The Power Of Zero Show

If you have a history of premature death or cancer in your family you may still be a good candidate for an annuity. If your spouse has longevity it can still be a good option. Even if you're not in the best health there are still annuity products with certain features that can still make sense. Some people always want to have control of their money, but they have to realize that an annuity is not giving up control, it's about taking control over your risk. Annuities give you control over longevity risk, the risk of deflation, withdrawal and the sequence of returns risks. You're simply taking key risks off the table. The people who buy annuities are the people that want to have control of their future. Annuities are not meant for all of everybody's money. Most people should put 20% to 40% of their portfolio into annuities. If they did that it would solve most people's retirement issues. Life insurance is a great bond substitute for younger people, once you're 65 and above you can replace it with some time of income annuity. The way an income annuity functions inside a portfolio are like a triple A-rated bond with a triple C rated yield and zero standard deviation. This makes them a much better alternative to bonds. Most people don't realize that they can lose half their money in a government bond because of the risk of interest rates rising, which is a risk that's not present in life insurance and annuities. You aren't getting any younger and you can't take your money with you. This means you are supposed to spend your principal. If you have life insurance in place it allows you to spend your money guilt-free in a way where everyone wins. Annuities are ordinary income, but most people overestimate the amount of capital gains they are receiving. If you're in a mutual fund or managed money account, a lot of the time it's actually ordinary income because of the turnover within the fund. When it comes to the stepped-up cost basis the only area that applies is in unrealized capital gains. Most people think the stepped-up cost basis applies to their whole account but they actually paid for it in taxes for all the years they have it. It doesn't matter whether it's Republicans or Democrats, both parties spend like drunken sailors. Both parties are spending too much and borrowing to pay for everything. If you look at Modern Monetary Theory closely it only works as long as interest rates are low. Once interest rates start to rise they advocate for slashing spending very strictly which is the source of the problem. We are always willing to take the easy road (spending) but we're not willing to do the hard things (cutting expenses). It's hard to predict where the economy is headed over the next ten years because of the crazy amounts of unprecedented money printing recently. 1 out of every 5 dollars in America's history were printed in the last 12 months. They can keep printing money in the short-term but they can't do it indefinitely. Tom believes that at some point in the next ten years taxes will go, the market will crash, and there are good odds of another great depression-style event. People need to move from the mindset of building wealth to protecting wealth, and that's what life insurance and annuities can do. Another interesting point is that in the state of Arizona, the money you put into annuities is protected from lawsuits. Protecting your wealth is more important than building your wealth. Mentioned in this Episode: For advisors interested in learning more about Tom's training materials, go to tomhegna.com/webinars

Popular speakers in the financial and retirement space like Ken Fisher and Suzy Orman have made annuities rather unattractive. The major objection has to do with the supposed fees of the product, even though many of the annuity options are not actually fee-based products. Ken Fisher has high fees, just like other investment options like commodities, hedge funds, and real estate. Variable annuities have higher fees than mutual funds but they also come with guarantees, and he's essentially convincing people to move from those guaranteed products to another high fee fund. People often say they want no fees, but if that was the case they would just put their money into a savings account. It's not about the cost of the fees. Its about the value you're getting in return for the cost. Life insurance and annuities are not a religion and don't require your beliefs. They are both basically risk transfer vehicles. An annuity is essentially a guarantee that you will never run out of money as long as you live. With all the medical breakthroughs that have happened recently, people are living longer lives, which is only increasing the odds of falling prey to the number one risk in retirement. Tom believes that you should spend all your money and leave life insurance to your kids. Leaving your IRA to your kids is not a great vehicle to transfer your wealth. People have been programmed to spend their paychecks while they are working while not touching their 401(k)s and IRAs while they are working, but once they retire they have to switch their mindset. You should use your money to actually enjoy your retirement. Any money that you want for retirement is appropriate for an annuity, especially after the age of 59 and a half. Annuities are not meant for a down payment on a house or your children's college education, but depending on your goals, annuities can be one of the best places to put your retirement money. If you're young and want to save as much as possible without losing what you have, an annuity is a great option. It would be possible to purchase a significant stream of money by the time you're retired and it wouldn't be that painful if you spread it out over your working years. People need to start thinking about income, rather than accumulating a big pile of money by the time they retire. Tom owns eleven annuities but he has even more in cash-value life insurance. Tax-free income in retirement is going to be vital, and people are not prepared for how much taxes are going to go up in the near future. If taxes go up and the market crashes, there are going to be a lot of people who are going to suffer. Liquidity is not a one time event, it's a lifetime event. When you buy additional lifetime income you are increasing your lifetime