Financial Advisor

A financial advisor is a professional who works to help their clients meet and manage their most important financial goals in life. A fundamental goal of a financial advisor is to increase the net worth of their clients over time, while protecting them from risks such as loss of income due to disability, premature death and long-term care expenses. Financial advisors will also work with clients in the areas of tax planning, estate planning, and retirement income planning and asset decumulation.

View Retirement Planning Calculators with a Heavy Dose of Skepticism

Consumers and financial advisors are encouraged to view retirement planning calculators and software as useful but limited tools. Consider, for example: All models are based on assumptions, so poor assumptions can lead to faulty results and decisions. Any model result is probabilistic. In other words, there is no certainty with the output. Be conservative when assessing the validity and likelihood of results. Hire a fiduciary as your "pilot." The person driving the model results should have...

Glossary:

Key Phrases:

Read more about View Retirement Planning Calculators with a Heavy Dose of Skepticism
Log in to post comments

Key Phrases:

Glossary:

Key Phrases:

Equity-Indexed Annuities Can be a Shell Game for Consumers

The first time I visited New York I was taken in a sidewalk shell-game within 45 minutes of being in the city—no kidding. Shell games involve trying to guess where a card or any other item might reside after being shuffled among various covers by a dealer.

There are basically three reasons why I lost $40 within 45 minutes of arriving in NYC: 1) I was naïve; 2) I was overconfident in my card-spotting abilities, and; 3) there was a large amount of asymmetric information—in other words, the “dealers” (to use a polite term) had a heck of...

Glossary:

Asymmetric Information

Indexed Annuity

Financial Advisor

Key Phrases Autotag:

Equity-indexed annuity

Read more about Equity-Indexed Annuities Can be a Shell Game for Consumers
tom's blog
Log in to post comments

Key Phrases:

Glossary:

Asymmetric Information

Indexed Annuity

Financial Advisor

Key Phrases Autotag:

Equity-indexed annuity

Annuities for Younger People

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 04/08/2009 - 15:49

I am in my 30s -- is there any reason I would buy an

Forums:

Annuity Pros & Cons

Glossary:

Annuity

Financial Advisor

Read more about Annuities for Younger People
2 comments
Log in to post comments

Key Phrases:

Forums:

Annuity Pros & Cons

Glossary:

Annuity

Financial Advisor

Battle Lines Being Drawn Over Fiduciary Status of Financial Advisors

There is a key point of distinction that exists in the world of financial advice and vast majority of people are unaware that it exists.

The defining issue is whether a financial advisor actually assumes the role of fiduciary. Fiduciary responsibility is important because it basically means that a financial advisor is legally...

Glossary:

Insurance

Fiduciary

Broker

Registered Investment Advisor

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

Key Phrases Autotag:

Read more about Battle Lines Being Drawn Over Fiduciary Status of Financial Advisors
tom's blog
2 comments
Log in to post comments

Key Phrases:

Glossary:

Insurance

Fiduciary

Broker

Registered Investment Advisor

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

Key Phrases Autotag:

Financial Crisis Leads to New Respect for Annuities Among Financial Advisors

Some of the nation's most prominent financial advisors are looking at annuities in a new light. Partial annuitization to ensure a base of stable income is discussed. Think twice if you are at or approaching retirement and you are not able to at least have a basic annuity-related discussion with your financial advisor. "At the end of the day, investors want to know they can withdraw X amount of dollars [a year] for life. That's why it makes a little more sense than it ever has before," he says...

Glossary:

Key Phrases: