persfin-digest V4 #130


From: persfin-digest <owner-persfin-digest@shore.net>
Subject: persfin-digest V4 #130
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:26:11 -0500 (EST)


Articles sorted by: [Date] [Author] [Subject]


persfin-digest        Friday, February 27 1998        Volume 04 : Number 130



IN THIS ISSUE:

ADVERTISEMENT:  MCI FAX BROADCAST SERVICE
Charles Schwab is INCOMPETENT!
Re: Living Trust
Re: Ultra Market Advisor
Re: Any Way To Recover Philadelphia Withholding Taxes?
Re: Dealer Financing
Re: removing 20% withholding for IRS?
Re: Is it worth to subscribe magazine upfront?
Stock Sale Question
viatical settlements - high risk investments
A 52 Year Old Person Can Get a 30 Year Mortgage
Re: rent or buy?
Re:3-Yr Magazine Subscription
magazine subscription value
auto withdrawal to invest in stocks?
Risk in asking for lower credit limits?
Non profits to help buy house
Savings/Mortgage/Annuity formula
Re: Phila City Tax - No Way To Avoid It
car financing
Re: Viatical Investments?
Re: Viatical Web Site
Re: trusts Web Site
Re:  Maximum Age to obtain Mortgage? 52?

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------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 09:53:50 -0500 (EST)
From: balaji@juno.com (Balaji V Ramanathan)
Subject: Charles Schwab is INCOMPETENT!

Hi,

	Please allow me this opportunity to vent to my
heart's content and I promise I won't do this again!

	I have a Schwab One account.  Recently, they
decided to start charging people $15 in QUARTERLY
account maintenance fees if you have less than $25000
in the account.  I was told that I would not get
any waiver of this rule even though I have a regular
monthly investment into this account.  So, I sold off
all my holdings and ordered them to close the account
and send me a check for the entire balance.

	Guess what- "somehow", the money went into
their crummy money market fund (that pays way below
any other money market fund I have come across) and
stayed there for about a week.  Then a check was
issued to me in the original amount that was there
in the account (no interest was added) and sent to
me after this delay of a week.  When I called up about
this, the operator couldn't explain a thing.  But what
did turn up is that the account is not closed yet!
The operator claims that interest is credited only
on the 15th of each month and since my money earned
some interest, they have to keep the account open
until the next 15th to credit it with the interest.

	These people are incompetent to the core.
I regret ever having opened an account with them.
It took them 4 months to get my monthly investment
(involving a moneylink transfer from my checking
account) working right!  That should have given
me a hint.  It took them several more months to set
right a problem that kept charging me "margin interest"
every month because the money link transfer was
not working right!  There must be some law against
incompetence of this level!  Anyways, now that this
is off my chest, I can rest easy.  I only hope that
the handling of my account was not typical.

Balaji Ramanathan

(Editor's Comment - I also have a Schwab ONE account and have been charged
the $5/month fee.  I'm seriously considering transferring it to an online
broker such as E*Trade because of both the fee and the commission
structure.  Schwab, in my opinion, is not a discount broker any more.
They're charging retail prices for wholesale service. -IK)

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 09:54:37 -0500 (EST)
From: "rip west" <rip@montrose.net>
Subject: Re: Living Trust

Bob Ford posted a very good explanation of Living Trusts. Just a few
nit-pics and further observations.....


<<
Probate can be a costly process and take a long time and it is public.
You can avoid all of the costs and other problems of probate by not owning
anything when you die. One way you can not own anything when you die is
to transfer the ownership of everything you own to a living trust.
>>
I wouldn't want to give the impression that you save all the costs of
distributing the estate by having a living will. True, you don't go to
probate, but you still may have to pay someone to be trustee, prepare
returns, etc. Probate doesn't have to be expensive. It depends on your
arrangement with the attorney.

<<
If you are married and your assets are over $600,000 a properly constructed
trust MAY save on federal estate taxes. This $600,000 number will be
adjusted upward for the next 10 years.
>>

I would put it that if your assets are over $600,000 a properly constructed
estate plan may save on taxes. There are no inherent TAX advantages of a
living trust over provisions in a will.

<<
I am not a tax pro but I don't think a living trust can save on income tax
either state or federal. Hopefully, a tax pro on this list will correct me
>>

I agree.