liquidity. Annuities are a long-term plan. That money is not for emergency expenses. The overall strategy is not all or nothing. You can't put all your money into an annuity or life insurance, they are all part of a balanced portfolio. If you guarantee a portion of your income in retirement by way of an annuity, it will free up the money in your stock market portfolio to continue to perform for you. Life insurance and annuities are permission slips. They give you the ability to spend all of your money and invest more aggressively elsewhere. Tom has been a proponent of investing 1% of your portfolio in Bitcoin which fits right into his overall strategy. Having guarantees in your portfolio gives you that kind of option. In this low interest rate environment annuities are more efficient than normal because the interest rate matters less and less as you get older. You also have to compare the other options. Why be in the market when you can guarantee a 12% payout rate for the rest of your life? Mortality credits are extra money from the risk pool that you get paid the older you are and the longer you live. Because the insurance companies can predict mortality in a large group pretty accurately, they can price the plan differently and afford these kinds of payouts. Mentioned in this Episode: For advisors interested in learning more about Tom's training materials, go to tomhegna.com/webinars

The amount of money that we've printed over the course of the past year and what we'll print in 2021 is equivalent to the entire economy of Japan. Van Mueller believes that at some point in the future the US dollar will no longer be the reserve currency, and when that happens the standard of living for Americans will go down almost immediately. Every country is printing money and destroying their currency's purchasing power, but the US is doing it on a scale that's unheard of. If you talk with the right specialist, they can show you a strategy where you won't be hurt by these economic shifts. Leadership is the key missing factor in solving these problems. If we had politicians that were willing to make tough decisions we could salvage our country but those are few are far between, and people need to elect the ones that show leadership. There is no end of the world situation. Eventually, the US will fix everything, either through great leadership or a great calamity. For the people that don't strategize and plan for the upcoming changes, they will have a lower standard of living. If you want a better standard of living you need to plan now. The debt will never be paid back and we can make a number of assumptions from that. The government will do everything they can to keep interest rates low and there will likely be a ton of volatility in the markets over the next ten years. There are products and strategies that allow you to win in any circumstance, but you have to take the time to build these strategies or these forces will destroy everything you've worked for. Studies have shown that 93% of Americans take Social Security to their detriment instead of their benefit. If the goal is to maximize retirement income you should be maximizing your Social Security. There are all kinds of planning opportunities if you understand the right questions to ask. If you really want to know how long you're going to live, go through the life insurance underwriting process. Almost everyone is willing to have the conversation of how to keep their wealth to their family's benefit instead of sending it to the government, a hospital, or a nursing home. Based on the math, if you're married and don't do any planning, and you have two children, if you both pass away the IRS is going to be the primary beneficiary of your money and not your children. 99% of Americans don't understand tax law and don't realize the government's need for revenue in the future, and if they don't plan for that there are going to be a lot of people's hopes and dreams decimated by that. If you're an advisor, talk to your dry cleaner, your mechanic, and anyone that you know and ask them some simple questions because chances are they have no idea what's coming. This is the greatest time ever to be an insurance or financial professional. This is also the greatest time ever to own cash value life insurance. There is nothing else that can compete based on what the American government is about to do to people. Mentioned in this Episode: Van Mueller's newsletter and audio training for financial advisors can be found at vanmueller.com

The general public should definitely be paying attention to the impact of inflation and what's driving it. The government has gone to such ridiculous measures printing money that by the year 2029 the government will literally have to print the entire budget of the United States. Instead of inflation, we should be thinking of it in terms of a stealth tax. The M2 money supply is a good barometer for inflation statistics and by 2029 they are expecting the current M2 money supply to exceed $122 trillion, a near ten-fold increase from what's in circulation today. This increase in the money supply reduces every single American's purchasing power and constitutes an additional tax over and above the existing taxes. If you can reduce or eliminate your income tax liability, you are offsetting some of the damage of reduced purchasing power. It's vital to understand that not only is the government going to increase your income tax, they are also going to dramatically increase your stealth tax by decreasing your purchasing power. There are solutions to these situations that allow you to win, not just reduce the pain. The secret is in taking action before these problems can impact you. Truthinaccounting.org was created by accountants to give people an accurate picture of the financial state of the federal and state governments. The situation is bleak with the vast majority not being able to pay their bills already. We will be about $87 trillion in debt by 2029. We are going to have to deal with a new financial world that requires some strategies that protect you from the ridiculousness of government. States and cities are unable to print money, so the only way to pay their bills is to increase taxes, reduce benefits, borrow more money, or a combination of all three. The bailout precedent has already been