Back in the Spring of this year, good news came out of CNBC regarding average 401k returns when they published an article titled Big Surge in 401k Balances, but Workers still not Saving Enough. The news out of this article was that the average 401k balance had grown $42,400 or nearly doubled from five years …
Next up on the Market Watch exposé is a discussion about variable annuities, their expenses, complexity, and lack of any uniqueness compared to other investments options—or at least that’s what someone would like you to believe.
Most of our readers and clients are familiar with the White Coat Investor—a web site started a few years ago by Jim Dahle, a physician who practices Emergency Medicine. I’ve talked about Jim’s work before, once quite a while ago when he attempted to malign whole life insurance and again about a year ago when …
Back in July, market watch published a list of 10 Things Life Insurance Agents won’t say, which is an on going theme for the articles author, Daniel Goldstein. The piece attempts to be provocative and cast doubt on the life insurance industry within the eyes of the consumer. This allusion is not a new one. …
Today we’re discussing the other “i” word–illustration. We are diving into how illustrations are manipulated to sell the sizzle and not so much about focusing on the substance. It seems that far too many of the people working in the marketing department feel that they need to really “push the envelope” in terms of illustrating …
When it comes to Gen X and Retirement all is not well with the MTV Generation. But this despair doesn’t seem to be rooted in a systemic lack of effort—one of the core flaws often noted by its preceding generation—rather it originates from a demoralizing late-in-life shift in world view coupled with a struggle to …
I’m sure there are some of you who will pick up our little easter egg in the title of today’s financial procast. For those who remember that great scene from the movie, Tommy Boy, I give you permission to skip down to the bottom of this page to watch a little clip. And for those who …
In our practice, there’s often a discussion that develops around the idea of universal versus whole life insurance and we know this sacred battleground for many of our colleagues. Indeed people do have choices which as we all know can be a good thing and a bad thing all at the same time. Something that happens …
The financial crisis of 2008 was over nearly five years ago but recent research shows us that investors are still having a really hard time finding the balance between performance and safety. Today we have a barrage of statistics showing us that investors are still not quite sure they should be back in the stock market …
Today we’re going to talk about regulation. Now, we’re never in favor of MORE regulation…let’s be clear on that. But, we do think that the life insurance industry needs to do a better job of policing itself. If we don’t, regulators will intervene and that won’t be pretty for anyone. It’s a bit of an …