One other advantage of the living trust is in the choice of executors. Often
it is hard to have an out-of-state executor of a will, because probate
courts like to be able to get their hands on the person representing the
deceased. You have no such restrictions with a living trust. This came in
handy for our family when my brother and I settled the estate of our mother
who was residing in another state.

rip

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 09:55:29 -0500 (EST)
From: Swiahome@aol.com
Subject: Re: Ultra Market Advisor

Hi John,

  Saw your question in Personal Finance regarding the Ultra Market Advisor.
I've had the program since it came out and highly recommend it. Most of the
systems we buy are fun to play with, but a waste of our money.  Ultra 4 offers
a lot of value compared to any of the other 8 trading programs I sometimes
use.

  It consists of a collection of more than 30 timing systems for equities,
about 6 for bonds and 2 for gold stocks.  These systems include several of the
timing systems used by well known advisory services. They are extemely useful
and completely mechanical.  Doing worse than the market, using these systems,
would take a lot of effort.  You would have to do the opposite of what they
said!

  I use Ultra to trade the Rydex Family of funds, where a person can go into
Nova and be 150% long the SP-500 or into Ursa and be 100% short the SP. index.
It has done very well for me.  One has a great variety of choices offered in
using the program. You can run any individual system that you want,  or you
can create a "composite" of any number of systems that will work together to
give you one signal based on the collective " wisdom " of the systems you
select.  Another option would be to use all systems, with each used to manage
an equal percentage of your funds.  

  You can test systems or composites you create against back data, that for
some of the indices, goes back to the 1940's. The DJ Industrials, SP-500, OTC,
DJ-Bonds and a Gold Mining Index are all provided for the testing you may wish
to do. 

One can also run the systems against individual mutual funds.  I can backtest
my systems against my TC2000 Worden Brothers funds that I download on a daily
basis.  Data needed by the program may be hand entered or a data service is
provided for around $79 dollars a year. 

  The systems are not curve fitted and how and why they work is disclosed to
the user. I feel that this is the best thing to ever come down the pike for
the average investor.  Easy to use, completely mechanical, composed of systems
that individually do better than the market and  become even more powerful
when combined by the user .  Ultra has turned me into my own investment
advisor!

  Belief in a trading system , for me, has been hard to come by.  It has been
helped by discoverng that when I try to beat the system I suffer from pain and
anguish, because it has always ended up beating me!  My Rydex Nova/Ursa
trading system has averaged an annual return of approx. 30% since ' 79 in
backtesting. Real time in ' 97 and ' 98 has done just as well.

  I believe in this program so much that I have recently become a dealer for
Ultra. After being asked several times to speak at investment clubs about it,
I think it's become time to add to my income as a retired chemistry teacher.
The  price of the program is $249.  I shall offer all of you a $20 discount.
Glad to forward you a record of my Rydex composite or answer any questions.

         Regards,                         email   " swiahome@aol.com "
     Tom  Swiatek

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 09:56:46 -0500 (EST)
From: Peter & Karen Diamond <diamond@vsi.net>
Subject: Re: Any Way To Recover Philadelphia Withholding Taxes?

Ira,
I live outside of Philadephia and am familiar with Phila wage tax, but
I'm not quite sure what you are asking.

The wage tax is deductable on your federal return like any other local
tax.  You can only receive a refund for time you can show was spent
working outside the city.  This can only be done if you live outside the
city also.  If you live in the city then you pay the full amount no
matter where you work.

The really unfair thing about the wage tax (in my opinion) is that
residents pay something like 4.5% and non residents who work in the city
pay 4.2%.  The spread is so small for people who only work there 40 hours
a week compared to living there all week long.

Also, in most of the suburban townships you will not have to pay their
local tax if you have the wage tax withheld, since it is a higher rate.
Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks.
Peter Diamond

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 09:57:09 -0500 (EST)
From: Rich Carreiro <rlcarr@animato.pn.com>
Subject: Re: Dealer Financing

>Why would I want to tie up 20K - 30K in lost investment capital over a
>4-5 year period?
>
>For sake of argument, let's assume that I've decided that it makes
>economic sense to buy a new car.  I'd much rather rent that money from the
>dealer at 4.9% and invest the 20-30K.

