New Post Market Mechanics

"The Market Went Up Today" — But Did Your Portfolio?

Only ~4% of U.S. stocks ever listed have created 100% of net market wealth above T-bills since 1926. The median stock lost money. What this means for how you read a market update — and for your retirement plan.

Lester Himel  |  2026  |  Includes 2 interactive visualizations
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Updated Indexed Universal Life

The IUL Cash Value Trap: How Your Retirement Asset Becomes a Death Benefit Liability

Nine interactive visualizations: COI acceleration, funding level comparison, illustrated vs. actual, sequence of returns risk, carrier COI increase stress test, and more. The most complete analysis of IUL mechanics available.

Lester Himel  |  2026  |  Includes 9 interactive visualizations
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Long-Term Care

Long-Term Care and Premium Risk

7 out of 10 people over 65 will need care. How to plan for it without getting crushed by rising premiums or a policy that vanishes when you need it most.

Lester Himel  |  August 25, 2023
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Universal Life

Why I Will Not Sell Universal Life Insurance

An 88% lapse rate. Rising internal costs. A structure designed for speculators, not retirees. The fiduciary case against every form of Universal Life.

Lester Himel  |  July 4, 2023
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Retirement

The Case for a Revision of Your Pension Plans

The 1990s market boom created pension promises built on assumptions that didn't hold. The math of missed return targets is unforgiving — and personal retirement plans face the same problem.

Lester Himel  |  June 3, 2023
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Inflation

With All the Recent Inflation Talk… IRA or Whole Life?

A client asked which is a better inflation hedge. The answer has to do with how rising interest rates affect each differently — and why "stocks are an inflation hedge" is more myth than fact.

Lester Himel  |  September 14, 2022
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Bonds & Portfolio

Are Your Bonds Leaking?

Yield to Maturity assumes you'll reinvest every coupon payment at the original rate. You won't. Here's what that actually means for your bond portfolio's real performance.

Lester Himel  |  January 9, 2021
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Whole Life

Paid-Up Additions (PUAs) — What Are They, and How Do They Work?

PUAs are the engine of compounding growth inside a dividend-paying whole life policy. Understanding them is essential to understanding why these policies perform the way they do.

Lester Himel  |  October 15, 2020
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Universal Life

Universal Life…Is an Insurance Audit Timely?

Low interest rates and volatile markets have quietly eroded IUL policies across the country. If you own one, you may be heading toward a reckoning you don't see coming.

Lester Himel  |  May 20, 2020
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Retirement Math

8% Isn't Always 8%…In Fact, Rarely. Arithmetic Averages Are Deceiving.

You can have an 8% average return and lose money. Here's the math that your retirement projection is hiding — and why it matters more the longer your timeline.

Lester Himel  |  May 13, 2020
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Estate Planning

Estate Planning in the Age of Coronavirus

Do you have a will? A health care proxy? A living will? Are they current, and does someone know where to find them? What the pandemic taught us about documents that can't wait.

Lester Himel  |  May 9, 2020
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Philosophy

What I Do, And Why I Do It...

Conventional planning is built backwards. It starts with accumulation targets and ends at a retirement age. Here's a different starting point — and why it leads to a fundamentally different approach.

Lester Himel  |  April 7, 2020
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Volatility

Turbulence

Volatility has always been the enemy of steady growth. But turbulence — the compounding of climate disruption, corporate fragility, and geopolitical instability — is something bigger. And it matters for anyone planning across a 50-year horizon.

Lester Himel  |  February 26, 2020
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Volatility

Volatility is So Not Your Friend!

Your advisor says "don't look at your portfolio every day." The real problem isn't the emotional discomfort — it's what volatility does to compounding. And that doesn't go away just because you stop watching.

Lester Himel  |  June 13, 2019
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Universal Life

Universal Life Insurance — Regulators' Warnings

New York and Texas regulators have formally warned consumers about Universal Life products. Here's what they said — and why we stopped selling UL years before those warnings were published.

Lester Himel  |  May 29, 2019
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Whole Life

Life Insurance for Wealth Accumulation? What's the Rate of Return?

Rate of return matters — but it's only part of the question. The other part is what volatility actually does to compounding over time. That's the comparison most advisors aren't making.

Alex Himel  |  October 11, 2018
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Whole Life

All Insurance Purchases Are an "Accident of Timing"…Except One

Nobody buys insurance on a whim. It's always reactive — until you understand participating whole life insurance. Here's the full list of attributes that make it a proactive financial tool.

Alex Himel  |  July 18, 2018
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Social Security

The Social Security Dilemma: Take it Now, Or Wait? — Part 2

The spouse strategy, the IUL comparison, and who this approach actually applies to. The continuation of a case study for putting Social Security benefits to work.

Alex Himel  |  May 16, 2017
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Social Security

The Social Security Dilemma: Take it Now, Or Wait?

The conventional answer is "wait for 70." But there's a third option most advisors don't offer: take it at FRA and put it to work in a whole life policy. Here's the math.

Alex Himel  |  March 28, 2017
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Pension

What Will You Do If Your Pension Fund Isn't There For You?

Pension promises were made during the 1980–2000 boom based on assumptions that haven't held. The math of missed targets is compounding — and the gap between promised and delivered keeps growing.

Alex Himel  |  February 26, 2017
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Whole Life

Life Insurance with Long-Term Care for an 18-Year-Old?

It sounds counterintuitive. But establishing a whole life policy at 18 locks in the lowest possible premiums for life, builds decades of guaranteed cash value, and includes LTC coverage — all simultaneously.

Alex Himel  |  January 5, 2017
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