set, but even if they get a bailout you will still be impacted. Even if the benefit remains, they are going to increase the taxes on it and reduce your purchasing power at the same time. If you add up all the money that the US government has ever printed, you will find thatover 40% of it was printed in the year 2020. They now have an unlimited printing machine that they are going to use regardless of the damage it's going to do to you, your children, and your grandchildren. The debt we talk about is not even the full picture because it does not include all the unfunded obligations. Most people expect to inherit their money all at the same time, regardless of the taxes they will have to pay. This usually doesn't end well. Van helps his clients to eliminate the income tax burden completely. It makes much more sense to pay taxes at the grandparent's historically low tax rates and reposition the money to tax-free now, instead of having to distribute the money all at the same time because of the Secure Act. Covid-19 has changed everything, but nobody knows just how much yet. The latest jobs report indicated that another 792,000 people have filed for unemployment. This means that 49% of all the workers in the US have filed for unemployment since the pandemic began. There are many jobs and industries that are not coming back or will be operating under a completely new paradigm. Even if we taxed every person who made more than $100,000 by 100% it would barely make a dent in the yearly federal budget. 81% of Americans make less than $75,000 a year, so anyone who makes more than that has a major target on their back. The government needs revenue, and they aren't going to wait. Over the next 25 years there are going to be 140 million Americans over the age of 65 and they are going to need money to pay those people. We don't have a tax problem, we have a spending problem. It's easy to blame taxes, but if we spent what we brought in and lived within our means we would be in a completely different scenario. The trouble is no one has the political will to say no. Mentioned in this Episode: Van Mueller's newsletter and audio training for financial advisors can be found at vanmueller.com

Some people have a concern about the implications of the tax arbitrage they could be receiving if they just waited. This is the key to the Roth plans and Life Insurance vehicles that Ed described. The big myth is that you will be in a lower tax bracket when you retire. If you let your IRA just continue to grow, at age 72 the plan will be out of your control, and you will be forced to take the money out at the prevailing rates, whatever they are at the time, for the rest of your life. For married couples, there is another problem they don't think about, and that's that one spouse usually dies first. This means the surviving spouse becomes a single taxpayer again. This means they will have the same assets and income but at much higher rates. If you don't pay the taxes now, there will always be uncertainty. If you lock them in now, you will never have to worry about taxes again. Most retirees don't suddenly begin spending like rock stars. If your single child inherits a million dollar IRA, they are going to be forced to realize it as income over the course of 10 years when they are probably at their highest earning potential, at a period of time when they can least afford to pay the taxes. If you don't need some of your money in retirement, doing a Roth conversion on that money is like a gift to your children and grandchildren. You can give them a tax-free account which can be coupled with a tax-free life insurance plan to maximize the benefits. We are in a period of historically low tax rates, and in a rising tax rate environment, it only makes sense to pay the taxes now and get the money moved to tax-free. Yet 90% of all retirement dollars are in tax-deferred accounts. Most people believe that tax rates are on the rise, yet still have the majority of money in tax-deferred accounts. The secret to having more later is to pay the tax now. All the good things in life you pay for upfront, but it's the bad things that you defer that end up costing you. If you take care of the problem early, you have less to worry about. Like spending money on dental care, waiting until the very end makes the problems more painful and more expensive. Covid has led to people running to their estate planners. It has put more attention to making sure people have a plan in place in case they die or get sick. When you combine that with the additional $3 trillion dollars in debt the US government has accumulated, we are going to have to face the day of reckoning much sooner than we thought. Just like stocks, with taxes we should buy low and sell high. Right now taxes are low, and they may never be this low again in our lifetime. A good analogy is like paying off the mortgage to your house. When you finally make that last payment and own your house free and clear, it's a great feeling. You can get that same feeling by paying the taxes now and owning your investments tax-free forever. You can do everything right when it comes to your IRA. You can build and save and invest well, but if you don't protect it, all your family will remember about you is that you blew it. The people with the most money want the best trained advisors. Ed has several opportunities for advisors to learn how to help people keep more of their money and other tax planning technologies. All people want larger inheritances, more control, and less tax. You control your rate and which advisor you work with. Only invest with an advisor that invests in their education. The problem with the tax rules in the tax code is that they are rigid and unforgiving. You need to get the right answer the first time. Mentioned in this Episode: The New Retirement Savings Time Bomb by Ed Slott can be pre-ordered on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TSZSSY5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