Keep in mind that if you are in a combined marginal bracket of 30% you'll
need to earn 7% pre-tax on the invested money to break even.  So the loan
is an "investment" with a guaranteed pre-tax rate of return of -7%.  Now
if I knew that the market was going to continue to skyrocket, I would
definitely invest the money.  But given that the historical pre-tax market
return is only 9-10%, and there have been plenty of 5 year periods where it
was less than that, and the loan would be used to buy something that is
guaranteed to collapse in value (would you take out a margin loan to buy
a stock that you KNEW was going to drop by 30-50% as soon as you bought it?),
I'd rather pay cash.

Rich Carreiro
rlcarr@animato.pn.com

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 09:57:53 -0500 (EST)
From: Rich Carreiro <rlcarr@animato.pn.com>
Subject: Re: removing 20% withholding for IRS?

>		If you are a resident of the US, then no tax is withheld. In

That's not necessarily true.  If a US resident commits some tax no-nos
(like underreporting income, failing to file, etc.), the IRS will
impose backup withholding.  The payor also has to backup withhold if
the person fails to give or gives an improper SSN.

Rich Carreiro
rlcarr@animato.pn.com

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 09:58:32 -0500 (EST)
From: Rich Carreiro <rlcarr@animato.pn.com>
Subject: Re: Is it worth to subscribe magazine upfront?

>I intend to subscribe to a magazine which cost $90 per year. If I were to 
>pay for 3 years subscription upfront, there is a discount of $50 from the 
>publisher. Which means I'll pay $220 for 3 years subscription.
>
>Is it worth paying the $220 upfront, taking into consideration the future 
>value of $ and an assumption of interest rate at 8% per year?

This is a job for net present value :-)

The NPV of $220 paid today is $220.  The NPV of $90 paid today,
$90 paid next year and $90 paid the year after assuming an 8% rate
of return is $90 + $90/1.08 + $90/1.08^2 = $250.49.  So given that
assumption and the assumption you'll really want the magazine for
3 years, pay the $220 up front.

Rich Carreiro
rlcarr@animato.pn.com

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:00:36 -0500 (EST)
From: "Barbara Shore"<bshore@ben.edu>
Subject: Stock Sale Question

     My husband and I sold stock in December. Since the broker claimed not 
     to have a W-9 from us, I told him to withhold taxes, expecting that 
     amount to cover a large portion of what we will owe.  
     
     The stock sold at the end of December BUT the settlement date was in 
     January.  The 1099 showed the sale but not the withholding. Our next 
     statement showed the taxes were withheld in January following the 
     settlement date. 
     
     Can I apply the withholding to 1997 taxes or consider it my first 
     installment on our 1998 taxes?

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:10:11 -0500 (EST)
From: BOB FORD <BOB_FORD@compuserve.com>
Subject: viatical settlements - high risk investments

>From: "Leo Beilin" <leo.beilin@pobox.com>
>Does anybody on the list have any experience investing in these? Know of
any
>legitimate brokers in this vehicle?
>Know of any websites or print material to find out more about this?
>Thanks
  
LEO

This is high risk investing.  The rewards are moderate but the potential
for loss is great.

To make a good investment decision, you must have access to a person's
medical records and have them evaluated by a medical professional you
trust.  This can be difficult to do.

GOOD LUCK
BOB FORD
BOB_FORD@COMPUSERVE.COM

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:12:58 -0500 (EST)
From: BOB FORD <BOB_FORD@compuserve.com>
Subject: A 52 Year Old Person Can Get a 30 Year Mortgage

>Can a person who is 52 years old realistically expect to be able to
>obtain a 15 year mortgage, or will the lenders be turned off by the idea
>that he would still be re-paying at age 67 ?  Would he likely have to
>have a larger-than-normal down payment ?  Do 10-year mortgages exist ?
>Thanks in Advance.

John

I have some good news for you.  A 52 year old person can get a 30 year
mortgage. If you have the income to make the payments, you will not have a
problem getting a mortgage.

Most mortgages are not assumable now and lenders know the average life of a
mortgage is less the 7 years.  I recommend you get a 30 year mortgage and
pay it off in 10 or 15 years if you want to save interest cost.  You can
probably save 1/8 to 1/4 of a point on the interest rate if you get a 15
year mortgage.

The first place you should look for a mortgage is from the HOME SELLER. 
They will ALWAYS give you the best terms on a "carry back" mortgage.

Age does not effect the amount of down payment.  If you pay less than 20
percent down, be prepared to pay Private Mortgage Insurance.

GOOD LUCK
BOB_FORD@COMPUSERVE.COM

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:15:50 -0500 (EST)
From: BOB FORD <BOB_FORD@compuserve.com>
Subject: Re: rent or buy?

