The financial services market is flooded mostly with captive agents or captive advisors
What do I mean by that?
Well, you essentially have three different choices when it comes to your retirement and financial planning. Take a look at these three options and think about which one makes the most sense for your situation.
1. DIY (Do it yourself)
Take the time to learn stock trading, cash value life insurance and annuities, long-term care, tax strategies and estate planning. This method takes a lot of time but you don’t have to trust anyone else
2. Use a captive company or brokerage firm
Like Mortgage Stanley, Edward Jones, Merrill Lynch, Mass Mutual, etc.
This method is convenient, easy, and convertible, but they will try to sell you their products or choose from a select few companies. This is not a fiduciary who wants to do what’s best for you, but rather someone who must sell you something that is “suitable”
3. Work with a purely independent financial fiduciary who carries all the necessary licenses.
This is the way I chose to go with my practice because as an independent fiduciary, I can work for YOU rather than being forced to meet a quota and sell just one company’s products. I can access any available product and negotiate on your behalf to make sure you get the best product/strategy for each part of your plan.
One of my friends went to work for a large, name-brand brokerage company that you have heard of. His starting salary, as a rookie, was $80,000 per year! By definition if someone is paying you $80,000 per year YOU WORK FOR THEM. Though my friend has incredible integrity, this model creates a situation where he is not free to offer anything and everything to his clients but must rather offer only what the name-brand company has available. This could mean unnecessary risk to the portfolio and 20-30% less lifetime income if Annuities are being used.
Retirement Planning is easy:
- Know what you want
- See ALL of your options and pick the ones you like best
- If anyone or anything removes some of your options, limiting you to only what they sell, it can have significant effects on your life.
- Consider working with an independent fiduciary and I think you will like the results.
Next week we will dig into
The Most Important Thing I’ve Learned About Money: Real Rate of Return and Why It’s Not Used in This Industry