• Welcome to the FREE TUGBBS forums! The absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 32 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 32 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 32nd anniversary: Happy 32nd Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    All subscribers auto-entered to win all free TUG membership giveaways!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $24,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $24 Million dollars
  • Wish you could meet up with other TUG members? Well look no further as this annual event has been going on for years in Orlando! How to Attend the TUG January Get-Together!
  • Now through the end of the year you can join or renew your TUG membership at the lowest price ever offered! Learn More!
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    Tens of thousands of subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

A financial planner shares 3 pieces of money advice clients never want to hear

M

MULTIZ321

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
33,414
Reaction score
9,586
Location
FT. LAUDERDALE, FL
Resorts Owned
BLUEWATER BY SPINNAKER HHI
ROYAL HOLIDAY CLUB RHC (POINTS)
As a retired Canadian CPA and CFP, who practiced financial planning for over 40 years, I concur with Monsieur Grant. If you are truly going to provide good service and advice to your clients, you not only have to praise and encourage them, but sometimes you also have to tell them things they may not always want to hear! As a sage peer once said, our role is "to tell people what they should be doing when they should be doing it, while telling them what they shouldn't be doing when they shouldn't be doing it!" :ponder:
 
Sugarcubesea said:
How does one ever know if you have saved enough money?
Click to expand...

That's a very unique and individual calculation. A good financial planner, by asking the right questions, can help you determine what the appropriate "number" is for you. It is also rarely a static number pre-retirement, since things and goals change and life throws us curves, so it needs to be updated and adjusted regularly. Rules-of-thumb may sometimes help, but a detailed plan is much more reassuring.

That's why it's important (at least in my somewhat-biased opinion) to form a relationship with a good financial planner early on. Having said that, it is never too late to start! Once you know you are on-track with your savings goal, there is a sense of relief in knowing that you can spend the rest with a clear conscience. It helps eliminate what I call the "worry" or "uncertainty" factor and create a sense of financial freedom.
 
As a 63 year old approaching retirement I appreciate these articles and read and research this topic constantly. My wife (who is the same age and already retired from the healthcare field, pre-Covid thank goodness) and I have set my retirement date as Jan ‘23 with our financial advisor. Our resources have been allocated to provide the income sources and amounts we estimate we will need to meet our spending levels as of today, in retirement.

We are comfortable having these conversations with our advisor and between ourselves as you don’t get a “do over” once you pull the trigger. Using a similar analogy, we’ve AIMED before we shoot.

Having a good Finanical Advisor to guide you and be honest (even if it’s NOT what you always want to hear) is critical to this stage of your life.

Best of luck to all.

Brian


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The problem with retirement is the social security issue. However, how can you rely on those amounts being available when we decide to retire in 10 - 20 years.

Lets say that we expect to retire in 2035 with $100K additional annual income. $100K X 25 = 2.5 million. What happens if SS is halved or additionally taxed or just disappears. Maybe if you have wealth of $1MM you don't get it anymore. Who knows.

I think the better point is to save AS MUCH as possible and then think about how to better allocate your assets at retirement so that it lasts as long as you will need it.
 
joestein said:
The problem with retirement is the social security issue. However, how can you rely on those amounts being available when we decide to retire in 10 - 20 years.

Lets say that we expect to retire in 2035 with $100K additional annual income. $100K X 25 = 2.5 million. What happens if SS is halved or additionally taxed or just disappears. Maybe if you have wealth of $1MM you don't get it anymore. Who knows.

I think the better point is to save AS MUCH as possible and then think about how to better allocate your assets at retirement so that it lasts as long as you will need it.
Click to expand...
Way back in the 80s i made my plan excluding SS. I still don’t count it so it will be extra, but I’m now 55 and feel pretty confident that I’ll get something close to today’s estimates. I will not be devastated if it’s cut in half.

agree, sock it away from first paycheck until last paycheck.
 
Most financial advisors are trustworthy but even the most seemingly trustworthy have stolen their clients money. It happens all the time.

Bill
 
I've been retired since 2013 and my wife in 2016. From day one when I started working I never counted on getting a dime from SS and never counted on Medicare until I turned about 60. Luckily for both of us we each have a pension and always had good medical and dental though the costs have gone up and the coverage kept going down. Now in retirement our medical is very reasonable with the Medicare plan in combination with our medical plans. Dental we pay as we go and do have an eye care plan.
So much better not to count on things and if you get them covered or paid then great. We were good savers (still enjoyed vacations and taking our kids on cruises and Hawaii several times on grocery clerks wages.
Now, we both feel we're living the good life. A combination of saving,luck, investments and circumstances lets us help our kids,granddaughter and still take lots of trips.
Bart
 
I can't complain, as we already have more than the vast majority. However, SS is a concern. I don't think my wife and I will ever be a position where we can't get by financially. However, the $80K - $90K we expect from social security annually will be the money for us to travel, go out and cover the taxes/utilities/maintenance of a second home (we can be snowbirds).

At this point, except for our home and some cash, all of our wealth is in 401Ks. We also have to take into account that the money will be taxable when withdrawn, so it is not really as much as it might seem.
 
easyrider said:
Most financial advisors are trustworthy but even the most seemingly trustworthy have stolen their clients money. It happens all the time.

Bill
Click to expand...