>I wonder if anybody would care to share their opinions about the pro's &
>con's of renting vs. buying in today's economy.  I had always heard
>that, traditionally, the "rule of thumb" was that you came out ahead by
>buying if you planned to stay in the same city for more than 5 years,
>but that you were better off to rent if you planned to move within less
>than 5 years. Is that still considered true today ? 

JOHN
In most cases you will be buying a house even if you rent.  If you rent,
you will be buying it for the landlord. No one can predict what home
prices will do in the future so it is impossible to say if buying a home
is best in all cases. 

However, in the long run, home prices are going to go up.  Consider the
tax advantages of home ownership, and mortgage deductions, and the cost to
sell a home to see if it is better to rent or buy in your situation.

> Also:  To get a mortgage on a house in the $60K to $100K price range, how
much cash does a person typically need to have on hand for down payment,

If you are a veteran, you can buy a home with NO down payment.  If you are
not a veteran, you can buy a home with 3 percent down.  Check with several
mortgage brokers in your area.

> lawyer fees, title insurance, mortgage fees, inspectors, etc. etc. ?

This cost depends on your (or your agents) ability to negotiate who pays
these fees. You can pay all of them, some of them, or none of the fees.
If you pay all of the fees, they are usually between 3 to 6 per cent of the
sales price.

GOOD LUCK
BOB FORD
BOB_FORD@COMPUSERVE.COM

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:16:36 -0500 (EST)
From: dmak@tma-net.org
Subject: Re:3-Yr Magazine Subscription

If I calculated correctly, the value of paying $90 today and $90 1-yr
and 2-yrs from now equals $250 today, assuming 8% interest, so if
they're asking $220 for 3 years, that's better.  Manytimes a
publisher will give a pro-rata refund if you cancel a subscription
midway, so I usually signup for the longest term, then cancel later
if I don't want it anymore!

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:17:36 -0500 (EST)
From: APRESTON@server.vcccd.cc.ca.us
Subject: magazine subscription value

huision teh asked if it is worth it to subscribe to amagazine by paying $220 
up front for 3 years.

a more fundamental question has to be "is it worth it at all to have the 
magazine?  do you get either financial or personal benefit from reading it?"  
if the answer is yes, then why agonize over an interest rate of 8% on a 
declining amount over a three year period?  if you buy a magazine and it 
sits, unread, it is worth nothing.  if you buy 36 issues, and out of all 36, 
find an idea that makes you $500 it was worth it.

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:18:18 -0500 (EST)
From: Anna_Christian@fortunemail.com
Subject: auto withdrawal to invest in stocks?

Does anyone have any information or know how I can have money automatically
taken out of my checking account and invested in stocks/mutual funds? I am
looking for something that takes a certain amount out every month.

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:19:01 -0500 (EST)
From: Kristina Miranda <Kristina.Miranda@eng.sun.com>
Subject: Risk in asking for lower credit limits?

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to those of you who responded to my credit report concerns. You 
were right. Those inquiries are not reported to creditors. So now my next
question is about asking my credit issuers to lower my credit limits.

I want to keep alot of the charge cards that I have...because of the
perks like coupons, pre-announcements of sales, etc. But when you add
up the credit limits of all of those cards its huge. So, I am thinking
of asking the credit issuers to lower my limit to $200ish for each of
my charge cards. This will eliminate several thousands worth of available
credit and maybe my credit score will go up.  Are there risks in doing
that?

Thanks for your continued advice,
Kristina Miranda
kmiranda@earthlink.net

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:19:29 -0500 (EST)
From: Kristina Miranda <Kristina.Miranda@eng.sun.com>
Subject: Non profits to help buy house

There is an agency in Morgan Hill, CA that will act as your
agent when buying a home and pay all of your closing costs
with the money they receive as commission. I am planning
on buying a house/condo with them in the next few months but
I'm wondering if there are similar agencies in Idaho that
someone might know about. My mom is in Boise and thinking of
buying. She could certainly use the help so if you happen to
know about such a non-profit organization, please let me know.

ps

If you are in the South S.F. Bay area and would like
info on this organization, let me know and I'll send
you their number.

