Annuities?

[Torvy]

I have a lot of experience in banking and I can honestly tell you that a CU will be better most of the time. Requirements have been loosened, so almost everyone qualifies for one CU or another. For all intents and purposes, CUs are non-profit and are 'owned' by the customers.

 

[Snobdds]

If any financial advisor tells you to invest in anything other than low cost index funds...your working for him and he is not working for you.

 

[RustyA]

13 month CD at our local bank 4.09% apy just bought one last week.

 

[dmccarty]

I've never belonged to a credit union, there's one around here but I don't see any advantages of it over a commercial bank...the rates paid/charged are pretty close. Don't know what restrictions you have to meet to qualify to join, at least at one time most were quite specific...you had to be a municipal employee or work in a certain field, etc. I'm very leery of bank financial advisors, they all seem to be paid on commission and tend to steer you towards investments that benefit them, not necessarily you. Learned that lesson the hard way.

We belong to a two different credit unions but did our land and house building loans with a bank. The CU would not loan money for the size of land we bought so I used a bank where I knew a loan officer. Stayed with that bank for years, even though we had a doozy of a problem with a house closing, but that is another story. Eventually, we did a refi, and went back to the CU.

It pays to shop around for the best terms.

Now a days, the credit unions have much looser requirements for membership.

I do prefer the smaller local institutions. The bank we used has merged into a much larger institution.

Later,
Dan

 

[fruitcakesa]

4 week t-bills are paying 4.5%+.
I have been laddering them so I get a pay off every week, direct deposit into my bank account.
These are a very safe bet and the rates have continued to increase coincidentally with the Fed raising interest.

 

[kenmac]

13 month CD at our local bank 4.09% apy just bought one last week.

going to buy one monday at my local bank 18 mo @5%

 

[kenmac]

If any financial advisor tells you to invest in anything other than low cost index funds...your working for him and he is not working for you.

Guess I'm screwed then Mine has me in a good many private equities .
You should check into them. Better than gambling everything in the market.

 

[duffer]

I won't tell you what to do, but I can assure you that annuities have SEVERAL skeletons in the closet that the rep/agent won't share with you. I know because I was a financial advisor for 25 years (retired now). All I will say is that you could put a gun to my head, and I STILL would not sell an annuity to a client.

 

[RSKY]

When I turned 59-1/2 and intended to start drawing from my main 401K I was advised by my advisor at Fidelity to roll it into an IRA. I did so and that advisor was replaced by a lady, also a Fidelity employee, who specialized in new IRA owners. She made a sales pitch for an annuity. Made it sound good but I thought something was off. I didn't know anything about them so after thinking about it for a week I declined. She then told me that she was required to make the pitch but was relieved I didn't buy the annuity. Said she didn't want to loose her job but in most cases it literally made her sick when somebody purchased one. Said there were some instances where the annuity was the best solution for the customer but those were few and far between. Told me to never buy one except in certain situations with declining health and nobody to manage my finances for me.

She eventually got promoted out of that position and no longer advises me and I hate that.

RSKY

 

[turbo36]

If any financial advisor tells you to invest in anything other than low cost index funds...your working for him and he is not working for you.

Really? At any age or financial position?

 

[M59]

turbo36,

You are right to question Snobdds generic statement. Every person has their unique financial position, however there are some rules of thumb, which I abide by, in the big picture investment universe. Absent all other invest able options, the S&P is a good go to for investment without having to think too hard. I personally will avoid Annuities, Whole Life Insurance, and Reverse Mortgages like they are the black plague. These three items were designed to largely benefit ( handsomely enrich ) the issuer.

Depending on one's risk acceptance level and/ or asset level, the range of invest-able options is wide open.

 

[2manyrocks]

A friend of mine is a fee only investment advisor. His general advice is "duration and diversification."

 

[kenmac]

I doubt any large financial institution is going to offer or advise anyone to invest in private equites. It would be taking funds from them.
I searched and interviewed several Private financial advisors until I found one that offered clients to invest in private equites, while still leaving some in the markets, but not all in.

 

[Snobdds]

Really? At any age or financial position?

Yes. The huge benefit is not paying WallSteet for management fees. The fees kill a person over the a person's investment lifecycle.

Never forget these charts...

 

[buckeyefarmer]

We're in the process now of getting our 401K's into the trust as we thought we had one (estate), but only had a basic will. In the process with all of our other assets as well.

What do you do to get 401k into trust?

We had lawyer draw up trust documents years ago, but we never finalized them. Something didn’t seem right. Looking back over what he did, he just created the trust, but didn’t fund the trust.
I need to get this started again.

 

[Sigarms]

What do you do to get 401k into trust?

We had lawyer draw up trust documents years ago, but we never finalized them. Something didn’t seem right. Looking back over what he did, he just created the trust, but didn’t fund the trust.
I need to get this started again.

You need to get the proper paperwork from who is handling the 401K to sign off on listing your trust as the beneficiary. You most likely have your wife or someone else significant to you listed as the primary beneficiary.

End of day, anything you or your wife have in any assets should have the trust listed as a beneficiary as well (bank accounts, CD's, other investments), unless someone else who isn't listed in the trust as the primary executor is listed at the primary beneficiary in other capital assets.

In my fathers case, since my mom died, he listed me as a primary in their (my parents) family trust and took my mom off the trust (he updated it when he moved to NC, which was a little bit of a hassle due to some variances in different state laws).

If everything is listed in you and your wife's name and not the estate, it goes without saying that if either of you two are listed as an executor in the trust and one of you dies, any capital assets will inevitably go to the other via the trust, but by listing the trust as a beneficiary, this makes it painless and no questions asked.

I'm not a lawyer, but this is what our estate attorney told us.

Even my sons whole life insurance policy is being turned over to the family trust via beneficiary (son is listed as an executor, but not for another couple of decades to see how he plays out "life wise" now that he's 18).

Seems to be a lot of work to keep the legal system out when you die LOL

Thing is, my dad wasn't a wealthy man monetarily wise, but with him keeping his trust updated with no will, transferring what he had in his life to me was absolutely painless. You don't have to be rich to have a estate, but I will tell your our lawyer costs us $2,500, but to us for what we have worked for and now own, that money was well worth spending.

Never think about dying unexpectedly, but it can happen.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Thanks, my cousins estate is in probate now. What a pain. $2500 is cheap compared to what lawyers will suck out of the estate in probate.

 

[Sigarms]

Thanks, my cousins estate is in probate now. What a pain. $2500

My father got stuck as the executor selling the family home (the house my grandparents bought in the 1930's when they came off the boat.

No will, no estate, unpaid taxes with a bunch of my fathers siblings still alive.

Very long story short, my father was "disinherited" by one sister and her 3 daughters because that aunt (who was the oldest sibling still alive at the time) thought that she being the oldest, should get the entire house, kit and kabuddle no questions asked.

Funny thing was the house was only worth only about 70K (with 15K in unpaid taxes) and she threw her relationship with her brother (my dad) out the window because my father followed what the state law laid out on how to split the house for everyone who was alive.

My dad died last year, but he kept the paperwork and what was involved in dealing with my aunt. I had to read it. Talk about a PITA.

 

[JethroB]

If any financial advisor tells you to invest in anything other than low cost index funds...your working for him and he is not working for you.

Vanguard Advisory service will generally recommend Total Market index and bond funds over the less diverse S&P 500 or such. Also a mix of domestic and international.

 

[JethroB]

A friend of mine is a fee only investment advisor. His general advice is "duration and diversification."

May I add low cost.