As the average age upon death continues to increase for both males and females, it is also interesting to note that contributions to a Traditional IRA must stop after age 70 1/2 and you must also start taking withdrawals from a Traditional IRA after age 70 1/2. Neither of these rules applies to the Roth IRA.

You are eligible to make the maximum contribution of $2000 to a Roth IRA if your adjusted gross income is not more than $95,000 for singles and $150,000 for couples filing jointly. You can convert all or part of an existing IRA to a Roth IRA if your adjusted gross income is not more than $100,000, single or married. You will owe the tax on any monies converted from a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, but you won't be subjected to the usual 10% penalty for early withdrawals. And if you convert during 1998, you can report the withdrawal as income spread out over the next four years, to reduce the immediate tax burden. Please note: This will only be allowed for 1998 conversions.

The younger you are, the more sense it makes to convert to a Roth IRA, because your investment will compound tax-free for a longer period of time. However, we have also found that even older clients will benefit from a conversion to the Roth IRA, if they can afford to continue letting it earn tax-free, because they will not be forced to withdraw it after age 70 1/2.

The Roth IRA also offers the extra benefit of penalty-free withdrawals for first-time homebuyers and higher education expenses. You still must pay regular income taxes on the taxable portion withdrawn, but there will not be an additional penalty. This feature is unique to the Roth IRA and is not available with the Traditional IRA. Other tax law changes during 1997 include:

• Married couples may now contribute up to $4000 per year but not more than $2000 per person, even if the spouse is a homemaker.
• If you are unemployed for at least 12 consecutive weeks, you may take a penalty-free distribution to cover the cost of health insurance for you and your family. You may take the distribution in the same year or following year of your unemployment.

One final thought- we have discussed the Roth IRA with many accountants, financial advisors, investment counselors, etc...and researched it to the best of our ability. We feel confident, that set up the way it exists today, the Roth IRA is probably an excellent choice for the majority of our customers. However, the Roth IRA is the result of political action within Congress, and there is no guarantee that future changes in our political landscape (i.e.- future Presidential elections) might not result in more changes or reduced benefits to the Roth IRA.

An Annuity can provide you with an optional, flexible retirement program, a secure cash accumulation plan, competitive interest earnings, tax savings and a death benefit for your beneficiary. Your Annuity can be used as an IRA and you can select your retirement income options-payments on a regular basis or a lump sum payment. You decide when and how much to pay into and withdraw from your Annuity. Purchasing an Annuity allows you to earn interest on your nest egg- tax deferred. Let's compare it to a Certificate of Deposit (CD). Assume a $10,000 deposit earning 8% and you're in the 28% tax bracket:

	CD	ANNUITY
DEPOSIT	$10,000	$10,000
INTEREST	+800	+800
INCOME TAX	-224	-0
NET YEAR END	$10,576	$10,800

In effect, your 8% certificate has been reduced to a Net of 5.76%. In ten years, your original CD would earn $11589 of interest with $3,245 paid in tax, leaving a balance of $18,344. Your tax-deferred Annuity would not be taxed, leaving a net balance of $21,589. 100% of every deposit into your annuity immediately begins to earn interest. Some people think that their money will be "tied up" in an Annuity, but actually investors have more days of availability with an Annuity than with a CD.

Our investment philosophy is to match assets and liability cash flows, applying stringent investment guidelines to assure quality, safety and liquidity. Ask us about the benefits of investing with a Life Insurance Company vs those associated with other vendors. Our current Annuity rates (As of 7/1/99) range from 4.5% on smaller amounts to 8% in variable annuities and on deposits of $50,000 or more. To find out what rates are available on any specific Annuity product- please fill out the questionaire below.
For information on personal tax issues and investment/capital gains tax obligations try:

• http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/ind_info/index.html

Please note: We treat all quote and customer information as strictly confidential. We do not disclose your information to anyone without your permission. If you are at all uncomfortable sending us your information electronically, you can complete the form, print it, and fax it to: 262-783-6211 or mail it to: 3620 N. 126th Street, Brookfield, WI 53005 and we will promptly return your quote via the same method. All information contained on this site is intended as general information and is for illustrative purposes only. This Web site does not, in any way, provide an offer of insurance. Every effort is used to maintain accuracy on these pages, but we don't offer any guarantee that this information will apply to any/every specific situation. Please call us at 262-783-6275 with any special situations, and thank you for visiting our site.