Thanks once again,
Kristina

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:20:23 -0500 (EST)
From: Rich Carreiro <rlcarr@mit.edu>
Subject: Savings/Mortgage/Annuity formula

I felt the following might be a bit useful.  It's true
that it wouldn't be hard to find it in a financial book,
and there are plenty of financial calculators on the 
web (and spreadsheets often ship with sample pages to
do this), but if you ever want to just sit down with
your scientific calculator and run some numbers, you
might find this useful.

If you have an account that starts with a balance of B and the rate of
return (that you are earning or that you are paying) is R per period,
and you put P into the account each period, at the end of n periods
the balance b[n] of the account will be:

    b[n] = (B + P/R)*(1 + R)^n - P/R

For example, if each period is 1 year and you start with $10,000 and
add $1,000 per year for 20 years and earn a rate of 9% per year, the
balance after 20 years will be:

    b[20] = ($10000 + $1000/0.09)*1.09^20 - $1000/0.09
    b[20] = $107,204

You can also use this to analyze mortgages.  For a mortgage, the
initial balance is B=-L where L is the loan amount.  Each period is
one month, and the periodic rate R is the note rate Rn divided by 12:

    b[n] = (-L + P/(Rn/12))*(1 + Rn/12)^n - P/(Rn/12)
    b[n] = (-L + 12P/R)*(1 + Rn/12)^n - 12P/Rn

If the mortgage is for Y years, that means there are 12Y months in the
mortgage.  It also means the balance is zero (i.e. paid off) after 12Y
months, so:

    b[12Y] = 0 = (-L + 12P/Rn)*(1 + Rn/12)^12Y - 12P/Rn

which can be solved for P to get:

        Rn * L        (1 + Rn/12)^12Y
    P = ------- * --------------------
          12      (1 + Rn/12)^12Y - 1

So a 15-year mortgage of $100,000 at 6.875% would have a monthly
payment of:

    P = ((0.06875*$100,000)/12) * (1+0.06875/12)^180/((1+0.06875/12)^180 - 1)
    P = $891.95

You can also turn it around to solve for what loan amount a given
payment, interest rate, and term will support:

        12P    (1 + Rn/12)^12Y - 1
   L = ----- * --------------------
        Rn       (1 + Rn/12)^12Y

Finally, you can solve for the number of years, given the loan amount,
interest rate, and monthly payment:

         1    log(12P/(12P - Rn*L))
   Y = ---- * ---------------------
        12      log(1 + Rn/12)

Unfortunately, there is no way to get a closed-form answer for Rn given
all the other parameters.  You'll have to pick one of the formulas,
guess an Rn, see how close the equation comes to being true, pick
another Rn and so on until the equation is close enough to being true.

Interestingly, an annuity is just like a mortgage but in reverse.
With a mortgage, you start with a negative balance that you pay
interest on and add a fixed amount of money each period for a fixed
term such that at the end of the term the balance is zero.  With
an annuity you start with a positive balance that you earn a return
on and withdraw a fixed amount of money each period for a fixed
term such that at the end of the term the balance is zero.

So, if you instead consider L to be the initial pot of money, P to be
the monthly withdrawals, Rn to be the annual average rate of return
and Y to again be the number of years, you can directly use the
previous formulas to figure out how to compute monthly withdrawals,
initial size of the pot of money, or amount of time the money will
last, given any two and the rate of return. 

If you'd rather think in years instead of months, then consider R
to be the annual rate of return, B to be the initial pot of money,
P=-W to be the yearly payments (i.e. a withdrawal of W) and Y to be
the number of years:

   b[n] = (B - W/R)*(1 + R)^n + W/R

and we want the money exhausted after Y years of withdrawals, so:

   b[Y] = 0 = (B - W/R)^(1 + R)^Y + W/R

which can be manipulated to:

   W         (1 + R)^Y
   - = R * -------------
   B       (1 + R)^Y - 1

and solved for W, B, or Y in a similar fashion as before.

Hope people found this somewhat interesting...

Rich Carreiro
ARPA: rlcarr@mit.edu
UUCP: ...!mit.edu!rlcarr
BITNET: rlcarr%mit.edu@mitvma.edu

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:21:09 -0500 (EST)
From: "Joe" <joe@surfer.sbm.temple.edu>
Subject: Re: Phila City Tax - No Way To Avoid It

The only way to avoid Phila City Tax is by not working or living in the
City.  I am a faculty member at Temple University in Philadelphia, I live in
the suburb.  The tax (4.2%) is paid on gross income.  You don't need any
form since there are no refunds.

