Levin Wealth Systems, LLC | About Our Firm

Do you ever wonder or worry about whether:

• Your personal and/or business assets are properly protected from predators and creditors;

• There are viable IRS and DOL approved plans that will allow tax deductions between $25,000-$150,000 and even $500,000 per year in addition to a traditional 401(k)/profit sharing plan;

• Your estate is properly set up to minimize, defer, or eliminate estate taxes and take care of the family in the event of death;

• Your personal finances are invested correctly and whether there are ways to mitigate investment risk/volatility and reduce or defer capital gains on investments. Additionally, if there are ways to mitigate or eliminate capital gains taxes on the sale of appreciated real estate or stocks;

• Your businesses are run in the most financially efficient manner;

• You have the optimal business transition strategies;

• And, how you can reach “Critical Capital Mass” (CCM), and stay there, to achieve Financial Freedom?

That’s OK. You’re not alone. Not anymore. I am on your side.

Most affluent and successful people have these concerns. And rightly so. That’s why I am here – to help you prosper; to preserve, and protect your Financial Fortress. Now you no longer need to worry or wonder. The answers can be found right here.

Welcome to possibly the most succinct, clear, and organized – with No B.S. — overview of some extremely important yet overlooked issues facing the successful and affluent. All in plain English.

            Why do you need to discuss these “arcane” topics? Because these subjects are of vital importance for those of you who have — or are working hard to obtain — substantial assets, and who may wish to protect and preserve them from predators, creditors, and bad actors. Those of you on this site, probably wish to continue to make the good and to avoid the bad decisions. Decisions that can have a profound impact on your future.

    Isn’t this information that you expect from your attorney, accountant, or financial advisor? In brief–no. But don’t blame them. They never learned about some of the advanced strategies outlined on this site. Here is why: many of these professionals lack the time (and their clients, rightly, lack the desire to pay them) to research a topic which only affects a small proportion of their client base (those that earn over $150,000 per annum, with a net worth in excess of $2 Million), people sometimes identified as the “middle class millionaire”. You are in the top 5% of their client base. In addition, the professional educational systems may not give these issues the attention they deserve. And it is an extremely dynamic, politically charged field with ever changing rules and regulations.

             Add into the mix, that a thorough analysis of the available options requires substantial mathematical study, investigation, and testing. This makes it difficult to keep up. So, your advisors are unlikely to have the resources to provide you with all of the needed tools to adequately protect and preserve what is rightly yours.

No perfect plan – real world math

Let me first state that there is no “perfect” way to build, protect, preserve, or transfer wealth; nor is there any one plan that is a good fit for everyone (no matter who tells you otherwise). Some of the examples you find here will truly show you how to “Maximize Your Wealth with Maximum Security” using simple verifiable math. Math, using real examples that are based on real scenarios.

Threats, Traps, and Risks

What is your answer to the following few questions? (Hint: these are not trick questions):

    -Are tax-deferred retirement (also known as “qualified”) plans tax-hostile or tax-favorable? Most will say that tax-deferred accounts are always tax-favorable.   You may be surprised to discover the real truth.

    -Are income tax rates most likely going to be the same in your senior years, and are you most likely going to be in the same income tax bracket? Most of us will acknowledge that income tax rates are at historic lows for modern times and that the chance of them going up significantly is high.

-From a financial standpoint, is it a good idea to pay down the mortgage on your home? While the answer for some of you is no longer a secret, it could be that it is not necessarily a good idea for you to pay down the debt on your home (so long as you have the discipline to use that same money to build wealth elsewhere).

-Does it make sense to remove some of the equity from your home to build a tax-favorable nest egg? Though it seems a bit counter-intuitive to incur more debt in an effort to build wealth, for many, removing equity from a home to build wealth may be the single best way to help them build a secure and tax favorable retirement nest egg.

There are risks we know, risks we know we don’t know, and risks we don’t know we don’t know. Taxation is a risk we know. Taxation is probably the biggest risk you face. For example, you may think that FDIC insured CD’s are the safest form of investment. However, as counter-intuitive it may be, and however contrary to what some financial media “pundits” have espoused, a simple fixed annuity may turn out to be far safer. Despite its expense.

