September 2017

The Retirement Monster Among Us

What is the biggest problem facing retirement investors? Crummy products coated with high fees? Salespeople posing as real financial advisors? Owning too much company stock? It turns out the answer is none of the above. Cash-out leakage is the retirement monster among us. “Premature distributions, cash-outs of retirement accounts, and defaults on loans are major sources…

Living In a Financial Commercial

Most people live in the commercials, not the main event. Data has proven that deep, uninterrupted thinking leads to great accomplishments. Unfortunately, most of us spend huge amounts of time on things that get us nowhere. Checking how many people “liked” your witty comment on Twitter is not the path to the Nobel Prize. “It’s…

It’s Monday Again…..When Is My Retirement?

Good Morning! Here are this week’s retirement links. Have a great day. Let’s Agree On An Age To Retire – The Wall Street Journal A Price On Your Head – HumbleDollar Women Planning For Non-Retirement – Enterprising Investor Want To Work Past Retirement Age? Here’s The Flaw In Your Plan – MarketWatch Women Are 3…

Four Ways To Fortify Your Sales Resistance

How can you create your own financial B.S. detector? According to the U.S. Department of Labor, investors pay unnecessary investment costs to the tune of $17 billion per year. This wreaks havoc on retirement plans which leads to many unpleasant side effects. Don’t be a patsy for persuasion. Learn how to ask the RIGHT questions…

Paranoid and Deranged Behavioral Algorithms

We are all delusional.  Our feelings, for the most part, in no way depict reality. “Feelings were designed to get the genes of our hunter-gatherer ancestors into the next generation.”- Robert Wright Beliefs involved deluding our ancestors, often making them so fearful they saw things that were not there.  Emotions designed for gene passage give…

It’s Monday Again…..When Is My Retirement?

Good Morning! Here are this week’s retirement links. Have a great day. Pay Off Student Loans Or Save For Retirement? – The Wall Street Journal How To Win At Retirement Savings – The New York Times Where To Look For Plain And Clear Answers On Social Security And Medicare – MarketWatch The Ultimate Guide To…

Announcing the Teachers (b) Planning Podcast

We are happy to announce our new podcast: Teachers (b) Planning. While there are a gazillion podcasts out there, ours is a bit different. We deal specifically with the problems (too numerous to mention here) that are inherent in most K-12 public school 403(b) retirement plans. Simply put, most teachers’ investment options really suck. The…

The Most Expensive Tuition

Experience is a good school, but the tuition can be too high.  Many investors often don’t get what they pay for. Teachers will frequently complain to us that their spouses have higher balances in their 401(k) than what is in their 403(b)s, in spite of the fact they started contributing similar amounts at roughly the…

Delightful Possibilities for Exploitation

What do many college athletes and brokerage clients have in common?   They are both victims of financial exploitation. Degree-less athletes and fee-ravaged brokerage clients are the outputs of two broken systems. The majority of college jocks will never make it to the pros. According to Jason Gay of The Wall Street Journal, “A few…

It’s Monday Again…..When Is My Retirement?

Good Morning! Here are this week’s retirement links. Have a great day. Why You Might Want To Leave A 401(k) With A Former Employer – Wall Street Journal 10 Things Advisors Would Change About 401(k) Plans – InvestmentNews Attorney Opens Up About 403(b) Lawsuits – InvestmentNews Health Savings Account: The Hidden Retirement Option- Barron’s The…