Be careful not to invest in an annuity just because it is a recognized brand. There are many things you should consider when picking the correct annuity for you.

So when did the concept of life insurance originate? A much longer time than you might have guess, it originated before the birth of Christ. The Roman army used burial clubs to help each other offset the expense of a burial by spreading the cost of the funeral among the soldiers in the decedent’s regiment. Each Roman soldier helping each other.

Who do you know that makes $10 million a year? They don’t live in my neighborhood. Neither does Bruce Willis but every time he signs to star in a movie, his $20 million salary always makes the news. Do you think those contracts should be made public? Should any sector of our business sector be able to keep contracts secret? Do you really care? I can say that I don’t care, but I know someone who does, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the financial industry regulator FINRA care.

If Congress does not change the current law, the federal estate tax exemption in 2014 will be just $1 million. You do not have to die in 2013 to use this exemption; you can use it to make gifts now, while you are living. You do not have to completely give away your assets; you can make the transfers in ways that will let you keep control and even keep the income your assets are generating. Gifting can make solid sense. Under current federal law you can give up to $14,000 to as many people as you wish each year.

The public’s perception of a Private Equity firm is buying a larger company, splitting it up, selling the most valuable portions and leaving the rest in shambles….oh and letting the government worry about the pension obligations while making massive profits for itself. While that may not be representative of all PE firm deals, it does have strong merit. PE firms are short term thinkers, make the money and move on. Recently a much respected company, The Hartford, was purchased by a PE firm who promptly got The Hartford out of its core business, annuities.

“Economic growth is continuing at a moderate pace,” said Guy LeBas, chief fixed-income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia, which oversees $11 billion in fixed-income assets. “We’ve pretty much priced in the effects of the Fed slowing down bond buying later this year.” What does this mean for us as depositors? Good news in the sense that the options for a higher yield is strengthening. For us as tax payers it can mean the interest we all owe on our national debt is going to be higher and our annual budget debt much bigger.

If a bill introduced this spring in congress becomes law, it would transfer lending risk over to private enterprise. The new federal agency that would be created, Federal Mortgage Insurance Corporation, or FMIC, would regulate the mortgage industry. A fee would be assessed on each mortgage issued to provide funding. A second bill already in committee would terminate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac without a replacement, turning over responsibility to the Federal Housing Agency, FHA.