Who do you guys like and/or dislike with the radio and television financial advisors? Why do like/dislike them. Do you give any of them actual credibility as top financial advisors?
Here's mine:
1. Brian Preston (the Money Guy) - 5-stars Pros- Brian is the best of the best in my opinion. He talks about things that people with a little financial sense and willpower can do. Doesn't talk down to you like (cut up your credit cards, you're not smart enough to use them) and such things. I like that he is a fee only CFP and CPA and he isn't trying to sell products to his listeners. Cons- Brian is still finding his format. He's only been at it (the radio podcast) for a year or so and isn't as smooth and polished as the older veterans.
2. Dave Ramsey- 4-stars Pros-Dave specializes in broke people who have bad spending habits. I like his main focus (getting out of debt) and he has a very entertaining and professional delivery on the radio (he's kind of boring on TV though.) His message is very black and white which makes it easy to understand for clueless people but also not very flexible. Cons- Dave is the slickest of all. If you notice when people call in who are succeeding but with a method different than what Dave recommends, he mutes them and then continues on with the call with him giving his advice and explaining how their method will never work in the long run and their silence (muted) makes it appear they agree with him. Dave has found a way to make money at every turn. Everything he says and does is an advertisement to sell you his books, seminars, website, bee-alive royal jelly, his Zander Insurance, his Endorsed local agents for 1. real estate 2. mutual funds and even nursing homes. He's an EXCELLENT businessman and salesman but most of what he says has that "taint" to it other than his basic message of - get out of debt. Dave will definitely end up the richest of all and to think he does it by "giving away" FREE advice on the radio. Brilliant!
Suzi Orman- 4-Stars Pros- Most interesting to watch on TV. She is pretty good with a lot of her advice and her books are always very readable. A lot of people learn from her. She also allows some opposing opinions to be discussed which I like. Cons- She's daffy. She gives some bad advice along with the good. She's more about the entertainment value that anything else (at least on TV.) Her segment called "can I afford it" is often laughable but interesting.
Bruce Williams- 3-stars (but dropping) Pros-Bruce used to be my favorite radio show back in the day but he seems soooooo boooring now. I don't know what happened. He's more about common sense topics covering small business and home ownership as well as some financial things. He's just a smart guys who isn't impressed by credentials. Cons- He has become very boring the last few years.
Clark Howard- 3.5 Stars Pros-Clark is fun to listen to when he's on a good topic. He often gets on a boring topic and talks way too long though. But that's why I always listen on the i-pod (it's like TiVo for talk radio.) Clark is more about buying things cheap than financial advice. He seems more clueless about financial matters than the rest of the guys but makes up for it with his cheapness. Clark allows his staff to tell him he's completely wrong and you have to respect that. Can you imagine Dave Ramsey having counter-point discussions on his show? I would love to hear Dave and Clark debate debit cards. Dave loves them. Clark calls them "piece of crap fake Visa and Master Cards." Cons- He's wrong a lot.
Those are my opinions anyway. I obviously enjoy talk radio a lot but I take it mainly as entertainment. With the exception of Brian Preston, I would say these are the Judge Judys of the financial world.
What do you guys think of Bob Brinker? I've only heard snippets of his show as it is on late Sunday PM here, not a time I listen to the radio much unless in the car. I have a very astute investor friend who thinks he is the best.
What do you guys think of Bob Brinker? I've only heard snippets of his show as it is on late Sunday PM here, not a time I listen to the radio much unless in the car. I have a very astute investor friend who thinks he is the best.
Al
I'll have to take your word for it. Looks like Bob charges for his pod casts. No free samples?
There are too many free ones to have to pay. Even Dave Ramsey gives away an hour a day.
One of the best ever was Louis Rukeyser as a columnist, and when he hosted WSW. Intelligent, witty, charming and gave very sound advice. His "elves" were right more than they were wrong.
Sorry. She is right on this one. The only guarantee with a VA is the death benefit if you die. The other guarantees you read about are if you annuitize and take an income stream, ect.
The far better alternative in most cases, is the FIA, which has a guaranteed death benefit, no market risk, and a locked in gain. There are lots of nuances I have skipped over, but IMO, Suze is right on about VA's, in most cases.
------------------------------------
Chuck
If you think your boss is stupid, remember: you wouldn't have a job if he was any smarter.”
This guy is fantastic! Has anyone else heard him? I can't believe he makes an argument between Keynesian Economics and Milton Friedman interesting and enjoyable!
Already, he's identified the Next Bubble (it's scary!)
Sorry. She is right on this one. The only guarantee with a VA is the death benefit if you die. The other guarantees you read about are if you annuitize and take an income stream, ect.
The far better alternative in most cases, is the FIA, which has a guaranteed death benefit, no market risk, and a locked in gain. There are lots of nuances I have skipped over, but IMO, Suze is right on about VA's, in most cases.
You are totally incorrect! Do a little research and you'll find that you DO NOT have to annuitize to get guarantees!!! There is soooooooo much misinformation getting spewed that Americans are getting hurt. Sad!
Nevermind. I will explain to all the folks I meet with VA's that have lost their asses that if they look hard enough in the fine print they will find a guarantee. Perhaps there are some new ones that offer guarantees and if you could give examples instead of vague comments, we could learn from your wisdom.
You are totally incorrect! Do a little research and you'll find that you DO NOT have to annuitize to get guarantees!!! There is soooooooo much misinformation getting spewed that Americans are getting hurt. Sad!
Uh huh. The last time I heard this was from The Hartford. It was completely misleading. It didn't require LIFETIME annuitization, but annuitization nonetheless.
