Financial Education and Counseling with Teodora Moga

Someone asked me about the fees their investment account pays every year, in particular about 12b-1. So, here is an explanation of this fee.

12b-1 fees are annual fees charged by mutual funds to cover marketing and distribution costs, such as advertising, paying brokers, and mailing prospectuses. They are also known as distribution and service fees. 12b-1 fees are considered operational expenses and are included in a fund's expense ratio, which is usually between 0.25% and 0.75% of a fund's net assets. The fee must be disclosed on the fund's prospectus.

You should know and ask every question you have and hopefully your investment advisor is able to help you understand how your money grows.

You can always SWITCH your life insurance as long as you’re still healthy!

Whole Life is more expensive.

If you wanted $500,000 of coverage, you are healthy and in your 30’s

Whole Life might cost $400 to $600 per month

20 or 30 years of Term Life would only cost $50 to $100 per month

⭐️ You CANNOT BORROW from the death benefit from EITHER form of insurance ⭐️

Many people believe that having a $500,000 life insurance policy is like having a $500,000 line of credit they can use

NOT TRUE 🤦🏼‍♀️

You can ONLY borrow from the CASH VALUE of your policy and the BALANCE of your cash value is $0 for the first 1-3 years (sometimes longer) depending on your insurance company

So why would anyone purchase a policy that is 10-20x more expensive that has a special feature you can’t even use for the first 3 years?

Because life insurance AGENTS are manipulative and misleading

Where does your money go when you make your monthly insurance payment?

With TERM life insurance, your money pays for PROTECTION

With WHOLE life insurance, your money is paying for protection AND you are paying for the cash value accumulation which belongs to the insurance company unless you CANCEL your insurance. When the insured person dies, the insurance company keeps the cash value. If you borrowed any money from the cash value and you haven’t paid back the insurance company before the insured person passes away, they SUBTRACT the loan balance from the insurance death benefit to pay back the insurance company the money you borrowed from them.

If your family needs protection… TERM insurance provides MORE coverage at a FAR LOWER COST. That makes it better for 99% of families.

If you’re trying to INVEST and GROW your money for your future… try talking to a financial advisor about mutual funds, stocks, bonds, ETF’s, and actual investment accounts.

Life insurance is NOT a place to BUILD WEALTH, despite any videos you may have seen on TikTok that says so.

If you have QUESTIONS about your life insurance, don’t be afraid to ask.

You could possibly get double the coverage for half the price depending on when and where you purchased the insurance you currently have.

If you DON’T have life insurance, let’s change that ASAP! You and your family need and deserve to know that everything and everyone you love is properly protected.

My page is all screwed up!

A lot of pages pop in and not many posts from my friends. Well, it is what it is, there are other things more important than facebook right now.

BUT ..

There was this post on a page that said "Bring that china set your grandmother left you, put it out on the table and use it. Make more memories around it, just like she did. Don't let it just sit in a box in the attic, use it!"

Well, true!

It made me think about the conversations my family had around the dinner table about money. NON EXISTENT!

That's right! My family never talked about money when I grew up, probably because we didn't have much of it. It was almost a "scary" subject. My parents did the best they could with what they knew and had available to them under communism.

I am here to encourage you to talk about money at the kitchen table with your kids. Teach them how to be good managers of money, discuss ideas with them of how they can earn money, and most important how they can grow their money.

It is VITAL to raise money conscious little people. If money is tight, discuss that with your kids and help them understand how money works.

I have a great book in digital form that is called "How money works for Kids". I am happy to send it to you, just let me know if you'd like it. Free, of course! I am here for you!

This little lady loves important contestations, especially when we hike.

❤️ Teodora

73% of Americans rank finances as their chief stress in life, according to a recent study. If you’re part of that 73%, we could help ease that stress.

Schedule your free one-on-one financial planning session and you’ll get access to a team of fiduciary advisors who will create a personalized financial plan catered to your lifestyle and financial goals. Personalized, complimentary and confidential! Complimentary !!!

Working with an advisor may sound scary, but we are fiduciaries, so you can be confident that we have your best interest at heart.

Send me a message and we can book your free financial planning session and help you ease that stress.

❤️ Teodora

Someone asked me ….. “Why would you place money market securities in a client's portfolio?”

Well, let’s talk about it.

Money market securities are:
• highly liquid
• very safe,
and
• a good place to invest money that will be needed soon (short term).

Let me emphasize that again … I said SHORT TERM!

The rate of return is quite low, so money market securities are not suitable for long-term investors. Don’t think about retirement with a money market investment.

There is a distinction between The Capital Market and The Money Market. In general Money Market Instruments are fixed income securities (debt). Highly liquid with a relatively high degree of safety, being short term they have little time to default, right?

The most known people talk about are the CDs, but there are also other instruments like BAs (Bankers Acceptance) or US Treasury Bills or Repurchase Agreements.

