In this Email:


  • A Message from the VRTA President
  • The Secret Bank CD Alternative = MYGA
  • Today’s Interest Rates
  • What Can We Expect in the 2023 Session? 
  • Important VRTA Dates to Remember

January 2023

A Message from the VRTA President

Philanthropy Report


            VRTA continues to live up to the label of being a charitable organization.  The Executive Committee along with the Board of Directors are asked to agree on the recipients of the donations based on the research of members.  These selected members are charged with recommending organizations whose mission and focus align with those of VRTA.  Each year, the Committee and the Board agree upon the amount of each donation.  Below is a list and an abbreviated description of this year’s recommendations:


America Red Cross/Virginia:  The American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.  They provide humanitarian relief by helping people, communities, and nations come back from some of the most devasting situations.  The organization collects and maintains around half of the United States blood supply from millions of donors.  They respond to emergencies every eight minutes and to a disaster’s immediate aftermath within two hours of notification.


The AARP (The American Association of Retired Persons) is an organization that looks at the needs of the aging population.  It was started by Ethel Percy Andrus in 1958.  Their Mission is to empower people to choose how they live as they age.  Their vision is to create a society in which all people live with dignity and purpose.  The vision statement identifies a future, while the mission statement brings the strategies to achieve it.


The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Policy:  This organization advances racial and economic justice in Virginia by advocating for public policies that are designed in partnership with people most impacted, and shaped by credible, accessible fiscal and policy research.  Their research and analysis contribute to advocacy in Virginia and highlight root causes of systemic inequality in innovative solutions to advance justice.  They have done such things as securing access to healthcare for nearly 550,000 people with low incomes through Medicaid expansion to protecting state funding for K through 12 schools.


The Legal Aid Justice Center Just Children Program is Virginia’s largest children’s law program.  They rely on arranging strategies to make sure the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable young people receive the services and support they need to lead successful lives in their communities.  Through coalition building, policy advocacy, and litigation, they make lasting improvements for all children in Virginia.  


Virginia Capitol Connections is a political affairs and public policy magazine that is published quarterly.  For more than 30 years they have worked with maintaining effective working relationships with legislators and executive branch elected and appointed officials on all sides of the political spectrum.


VPAP for Virginia News (Virginia Public Access Project) is a source of voter information, nonpartisan and independent with a deliberate balance of Republicans and Democrats on its Board of Directors.  They do not lobby or take positions on issues.  Their single focus is to give Virginians information they need to make their own decisions.  The project was founded in 1997 with one simple premise:  If Virginia’s campaign finance system relies upon disclosure, citizens should have the right to know who is giving to whom.  


Virginia Voice is a nonprofit organization providing audio access to current newspapers and magazines and live audio descriptions for the performing arts to individuals who are blind or visually impaired or have a physical impairment that prevents them from using printed matter.  They have more than 200 volunteers that provide an audio reading and information service to over 5,000 individuals in Central Virginia and the Hampton Roads area.  Audio programs are broadcast over public radio stations such as WCDE-FM in Richmond and WHRO-FM in Norfolk.  They loan pre-tuned radios that only receive their broadcast.  In addition to their radio reading and information service, they recently launched a live audio description service.  The first of its kind in Virginia.  This service provides individual the opportunity to enjoy the visual aspects of theater, media, and visual art.  They are a nonprofit organization funded by individual and corporate contributions and by grants.  The Virginia Voice Live Stream is now available on all Echo/Alexa enabled devices.  The readings are also accessible online at www.virginiavoice.org.


Jean Marrow

VRTA President

marrow.j@aol.com



Jean Marrow

VRTA President

Phone: 804-350-7719  

Email: marrow.j@aol.com

VRTA Benefits

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Toll-Free (800) 467 5425

Email: savenow@creeksideadvisors.net

The Secret Bank CD Alternative = MYGA


With the stock market drawdown of 2022 and continued equity and bond market volatility, many retirees are searching for safe, principal-protected ways to earn a fair interest rate on their savings.  Bank CDs have historically been the safe haven of choice.  However, even with rising interest rates, many retirees are not seeing a correlation to significantly higher bank CD rates.


Solution - MYGAs


MYGAs, or Multi-Year Guarantee Annuities, provide a very similar benefit as a bank CD.  