I agree with the naysayers on the VA. The only time that one ever made sense was for a mkt timer... since the funds are inside the envelope of the annuity, one can switch from fund to fund w/o encountering cap gains. But I haven't used VA's for nearly 20 yrs... VA's have been widely misrepresented over the years.
Yes, Rukeyser was great. Saw him in person many years ago... This could be the reason that my wife and I ended up together, as it was one of our early dates. She was quite impressed with my interest in financial education as well as being very impressed with Louis himself.
Sonny Block (deceased 1998) was always one of my favs until he went off-tilt in 1995; securities fraud. Entertaining but apparently not all-that. He did give good advice publicly... until he couldn't resist the temptation of recommending fraudulent investments that he had a principal interest in. Many of his listeners, primarily elderly, suffered financial loss. What a shame.
So bottom line is, Caveat Emptor when listening to any of these talking heads... The temptation to become a shill is great, and in Sonny's case, overwhelming.
------------------------------------
"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him." David Brinkley
The people I run into with Variable Annuities only have a guarantee on their principle NOT thier interest which can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars at risk IF they are in a 10-year annuity with a lot invested.
Not hearing many good stories about variable annuities these days. I'm just happy I'm not in that business.
Nevermind. I will explain to all the folks I meet with VA's that have lost their asses that if they look hard enough in the fine print they will find a guarantee. Perhaps there are some new ones that offer guarantees and if you could give examples instead of vague comments, we could learn from your wisdom.
Patch and Mr. Bill,
VA's do have lifetime income benefits without annuitization. It is an additional rider just like you are seeing on the FIA's these days. The VA brought it to the market first and most every VA carrier has some form of it. For example, Pac Life has a guarantee of 5% income a year for life regardless of what the market does with a step up feature for the income bucket. In addition, they will credit 10% per year to the income bucket until you start taking distributions. So in essence, your account could double. A person who deposits $250k could have a guaranteed income of $25k per year after 10 years. This particular feature (the 10% credit) has now been modified for new contracts since the massive market correction. Also, their money is not tied up. As a matter of fact, Pac Life has a zero surrender charge product that you can use.
Nonetheless, for the person that wants a guaranteed income and an opportunity to invest in the market, the VA can be a nice risk management tool. Just as the FIA can be.
I'm not here defending the VA or stating a person should use a VA instead of a FIA. Just pointing out that the information being posted by some of you isn't entirley accurate.
I understand that some of the new VA's have the income rider, but that can't really be considered a guarantee of interest or principal unless you take the lifetime income option. Also, as an heir you don't get the value of the income account, but rather the accumulation account or what is left of the original investment, whichever is less. I don't see this as a positive unless you know you are going to take the income option and you are going to live a long time when you first buy into this product. Where is the guarantee? Unless of course you live long enough to draw it out as an income stream...which is soooo close to being annuitization, except you can stop at any time and take whatever happens to be left in the accumulation account, which may be a lot less than you originally invested...unless of course, you die.
What am I missing and why should I have sold all my clients VA's rather than the FIA's that I did sell them?
I understand that some of the new VA's have the income rider, but that can't really be considered a guarantee of interest or principal unless you take the lifetime income option. Also, as an heir you don't get the value of the income account, but rather the accumulation account or what is left of the original investment, whichever is less. I don't see this as a positive unless you know you are going to take the income option and you are going to live a long time when you first buy into this product. Where is the guarantee? Unless of course you live long enough to draw it out as an income stream...which is soooo close to being annuitization, except you can stop at any time and take whatever happens to be left in the accumulation account, which may be a lot less than you originally invested...unless of course, you die.
What am I missing and why should I have sold all my clients VA's rather than the FIA's that I did sell them?
Please tell me where I said you should have sold VA's instead of FIA's. I was simply pointing out that VA's do have income features that don't require annuitization as you claimed. Nothing more, nothing less.
You didn't and no offense was intended. I know you can take an income stream OR annuitize. I should have used the word OR instead of AND in my original post. I was reacting to Stonewalls claim that there is so much misinformation about VA's and people are being hurt. They are being hurt because they are buying into the misinformation that VA's have real guarantees other than the return of principal at death OR a guaranteed income stream.
When I said 'Sorry. She is right on this one. The only guarantee with a VA is the death benefit if you die. The other guarantees you read about are if you annuitize [COLOR=Red]and [/COLOR]take an income stream, ect.' I should have used the work [COLOR=Red]OR[/COLOR].
Again, I was not taking exception to what you said sman. I am familiar with the income riders for both products. I just don't like VA's because of all of the horrible situations I have seen people put into with them.
No biggie patch. I completely understand. Hindsight being 20/20, I wish I would have put more clients in FIA's and less mutual funds and VA's. Fortunately for me (and the clients), not a single one is in a VA that didn't have a goal of providing income. And as for the mutual funds, I moved a lot to money market in early September so we avoided about a 20% drop. We still had a drop prior to September, but it hasn't been quite as painful and the phone isn't ringing off the hook.
Sportsnut: Tell us more about the early date. You had her over to watch the show?
Pad: You must have me confused with some cheapskate, and my wife confused with someone who would settle for a date watching some financial advice on someones couch... Wasn't happening quite like that.
This was a live (on stage) performance, sponsored by the local ICFP chapter. Lou was great, very charming as usual but less structured than TV, and he was quite enjoyable. Jan 1988, if memory serves me correct. Nye onto 21 yrs ago.
Celebrity Financial Advisors
Do a little research and you'll find that you DO NOT have to annuitize to get guarantees!!! There is soooooooo much misinformation getting spewed that Americans are getting hurt. Sad!
Linear Mode