    Let’s look at how they may compare on $100,000. First, their rates of return are often very similar. Assume they are equal at 3%. Neither provides upside potential. And both have limited principal guarantees of sorts. Both have early withdrawal penalties. The differences lie mainly in their tax treatment (and in creditor protection, and estate planning: in many cases annuities usually lie outside the estate, and often are creditor protected). The CD interest return is counted as income for tax purposes, and is taxed in the year it is applied. Not only is it taxed, but also that income is counted against you for Social Security distributions.

    Yes, Social Security represents an insignificant amount for many of on this site.   But stay with this to further show you the simple analysis. For easy figuring, assume also you are in the 33% bracket; then with the CD’s net growth of 3% the after tax is yield is $2000. Next year (if it could be re-invested at exactly the same rate) the growth of an additional 3% is on only $102,000. On the other hand, the annuity is not (even partially) taxed until it is distributed, and the next year’s 3% return gets to grow on $103,000. Moreover, even when distributions (through annuitization) begin, only the small taxable portion counts against you for Social Security purposes. So safety needs to be thoroughly analyzed. Things are not always as they seem. Things are not always as they were taught or sold.

The Third Sure Thing

It has been said that there are only two sure things in life—death and taxes. No one can stop or predict your death. And, our purpose here is to show you how to avoid, defer, eliminate or reduce your tax burden, through “bright line”, legal, safe, and proven strategies. (For a discussion on some of the inappropriate offerings that you must avoid contact the authors directly).

So what is the third sure thing? First allow me to digress. John Maynard Keynes, who is venerated by some and abhorred by others, nevertheless was a clever and educated person. He said in the “long run, we are all dead.” That is a truism. But how do we measure the long run? For us, I submit it is 20 years or more.

    In life, the third sure thing is inflation. No one can stop inflation. Not enough inflation is a bad thing. Think deflation, and the depression. Too much may be a worse thing. It destroys wealth and income and results in perverse incentives and behaviors. The “right” amount of inflation seems to be in the 2-3% range. Historically, over the past several centuries, by all measures, in all countries examined, inflation has averaged 3-3.5%. That also has been the average rate of inflation over the past 50 years in the United States when my father purchased his first house.

    How does the long run relate to inflation? As an example of inflation, my father recently purchased a Lexus. Not the top of the line model, either. In fact, it was the entry level ES 330. He paid twice as much for that car as he did for his first house. That is inflation’s long term erosion of your purchasing power. That erosion is inevitable. We must plan for inflation and be prepared for it.

    It may be urban myth, but someone once calculated that if you took the $24 in wampum paid for Manhattan Island 400 years ago, and invested it at 1.5% over inflation (the documented average long term rate of return for real estate investments), that investment would now equal the total value of all the real estate on the island. Even if that is untrue, the point is clear. Inflation is another major threat to your assets.

    Could inflation be the world’s eighth deadly evil? Well, inflation is the inverse of compound interest. Albert Einstein called compound interest the eighth wonder of the world. And the above annuity to CD comparison demonstrates one simple method to harness compound interest (by deferring taxes) to combat inflation.

It is not how much you make; it is how much you keep

If you wish to keep, protect, and control your fortune, I can help you fulfill that goal. I am not saying to be miserly. On the contrary, sharing your bounty with loved ones, and charitable giving are some of the things I believe in, try to live by, and participate in. It is in our culture to be charitable. Imagine how much worse off we would be if the ultra-wealthy did not achieve their wealth, and then did not give it away. Intelligently. Hospitals, libraries, museums, universities, and concert halls — all were funded by philanthropists who created tremendous wealth. And then they gave it away. Some achieved their wealth by nefarious means to be sure. But without amassing that wealth, their impact would have been dramatically reduced. Giving small amounts in frequent doses is helpful. Giving very large amounts is meaningful.

But charitable giving is not the point. Rather, properly retaining what is rightfully yours, and obtaining and utilizing the smart tools available to you, can provide you with the freedom to exercise your choices for your wealth. In any way you deem appropriate. That freedom, that confidence, and that security is the point.

What I am saying is that there are numerous and tremendously treacherous traps set by those who apparently may have designs to separate you from your wealth — the IRS, trial attorneys, government policy, unscrupulous bankers, unwitting advisors, feckless associates — waiting to take what is yours. Beware of these traps. You will discover here how to combat some of those, how to protect yourself from them, and best of all, how to avoid them.

It is our mission to empower you — to bring you a process for prudence and prosperity. To bring you clarity on these important subjects. Then, if you choose, and if you have enough, you can be charitable as well. Or not. On your own terms. Financially Free. Independent and confident.