimizing your bad decisions about money. Losses are always more difficult to overcome than a simple “no” decision. By saying no you can greatly limit your potential losses, of course the next level is to make “yes” decisions so you can successful grow your wealth status.

The attraction to a “yes” decision is the thought of quick gain, fast money. It starts with an offer that seems to be risk free and offers “guarantees.” Everyone has a greed trigger and once it is initiated the launch code begins on a bad decision about money.

While making smart decisions about money requires a learning curve for each individual having a 3^rd party non-biased advocate provides you with a 24hr protection shield. Almost the last resort in spite of yourself scenario. Of course once you gain the mandatory self-knowledge which drives your financial decisions you can rely on self-dependence more readily. Having an advocate allows for you to pass off the sales pitch and early attraction button. The 3^rd party source is then able to objectively review and dig into the offer with full detachment and no personal bias. This level of protection is priceless as it will remove the initial level of bad decisions about money. This provides full insulation in that it is the stop sign on poor decisions about money.

The levels are financial decisions you make in a lifetime are multi-layered and any one of these decisions can set you back years and possibly lead to financial ruin. Look at all these areas in which your ability to make smart decisions about money can be the difference between financial freedom and total financial misery:

1.       Insurances: including Life, Home, Auto, Personal Liability, Commercial Liability, Health, Flood and many others.

2.       Medical concerns including Medicare, Medicaid, Health Insurance, Health Providers and much more.

3.       Housing, do you rent?, Own? Insurance protection, maintenance concerns, upkeep, liability exposure, Home Improvement, Furnishings, and many other financial decisions.

4.       Transportation, auto, travel, vacations, insurance, maintenance, and much more.

5.       Family care, children, elderly family members, illness of family members etc…

6.       Taxes, how to limit your tax liability, how to grow your assets tax-free, how to position your assets most advantageously and much more.

7.       Estate planning, how to pass on wealth, how to protect wealth, how to establish trust protection, how to legally protect your assets, how to best position retirement income, and much more.

8.       Identity (the most prevailing fraud in society today is identity theft which will destroy everything in points 1-7)

All these areas have the potential for you to be victimized by predatory sales people, scams and out- right fraud. When you least expect it you can be targeted and ultimately victimized.

Our mission at the Advocacy Network is to fully inoculate and insulate consumers, investors and businesses against scams, fraud and predatory sales tactics.

Karl Schilling

321-250-1445 O

321-947-3220 C

Skype: karl.schilling5

www.theadvocacynet.com