Ed Slott has a new book coming out called The New Retirement Savings Time Bomb. It's the updated version of the original book written 20 years ago where the time bomb was the tax building up in your IRA account. If you didn't know how to plan, you could be hit twice and lose up to 80% and 90%. Some of the Estate taxes have gone away since then, but there are other new threats to your retirement savings than ever before. Congress always needs money, and they will always go for the lowest hanging fruit, which is your retirement savings. It's like a deal with the devil, getting those deductions on the front end with the hope that you will be in a lower tax bracket. This assumption is where the danger lies. The Secure Act has ironically made your retirement savings less secure. The biggest threat is the elimination of the stretch IRA and the estate implications. Every plan needs to be reviewed and revised, maybe scrapped altogether for different thinking entirely. Congress needs money, which means tax rates are going to go up and that people will have less money in retirement. What is driving the need for these huge infusions of cash? Deficits and debts are the issue. The government has been recklessly spending for decades, and now it's only increased with the effects of Covid-19. When most people think of compound interest, they think of how Albert Einstein is the 8th wonder of the world. It's great when it's working for you, but awful when compounding is working against you. Compounding debt is the real issue. The math doesn't discriminate. The math bears it out that we will never see tax rates as low as they are today. We need a more stable and secure plan for the future. The history of tax rates shows that we could return to where rates were as high as 90% for the top tax brackets. You may only have one more year to take advantage of these historically low tax rates. People have to realize that they are in control of their tax rates. Taking advantage of the current low tax rates is the best tax planning you can do. Always pay taxes when the rates are the lowest. That may mean paying some taxes now, but you have to remember that taxes are a bill that won't go away. The concern about losing out on compounding interest when converting to a Roth IRA is a myth. If you are truly comparing apples to apples, there is no loss when using the same rates of return and taxes, but if rates go up, then everything changes. When rates go up, everything tax-free becomes more valuable. When you have money in your IRA, it is accruing to the benefit of the IRS. When you convert now, you are claiming your portion of the money, as well as the future interest. Taxes have to be paid for. It's not if, it's when. Why not pay them while they are on sale? Even in the worst case scenario, by converting now you lock in a zero percent tax rate for the rest of your life, which is not a bad consolation prize. After the Secure Act, using a trust to protect your money after death is no longer viable. Regardless of what happens with tax rates, this is going to become a huge burden for a number of people, and this makes a permanent life insurance policy even more attractive. People don't care about the vehicle. They want the results. They want low taxes, larger inheritance, and post death control, and a permanent life insurance plan that fits the bill. Mentioned in this Episode: The New Retirement Savings Time Bomb by Ed Slott can be pre-ordered on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TSZSSY5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

Joe Biden's tax proposal has serious implications for anyone attempting to use the Power of Zero paradigm for their retirement planning. We know that the current tax cuts enacted by President Trump will remain at their current levels for the next five years and will revert to what they were in 2017 starting January 1, 2026. This tax sale gives us a historic opportunity to take advantage of low tax rates when we are executing a shift between the tax-deferred and tax-free buckets. If you wait until 2026 to shift that money, the tax brackets will go up and it will cost you significantly more. The Democrats won the runoff elections in January which have created an opening for Joe Biden to bring about the tax initiatives that he campaigned on. Joe Biden wants to raise taxes on anyone making more than $400,000 per year. Not only that, but you will pay a FICA tax on any dollars above the $400,000 mark of 14%. Right now, Joe Biden has to go through the budget reconciliation process to effect a permanent tax cut, but he can use the same process to extend the current tax cuts. For all intents and purposes, Covid has thrust us into a recession. This means that Joe Biden will not likely raise taxes until 2022. Joe Biden could create a tax cut that would last for 8 years essentially extending the Trump tax cuts for another 3 years. For people making less than $400,000, their tax brackets would stay historically low almost until 2030. This gives you 8 years to get your shifting done and allows you to spread out the burden even more. David calculated the benefits of an additional 3 years when shifting $1.5 million to the tax-free bucket. The difference is an 11% difference in taxes that you would have to shift the money in a shorter time period. This won't be a great deal if you make more than $400,000 or if you are planning on shifting enough money to put you above that threshold. The reality is that tax rates are likely to be much higher in 2030 and beyond. Even if the dates are pushed back, it only kicks the can further down the road. When taxes are on sale, every year counts. As of Jan 1, 2018 you are on the clock. By keeping tax rates low for middle America the day of reckoning is a bit further away, but the fix will have to be much more draconian. Joe Biden is not fixing the root of the problem. In order to balance the budget by raising the tax rates on everybody, tax rates would have to go up to 49% across the board. Simply taxing the top 1% is not enough in order to get the revenue we need to right our financial ship. The tax base has to be broadened and everyone will have to pony up eventually. David believes that Joe Biden will work through the budget reconciliation to extend the Trump tax cuts by the end of 2021, despite that it's the opposite of what we need to do to fix our financial situation. If you're looking to get into the zero percent tax bracket this will be a great opportunity to stretch out your tax burden over a longer period of time. The Covid stimulus and vaccine are the priorities right now, but once those are dealt with he's going to start tackling tax reform.

