We have been nothing but ecstatic!

Even though the market may not perform as I anticipate, I feel safe that it is principally protected.

Like most high income earners, I understand that my social security benefits and 401(k) contributions will not be sufficient to fund my personal retirement needs.  I am also aware that 70% of my retirement income will need to come from what I am able to accumulate and save on my own. With two of my three kids in college, I have been advised by every financial planner that at a minimum I need protection that would replace my income if I became ill, needed long term care, or passed away prematurely. In addition, I would need to save 30% of what I earn to maintain my current lifestyle throughout retirement, and invest it in the market to keep up with inflation.  As if that wasn’t enough, I was told that I need to defer even more of my salary into pre-tax investments, and that I would need to pay for all of these benefits out of pocket at a time my expenses were the highest they had ever been.  In my search to find solutions, it was frustrating and disappointing to find that every financial advisor I reached out to for a solution was offering the same traditional plans that didn’t offer any cost efficiency.

I needed a way to change the status quo. Determined to solve this issue, my partners and I did our research, developed relationships, and created our own strategy we call Kai-Zen.  Kai-Zen changed they status quo by offering the one thing no one else was offering, leverage. Kai-Zen offered me the only real opportunity to get the extra cash I needed to fund a strategy sufficiently.  With the additional money added to my contributions, I was able to participate in a strategy that provided everything I needed.  It provides me with death benefit coverage, protections against critical illness, supplemental retirement income, the potential for upside market capture without market losses, growth compounding tax deferred, access to income tax free loans, and the leverage to add three times more money to my strategy. That’s tough to beat.

I admit I am biased, but I am also a cynic. I looked at my own situation, how much money I could afford to set aside, and what could go wrong.  I’ve run thousands of simulations and comparisons and I can’t find another strategy that comes close to providing what I can get with the Kai-Zen strategy.

I am writing this letter to thank you for creating the Kai-Zen program. I am a cusp member of Generation X, having missed the Baby Boom by one year. I have grave concerns about how I can protect my family and myself in retirement. Typical to my generation – I have little faith in Social Security – I have maxed out my 401K year over year, and of course do not have a pension. The Kai-Zen program is the most compelling option I have seen in my search for a solution. Kai-Zen literally takes a strategy that has been used for years and makes it better. NIW has found a new way to bring new money to the table to improve a solution that has been used in the large corporate world for decades and make it relevant in the personal market.

Kai-Zen takes advantage of the equity option trade within a tax deferred growth wrapper that affords me upside opportunity with downside protection. Essentially I have a trade that gives me asymmetric risk that inures to my personal benefit.

All programs, strategies, investment come with risk – there would not be the opportunity for return without risk. The annual review and monitoring provides me with the tools I need to evaluate the strategy annually.

I am writing this letter not from a professional perspective, but as a personal participant.

Thank you for all that you have taught me.

When I first learned about Kai-Zen, I struggled to overcome the too-good-to-be-true feeling. After talking to a number of insurance professionals, accountants, attorneys, financial and tax advisors and asking them to challenge the structure and the strategy, I finally came around and enrolled. I view my participation in Kai-Zen as a safe and functional component of my portfolio; one that gives me and my family important protections that were previously missing from my life plan.