On The Train
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As I got on the train this morning I noticed that somebody had left a copy of yesterday's "Parade" magazine from the newspaper.
Right there on the cover was "The Investment You Want To Avoid."
Without even opening the magazine I knew what they were talking about.
Of course it was talking about from an investor's point of view.
Did you read the footnotes where your name was repeatedly mentioned in an unflattering manner?
Nothing new. Just another anti-annuity article written by someone without a clue about financial planning. What amazes me is the amount of articles written about investments and/or financial planning, yet the person writing the article has qualifications to be commenting on such things. No insurance license, no NASD licenses, no professional designations, no CFP... just a laptop and a deadline on a article that needs to be submitted. Just recycle some snippets from some other article they read from an equally uniformed author, and submit it to the editor. Anyone can be a writer these days it seems.
What's troubling is how many people take articles like this as gospel, yet if some Joe Blow wrote a piece about a specific medical condition and was giving out medical advice, people would take it instead with a grain of salt as that person isn't a doctor and their opinion doesn't matter. It's pretty easy to overcome articles like this when you explain why and how the article was written and how many things were missed or are irrelevant.
This garbage gets printed for the sizzle factor, that's it, and there's usually very little substance behind these articles (including this one). They gloss over or completely omit important features of annuities and why people buy them, and only focus on certain things (which may or may not be relevant to an investor).
[quote=NASD Newbie]
As I got on the train this morning I noticed that somebody had left a copy of yesterday's "Parade" magazine from the newspaper.
Right there on the cover was "The Investment You Want To Avoid."
Without even opening the magazine I knew what they were talking about.
Of course it was talking about from an investor's point of view.
[/quote]
May I quote..... "Without even opening it, I KNEW what they were talking about..."
So whadja do.... hold the magazine to your forehead and do your Carnac routine for the folks on the train?
[quote=STL Indy]
Nothing new. Just another anti-annuity article written by someone without a clue about financial planning. What amazes me is the amount of articles written about investments and/or financial planning, yet the person writing the article has qualifications to be commenting on such things. No insurance license, no NASD licenses, no professional designations, no CFP... just a laptop and a deadline on a article that needs to be submitted. Just recycle some snippets from some other article they read from an equally uniformed author, and submit it to the editor. Anyone can be a writer these days it seems.
What's troubling is how many people take articles like this as gospel, yet if some Joe Blow wrote a piece about a specific medical condition and was giving out medical advice, people would take it instead with a grain of salt as that person isn't a doctor and their opinion doesn't matter. It's pretty easy to overcome articles like this when you explain why and how the article was written and how many things were missed or are irrelevant.
This garbage gets printed for the sizzle factor, that's it, and there's usually very little substance behind these articles (including this one). They gloss over or completely omit important features of annuities and why people buy them, and only focus on certain things (which may or may not be relevant to an investor).
[/quote]
Yeah, no doubt it was planted by an organization that has a vested interest in having people end up poor at the point they want to retire.
Question for everybody. Did any of your clients phone today to express concern?
Do you think you will have credibility if you try to debunk the ariticle in that it talks about how annuities carry huge fees?
[quote=NASD Newbie]
Yeah, no doubt it was planted by an organization that has a vested interest in having people end up poor at the point they want to retire.
Question for everybody. Did any of your clients phone today to express concern?
Do you think you will have credibility if you try to debunk the ariticle in that it talks about how annuities carry huge fees?
[/quote]
yeah, all annuities carry huge fees...
and all old men need viagra (no wait, you've got the Registered Rep Broker Forums! )
I've sold a fair amount of VAs and no EIAs. I'm willing to bet that I won't get a single phone call in relation to the article.
Well, it sells magazines anyway.
For many investors, an annuity is an inappropriate investment. The same can be said of mutual funds, life insurance, equities, CDs, and on and on ad nauseum, dependent upon the demographic. Even within the universe of VAs, some are clearly better than others. The point of the exercise is that as brokers, we are responsible to sort through the noise and try to match a client with an investment suitable to his/her needs and temperment. Can people do this for themselves? Sure, why not? It really isn't rocket science after all. We can all fix our own cars, build or own houses and raise our own food as well. Some of us are inclined to pay others to learn these skills and do the work.
None of this is new. It just sells magazines.
I saw that article as well. I read it and realized the person was
telling only half the story, and very poorly I might add.
Needless to say, it found a place at the bottom of the trash can.
[quote=Machinehead]I saw that article as well. I read it and realized the person was telling only half the story, and very poorly I might add. Needless to say, it found a place at the bottom of the trash can.[/quote]
It appeared in the most widely distributed "magazine" in the country--just about everybody in the country who reads the Sunday paper gets it.
All I am saying is that there are hundreds of millions of people who saw it, and tens of millions who actually read it.
It was only one page, so no doubt lots of folks tore it out and slipped it into their desk drawer
Things like that put an impression in the "national psyche." This morning there are millions of people who had no opinion who still have no valid opinion but they're programed that annuities are something that I want to avoid.
These things happen for a reason. Does it occur to some of you that annuities may not be everything you think they are? Could it be that it is you who are the brown shoes at the formal?
[quote=NASD Newbie]
[quote=Machinehead]I saw that article as well. I read it and realized the person was telling only half the story, and very poorly I might add. Needless to say, it found a place at the bottom of the trash can.[/quote]
It appeared in the most widely distributed "magazine" in the country--just about everybody in the country who reads the Sunday paper gets it.
