Your Unbiased Advisor: “Safe Retirement Income” email I received is wrong and misleading

Advisors/brokers say they can beat the market but they can’t

Wall Street must tell us they can beat the market because they only make money when we give them money. But they don’t know the future. Most unbiased information from Buffett, financial expert studies, and long-term financial institutions know that one-year wonders cannot provide accurate predictions or long-term returns ABOVE market returns. After a losing year for almost everyone, the market provided a 59% return over the past 5 years. That is 9.5% per year using the Vanguard 500 Index Fund. Few if any advisor provided market beating returns because their fees reduce our returns. They take their fees, charges, losses from our account. Over time, advisors can never overcome their own costs to provide market-beating returns. With the current fascination with AI, even AI says it cannot find a better security to beat the market. AI says market is too unpredictable to design a fund that beats the market index. Only a delusional financial firm would claim they can predict the stocks that could beat the market index in one year let alone consistently. It is only our greed that makes us fall for the promise of more.

https://www.amazon.com/One-Decision-Investing-Buffetts-strategy/dp/1723529176

“Safe Retirement Income” email I received is wrong and misleading

Annuity sellers are making promises that leave us with a misleading claim. Annuities are not “safe retirement income” because the companies that sell them won’t be around for us to sue when we learn the pitfalls of annuities. In the coming years, your promised benefits will be wiped out by inflation and reduced to the actual benefits stated in our contract—2-3%. The sales literature is wrong—“7% Returns with NO Market Risk”—because it is assumed the economy will stay the same. We know change happens. Insurers can become bankrupt, sell our contract, reduce the payouts, and sell on “financial illustrations” using bad assumptions to entice us to buy. Just the fact of inflation makes the word “Safe” income a lie. Over time normal inflation of 3% will reduce the VALUE of our monthly payouts by HALF. So at the beginning of the payout, age 70, we might receive $710 a month for life from a $100,000 deposit, by age 90, $710 may buy only $350 in goods. If we die at age 80, the insurer keeps the balance of our account.

Better option: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Buy-That-Annuity-Guaranteed/dp/1466494573

Which assets provide the best chance of reaching your goals?

Stock mutual funds with low costs provide 11% return over time. One advisor a year wins the top spot every year except IT ISN’T THE SAME ONE. That is the difference between an investor and a gambler. Look at the most recent past.

Now look at the DALBAR measures over time: https://www.dalbar.com/Portals/dalbar/cache/News/PressReleases/DALBAR%20Pinpoints%20Investor%20Pain%202015.pdf

If your advisor is taking their fees, charges, and market-timing losses out of your accumulations, you may be giving up 63% of your potential earnings over time. The best performing stock mutual funds in 2022 are not the same as 2021 or 2020 or any other year. Which is best for the long-term investor? Warren Buffett, one of the greatest investors, says Vanguard 500 Index is the best for beating Wall Street “professionals.” Buffett: “a virtually cost-free investment in an unmanaged S&P 500 index fund - would, over time, deliver better results than those achieved by most investment professionals, however well-regarded and incentivized those "helpers" may be.”

https://www.amazon.com/You-Beat-Wall-Street-professionals/dp/1986031373

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