What the research shows

Each piece applies the product-first approach to a question most investors are never shown. Together they explain why we review products before we build a plan.

Series No. 1

What Your Returns Are Really Worth

Fee drag, tax drag and market volatility in today's most common investment products, compared with the steady, tax-advantaged growth of dividend-paying Whole Life insurance.

$1,000 in the S&P 500 (TR), 1928–2024

$11.62M

$4.38M

$3.29M

Pure index (no fees)After 1% feeAfter fee & 25% tax

62%

of 97 years of S&P 500 growth consumed by a 1% annual fee (1928–2024)

28%

of the pure index value the investor actually kept after fees and taxes

negative years for the WL Index dividend since its 2000 inception

Download Series No. 1 (PDF)Ask for a drag analysis of your accounts

Series No. 2

Four Core Products. Hundreds of By-Products.

How stocks, bonds, CDs and Whole Life became today's financial services industry, how Washington shaped every step, and why the tax code treats the core products and the by-products so differently.

OwnershipIndividual stocksTaxed only when you sell; you choose when to buy, sell and harvest losses.

LendingIndividual bondsFixed interest, principal back; you set maturity, quality and income.

BankingBank CDs & depositsStated interest rate, FDIC-insured since 1933; interest taxed every year.

InsuranceWhole Life insuranceGuaranteed cash value plus dividends; growth tax-deferred, death benefit income-tax free.

Who owns a $1,000,000 pre-tax account?

IRA / 401(k), 22% bracket

You keep $780KIRS $220K

IRA / 401(k), 24% bracket

You keep $760KIRS $240K

IRA / 401(k), 32% bracket

You keep $680KIRS $320K

IRA / 401(k), 37% bracket

You keep $630KIRS $370K

Whole Life cash value* (loans / basis)

You keep $1,000K

Simplified illustration: full balance taxed at a single federal bracket; state taxes and progressive brackets ignored. *Whole Life access through policy loans and withdrawals up to basis, when the policy is not a MEC and stays in force.

4core products that nearly every modern financial product is built from

$51.2Theld in U.S. retirement accounts, most of it with taxes still owed (ICI, June 2026)

$300B+a year in federal tax expenditures for retirement saving: revenue deferred, not forgiven

Download Series No. 2 (PDF)Ask for a COMP review

Series No. 3

The Long Way Up: Volatility Over Time

A Return Percentages Analysis (RPA) of $1,000 held in the S&P 500 (TR) for 35 years, 1990–2024. Even a patient, long-term investor saw years of growth erased, more than once.

Three ways to report a return

Annual returnThe gain or loss in a single calendar year.−37% to +38%

Average annualThe simple average. It ignores the order of gains and losses, so it overstates growth.12.11%

CAGRThe single steady rate that turns $1,000 into the actual ending value.10.60%

After 19 years of investing and paying a 1% fee, the account was worth what it had been worth after 8 years.

From year 10 to year 23 the value grew just 1.7% a year. With a 1% fee, 0.6% a year.

Download Series No. 3 (PDF)Ask for an RPA of your accounts

The common thread

What you keep matters more than what the product earns: fees and taxes compound against you.
Volatility takes back years, not just percentages, even for patient long-term investors.
Layers cost money. Each by-product adds design, distribution and compensation between you and the core asset.
Tax control belongs with you. The core products give it to you; many by-products take it away.

Ask your Advanced Group consultant for any piece in the series, or for a version built from your own accounts.

Figures from Series No. 1–3 are hypothetical illustrations based on historical index data and stated assumptions. Past performance does not guarantee future results. See each piece for its full assumptions and disclosures.