All I am saying is that there are hundreds of millions of people who saw it, and tens of millions who actually read it.
It was only one page, so no doubt lots of folks tore it out and slipped it into their desk drawer
Things like that put an impression in the "national psyche." This morning there are millions of people who had no opinion who still have no valid opinion but they're programed that annuities are something that I want to avoid.
These things happen for a reason. Does it occur to some of you that annuities may not be everything you think they are? Could it be that it is you who are the brown shoes at the formal?
[/quote]
All I am saying is that there are hundreds of millions of people who saw it, and tens of millions who actually read it.
It was only one page, so no doubt lots of folks tore it out and slipped it into their desk drawer.
You must be Bill Fakkland your posts are as funny as his. Or you are Suzy Ormond (or how ever you spell that) in drag. Your clip art is nice too, where did you copy it from?
[quote=NASD Newbie]Do you think you will have credibility if you try to debunk the ariticle in that it talks about how annuities carry huge fees?[/quote]
The couple that purchased a $156k fixed annuity from me this morning had $0 in fees and will have $0 in fees the entire time they own the contract.
You obviously haven't a clue as to what you're talking about. Only VA's have fees, not fixed annuities. And I sell plenty of VA's too, for people that want to invest in equities or an asset allocation model but want some insurance protection for their principle and income stream should the market have corrections here and there. For most, those "huge fees" result in piece of mind on their investment, no different than the "huge fees" that I pay insurance companies to protect my home, cars, health and life.
[quote=STL Indy]
[quote=NASD Newbie]Do you think you will have credibility if you try to debunk the ariticle in that it talks about how annuities carry huge fees?[/quote]
The couple that purchased a $156k fixed annuity from me this morning had $0 in fees and will have $0 in fees the entire time they own the contract.
You obviously haven't a clue as to what you're talking about. Only VA's have fees, not fixed annuities. And I sell plenty of VA's too, for people that want to invest in equities or an asset allocation model but want some insurance protection for their principle and income stream should the market have corrections here and there. For most, those "huge fees" result in piece of mind on their investment, no different than the "huge fees" that I pay insurance companies to protect my home, cars, health and life.
[/quote]
What piece of their mind do they get?
Congratulations on pulling off one of the true challenges in this business, being sleazy enough to sell a fixed annuity when interest rates are near their all-time lows.
Where in the world did you find a prospect so stupid that would let you park your ethics at their door.
Tell me, do you subscribe to the theory, "Somebody was going to screw them, it might as well have me?"
One more thing--you have no principles--the word you were wanting to use is principal.
Those with no principles willing risk their client's principal.
Or as every school kid--who paid attention--knows, "The Principal is your pal." That could be the principal of your school or the principal in your bank account.
How did so many stupid people find this forum?
I guess you know my clients better than I do???
They're in their 80's, have multiple millions in CD's and hate paying taxes. I tried to show them some tax free stuff, but they only wanted insured products with a better return than their bank CD's (currently 4.64%). They don't touch the money, it's going straight to the kids when they die. I got them a blended return of over 5%, all tax def. on a very simple short term fixed annuity with a top rated company. Everyone was happy. No, it wasn't the best possible product I could have sold them (but I did offer those solutions), for them the fixed annuity was the most comfortable coming from CD's.
Bite me.
STL Indy, I’m pro-annuity, but annuities are terrible investments if the purpose is to leave money behind. They hate taxes, but do they understand that they are passing huge taxes onto their children by using an annuity strategy?
[quote=anonymous]STL Indy, I'm pro-annuity, but annuities are terrible investments if the purpose is to leave money behind. They hate taxes, but do they understand that they are passing huge taxes onto their children by using an annuity strategy? [/quote]
LOL, yes, I know. I even mentioned that when I talked about other strategies.... they said, "as long as I don't have to pay them now, I don't care about my kids having to pay taxes on the growth".
Ideally, I'd rather have sold them a single premium life policy, but they liked the annuity the best (simple, did want they wanted, despite not being the best for their kids).
[quote=NASD Newbie][quote=STL Indy]
[quote=NASD Newbie]Do you think you will have credibility if you try to debunk the ariticle in that it talks about how annuities carry huge fees?[/quote]
The couple that purchased a $156k fixed annuity from me this morning had $0 in fees and will have $0 in fees the entire time they own the contract.
You obviously haven't a clue as to what you're talking about. Only VA's have fees, not fixed annuities. And I sell plenty of VA's too, for people that want to invest in equities or an asset allocation model but want some insurance protection for their principle and income stream should the market have corrections here and there. For most, those "huge fees" result in piece of mind on their investment, no different than the "huge fees" that I pay insurance companies to protect my home, cars, health and life.
[/quote]
What piece of their mind do they get?
Congratulations on pulling off one of the true challenges in this business, being sleazy enough to sell a fixed annuity when interest rates are near their all-time lows.
Where in the world did you find a prospect so stupid that would let you park your ethics at their door.
Tell me, do you subscribe to the theory, "Somebody was going to screw them, it might as well have me?"
[/quote]News flash NASD the Fed has been raising rates for about 18 months now. Rates are not as high as 10 years ago, but hardly near "all time lows".
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[quote=joedabrkr]
News flash NASD the Fed has been raising rates for about 18 months now. Rates are not as high as 10 years ago, but hardly near "all time lows".
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Are rates high, about as high as we can expect them to be during our lifetimes?
Are rate closer to historic lows than they are to historic highs?