Posts Tagged ‘mutual fund’
Variable Annuities Offer Tax Advantages as a Retirement Investment Vehicle
Financial advisers have several good reasons for selling variable annuities to their clients. They get paid more for one thing. On most other investments, the higher the amount a client invests the lower commission rate is for the adviser. In mutual funds, this is called a “break point.” An advisor, to illustrate, may get paid…
Read MoreInflation Persists as a Concern for Folks in Retirement on a Fixed Income.
I worked in the financial services industry for over 40 years, the last fifteen of which as a Financial Advisor for Merrill Lynch in Winston-Salem, NC. My novel, Deadly Portfolio, builds a story around Matthew Wirth, a retiring financial advisor who, in preparing for his own retirement, is turning his practice over to junior partner,…
Read MoreVariable Annuities — Great, But Be Careful
If you have researched variable annuities on your own, you know that I couldn’t cover everything in one blog on the subject. Variable annuities have their drawbacks. It is important to be aware of them. A variable annuity is a long-term investment, one that you will want to hold your entire lifetime. It’s the place…
Read MoreHow Much Should the Middle-Income Household Risk in the Market?
Middle-income families often do not have the resources to employ financial advisors. Yahoo Finance states that middle-income households have an average of approximately $110,000 set aside for their retired years. Financial advisors and brokers at major firms like Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and UBS Paine Webber are looking for mega buck accounts—accounts with $250,000 or…
Read MoreRetirement Planning for the Middle-income Household, One Step at a Time – Part II
In Deadly Portfolio: A Killing in Hedge Funds, Matthew Wirth and Morrie Clay work with wealthy people with large sums set aside for retirement planning. As pointed out in the first article in this series, that is not the case for the middle-class American household. In the first post, we accomplished two important initial steps.…
Read MoreFinancial Advisor or Stockbroker. A Brief History.
In a recent interview, I was asked whether the 30 basis points charged against Mac McAllister’s $18,900,000 account in Deadly Portfolio: A Killing in Hedge Funds was realistic. 30 basis points is three-tenths of a percent, or $56,700 each year for managing the account. An $18,900,000 account is not 18.9 times more work to manage…
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