The Advantages of Real Retirement Planning

I do financial seminars, hundreds of them a year and I meet a lot of people.  These people do a lot of foolish things with their money, they get really bad advice and are really stubborn.

Mistakes I usually see include not asking about fees, taking too much risk, not guaranteeing a surviving spouse income and poor tax planning.

A huge amount of people have the worst financial product - variable annuities and hold on to them for dear life.  They fail to take longevity into account and have the "it will never happen to me" mentality.

Interestingly enough small changes can provide for enough guarantee and safety to navigate through the volatile times.

1

• 1      It's about income, income and income, I can't begin to tell you how many people I see who think that income ideas like annuities, dividend paying stocks and bonds are complete waste of time. They sit by the television and watch CNBC for hours and that's how they spend their retirement.
• 2-      They can't afford or qualify for long-term care coverage so instead of looking for hybrid insurance products that include this coverage, they adopt the “it's never going to happen to me” mentality.
• 3-      They hate paying income tax in substantial amounts of income, yet ignore Legacy Taxes.

To be blunt I don't blame them all. Most advisors don't have fiduciary duties, so it's a race for firms and advisors to generate commissions and fees.

Ask questions!

Find out fees!

Avoid variable annuities!