[3.0L]

A friend recently asked for advice regarding IUL, or Indexed Universal Life insurance policy. From what little I've read, it is linked to the Stock Market Index. I did some limited reading and it seems to be more of a life insurance policy and not really an investment as he described it. Beyond that, I know nothing. Anyone have any experience with IUL?

[Chick Webb]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

Anyone have any experience with IUL?

Not personally familiar, but this is what ChatGPT says about 'em:

Indexed universal life insurance (IUL) is a type of permanent life insurance policy that combines a death benefit with a savings component. It is designed to provide lifelong coverage with the potential for cash value growth.

Here's how an IUL policy typically functions:

• Premium payments: The policyholder pays regular premiums to the insurance company. These premiums are used to fund the death benefit and the cash value component of the policy.
  
• Death benefit: The death benefit is the amount of money that is paid to the policy's beneficiaries when the policyholder dies. The death benefit is typically tax-free and can be used to pay for final expenses, provide income to surviving family members, or pay off debts.
  
• Cash value: A portion of each premium payment is allocated to a cash value account within the policy. The cash value is invested in an index such as the S&P 500 or the NASDAQ, and the value of the account grows based on the performance of the index.
  
• Index crediting: The cash value account is credited with a portion of the index's gains, up to a specified cap. If the index performs poorly, the cash value account is not credited with any gains, but it is also not subject to losses.
  
• Policy loans and withdrawals: Policyholders can access the cash value of the policy through loans or withdrawals. These funds can be used for any purpose, such as paying for college or supplementing retirement income. However, any outstanding loans or withdrawals reduce the death benefit of the policy.

Overall, an IUL policy provides permanent life insurance coverage with the potential for cash value growth based on the performance of a stock market index. While IUL policies can offer benefits such as tax-free death benefits and potential for cash value growth, it's important to carefully consider the fees and charges associated with these policies, as well as the risks associated with investing in the stock market. It's important to speak with a financial advisor or insurance agent to determine if an IUL policy is the right choice for your specific needs and goals.

Sounds like a forced savings/investment plan with a guaranteed payout on death to me. Not sure why you wouldn't buy a "regular" UL policy and invest the excess money yourself if it's just going into an index. I guess if you don't have the discipline to invest it yourself?

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by Chick Webb

Not personally familiar, but this is what ChatGPT says about 'em:



Sounds like a forced savings/investment plan with a guaranteed payout on death to me. Not sure why you wouldn't buy a "regular" UL policy and invest the excess money yourself if it's just going into an index. I guess if you don't have the discipline to invest it yourself?

You must've met my friend.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by jmack

Offices will probably never be a thing again, despite what a handful of sociopath middle managers want. People's eyes have been opened and talented professionals will never RTO.

Offices will definitely be a thing in the future, they just might look a bit different with more compact and efficent layouts where office and cube "hoteling" is common rather than people having their dedicated spaces. Hoteling can work well with people coming in 2 to 3 days a week. In most cases, being in the office fulltime won't be as common as it once was, but most companies will go to a hybrid system requiring staff to be in the office 2-3 days a week. For younger and newer staff, probably more often to get to know people in person. For our staff that only want to come in 2-3 days a week, they are in a hoteling situation. For me that comes in 3+ days a week, I get a dedicated office.

As a 48 y/o manager in the environmental consulting with 25 years of experience, there is NO WAY for a new staff member, especially one fresh out of the school, to be remotely successful being fully remote compared to someone that is coming into the office on a routine basis. I have seen this first hand with numerous staff in our offices over the past 3 years. There is something to be said to be able to walk to your manager's office to ask question, shoot the crap, and such. Same goes for just talking with your colleagues by the coffee machine. I don't know how many times I've learned something new, solved a problem, etc. by just randomly shooting the crap with someone while waiting for my coffee cup to fill. Doing video and conference calls is terrible and inefficient for so many reasons, IMO.

[ASAP]

Jpow just dropped the gauntlet.

[NickyC]

PacWest next up.

Of course I’m wrong again, I thought no way they’d continue raising rates considering the bank failures which have occurred. Another 25bps today, regional banks will be in even worse shape!

[LuvMyE92]

Originally Posted by Chick Webb

Not sure why you wouldn't buy a "regular" UL policy and invest the excess money yourself if it's just going into an index. I guess if you don't have the discipline to invest it yourself?

That, and I suspect that the earnings are tax deferred in the insurance policy. Actually, since it's a life insurance policy, I guess it's not really taxable anyway. I could be wrong. Don't invest based on information you find on a car forum!

Originally Posted by XutvJet

There is something to be said to be able to walk to your manager's office to ask question, shoot the crap, and such. Same goes for just talking with your colleagues by the coffee machine. I don't know how many times I've learned something new, solved a problem, etc. by just randomly shooting the crap with someone while waiting for my coffee cup to fill. Doing video and conference calls is terrible and inefficient for so many reasons, IMO.

