Posts Tagged With ‘ Featured Article ’

“Making investment decisions is simple!” said no one ever. But what if there was a way to see such decisions with unbiased clarity? Behold, The Overnight Test.   In a recent blog post, Carl Richards, the creator of The New York Times’ Sketch Guy column, asked readers to ponder: “What would you do if you purchased stock recommended by a family member years ago and it had only lost money since?”  Despite building a sensible financial plan within the last few years, including a portfolio of low-cost diversified investments, you continued to hold the loser stock. But one night, by some... Continue Reading

Downsizing is one of those ubiquitous practices that goes hand-in-hand with retirement, as if moving into your Golden Years is marked by a literal move into a new home. But if you’re still carrying a mortgage and intend to finance the purchase of your new smaller home, is it a good idea? Let’s take a closer look. What’s the Rationale? There’s a number of good reasons to downsize, including: Trading in acreage or a multi-story property for a smaller, single-level set-up more conducive to aging-in-place; Moving into a home worth less than the one you own now so you can bank the profits to... Continue Reading

In this adaptation from Golden Reserve Founder Greg Aler’s new book, Fire Your Financial Advisor, we take a closer look at how the retail financial advisor became engrained in the fabric of retirement planning. Do you have any regrets from your younger years? Ted Benna, “the father of the 401(k),” has one. “I helped open the door for Wall Street to make even more money than they were already making,” Benna said about the creation of the 401(k) in a 2017 Wall Street Journal interview. “That is one thing I do regret.” Technically, the Revenue Act of 1978 was the catalyst for the first... Continue Reading

Podcast: It seems like the Government has your back if your bank fails. Who has your back if you make a mistake in retirement? Full radio show from March 26, 2023: Marriage, divorce, and moving. Make sure your legal papers are in order. Why did well know financial author Robert Kiyosaki say, “May God have mercy on us all?” Is a retirement calculator a good tool or a waste of time?  Continue Reading

Golden Reserve Founder Greg Aler pulls back the curtain on how the trillion-dollar financial services industry is failing retirees in his new book Fire Your Financial Advisor. Read on for an adaptation from the book’s introduction. It’s easy to forget that retirement as we know it today is a fairly recent concept. In fact, just over 80 years ago, nearly half of men over age 65 continued to work until the day they died. Thank goodness we now have a better plan. Or do we? Retirement is a small blip in the broader context of human history, the idea of wealth accumulation even more so. It wasn’t... Continue Reading

Poll your friends and family about annuities and you’re bound to get a lot of adverse reactions. They’ll likely cite at least one of these three things :  They’re expensive and have big fees.  They don’t give you access to your money.  There’s no growth.  While these statements are true of some annuities, they’re not true of all annuities. By painting with such broad strokes, you may be removing yourself from a great investment that provides safe growth in retirement. Here’s why.  Misconception #1: Annuities are expensive and have big fees.  Variable Annuities: TRUE Fixed... Continue Reading

Let’s talk about commissions. For many professions—like real estate agents, sales professionals, brokers and artists—it’s a compensation structure to which we’ve become accustomed. They make money when you make a purchase related to the services they provide. But when it comes to commissions and financial advisors—whoa, hold your horses.  We’ve been conditioned to think that commissions and financial advisors shouldn’t mix. Is that the right approach?    Let’s look at it this way. Imagine you use a realtor to help you purchase a home; not just any home, but the right home... Continue Reading

Call it the new kid on the block. Fixed index annuities (FIA) are a more recent offering in the world of annuities and we think they’re worthy of your attention. Now, before you run off, we know annuities have become something of a dirty word. And frankly, they’ve earned the reputation. Historically, some haven’t been so great, while others have been downright terrible. BUT FIAs are the breakaway exception. And retirees who have been using them are loving them. Why are FIA’s Different? So what exactly is a FIA, and what makes it stand apart from other annuities? The FIA was first introduced... Continue Reading

We recently heard a large, national firm use the slogan, “We do better when you do better,” and we couldn’t help but scratch our heads. On the surface it may seem agreeable; after all, if they’ve helped you build wealth, why not reward them, too? But when you think about what that means, it becomes clear that there are a few things wrong with that slogan: Retirement is about preservation first. “We do better when you do better” implies that the more money the advisor makes for you, the more money they make for themselves—a typical assets under management compensation model where... Continue Reading

We’ve written extensively about the risk of long-term care, but most people don’t want to consider the possibility that they’ll need it. Unfortunately, statistics tell us there’s a 70% chance that you will need long-term care if you’re 65 or older. If that’s surprising to you, it’s because the prevailing strategy for preparing for the cost is to bury one’s head in the sand and do nothing.   Clearly, that’s not a good strategy, especially given the astronomical cost of long-term care (currently over $7,500 per month on average for a private room). According to the U.S. Department... Continue Reading