Just thought you’d want to know these things.

❤️ Teo

Just so you know …. a business entity that performs the function of receiving and delivering payments and securities on behalf of both parties to a securities transaction is called a clearing agency.

Although there are some broker-dealers that do act as clearing agents, being a broker-dealer does not always include providing the services of a clearing agent. The broker-dealer would need to meet all of the requirements of being a clearing agent.

There is a lot to know about all this terminology, one step at a time my friend.
I will teach you more about the Financial Industry, stay with me 🙌

❤️ Teo

Just so you know ….

A person responsible for making all investment, management, and distribution decisions in an account maintaining the best interests of another person, is known as a custodian, for example, the custodian for the account of a minor.

I am a custodian for Alma’s investment account right now.

This is different than a trustee who is a legally appointed entity. By contrast, anyone can open a custodial account for a minor as long as they are themselves an adult.

❤️Teo

Before we do discuss how we help customers join the Bulls and Bears on Wall Street, let's discuss what it means to be a Bull or a Bear.

The terms Bull and Bear (would also like to mention bullish and bearish) are used widely in the securities business.

You probably already have a good idea what they mean, but let's take a closer look at these terms that refer to an investor's attitude toward a market or a specific security:
• Bull. If a person believes that a given market or stock is likely to go UP in value rather than down, that person is bullish or "a bull."
• Bear. If a person believes that a given market or stock is going to go DOWN in value rather than up, that person is bearish or "a bear." If you are short a stock, you are a bear.

Still having trouble with the bull/bear concept? Think about this:

When a bull is trotting across a field, its horns point up. Bulls think a market or value is going up.
When a bear walks through the forest, its claws point down. Bears think a market or value is going down.

So now tell me, what is your favorite strategy?

When I came in the US 18 years ago, I didn’t even know what a credit card is.

The concept seemed very “fishy” to me, a 25 years old adventurous Romanian woman. What do they mean you slide a piece of plastic and your purchase is being paid for? Where is the money coming from?

That is how little financial education I had 🤦🏼‍♀️

The sad truth is, if you and I will go on the street and do a survey on the 18-25 years old population, most of them will be just like me, without a real understanding of “How Money Works”.

So now, do you see how the need for financial education is greater now than ever? National Credit Card debt is at all times high.
The majority of licensed financial services professionals are ready to retire while the transfer of wealth coming from the “baby boomers” generation is happening now. There is lots of money changing hands and YOU can be that licensed professional.

Now let me ask you a question: Are you doing everything you can to have a better life? Because if you are looking for more, if you are looking for a career change, if you are done having someone put their thumb on you every day, we are here for you.

Opening several offices all accross the country, we need you. But more importantly, your family needs you ❤️

Come work with us 🎉 Part time, work from home, add an extra $2000/mo to your income ($24,000/year?) 🙌 What would you do with an extra $2000 every month?

You guys are going to learn some financial concepts along with me, ready?

Let’s start a trend.

I would like to post something I think you should know, something regarding the Financial Industry. It could be a definition, a fact, something I may have just learned about 🤷‍♀️ .. we’ll see.

This could be fun. We will start with …

Did you know ….? (Here we go)

Securities regulations that are called blue-sky laws refer to those at the state level.
These are state laws that pertain to the issuance and trading of securities within that state. They are known as blue-sky laws because of a statement made by a Kansas Supreme Court justice who referred to "speculative schemes that have no more basis than so many feet of blue sky.

❤️, Teodora

If your bank would charge you 5% on the withdrawal you make from your own account, your own money ….. would you bank there ?

I have been asked this question many times in the last few weeks at all the parties I attended.

Here it is : "What is the best investment I should make to make more money?"

Well, the answer I gave was quite surprising for some people because they were expecting something else.

Here is the number one best investment you can make at 20, 30, 40 or even 50 years old .. ready? The best investment you can make in is YOURSELF!

Add vale to yourself in the work force and you will make more money. How do you do that? Add knowledge, add professional licenses, add certificates ... grow your value FIRST.
Educate yourself and discipline yourself on HOW to handle more money and you will have more money. We all know it's not what you make but it is what you keep that will make a difference.

Once you are disciplined, you make money and you are ready to invest in vehicles that will help grow your money, we can talk strategies and investment accounts.

I invested $124 years ago to get sponsored for all the licenses I needed as a Financial Professional. For a few more days the cost is only $49 and I don't even want to mention that because it does not to justice to the value gained for that price.

We do. We sponsor your needed licenses, we train and help you develop, we teach you everything you need to succeed because we believe it is our moral responsibility to pass along the opportunity that was given to us. I can not be selfish and not help you grow, just like I did!

Cheers for a healthy 2024 🥳

Remember The Three “Ds” of Investing💰

A good way to keep your focus on your goals is to remember the three "Ds" of investing:
Dollar-Cost Averaging, Discipline, Diversification.

