CGFG For Financial Professionals

08/05/2026

Death with an annuity and death with IRA money. What do you as the advisor do with that money? I would put them into three different categories.

1. Non-qualified annuity with a lot of gain in it. You can stretch that tax liability out over the beneficiaries lifetime. This was unaffected by secure and secure 2.0. Some carriers will take it, some carriers will not.

2. IRA money where the beneficiary is more than 10 years younger than the person that passed away. They are likely not “an eligible designated beneficiary”, with a few exceptions. These beneficiaries are required to cash out the entire IRA within 10 years following death, to oversimplify it. Are there carriers that will take that money between now and 10 years from now? Some carriers willl, and some carriers will not.

3. IRA money where the beneficiary is less than 10 years younger than the original owner. This beneficiary is likely an “eligible designated beneficiary” which means that they can stretch that tax liability out over their life expectancy. Some carriers will take these, and some carriers will not.

The oldest baby boomer is 80 this year. Baby boomers own 2/3 of our country’s wealth. Make sure you understand these rules because unfortunately, a lot of folks are dying with a lot of money. We can help you navigate this and the various carriers.

We are working with a lot of “registered investment advisors” and “IARs” nowadays that maybe don’t have the time to figure out the annuity nuances. That’s what we are here for.

03/11/2026

Financial Professionals!!! You are Invited! CG Financial Group and Equitrust will be conducting a lunch and learn on April 7th in Des Moines. Not from Des Moines? Come see us anyway. For details and to register, click below.

Equitrust stands out as a leading provider of MYGAs, indexed annuities, single premium life insurance and long-term care annuities. Meanwhile, CG Financial Group is rapidly emerging as one of the top IMOs, dedicated to assisting advisors in the sale of annuities, life insurance, and long-term care s...

02/24/2026

Index products. There is almost always a moving part!

First off, there are some products that actually do guarantee the cap for the entire term of the annuity. This is a great option if you don’t trust the company. But, there is a trade-off in that Rate versus the products that do have moving parts.

Yesterday, we had a conversation with a guy that was talking about a product that he said had “no moving parts“. We had to burst his bubble and explain that although the caps and the participation rates on the product were guaranteed, the underlying index that was used did indeed have a major moving part. It was an excess return index. Nothing wrong with it, but if he truly knew how these things worked, he would not be able to talk about how there are “no moving parts“. An excess return index is basically like a built-in fee that can go up and down with interest rates. Again, I like some of these excess return indexes, but he was misrepresenting it.

In short, don’t be tricked by some of these products because there are two layers in the pricing formula that need to be looked at. The first layer is the product caps, participation rates, etc. The second layer is the underlying index. Carriers have gotten tricky over the years with what is hidden in the underlying index.

I believe that if call option markets are “efficient” over the long run, all of these strategies will perform about the same. My favorite? The plain vanilla S&P 500 strategy. Of course, I analyze the carriers as well. I won’t say who my favorite carriers are here. Message us if you want to have a conversation.

A simple way of looking at how much “juice” is truly applied to the call option budget is to look at what the fixed account rate is on that index product. Of course there are ways to beef up the “juice“ by additional fees, etc..

02/21/2026

Roth IRA conversions.  Talk with your clients about how they can generate more after tax wealth by paying taxes on their pre-tax assets sooner rather than later. 

Here is a very high level video that shows you how you can have conversations around Roth IRA Conversions with your clients. If you dont feel comfortable wi...

02/02/2026

5.7% Guaranteed for 5-Years is a big deal. Then you take your money and walk. A- Rated Company. Let us know if you would like additional details.

Guaranteed Annuity Rates that are among the highest paying in the country. Combat inflation and low interest rates.

01/09/2026

Advisors, you have to know this stuff in order to truly help your clients and beneficiaries once death happens.

Decedent IRA Whitepaper and Cheat Sheet.

01/01/2026

Three times over the last month I’ve had small business owners and one farmer come to me asking how they can get tax write offs for 2025.

One of the easiest ways to do so is by setting up a “SEP IRA”. For instance, if you are a “sole proprietor” business owner, you can put away up to $70,000 for 2025 in a SEP IRA. Assuming you make enough income, of course. And you have until your tax filing deadline to do so. It is as easy as filling out one IRS form to set up the SEP. 70k is a nice tax write off!

Of course, various rules apply that you need to be aware of. Do you have employees? How much income does your business make? Are you contributing to other retirement plans? Etc., etc. But let us know if you have any questions or additional details.  

12/23/2025

Financial Professionals! Do you know your Medicare "IRMAA"? Whitepaper below.

As the year winds down and the days get shorter,so does the window for proactive planning. Thefinal quarter of the year brings a natural pausepoint for clients reviewing Medicare coverageduring open enrollment, evaluating year-endtax strategies, and preparing for changes in thebroader retirement lan...

10/23/2025

Long-Term Care Policies and increasing premiums. Although today there are many product options where the insurance company CANNOT increase premiums, the traditional long-term care policies are indeed able to increase their premiums, subject to state regulators' approval.

With that said, we examine a ton of LTC policies every week. Here is what we have found when somebody comes to us and asks if they should stop paying on their LTC policy that is, say, twenty years old. These people are usually upset that the insurance company increased their premiums, yet again. After the analysis, the answer is usually NO, THEY SHOULD NOT ABANDON THEIR OLD POLICY.

As much as it stinks to have 100%, 200%, 300% premium hikes over the years, those policies may still be what is in the clients' best interest. That is because they have paid in for so long, and also because those old policies CAN still be cheaper than new policies today, even after the premium hikes.

Nevertheless, LTC is one of the largest financial crises that many of us will face. If one has no LTC coverage, there are great "hybrid" LTC options that exist today. Inquire with CG Financial Group, LLC