Here are a few highlights of MYGAs:


  1. Your contract is issued and insured by an insurance company rather than a bank.
  2. Interest rates guarantees are typically VERY competitive.  Click for current rates.
  3. Interest grows tax-deferred within the contract and is only taxed when you distribute the interest.
  4. The original premium (your principal) plus any and all interest gains are fully protected and insured by your insurance company against loss.
  5. Contracts are offered under a variety of guarantee periods, however 3 year, 5 year, and 7 year periods are most common.
  6. The contract has no fees (unless you opt for a specific rider), so long as you do not exceed the penalty-free withdrawal privilege offered by the contract.
  7. Contracts offer beneficiary designations which allow for avoidance of probate should the annuitant die during the contract period.


MYGAs and Bank CDs share many of the same characteristics, but there are a few small differences, as noted above.  MYGAs are not suitable for every client and most contracts require certain minimums and suitability criteria prior to issue.


If you would like more information about MYGAs or discuss your current suitability for such a product, please contact Creekside Insurance Advisors Inc. for more information.


For more information visit



https://www.vrtabenefits.org/myga-rates


Insurance Advisory Services


  • Home & Auto
  • Medicare Products
  • Long-Term Care
  • Life Insurance
  • Fixed Indexed Annuitie


Financial Advisory Services



  • Retirement Income Planning
  • Pension Survivorship Analysis
  • Portfolio Management

Phone (540) 722-2529

Toll-Free (800) 467 5425

Email: savenow@creeksideadvisors.net

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT IN THE 2023 SESSION?


By the time you read this, the General Assembly will have been in session several days, since it began on Wednesday, January 11.  Although this is referred to as the short session, several thousand bills will be dealt with before its scheduled ending date of Saturday, February 25.  The main purpose of the shorter session is to make amendments to the budget passed last year, but there are a number of other issues that will be addressed, most of which will have some impact on the state budget as well as on  local funding of education.


A recent VEA analysis reminds us that although the Governor’s budget includes $422 million in new education spending, most of this is due to changes in enrollment and sales tax.  This is not sufficient to remove the arbitrary, damaging cap on funds for support positions, remedy the hemorrhaging of teachers from the workforce, work toward solving the school infrastructure demands, and provide other necessary services.  “Virginia remains in the bottom tier for state per pupil spending, hovering between low-resource states like Mississippi and Louisiana.  Education Law Center just moved Virginia down to an F grade for funding effort in their annual ‘Making the Grade Report (https://dlawcenter.org/research/making-the-grade-2022.html).’”  Yet legislation has already been filed that will fund experimental programs and give aid to those who seek education outside the constitutionally mandated public school system that enables Virginia to maintain an admirable ranking as compared to other states in spite of its low state funding.  Proposed legislation this session will include a number of small-scale investments in public education that only provide a band aid for a problem that needs a torniquet.  Not that we all wouldn’t enjoy more tax cuts, but when the coffers apparently have money that could be used to solve problems that have lingered for years, we must insist that money be used for these solutions.  Watch for specific bills on these issues that will soon be before our senators and delegates.


Efforts will be made again this session to establish nursing home staffing ratios.  Several senators and delegates are working on this issue which has been on the radar of some for 20 years.  We must be alert to proposed legislation that provides just a new way to “study” the issue or to provide a new layer of bureaucracy that will “regulate” the problem instead of challenging the powerful nursing home industry.  Improved staffing will be one of those indirect impacts on the budget by resulting in increased costs of Medicaid funding.  This affects people’s lives, and we must be more successful in advocating for those who are most vulnerable.  Watch for specific bills on this issue, also.


Please check your emails often so that you will have the latest information and requests for necessary contacts to your legislators.  We can’t assume that someone else will be making the contacts.  There is power in numbers.  Legislators must see an overwhelming support for good legislation and a deluge of opposition to harmful legislation.  They are keenly aware that next November all 140 members of the legislature will be up for election.  Some of them are in new districts and need to hear from their new constituents.


Maintaining and operating a democracy is the responsibility of all of us.




Bea Morris 


VRTA Legislative Chairperson


Email: beam1340@verizon.net


Important VRTA Dates to Remember

 

April 17-19, 2023: Spring Conference at The Double Tree