Dollar-Cost Averaging -
Investing a fixed amount at regular intervals eliminates having to predict when to invest as you will be able to take advantage of the market highs and lows - by purchasing fewer units when the prices are high and more units when prices are low. This helps you to reduce the dramatic impact of market swings and enable yourself to build wealth over the long term. Since dollar-cost averaging involves continuous investments over time regardless of fluctuating price levels, you should consider your ability to continue to invest in periods of low price levels.

Discipline -
By staying focused and staying invested through all market activity, you can increase your long-term potential because missing even a handful of the best-performing days in the market over time can considerably diminish your returns.

Diversification -
By investing in different asset classes you may help spread out the risk in your portfolio. This may also work to increase returns by offsetting losses in one asset class with an opportunity for gains in another. Diversification may be one of the most important investment strategies.

It is devastating to get DENIED for Life Insurance coverage at age 42 due to a medical condition that is truly not under your control.

I know you did not chose to be a Cancer Patient. I know you could never imagine this would happen to you. Your family never thought you, a healthy, happy, amazing person could be in this traumatic situation. It is not something we think about.

Until it happens. And then what? ... you think!

Well, here's what I suggest:

1 - Do not rely only on your Work Life Insurance coverage while you are healthy. If you are in incapacity to work for some reason, or if you switch jobs/careers, you lose the coverage.

2 - Get Life Insurance as early as possible. Encourage your children to get coverage even if they are single, 20 years old. They can get coverage now when they are healthy, and not worry about it later. A small coverage now can be increased later when income replacement is needed.

3 - Include your children on your policy. Until they are 18 years old they can be added to your policy and disconnect at 25 years old to own it. (Story I heard today. My friends 8 years old nephew had an accident at football practice and turned out to be a concussion. With the testing done at ER they discovered a tumor in his brain. This could affect his long term ability to qualify for coverage but under your policy he will be covered for now and at 25 disconnect and own his policy like nothing happened. He is ok, by the way, surgery was successful.) Children can be as little as 2 weeks to be covered under a child rider on your coverage.

4 - Be careful who you trust. There are companies out there who would take your money but not have your best interest at heart. I saw policies issued for Cancer Patients who believed they got coverage now when in fact they were paying a product that would start in 2 years from now.

5 - If it is too late, I suggest investing the money you would pay on a policy and grow that money. There are investment options out there that could make a difference in your family's life. Just again, know who you work with and make sure they have YOUR best interest at heart.

I hope this helps. It could be a start, right?

WEALTH PRINCIPLE :

It is not necessary to try to get rid of fear in order to succeed 💪

Because we are creatures of habit, we need to practice acting in spite of fear, in spite of doubt, in spite of worry, in spite of uncertainty, in spite of inconvenience, in spite of discomfort, and even to practice acting when we’re not in the mood to act.

I remember shaking before every client appointment, back in the day. I remember how nervous I would get thinking “what are they going to think about me asking questions about their finances”?

You know, it was a growing process and I chose to put myself in an uncomfortable position so I can learn.

Now, after many years, I learned that my clients, people I chose to work with (yes, I have a criteria of clients I chose to work with) deserve a Teodora that is strong in her believes that she is knowledgeable, prepared, confident and powerful to give 100% of the time, 100% what’s right for them.

With that, we continue to get better because when we get better, things get better ❤️

Every time I open a statement on a IUL or UL Life Insurance Policy I get mad! Every time 🤯

Here is what I found in the last one I just looked at for a client.

UL Annual Statement as of 09/29/2023
Monthly Premium $173 - Insured 39 years old male.
Interest rate 3% (they throw the guaranteed word in there to make you feel better).
Coverage $200,000 - Not enough to even pay the mortgage off if he dies.
Charges : Expense Charges, Cost of Insurance, Rider cost and possibly others. In this case the charges per year was $672.

So here is the truth 💣

The S&P 500 is on track to finish 2023 up more than 14% . Since the S&P 500 launched in 1957, any time the index has declined more than 18% in a calendar year, it has been followed by at least two consecutive years of gains. This is 3 days old information as I type this post!

And they pay you 3%??? Why not all 14% as you should make in your money invested right? Or even more 🤷‍♀️

So now, tell me ... why exactly do you believe in investing in your life insurance again? Oh ... "be your own bank?" Have you ask them at what cost? If your bank would charge you to take your money out, would you bank there? Of course you wouldn't!

I just want you to know what you don't know so that you can make an informed decision my friend.
Always Buy Term and Invest the Difference!
But make sure you Invest ;)

Could you imagine going anywhere without a GPS these days?

Many people navigate their Financial Situation without a plan.

How would it make you feel to have a customized plan, confidential and complimentary? Much better, right?

Let's get it done