Life INSURANCE PERSPECTIVES
Business Continuation Planning: Part I
The August 2010 newsletter is now available on-line. The first of two perspectives dealing with business continuation planning this issue addresses buy-sell agreements, entity or cross purchase funding, disability buy-out insurance, and taking the right perspective for the owner's family.

The Wall Street Journal
Juicing Your Life Insurance
Saturday/Sunday, June 5-6, 2010, B8, by Leslie Scism. This article takes a look at indexed universal life. A form of permanent life insurance that appeals to people eager to capture stock-market gains while avoiding undue risk. The policies, however, are more complex and expensive than many agents let on. "Peter Katt, a fee-only insurance adviser in Mattawan, Mich., says one of his concerns is a lack of industry-wide standards for projections of the policies' performance in marketing materials."

AAII Journal
The Pitfalls of Life Settlements
May, 2010, by Peter Katt. Sellers of life insurance and investors in life settlement beware.

Journal of Financial Planning
Life Insurance Solutions for Estate Tax Challenges
March, 2010, by Peter Katt. Two liquidity life insurance options to help large estates handle difficult to market assets: static-priced no-lapse policies and market-priced no-lapse policies.

Money Magazine
5 Things You Need to Know About...Permanent Life Insurance
March 2010, by Linda Stern. Permanent insurance protects your family's finances when you die, while also providing an investment component that builds within the policy and can be tapped or borrow against if needed. "That makes permanent insurance useful for high earners who max out other tax-deferred savings, says life insurace adviser Peter Katt of Mattawan, Mich. Because it lasts a lifetime, a permanent policy may also make sense for older people who'll have illiquid estates - like small-business owners - but want to pass on money.". . . "If you think you're a candidate for a permanent policy, find an independent expert to help you pick among these. Search 'fee-only life insurance' online to find pros who charge hourly fees (around $300) and eschew commissions from insurers."

The Wall Street Journal
Whole-Life Insurance, Long Derided, Gets New Lease
Saturday/Sunday, February 27-28, 2010, by Leslie Scism. Permanent life insurance was a rising star during the financial crisis. Thanks to conservative investments in bonds, whole life and universal life policies delivered positive returns during the economic down-turn. Also, "Investment gains are tax-deferred, and you are able to withdraw tax-free much or all of what you put into the policy. The policies are a good way for many people who have maxed out contributions to 401(k)s and other tax-advantaged plans to save for a variety of purposes before they die, says Peter Katt, a fee-only life-insurance adviser in Mattawan, Mich."

The Wall Street Journal
In a Crunch, Insurers Raise Fees, Trim Sales
Tuesday, September 22, 2009, by Leslie Scism. Many insurers are finding they need to raise their prices and cut back on sales to rebuild thair greatly depleted cash cushions. One example: "Peter Katt, an independent fee-only life-insurance adviser in Mattawan, Mich., said he worked recently to obtain a $5 million, 20-year term-life policy for a generally healthy 56-year-old man. Based on past experience, he anticipated the insurer would offer a 'preferred' rate of $20,000 a year. Instead, the insurer offered a 'standard' rate, at $44,000."

The Wall Street Journal
Insurers Back Away From TARP
Saturday/Sunday, May 16-17, 2009, by Liam Pleven and Damian Paletta. "Thanks, but not thanks. That is the message some insurers sent Friday to the Treasury Department, after they finally got word they were approved for federal assistance under its Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. . . . As in the banking sector, the situation has the potential to divide life insurers into those seen as either strong or weak. Peter Katt, a fee-only life-insurance adviser, said existing customers of insurers who get the money may be reassured, but that taking it could cast a chill over sales to prospective clients."

Alexis Leondis
Life Insurers Profit as Retirees Fear Outliving Cash
April 13, 2009 (Bloomberg.com). Alexis Leondis discusses pros and cons of the recent surge in sales of immediate annuities. "One major drawback of an immediate annuity is that it locks in current interest rates, said [Peter Katt, a life insurance adviser in Mattawan, Michigan]. "With massive, unprecedented debt, we might have 12 to 14 percent interest rates in a couple of years," which would erode the value of future payouts, Katt said. The average inflation rate was 2.8 percent during the past 10 years, according to Bloomberg data."

The Wall Street Journal
New Policy: Checking Out Your Insurer
Saturday/Sunday, November 15-16, 2008, by Leslie Scism. "In Mattawan, Mich., a client of fee-only insurance adviser Peter Katt recently spent three weeks going back and forth about whether to buy a several-million-dollar term-life insurance policy from AIG, the best offer on the table. The client's decision: Yes. . .Wall Street stock analysts, officers at credit ratings firms and industry executives are closely watching policy-holders' behavior."

FORBES.COM
Life Insurance After AIG's Near-Death Experience
American General and AIG. Posted 9/19/2008.

Jane Bryant Quinn
Get a Life, Plus Cash, for Insurance Policy
June 18, 2008 (Bloomberg.com). Jane Bryant Quinn takes a look at the life-settlement industry. "With a life settlement, you're selling your policy to an outside investor who will pay the premiums while you live and collect the proceeds when you die. . . '[It's] useful if you have a policy that's poorly priced -- say, an older universal life policy with large surrender charges. Sometimes you can sell it for enough to buy a new and better policy for the same face amount, says fee-only life insurance adviser Peter Katt of Mattawan, Michigan.'"

FORBES.COM
Forbes is now posting articles by Peter Katt on their website, www.Forbes.com. To see his articles, go to their website and search for Peter Katt.

WNYC
WNYC Interview
June 15th, 2007 Peter Katt was interviewed by Brian Lehrer on WNYC. The purpose of the interview was to discuss a Wall Street Journal article by Ian McDonald, "Golden Years: As Boomers Retire, Insurers Aim to Cash In". This article discusses how AXA and other insurers are pushing variable annuities to baby boomers entering their retirement years. Daniel Gross, of Slate, was also a guest on the show.

Wealth Manager
Protective Covering
December 2006, by Nancy Opiela. Many fee-only financial advisors stay away from insurance products, concentrating mainly on asset accumulation. Ms. Opiela makes the case that their clients may be missing advantageous planning strategies that incorporate risk management, and that by doing so they may be leaving the door open for their clients to seek help from other advisors. One of the areas addressed in the article is the need to turn emotional decisions into rational decisions.

"Peter Katt, CFP, Founder of Katt & Company, a national fee-only life insurance advising firm in Mattawan, Mich., says '... the difference between insurance salesmen and our firm is the difference between magicians and physicists... Magicians are a lot more fun, but our role with the client is not to tell them what to do, but rather to present a menu of choices. Our point isn't that the client should avoid any one product, but rather that each product has its own set of potential advantages and disadvantages.'"

The New York Times
How Much Is Enough in Insuring a Life?
September 23, 2006, by Hillary Chura. If you died today, would your family be destitute in a few years, comfortable, or toasting your good planning as they vacationed on the Riviera?... "Dr. Alexander Sudarshan, an eye surgeon from Los Fresnos, Tex., has $4.8 million in life insurance - $1.6 million in whole life and the rest in term. The idea is that his wife and three adolescent sons would live off the interest were he to die unexpectedly. To calculate his needs, he hired Peter Katt, a national fee-only life insurance consultant from Mattawan, [Mi.], who charges $325 an hour."