Absolutely. Team dynamics, training, all that stuff suffers with remote work. I actually hired a guy when we were 100% remote - that was a unique experience. He's working out great, but he would really prefer to be at home (we're 2 days a week WFH).

As for the offshoring comments above, a lot of companies that moved jobs offshore in the past 20 years have been moving them back to the USA. This may go through some more cycles, but when you get enough old farts like me complaining that they can't understand a strong Indian (Desi) accent or South African accent, it just makes it all the more difficult. Not to mention the challenge of dealing with/working with people in different time zones. Not EST versus CST but 12 hours difference!

[tgrundke]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

there is NO WAY for a new staff member, especially one fresh out of the school, to be remotely successful being fully remote compared to someone that is coming into the office on a routine basis. I have seen this first hand with numerous staff in our offices over the past 3 years..

Exactly. New staff who think that they can work from home and learn the ins-and-outs from the seasoned staff are deluding themselves.

[ASAP]

WFH is such a debatable topic I don't even know where to start...

At a high level, it is far better for the greater good, less commercial real estate, more room for regular housing, less pollution, less time wasted, less miles driven and I could g on and on... only in a totalitarion consumerist society would people want to go into an office... which is well what the USA is. It also proves how useless some folks jobs are... i see all these memes about people dicking around when wfh etc etc... my dude that isnt a wfh problem... that is a your job sucks and isn't needed problem.

In my job, i wfh but if I dick around, it becomes obvious.

I will say on the other hand of the stick, for the more junior folks, it is wise for them to be in the office for a bit to learn the ropes... i did that for years before I got to wfh. I wfh all the time now and am somehow more informed than most people that are in office, but again that comes from experience... i dont see a full reversal in any sort of way... u will see so many folks dicking around at the office that you have no idea.

[ASAP]

Originally Posted by tgrundke

Correct: professionals will thrive. However, there are a lot of new entrants into the workforce who will be at a significant disadvantage over the long-term.

More importantly: the white collar workforce has now been effectively globalized. This is not good for white collar wages in the US.

Case in point: friend in the midwest took a remote job in 2021, working for a Boston company. His salary was $70k, which was a bargain compared to what the company would pay for a local Bostonian ($95k+).

Found out on Friday he's been replaced by a team out of South Africa. Since he's in the decision making process he knows the numbers: the SA team (TEAM, not individual) is $40k. Team in Boston is still intact, only remote staff in the US were laid off.

If you can work "from wherever", then the company will hire "from wherever".

look in the mirror and immediately ask yoursf what cannot be outsourced? be very careful w your answer

[Chick Webb]

This morning during a long and very interesting discussion on Bloomberg about the current financial instability I heard this:

The Common Man is being sacrificed on the altar of Jay Powell's ego.

I would add, "again". The first time was when his conviction that inflation was transitory kept interest rates near zero for far too long and subsequently ushered in the longest period of high inflation that we've seen in 40 years. The second was when he kept raising them in the face of the what is quickly becoming the worst banking crisis since the S&L debacle that followed. History will not be kind to him. I expect he'll be out of a job soon. Hopefully Yellen, too.

When SVB failed I told my my wife, "well, now we'll have a recession for sure." Yesterday after the news about PACW broke I told her, "well, now we'll have a recession (at least) this year." The Fed will be forced to pivot at some point, but by then it'll be too late. With credit for small and medium businesses essentially frozen I believe we will see a rapid deterioration of the economy, with job losses accelerating into the summer. By labor day it's going to be ugly. Demand will likely drop far enough that inflation will be zero by the end of the year. At least that problem will have been solved.

Time to extend duration. TLT looks like a good buy.

[Chick Webb]

Originally Posted by ASAP

WFH is such a debatable topic I don't even know where to start...

I do. Companies that pursue remote work will, long term, suffer The Tragedy of the Commons.

TL;DR

If users ... act to maximise their self-interest and do not coordinate with others to maximise the overall common good, exhaustion and even permanent destruction ... may result...

[ASAP]

oh my man or woman... have I got a ton to teach you about capitalism 😂😂

[ASAP]

Originally Posted by Chick Webb

This morning during a long and very interesting discussion on Bloomberg about the current financial instability I heard this:


I would add, "again". The first time was when his conviction that inflation was transitory kept interest rates near zero for far too long and subsequently ushered in the longest period of high inflation that we've seen in 40 years. The second was when he kept raising them in the face of the what is quickly becoming the worst banking crisis since the S&L debacle that followed. History will not be kind to him. I expect he'll be out of a job soon. Hopefully Yellen, too.

When SVB failed I told my my wife, "well, now we'll have a recession for sure." Yesterday after the news about PACW broke I told her, "well, now we'll have a recession (at least) this year." The Fed will be forced to pivot at some point, but by then it'll be too late. With credit for small and medium businesses essentially frozen I believe we will see a rapid deterioration of the economy, with job losses accelerating into the summer. By labor day it's going to be ugly. Demand will likely drop far enough that inflation will be zero by the end of the year. At least that problem will have been solved.