Yes, it does happen, but it is actually not all that common. It just makes the news when it does happen, especially if it has been a fairly large fake investment or Ponzi scheme (e.g. Bernie Madoff). A good financial planner or advisor can often sniff out the investment schemes that should be avoided. I know I have saved more than one client over the years from making such a decision, by running it by me first.

IME, much of it is driven by greed on the part of the investor and/or "too-good-to-be-true" promises on the part of the "advisor" or investment prospectus. As a financial planner it was my primary role to advise on things like retirement, tax and estate planning, risk ratios, the viability and track record of certain investments, and whether the prospectus, fund or stock description matched the client's investment profile. We normally charged a fee-for-service that was payable to my firm for specific advisory services, for a very specific, short-term period. Those were the only payments made directly to our firm.

Clients were free to invest their funds anywhere they wished, based on our recommendations. If they also preferred us to handle the actual administration and overview of the investments, the payment for the investment was always paid directly to the financial institution, fund manager, or brokerage. It was never made payable to our firm. If we were doing the administration of the investments they would receive summary statements from us, but would also receive statements directly from the financial institution, fund company, and/or brokerage firm. That was for their added assurance and protection.

This is obviously based on how things are handled and regulated here in Canada. While I am somewhat familiar with US systems and regulations, and there may be similarities, there are also differences. I mention how we handled things with our clients only as a matter of commentary.
 
IMHO they best place to put the majority of your funds is a low fee index fund. Vanguard is great for that.

If I was able to, I would like to have $100K available for playing the market - based upon trends I see. However, my wife's job restricts our investments
 
joestein said:
IMHO they best place to put the majority of your funds is a low fee index fund. Vanguard is great for that.

If I was able to, I would like to have $100K available for playing the market - based upon trends I see. However, my wife's job restricts our investments
Click to expand...

This is what our financial advisor advised me to do and I am properly diversified in some great low fee index funds through Vanguard.
 
Right now equities are overvalued. I have my limit in equities now.

My advisor has done a good job of picking value over the last 18 months.

I'm exploring a no penalty annuity which has an annual yield of about 3% with a ripcord where I just surrender the interest if the market corrects and do some bargain hunting. I need to look at expenses.
 
I'm 50-50 in equities to bonds.
I agree that equities have over-performed this year. That's shown, personally, by this:
I drew a ton to pay for a home remodel project and yet, have more that I started with.

I consider my bonds to be self-directed annuities, with staggered terms & quality.

.
 
Last edited:
DrQ said:
Right now equities are overvalued. I have my limit in equities now.

My advisor has done a good job of picking value over the last 18 months.

I'm exploring a no penalty annuity which has an annual yield of about 3% with a ripcord where I just surrender the interest if the market corrects and do some bargain hunting. I need to look at expenses.
Click to expand...
Dr Q, Value has been a good play the past year...after a long period out of favor.

I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean by "a no penalty annuity"? I have a Guaranteed annuity (called a Multi-year Guaranteed Annuity or a MYGA), issued by an insurance company with a set term of 3 years that I am earning 3% on (basically a CD), with no fees. Is that the type of investment you mean?

I also have another type of annuity which is an indexed variable annuity with 20% downside protection over 6 years with essentially no cap (500% on the S&P 500) on the upside. It doesn't have to be annuitized and we have planned to receive the full value upon maturity after 6 years to roll over into another instrument. Also, no fees.

Each of us is different based on age, financial circumstances and risk tolerence.

Good luck.
 
Talent312 said:
I'm 50-50 in equities to bonds.
I agree that equities have over-performed this year. That's shown, personally, by this:
I drew a ton to pay for a home remodel project and yet, have more that I started with.
Click to expand...
Isn't that the truth! We bought a 4BR house w/ pool in Florida in January, and paid cash from selling off some of our investments. Today (less than 6 months later), our portfolio is higher than it was in January before we bought the house. Just crazy!

Kurt
 
Kurt/ Talent312, That is awesome and sounds like a great return on your portfolios!
Imagine how much your portfolios would have been up to had you not made the major purchases?!
I know you can't view everything as "the lost opportunity cost" otherwise we would never spend money on anything! Enjoy your home and home improvements!
Let's hope the train keeps on chugging!
 
Luvtoride said:
Kurt/ Talent312, That is awesome and sounds like a great return on your portfolios!
Imagine how much your portfolios would have been up to had you not made the major purchases?!
I know you can't view everything as "the lost opportunity cost" otherwise we would never spend money on anything! Enjoy your home and home improvements!
Let's hope the train keeps on chugging!
Click to expand...
Yes, I have thought of the lost opportunity cost, but like you say, you can't view everything that way or you'll drive yourself crazy. Plus, in my case, our house has already appreciated significantly in value and if I were to try to buy it today, I would have to pay a lot more. We were lucky to get in before things got too crazy in the real estate market.

Kurt
 
Luvtoride said:
I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean by "a no penalty annuity"? I have a Guaranteed annuity (called a Multi-year Guaranteed Annuity or a MYGA), issued by an insurance company with a set term of 3 years that I am earning 3% on (basically a CD), with no fees. Is that the type of investment you mean?
Click to expand...
Sounds like it could be. Right now, I'm at a 60/40 equity/bond ratio in our more aggressive account. Looking for a place to park cash, but get some return.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top