Annuities Category

Annuities sound like a great investment: lifetime income, never spend principal, tax benefits. But, there is also an ugly side when they are sold by less ethical sales representatives: high expenses, seven years of penalties, lack of liquidity, and poor performance.

By: Rick KahlercloseAuthor: Rick Kahler Name: Rick Kahler
Member: Member Paladin
Quality Rating:
Email: rick@kahlerfinancial.com
Site: http://www.kahlerfinancial.com
About: Rick Kahler, MS, CFP®, (www.KahlerFinancial.com) is a fee-only financial planner, speaker, educator, and columnist. Rick is renowned as a pioneer in integrating financial planning and psychology. In 2009, he was recognized by Wealth Manager as the largest financial planning firm in a seven-state region. In 2009, BusinessWeek listed him as one of the 15 most experienced planners in the United States. He is the past chairman of the South Dakota Investment Council, charged with the investment oversight of over six billion dollars. His work and research has been featured or cited in The Wall Street Journal, ABC's 20/20, New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Money, SELF, and Parenting. He is a co-author of four revolutionary books on money, financial planning, and therapy: Wired for Wealth (Health Communications, 2008), Facilitating Financial Health (NUCO, 2008), The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge (Health Communications, 2005, 2008), and Conscious Finance (FoxCraft, 2005, 2007).See Authors Posts (9) | August 10, 2009 | Annuities

 A new client recently asked me, “Rick, you’re one of four financial planners we interviewed. Why are you the only one who didn’t tell us we needed an annuity?”  
Actually, this couple had really interviewed only one financial planner and three annuity salespeople.
 
Annuities are a hot financial product in the market place these days. I [...]

By: Matthew Arndt, CFA, CPA, CFP | July 22, 2009 | Annuities, Wall Street Ethics

When I first entered the investment advisory business I promised myself I would not reduce myself to being a commission sales rep and sell trash to investors even if I were dying of starvation.
The proliferation of new ways to package and repackaged garbage in the form of fixed annuities, variable annuities, equity-indexed annuities, and structured [...]

By: Darren Munn, CFAcloseAuthor: Darren Munn, CFA Name: Darren Munn, CFA
Member: Member Paladin
Quality Rating:
Email: darrenmunn@munnwealth.com
Site: http://paladinregistry.com/external/beaninformedinvestor/advisor_profile.php?advisor_id=1468
About: See Authors Posts (1) | June 29, 2009 | Annuities, Bad Products & Services, Investment Performance, Investor Information

It doesn’t take a genius to understand that investments with lower fees will produce higher returns for the investor, all else being equal.  So it is natural for us all to be attracted to low-fee investments.  A simple formula to keep in mind is:  Gross Return – Expenses – Taxes = Net Return.
 But what about [...]

By: Jack WaymirecloseAuthor: Jack Waymire Name: Jack Waymire
Email: jack@paladinregistry.com
Site: http://paladinregistry.com
About: Jack writes for the InvestorWatchdog website and Worth magazine. He worked in the financial services industry from 1976 to 2004. For twenty of those years he was the president of a Registered Investment Advisory firm and a Broker/Dealer. Jack is the author of Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor and is a co-founder of PaladinRegistry.com.See Authors Posts (87) | June 19, 2009 | Annuities, Investor Information

Have you ever wondered why investment sales representatives recommend annuity products for assets that are held in IRA accounts? After all, the number one financial feature of an annuity is tax-deferred earnings. But, wait a minute; the earnings of IRA investments are already tax-deferred. So why did the rep recommend a tax-deferred product inside a tax deferred account?
Great question. A better one is who [...]

By: Matthew Arndt, CFA, CPA, CFP | June 17, 2009 | Annuities, Conflicts of Interest

If your advisor is accepting commissions, guess who is paying him? Not you.  He is being paid by the company that is providing the product he is selling. This is a serious conflict of interest in the very least; it creates a situation where your best interest is not the same as your adviser’s best [...]

By: Amy HerrickcloseAuthor: Amy Herrick Name: Amy Herrick
Member: Member Paladin
Quality Rating:
Email: rher86@aol.com
Site: http://paladinregistry.com/external/beaninformedinvestor/advisor_profile.php?advisor_id=1258
About: I have been in the financial services industry for over 23 years achieving the Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and Investment Advisor Representative (IAR) designations. For the benefit of my clients, I am a licensed Life, Health, Critical Illness, Long Term Care and Disability Insurance Agent in multiple states. I believe in giving back to the community supporting ministries of the Light of The World Christian Center, Couple to Couple League, The Helping Hands of Goodwill Industries and other non-profit organizations on a local or global level Compliance Disclosure: Amy Rose Herrick, ChFC, Investment Adviser Representative is a Registered Representative of and offers Securities and Investment Advisory Services through Woodbury Financial Services, Inc., Member FINRA, SIPC and Registered Investment Adviser branch office 4536 SE 37th Street Topeka, KS 66605-9141 785-379-0586See Authors Posts (18) | June 11, 2009 | Annuities, Bad Financial Advice

If you have a lump sum to invest you may think to keep the transaction easy that it makes sense to “keep it all together” in a single account or holding. Later on for tax reasons or restrictions on a holding this could be a big mistake in what is then perfect hindsight.