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:21:51 -0500 (EST)
From: David Martin <dmartin@seabreeze.hc.ti.com>
Subject: car financing

Tim,


>Why would I want to tie up 20K - 30K in lost investment capital over a
>4-5 year period?
>Of course, if someone is financing because they can't AFFORD to pay cash,
>then your point is quite valid.

	This is one case. In my case, I financed a car because I
needed a car right out of school and didn't have enough saved up to
buy one, but I had a good job, so I could easily finance it. 

>For sake of argument, let's assume that I've decided that it makes
>economic sense to buy a new car.  I'd much rather rent that money from the
>dealer at 4.9% and invest the 20-30K.

	However, usually, to get a good price, you can't get the ultra
low rate financing. In my case, when I bought a car, I got a 3-year
loan from my credit union at 7% and got a low price for the car. Now,
the interest on the 7% loan isn't tax deductible, and paying it off
early represents a 7% return after taxes. In my particular tax bracket
(state and federal), I would need a before-tax return of 11%. So,
paying off the car early represents a gauranteed 3 year before-tax
annual return of 11%.

	You might argue that you could pay a bit more for the car and
get the low financing, but the higher price might not justify
it. Also, in my state (NJ), you pay a 6% sales tax on the price of teh
car, so getting a lower price saves you an additional 6% of the price
differential as well.

					-David Martin

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:23:10 -0500 (EST)
From: "Cal Lester" <cal_lester@email.msn.com>
Subject: Re: Viatical Investments?

>From: Paul Davis <hpd@pacbell.net>
>
>Has anyone invested in viaticals?  If so, do you have any information
>on which viatical companies are most reputable? The return on these
>investments is excellent, although there is some risk that the
>viator will outlive his/her life expectancy.
>

Hy Leo & Paul;

You both asked questions about Viatical investments. Unfortunately,
I do not have any specific information on Viatical settlements.
However, I have an avid interest in them.

My first question to you is, "do you know what a Viatical is". BTW, the name
comes from the Greek, meaning " a long journey". An individual, or a
corporation offers to "BUY" an existing Life Insurance contract from the
owner of the contract, usually the insured, for a specified percentage of
it's face value. In order to "qualify" for the sale, the insured has to have
a life expectancy of "X", usually 6 to 18 months, due to very specific
health reasons.

The buyer ( or buyers) pay the insured, and assume the ownership of the
policy. They name themselves as beneficiary, and when the insured dies,
there is a "gain" on the original investment. It is my understanding, since
the death benefit is based on an "investment", rather than "love &
affection", that the GAIN would be taxable.

There are companies that buy these policies, and sell portions to the
public, $10k to A, $15K to b, and so on. They promise or possibly even
guarantee a specified percentage of gain, rather than an actual "piece of
the death benefit". That way, they keep the difference between what they
receive and what they pay out.

This has been a very simplified, but fairly accurate view of the operation
of a textbook Viatical.

Please be aware that MOST Life insurance companies today offer a better deal
to the insured, called a "Terminal Illness Benefit". If the insured
"qualifies", then he can receive 50% to 70% of the death benefit, with
little or no cost, and the BALANCE paid to his beneficiary at death. When he
sells it to a Viatical buyer, he get's 50% to 70% now, but NOTHING at death.
If you have any more questions, do not fail to ask.

Cal Lester CLU
Insurance course coordinator
Broward Community College
Cal_Lester@msn.com

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:23:46 -0500 (EST)
From: Robb Warren <rwarren@mis.net>
Subject: Re: Viatical Web Site

Here's a site with LOTS of viatical companies. 

http://www.hotfiles.com/hot/monkey.html

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:24:20 -0500 (EST)
From: Robb Warren <rwarren@mis.net>
Subject: Re: trusts Web Site

Someone asked about info on trusts. Here's a primer site.

http://206.222.111.20/

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:24:56 -0500 (EST)
From: "Ken Meinken" <kmeinken@bigfoot.com>
Subject: Re:  Maximum Age to obtain Mortgage? 52?

John,

my understanding is that it entirely depends on your future cash 
flow.  You can get a 30 year mortgage at 65 if you have the income 
(pension, IRA, ...) to support the payments.  I also think most 
lenders would be willing to work with you to make whatever term you 
feel is appropriate.

Ken 

------------------------------

End of persfin-digest V4 #130
*****************************


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