There are some basic updates and thresholds you need to be aware of if you're interested in implementing the Power of Zero strategy. The first change is that your standard deduction went from $24,800 to $25,100. This may not seem like a big deal but does mean that you can have a larger amount of money in your IRA by the time you're 72. The Roth IRA rules are not being changed at all, despite other account types having their thresholds changed. There haven't been any dramatic increases within the tax brackets yet, just the usual adjustments to keep up with inflation but there are still numbers you need to pay attention to, particularly where the 22% and 24% tax brackets start. The 24% tax bracket is still the sweet spot within the tax code. It's only 2% more than the 22% tax bracket but allows you to convert nearly an extra $150,000. In the grand scheme of things when we are trying to protect ourselves from the impact of tax rate risk the 24% tax bracket is an important tool. The Roth income limit phase-out range has shifted slightly, this means that when you reach the top of that range your ability to contribute to a Roth IRA reduces commensurately. If you exceed that range your options include a backdoor Roth or a LIRP. As we go forward into 2021 you are likely to see changes to the deductibility of your 401(k). Joe Biden plans to level the deductibility around 26%, which means that at higher levels of income the 401(k) becomes less attractive and you should forego that deduction and put that money into your Roth 401(k). You are likely to see a change in the marginal tax rate for people making more than $400,000 per year. In an article by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, they did some studies that showed that at a certain level of tax will depress economic growth. It appears that the Biden administration may have taken their cues from the study. For example, if you live in California and add up all the taxes proposed by the Biden administration (39% Federal, 13% State, 3.8% Obamacare surcharge, +14% New Biden Tax Increase) it approaches the threshold that studies show directly impacts the economy. We are also likely to see forgiveness of federal student loan debt up to $10,000. Other people are lobbying for up to $50,000 of student loan forgiveness. If you have $10,000 or less in student loans, avoid making payments on those loans until the Biden administration confirms their plans over the next 6 months or so.