Time to extend duration. TLT looks like a good buy.

J POW ultimately played politics and lost... he was bullied by the party in power to do nothing that would affect employment and the markets... well and here we are.

To be clear... jpow was elected by Trump and reelected by Biden... everyone is to blame.

[Luxury]

Does anyone here use irony as a component in the development of their investment thesis?

[2008M36MT]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

Offices will definitely be a thing in the future, they just might look a bit different with more compact and efficent layouts where office and cube "hoteling" is common rather than people having their dedicated spaces. Hoteling can work well with people coming in 2 to 3 days a week. In most cases, being in the office fulltime won't be as common as it once was, but most companies will go to a hybrid system requiring staff to be in the office 2-3 days a week. For younger and newer staff, probably more often to get to know people in person. For our staff that only want to come in 2-3 days a week, they are in a hoteling situation. For me that comes in 3+ days a week, I get a dedicated office.

As a 48 y/o manager in the environmental consulting with 25 years of experience, there is NO WAY for a new staff member, especially one fresh out of the school, to be remotely successful being fully remote compared to someone that is coming into the office on a routine basis. I have seen this first hand with numerous staff in our offices over the past 3 years. There is something to be said to be able to walk to your manager's office to ask question, shoot the crap, and such. Same goes for just talking with your colleagues by the coffee machine. I don't know how many times I've learned something new, solved a problem, etc. by just randomly shooting the crap with someone while waiting for my coffee cup to fill. Doing video and conference calls is terrible and inefficient for so many reasons, IMO.

Completely agree with everything you said, especially concerning new employees. All else being equal, if a manager has two young employees and an issue requires immediate resolution, most likely that manager will just go right outside her office and get that answer from the employee sitting right there, not set up a call and try to explain via Zoom. I got my brother hired at my company and told him to take every opportunity to go into the office and to get his name out there.
I am thankful for remote work however. I knew what I needed to get done in order to become successful but labored through every second of it because I’m an introvert. I traveled the world with my bosses over the years but where they wanted to shoot the shit after work I wanted to go back to the hotel and eat takeaway. They were all awesome people and each helped me get to the next level, and it was always fun once I was out, but man getting there was misery. Once the day finished I was exhausted. I don’t know how much higher I want to go, but I did what needed to be done in order to get where I am and advise all junior employees as such.

[chassis]

Originally Posted by Chick Webb

I do. Companies that pursue remote work will, long term, suffer The Tragedy of the Commons.

TL;DR

Please flesh this out. You haven’t connected the dots or landed the airplane on this.

[Germanauto]

Ya'll recommend a 5% brokered CD or SPAAX type money market fund yieled 4.3%+? Keeps cash more liquid

[2008M36MT]

Originally Posted by Germanauto

Ya'll recommend a 5% brokered CD or SPAAX type money market fund yieled 4.3%+? Keeps cash more liquid

I went CDs.

[chassis]

Originally Posted by Germanauto

Ya'll recommend a 5% brokered CD or SPAAX type money market fund yieled 4.3%+? Keeps cash more liquid

Treasuries on the secondary market through your brokerage. 3 month is juicy now. Need to care for and feed this strategy because of short duration.

[Chick Webb]

Originally Posted by chassis

Please flesh this out. You haven’t connected the dots or landed the airplane on this.

It's natural for people to act in their own interests, even if there is a cost to the greater whole. As Aristotle said - "That which is common to the greatest number gets the least amount of care. Men pay most attention to what is their own: they care less for what is common." One of the functions of structures such as governments and corporations is to temper those impulses so that, in the end, everyone benefits.

As others have observed, there are many, many things that happen when people are in the office that simply can't when they're not. Those things are, long term, critical to the health of a company. Culture, relationships, serendipitous interactions, etc. They represent The Commons.

To the extent that people insist on working remotely (and their management allows it), they are taking from The Commons and not contributing to it. That, ultimately, results in the degradation/destruction of The Commons, and in this case, the company.

[chassis]

Originally Posted by Chick Webb

It's natural for people to act in their own interests, even if there is a cost to the greater whole. As Aristotle said - "That which is common to the greatest number gets the least amount of care. Men pay most attention to what is their own: they care less for what is common." One of the functions of structures such as governments and corporations is to temper those impulses so that, in the end, everyone benefits.

As others have observed, there are many, many things that happen when people are in the office that simply can't when they're not. Those things are, long term, critical to the health of a company. Culture, relationships, serendipitous interactions, etc. They represent The Commons.

To the extent that people insist on working remotely (and their management allows it), they are taking from The Commons and not contributing to it. That, ultimately, results in the degradation/destruction of The Commons, and in this case, the company.

Thanks and interesting. Agreed that (contributions to) culture suffers when insufficient numbers of people are there to create and tend to it. It's a funny thing.

A question to think about is whether there are other ways to contribute to the Commons besides physical presence in an office. I don't know the answer, just thinking out loud.