If you don’t want to be “broker”, fire your Broker! Sound a little rash? Think about it. Did you lose a big chunk of your retirement savings back in 2000-2003? Most lost 40-60%. Did you lose again in 2008? Many lost 20-40% or more! Now ask yourself this question, “Did you ever get back to even?” The answer is no doubt NO! So what makes you think it won’t happen again? Somehow magically your broker will get it right next time? OF COURSE NOT!
So ask yourself, “What happens if the market goes down at a time when you need the money to live on?” Of course the answer is simple, you now have a new LOWER lifestyle. How would it make you feel to have to take a “pay cut” when your retired? AND THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT! At least not after it happens.
There is however something you can do about BEFORE it happens! You can move to “safe” money. More on that in a minute. Most retirees I’ve met fail to realize that as you get older your retirement plan has to change. Accumulation isn’t as important as preservation; protecting your nest eggs from breaking! Now you need INCOME THAT’S GUARANTEED TO LAST THE REMAINDER OF YOUR LIFE EVEN IF YOUR ACCOUNT RUNS OUT OF MONEY. With that in mind can your brokerage account, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, reits, CD’s money market any of them provide that? NO, NO AND AGAIN NO!! So why are you stubbornly holding on to something that CAN’T give you what you want and need? Only YOU can answer that but it’s a question that needs to be answered.
It’s called “CHANGE”! We hate change. We avoid it like the plague. We don’t like to have to adjust – to move from our comfort zone – to have to LEARN something new! Instead we put our heads in the sand and hope it all goes away.
We say things like, “The market will come back”, “I’ll lock in my losses if I move my money now”, “It’s worked up till now”, “I trust my broker; I’ve worked with him for years” – you fill in the blank – what’s your favorite PROCRASTINATION phrase? How ’bout “I’LL THINK ABOUT IT!” You keeping talking and YOU keep losing! We’re so good at putting things off till disaster hits. In fact, over the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve only met one guy who made a timely decision and even then it was pure luck!
He had come to one of my Senior Estate and Retirement workshops to hopefully get some retirement advice that would work. At one point, I was talking about stock market risk when he raised his hand. He asked if he could share something with the group and I told him to go ahead. He said that the previous fall (fall of “08) right before the collapse he had an uneasy feeling about the investment advice he’d gotten from his broker. He had pretty much decided to move his money to cash to avoid the risk but was going to leave it another month or two to try to “squeeze” out a little more earnings.
He woke up one morning and felt uneasy as he looked at his investment accounts; an urgency. He hadn’t gotten back “even” yet but decided to go ahead and move out of the market. THE MARKET FELL THE NEXT DAY! He dodged the bullet! But was it on his brokers investment advice? NO. (Have you ever know a broker who said move your money out of the market so as not to risk the loss? NEVER! THAT’S HOW THEY MAKE THEIR MONEY!) No he just had a feeling. He told us he would have lost over half his retirement savings and probably would have had to go back to work. At age 70 or so that would not have been a lifestyle change most of us would not want to face. He realized his retirement plan needed to be tweaked.
Listen, please listen, your ability to have a secure financial future is at stake. I’ve been heralding for months another major downturn in the market and I’m not the only one. Here’s what Greg Roy with Wealth Insider Alliance had to say in a recent post (and he’s just one of many) –
“Our leaders bought some time and slowed the rate of economic deterioration. That’s all. They didn’t solve any problems (other than the problem that Wall Street’s billion dollar bonuses took a dip – but that problem has been solved and Wall Street bonuses are again back at bubble levels.) But now we are in a very, very precarious state. Everything economic is starting to dip again. We’ve got no Plan B to fall back on. It’s going to get nasty. Financial Armageddon is unfolding right before our very eyes. This is real, folks. Another MAJOR downturn is barreling down on us.
If you do nothing, you’ll watch your retirement accounts get destroyed… again.
If you do nothing, you’ll watch your investments shrink to next to nothing… again.
If you do nothing, you’ll see your “safe” “rock-solid” investments… “Sure-thing” trading strategies…and decades of your life-savings – get WIPED OUT… again.”
My friends, it’s time to DO SOMETHING! STOP PROCRASTINATING! There aren’t that many options open to you and they’re not that difficult to understand, if you’ll just take the time to DO IT!
for a detailed look at your options take a look at the PDF in the “Freebies” section at Let’s Talk Retirement dot com entitled Three-investment-ships Here’s an overview:
* Ship #1 – Leave it at risk in Investment accounts – Brokerage, stocks, variable annuities, bonds etc
* Ship #2 – Move it to cash – CD’s, Money Market, Fixed Annuities, some bonds (low interest)
* Ship #3 – Move to a Fixed INDEXED Annuity – a hybrid of the other two ships.
Ship #3 provides these benefits:
* SAFETY: THE ONLY WAY YOUR ACCOUNT CAN GO DOWN IS IF YOU REACH IN AND PULL THE MONEY OUT!! YOU are in control. NEVER LOSE ANOTHER DIME!
* INCOME FOR LIFE: Once you trigger the GUARANTEED income stream you’ll receive your payment every month till you die EVEN IF THE ACCOUNT BALANCE IS ZERO! It’s like setting up your own pension.
* LIQUIDITY: Even though you have income for life you still have access, use and control of the money in case of emergencies. You DON’T tie up your money!
* INDEX EARNINGS: Interest earnings are tied to an index like the S&P, Dow, NASDAQ etc. but are NOT subject to any downside risk – NO LOSS IS GUARANTEED! So you can get market like returns. Interest “locks” in every year in most cases so it can’t be taken away once you earn it.
* MINIMUM GUARANTEES: Along with a typical 1-2% minimum guarantee on the annuity, there’s a larger guarantee on the income account value that varies from 4-10%. At 7.2% you would double your asset every 10 years for income GUARANTEED! (Does your broker give you a minimum guarantee?)
* BONUSES: Some companies offer premium bonuses from 5-20% in initial premiums. This help make up for some losses, help with any transfer fees etc. It earns interest with the rest of you money from day one.
* DEATH BENEFIT: Death benefit to heirs is 100% of the balance of the accumulation value or in some cases the income account value.
* 100% liquid for Long Term Care & Terminal Illness (in most cases)
Each company and product has different pros & cons, features and benefits but with hundreds of these products available, your sure to find something to meet your needs. Let me tell you this, there’s a lot of BAD press about Annuities in general. DON’T LISTEN TO THE HYPE – CHECK IT OUR FOR YOURSELF. You’ll come to learn what my clients have learned – that they’re the perfect solution to the retirement income problems facing you. My clients now have SLEEP INSURANCE and HAVE NEVER LOST ANOTHER DIME!
To help you see how these products might fit in your retirement plan I’ve got a new calculator that will analyze your current plan and show you how long the money will last and how much, if any, you would need to move into an FIA to solve the retirement income issue. It won’t cost you dime to get informed!
Safe savings
Roger