Search Results for: "annuities of mass destruction'"

Retirement Infomercials Are Bad For Your Wealth

Following investment advice from an infomercial might be a form of financial suicide. It’s even worse when your advisor bases your retirement plan on its sponsored content. Tommy Vu set the bar very high with his 1990’s shtick. Before being shut down by the Feds, he became a legend in real estate schemes. His formula…

Nobody Knows Nothing

Regarding personal finance, most students and their teachers are functionally illiterate. On a global basis, our schools are below average at providing a sound financial education. Source: National Center for Education Statistics According to Financial Education Stalls, Threatening Kids’ Future Economic Health by Annie Nova, CNBC, the facts are damning. More than half of states…

Exit Light, Enter Night — We’re Off to 403(b) Land

“Sleep with one eye open gripping your pillow tight.”– Metallica Ruthless predators in disguise are raiding the retirement accounts of public school teachers. Just like wildlife lurking in the rain forest on the banks of the Amazon River, they manipulate their environment to consume unsuspecting prey. In the words of some other famous head-bangers, welcome to…

An Annuity that Could only be Sold by Satan

“Are there any ‘Last Minute Cowboys’ who can saddle up and ride?” An IPI Senior Regional Director (AKA Douchebag) Improper annuity sales by sleaze bag brokers are not exactly current events. This case sticks out for its sheer evil. A company called IPI financial made an unholy alliance with a group of community banks. According…

A Fiduciary, in Name Only

“I was selling JPMorgan funds that often had weak performance records, and I was doing it for no other reason than to enrich the firm … I couldn’t call myself objective.” JPM Adviser Disclosure is a very poor substitute for “best interest.” According to Barbara Roper of the Consumer Federation of America, investment firms are…

Radio Free 403(b)

  The information flow directed to teachers about their retirement plans is either non-existent or worse, highly conflicted. The war of ideas is being won by messengers preaching the virtues of high-fee and commission-based products that reward the salesperson much more than the retirement investor. This situation brings back memories of the worst days of…

The Financial Basket Of Deplorables

“To be a gross generalist, you can put more than half of investment products into what I call the basket of deplorables: overpriced, non-transparent, extremely conflicted, you name it. Unfortunately, there are people out there who believe the false stories sold to them.” This is my “financial product” version of Hilary Clinton’s uncomplimentary description of…

Act As If What You Do Makes A Difference. It Does.

On the eve of the implementation of the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, there is a smell of danger combined with real change in the air.  You are not really paying attention if you do not get the sense that this time it just might be different. More finance types are looking at themselves and not liking what…

Who is Roaming the Halls of your Child’s School?

The Bubonic Plague of high-cost variable annuity infestation has extended its predatory tentacles into the classrooms of our children. Invaluable teaching and planning time are at risk due to marketing schemes designed to entrap teachers. While the damage being done to teachers’ 403(b) plans by high-cost variable annuities is irrefutable (see here) something much more sinister has…

Fees Knock and Ping Investment Returns

Money spent on car repairs can be as dubious as investment fees. Both tend to be confusing, deceptive, and often unnecessary. The amount of money spent on unnecessary car repairs is mind boggling. The National Highway Traffic Administration estimates that automotive service consumers are scammed out of tens of billions of dollars every year. This…