| |
Heads up,
retirees! If you depend on your investments to maintain your
standard of living you need to know times have changed.
Unless you recognize these changes and adjust how you invest
you could be putting your lifestyle at risk.
In today’s environment, you need to maintain the ability to
quickly and easily make changes to your portfolio. You
should be able to change individual investments, change
investment products and even change advisors without
incurring automatic penalties.
Many of the popular investment products being recommended to
seniors today, especially variable or equity-indexed
annuities, rob you of this ability. The result is that you
can be trapped in an investment that doesn’t perform well
and no longer meets your needs. Or worse yet, sudden
misfortune could cause you to tap those funds unexpectedly.
Investing used to be much simpler. It used to be that you
could buy stock in a quality company, set it in a drawer,
and forget about it. But that’s certainly not the case
today. Many companies once considered safe investments no
longer exist. On top of that, some corporate managers line
their pockets, in effect, stealing from their shareholders.
Investing choices used to be much simpler, too. Individual
stocks and bonds, mutual funds and CDs were the building
blocks of your parents’ portfolios. But today, you have to
choose between thousands of mutual funds, annuities of all
sorts, index funds, exchange-traded funds, or TIPS to name a
few.
Where to invest has also become more complicated. Recent
legislation has blurred the lines between banks, brokerage
and insurance companies. You are bombarded by advertising
with everyone claiming to have the answers to all your
financial problems.
Unfortunately, many of these providers are great on selling
you their services, but lousy when it comes to actually
managing your money. After they’ve earned their commission,
they often take the set-it-and-forget-it approach. They
rarely adjust your portfolio due to economic and market
cycles, corporate scandals and the like. You sure don’t want
to chain yourself to an under-performing advisor because of
high commissions or surrender penalties.
Current scandals in the financial industry have further
muddied the waters for investors. There is fraudulent
after-hours trading and Big Investors get treated
differently from you and me. Highly revered mutual fund
companies can become embroiled in scandal.
What if your mutual fund company came under scrutiny?
Wouldn’t you want the flexibility to move your money
elsewhere, without having to worry about earning back the
big commission you paid? Or what it you’re in a variable
annuity with limited choices? You don’t want to be chained
to any investment or product.
A decade ago, the risk of terrorism in the U.S. wasn’t even
considered. Now, with the 9/11 attacks (and recently the
3/11 attack in Spain), the risk of a terrorist event and the
resulting market upheaval is something every investor must
consider.
Personal needs have become more complicated as well. People
are living longer so their money has to last longer. Health
care costs continue to go through the roof. Lives can change
in an instant, so you should have the ability to get at your
money if and when you need it, without being forced to pay
automatic penalties.
If you are concerned about keeping what you’ve worked hard
for, you must have the flexibility to quickly move your
investments to safety—sometimes in the matter of minutes as
opposed to having to wait until the end of the day. Popular
investment products today such as Variable Annuities and
Equity-Indexed Annuities do not provide this flexibility.
You won’t hear this from your typical broker, insurance
agent or advisor. They are the ones trying to sell you a
Variable Annuity or an Equity-Indexed Annuity. They don’t
get it. They don’t see anything wrong with you being
handcuffed to an investment for 7, 10, 12 years or longer
just so they can earn an enormous commission.
Don’t do it! Don’t let any advisor take away your ability to
control your money. There is a better way!
If you would like to know more give me a call toll-free at
1-877-827-1463 or go to
www.guardingyourwealth.com.
You can also reach me by email at
jeff@guardingyourwealth.com.
I will be happy to help you in any way I can.
Mr. Voudrie is a Certified Financial Planner, nationally
syndicated columnist, and the President of Legacy Planning
Group, Inc., a Private Wealth Management firm in Johnson
City, TN. |
|
|
