- 11,273
Before the financial advice, check out the adviser - Omaha.com: Money
What kills me, was that this article was promoted by The American College on their Facebook pages. I wrote this response:
----------
The only part of this article that mentioned The American College was this little paragraph:
What kills me, was that this article was promoted by The American College on their Facebook pages. I wrote this response:
What a slanted article!!! Why is my Alma Mater promoting such garbage?
1) Variable annuities DO have fees: M&E, rider fees, and mutual fund sub-account management fees. I have little doubt that all these fees were disclosed at the time of proposal and sale of said annuity.
2) The article does state that there was a lifetime income benefit... which (in nearly 100% of the case) would provide income REGARDLESS of the fees charged on the cash balance. There is very little reason NOT to add such a rider to an annuity.
3) That "evil 7% surrender charge" is typically waived upon being admitted to a skilled nursing facility. Yet this article conveniently doesn't point that out. Also, that surrender charge is ABOVE the 10% free withdrawal amount that is typically built into nearly ALL annuities. This would "skew" the lifetime withdrawal benefits and require a re-calculation, but there wouldn't necessarily be a surrender charge.
4) The recommendation of an annuity is always smeared in the media as an unsuitable recommendation. Yet there are always MATERIAL facts omitted from such press. The media always focuses on 'fees' and 'locking money up'... when they don't have a clue about overall financial planning strategies.
5) In regards to a fiduciary standard, I would like to see the MEDIA adopt a fiduciary standard as to what they report. They get to say whatever they want, and because it's in print, it has more "authority" and "credibility" over what professionally trained and credentialed advisors recommend?
6) Did this article mention that with the additional guarantees available on variable annuities that it helps preserve their assets and income stream in the event of market declines? While tactical asset management is a risk-based solution, it cannot GUARANTEE against a stock market decline.
I'm amazed that my Alma Mater is promoting this junk.
----------
The only part of this article that mentioned The American College was this little paragraph:
Investors can’t simply accept an adviser’s title at face value. For example, certified financial planners, a professional designation with some of the more rigorous curriculum and experience requirements, pledge to put their customers’ interests ahead of their own when providing advice — and can lose their designation if they don’t.
"But even they do not have to act as fiduciaries if they are just selling an investment without including any advice," said Craig W. Lemoine, a program director at the American College of Financial Services in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.