Is there a sense of “swimming upstream” when trying to propagate goal-based investing--as described in your new book Risk Less and Prosper--among existing financial advisors? Conventional practices and economic incentives are so heavily skewed towards modern portfolio theory and growing assets under management. 

Don MaNay is a financial columnist, a Huffington Post contributor and an expert in the field of structured settlements. 

Don’s financial guidance is refreshingly straightforward, filled with good common sense, and geared towards a Main Street audience.  His most recent book is titled Wealth Without Wall Street: A Main Street Guide to Making Money. 

We had an opportunity to speak to Don about his financial practice and his most recent book.  

Simple, web-based portfolio management tools have been proliferating over the past couple of years.

As reported recently by Bloomberg, companies such as Folio Investing, MarketRiders and Flat Fee Portfolios are providing subscription-based wealth management solutions that are largely automated and relatively inexpensive.

There is a strong case to be made for health care as the linchpin of retirement planning.  Virtually every major aspect of the retirement planning process is somehow correlated to or contingent on health status.  For example, health status has an impact on each of the following retirement planning components:

Jack Marrion heads a research consultancy focused on the annuity industry and John Olsen is a practicing financial advisor.

Both Jack and John have previously published books that are widely recognized as authoritative resources for the industry.

I had an opportunity to speak to them about their most recent book titled Index Annuities: A Suitable Approach (click here to visit the website for the book).

David Stipp has written about science, medicine, the environment and biotech since 1982 for The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Salon, Science and other publications. He led Fortune’s science and medical coverage from 1995 to 2005 as a senior writer, and from 1982 to 1995 covered science and medicine as a staff reporter at The Wall Street Journal.

Tim Harrington is the Chairman and CEO of start-up eRollover.

Tim is a seasoned technology and consumer marketing entrepreneur.  Among Tim’s accomplishments is the ecommerce company Fogdog Sports--a venture he led from inception through successful IPO and post-IPO merger.

We had the opportunity to speak with Tim before his presentation at the Finovate conference in San Francisco.

Bob MacDonald has had a storied career as a leading entrepreneur and executive in the financial services industry.

Some of Bob’s roles include: president and CEO of ITT Life; founder, chairman and CEO of the highly successful LifeUSA, and; CEO of Allianz Life of North America.  Bob is also a noted business author with several best-selling management books to his credit.

As a widely acknowledged thought leader and product innovator in the financial services industry, Bob is able and willing to share a wealth of experience and insights.

Jerry Golden--often referred to as the father of variable life insurance and variable annuities--has had a distinguished career as an innovator and entrepreneur in both the insurance and personal retirement businesses.

Jerry most recently spent four years as president of the Income Management Strategies Division at MassMutual after selling his business to the company in June, 2005.

Since leaving MassMutual in May, 2009, Jerry has been actively developing a new venture which will deliver yet another set of innovations to the personal retirement marketplace.

Many financial advisors seem conditioned to wear annuity criticism as a sort of badge of honor. 

As the past couple of years have so painfully revealed, however, this conventional wisdom rests on shaky ground.

What types of questions might a client present to an advisor who appears to have a reflexive inclination to dismiss most or all forms of annuities?  Consider the following:

1.  How are my assets hedged against longevity risk?  In other words, how am I protected from outliving my money?