Due to low prevailing interest rates, the federal government has restricted the ability of industry experts to show the robust rates of return that LIRPs are capable of. When the Consolidated Appropriations Act was passed in the final hours of 2020 it amounted to a Christmas miracle, and it will be immensely positive for LIRPs and will position them to thrive in an environment of low-interest rates. Section 7702 is the section of the tax code that governs the tax treatment of life insurance and it hasn't been changed in decades. The tax limitations within the section are calculated by asking a simple question. Namely, at what premium level will the policy stay in force based on the life insurance expenses and assumed interest rate? Baked into the 7702 code was the assumption that your cash value would grow at either 6% or 4%, depending on premiums. When you put money into a life insurance policy, there is a relationship between how much money you can contribute and the death benefit that you are purchasing. This is because the IRS wants to define how much tax benefit you can get, this was directly affected by the assumed interest rates. On page 4923 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act that was passed at the last moment of 2020 we find a hard coded rate of 2% for 2021 and a floating rate based on prevailing interest rates in 2022 and beyond. This essentially means that you are going to be able to put considerably more money into a life insurance policy for the same death benefit. The expenses of these life insurance policies are relatively fixed, which means you are incentivized to put in as much money as you can to maximize your return. For people between 40 and 55, the amount you can contribute has increased anywhere from 60% to 100% with triggering a modified endowment contract which would result in the distributions becoming taxable as regular income. The end result is that LIRPs are going to become more efficient going forward. Bobby Samuelson runs some calculations in his article to illustrate the differences between the past regulations and the recently passed act. Using the new 2% hard coded interest rate, the scenario illustrates that you could contribute significantly more money while still maintaining the preferential tax-free treatment, while also increasing the rate of return. This allows you to also increase the distributions over the life of the program. Because of this act, all policies will now have more efficient cash value growth, which means the LIRP will be an even more attractive alternative to those who are using it as an accumulation and distribution tool. Other countries will eventually stop loaning the US money as we experience a sovereign debt crisis, which means that interest rates won't stay low for very long. The long and short of it is we should feel better and more optimistic about LIRPs now than we ever have. The ACLI and Finesca were primarily responsible for the new act by persuading legislators to lower the hard coded interest rate and linking it to prevailing rates in the future. This change will not affect any existing LIRPs that are currently in force but there is still some uncertainty regarding whether increasing the death benefit of an existing policy will be affected by the new legislation. This is great news for anyone who has a LIRP or is considering one to maximize their tax-free benefits. Mentioned in this Episode: https://lifeproductreview.com/2021/01/05/257-the-section-7702-christmas-miracle

Things may seem bleak when you look at the numbers, but there are solutions that we can implement that could help our situation and ultimately prevent the worst outcomes when it comes to the national debt. David Walker's book was divided into three parts: a wake up call, a call to action, and a way forward. He has a number of solutions that he's proposed that meet six principles. Any solution would have to be: pro-growth, socially equitable, culturally acceptable, have mathematical integrity, be politically feasible, and have meaningful bipartisan support. We have to agree that the real metric to measure is debt-to-GDP and we need to get it to a sustainable level within a reasonable period of time. We also have to recognize that this can't be done one reform at a time and needs to be addressed as a package. Medicare seems like the hardest nut to crack because it is tied to demographics and health care costs grow faster than inflation, which prevents the US government from printing their way out of the problem. Most Americans agree regarding gradually increasing the age of retirement over several years which was done in the 1980s Social Security reform package. Increasing the the taxable wage base cap and adjusting the benefits paid out (e.g., higher replacement rate for lower income and somewhat lower for higher income individuals) are reasonable solutions for Social Security. When it comes to healthcare there are a number of more complex issues to deal with. The first is that the US government has overpromised on healthcare. Government needs to determine a reasonable, affordable and sustainable level of healthcare that should be available to everyone and government needs to have a budget. Government will do more for the poor, disabled and veterans. The US is the only country on the Earth that doesn't have a budget for healthcare, which is one of the reasons that there are so many healthcare horror stories in the US. If interest rates simply return to 2003 levels, the cost of servicing our current debt quintuples. Interest rates are not going to stay low, they are going to go up. The only question is how much and how fast. David Walker believes that we will not default on the debt because federal debt is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The responsibilities of the federal government envisioned by the founders took up 97% of the budget in 1912. This has fallen to 29% of the budget, and was declining as of 2019. The higher the debt-to-GDP goes, the higher that taxes are likely to be, and the lower the level of economic growth we are likely to achieve. The longer we wait to solve the problem, the higher that taxes are likely to go as well. The biggest deficit the United States has is a leadership deficit. We have too many people living for today and not enough people focused on how to create a better tomorrow. The two party system is part of the problem. 43% of voters are unaffiliated, and are largely unrepresented. It ultimately falls onto the President to make this issue a top priority. We need a mechanism that engages the American people in unprecedented ways and sets the table for tough fiscal choices in Congress (e.g., a Fiscal Sustainability Commission), and the sooner we do it the better off we'll be. President Biden needs to deal with this problem because we only have one President at a time and one bully pulpit where the message can really make an impact. We need a number of political reforms because today we have a Republic that's not representative of, or responsive to, the general public. David recommends redistricting reform, integrated open primaries, ranked choice balloting, campaign finance reform, and 12-year term limits. Career politicians are not what the US needs. It's not what the founding fathers intended and it's one of the many things that we need to change to revitalize our republic. On a personal level, we need to focus on our families and our clients. We can't control what happens in Washington but we have to take steps to hold our elected officials accountable as much as we can.