Jane Bryant Quinn
Get a Life, Plus Cash, for Insurance Policy
June 18 (Bloomberg.com). Jane Bryant Quinn takes a look at the life-settlement industry. "With a life settlement, you're selling your policy to an outside investor who will pay the premiums while you live and collect the proceeds when you die. . . '[It's] useful if you have a policy that's poorly priced -- say, an older universal life policy with large surrender charges. Sometimes you can sell it for enough to buy a new and better policy for the same face amount, says fee-only life insurance adviser Peter Katt of Mattawan, Michigan.'"

Life INSURANCE PERSPECTIVES
An Annuity-Rescue Strategy
The June 2008 newsletter is now available on-line. An annuity-rescue strategy with an emphasis on paying close attention to the details.

AAII Journal
Insurance Products and Taxes: Keeping Uncle Sam at Bay
June, 2008, by Peter Katt. Taxes are a fact of American life that impact many areas, including life and disability income insurance. Understanding the relationship between insurance and taxes is important. A look at several tax issues, with the goal of making you a more astute consumer of insurance.

Journal of Financial Planning
A Life Settlement Mosaic
March 2008, by Peter Katt. The market for buying and selling life insurance policies for investment purposes has a rational basis. But 95 percent of potential policy sellers should retain them, at least until the policy is near termination.

FORBES.COM
Forbes is now posting articles by Peter Katt on their website, www.Forbes.com. To see his articles, go to their website and search for Peter Katt. The most recent article is Taxes, Life & Disability Income Insurance, posted 4/23/2008.

The Wall Street Journal
Trading Up: When to Replace Your Long-Term-Care Policy
Wednesday, November 14, 2007, D1, by Jeff D. Opdyke. This article takes a look at long-term care policies. When these policies were first introduced they were wildly underpriced, causing insurers to push premiums much higher in recent years. Such rate increases are rare with newer policies. Mr. Opdyke takes a look at when consumers should consider policy replacement.

"So should consumers who routinely confront rate increases replace their current long-term-care coverage with a new policy?. . . 'That would be a reasonable consideration' for some policyholders, says Peter Katt, a fee-only insurance adviser in Mattawan, Mich."

WNYC
WNYC Interview
June 15th, 2007 Peter Katt was interviewed by Brian Lehrer on WNYC. The purpose of the interview was to discuss a Wall Street Journal article by Ian McDonald, "Golden Years: As Boomers Retire, Insurers Aim to Cash In". This article discusses how AXA and other insurers are pushing variable annuities to baby boomers entering their retirement years. Daniel Gross, of Slate, was also a guest on the show.

Wealth Manager
Protective Covering
December 2006, by Nancy Opiela. Many fee-only financial advisors stay away from insurance products, concentrating mainly on asset accumulation. Ms. Opiela makes the case that their clients may be missing advantageous planning strategies that incorporate risk management, and that by doing so they may be leaving the door open for their clients to seek help from other advisors. One of the areas addressed in the article is the need to turn emotional decisions into rational decisions.

"Peter Katt, CFP, Founder of Katt & Company, a national fee-only life insurance advising firm in Mattawan, Mich., says '... the difference between insurance salesmen and our firm is the difference between magicians and physicists... Magicians are a lot more fun, but our role with the client is not to tell them what to do, but rather to present a menu of choices. Our point isn't that the client should avoid any one product, but rather that each product has its own set of potential advantages and disadvantages.'"

The New York Times
How Much Is Enough in Insuring a Life?
September 23, 2006, by Hillary Chura. If you died today, would your family be destitute in a few years, comfortable, or toasting your good planning as they vacationed on the Riviera?... "Dr. Alexander Sudarshan, an eye surgeon from Los Fresnos, Tex., has $4.8 million in life insurance - $1.6 million in whole life and the rest in term. The idea is that his wife and three adolescent sons would live off the interest were he to die unexpectedly. To calculate his needs, he hired Peter Katt, a national fee-only life insurance consultant from Mattawan, [Mi.], who charges $325 an hour."

Money Magazine
Hidden Assets: Stop paying for unneeded life insurance
August 2006, by Carla Fried. Everyone has one: the folder where you stash old savings bonds, unused gift cards, crinkled IRA statements and dusty insurance policies. Comb through it and you might uncover some real treasure... "Peter Katt, a life insurance adviser in Mattawan, Michi., suggests a strategy that can save you from paying the premium, free up some cash without generating a tax bill, and keep a tax-free inheritance intact for your heirs."

The Wall Street Journal
As Workers' Pensions Wither, Those for Executives Flourish
Friday, June 23, 2006, by Ellen E. Schultz and Theo Francis. Companies run up big IOUs, mostly obscured, to grant bosses a lucrative benefit. "This is the pension squeeze companies aren't talking about: Even as many reduce, freeze or eliminate pensions for the workers - complaining of the costs - their executives are building up ever-bigger pensions, causing the companies' financial obligations for them to balloon. . . Actuarial estimate[s] done for the Journal by Katt & Co. of Mattawan, Mich. "

Forbes
Die or Your Money Back
April 24, 2006, by Carrie Coolidge. "New term life policies give back the premiums you paid--if you live long enough. . . . The no-tax policy, however, is not enshrined in IRS regs. So Peter Katt, a fee-only life insurance expert in Mattawan, Mich., warns there's always a chance that the agency might change its mind."

The Wall Street Journal
Setting Up Your Own Pension
Saturday/Sunday, March 11-12, 2006, by Tom Lauricella. As employer plans disappear, insurers offer more products promising income for life. ". . .Genworth takes a slightly different approach with its ClearCourse product. It is structured as a variable annuity, which is essentially a mutual fund wrapped in an insurance guarantee. . . Peter Katt, a fee-only insurance adviser in Mattawan, Mich., says he considers the guaranteed returns on ClearCourse lackluster. The guarantee 'would be more valuable if the investor could direct their investment to high risk, high-reward accounts,' he says.""