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Welcome to How to Retire on Time, a show that answers your retirement questions. Say goodbye to the oversimplified advice you've heard hundreds of times. This show is about getting into the nitty-gritty so you can make better decisions as you prepare for retirement. Text your questions to 913-363-1234 and we'll feature them on the show. Don't forget to grab a copy of the book, How to Retire on Time, or check out our resources by going to www.retireontime.com.
Hey, thanks for joining. Here's a question I was recently asked on my show, How to Retire On Time. Take a look. Okay. Alright.
Mike:What's the next question?
David:Okay. Next question. Can I what can I I'm sorry? What can a financial advisor offer that I can't find or get myself? Because it does seem like, yeah, like apps on our phones and access to things we can just buy.
David:Can I get my own MYGA or my own account at Fidelity or whatever?
Mike:Yeah. So you can access the public markets. No problem. Mhmm. You can shop CDs.
Mike:No problem. You can shop treasuries or the bond market. No problem. Whenever I see like a proprietary ETF or mutual fund. Yeah.
Mike:Probably pretty close to the stuff you already have access to. So securities or the stock market, for the most part, you you should be fine. Mhmm. Insurance products, you can't. So if you think you're shopping, no.
Mike:You're you're actually going online to an agent who has put together a website of a narrowly curated list of products. They're expecting you to ask the right questions, and they say you did your research. Great. Here you go. Here's access.
David:Right.
Mike:And they're not going to push back saying, you sure that's the right product? Because there's another one over here that might have a slightly different structure but fit your needs.
David:Mhmm.
Mike:So, there's an inherent disadvantage for that. That's like saying, hey David, you don't make computers, right? I
David:I don't make any computers. Okay.
Mike:So, you're gonna go to a hardware store. Yeah. Computer hardware store, not like Ace or Home Depot.
David:I'll go to Micro Center. Shout out to them.
Mike:Yeah. So, you're gonna go to Micro Center. Yeah. Okay? And now you gotta figure out and shop for all the right products and then put your computer together.
Mike:Yeah. Without any experience. Like that's a tough one.
David:Yeah, because I mean, that's a big store. Do I need this motherboard? And will this microchip go on that motherboard? And what kind of memory do I need? Etcetera, right?
David:That was a great attempt. That's where it ends. I can't go any further than that.
Mike:Yeah. But that's kind of what ends up happening is I feel like I want this, I Google it and then they find some things, and they're not getting the best product. They're getting the product that has the best search engine optimization or the best website with a curated filtered biased list. Doesn't make that product wrong, it just wasn't wrong or right for you. You also have other things too, like structured notes you can't get on your own.
Mike:Private equity access to hedge funds for tax planning purposes, direct indexing. There are many things out there that elevate your upside potential, lower your downside risk that you can't get on your own. Delaware Statutory Trust, if you want to sell, that's another one. So if you sell your real estate property and you want to defer your taxes and maintain your cash flow, if not improve your cash flow, you can't get on your own. So the problem is a lot of people are ending up with an advisor that's selling one thing, and they got there because of their advertisement that got them to that one thing, and now it's a product pitch.
Mike:Very rare is someone like us that truly has all of these tools in the toolbox, and they're objectively selective, third party verified, and researched to then assess, is this the right one for you or not?
David:And so, there a reason that there's this wall where like all these, some of these products and services live behind this wall, and the wall is these people who like are agents or, you know, licenses?
Mike:Yeah, mean, most professionals want to get really, really good at one thing. It's really difficult to be a generalist and a specialist. That takes a lot of work. So once you get comfortable selling one or two things, why bother? Well, it bothers me.
Mike:Yeah. I don't like people ending up with a lesser than situation. Right. But yeah, there's like here's a client. So there's a guy that $7,000,000 wanted to put basically half his money in bonds.
Mike:Thirty year treasuries, making 5% or so, paying out that same much. I said, why is that? He says, I just want to have the cash flow. What do you care about the the end? He says, whatever.
Mike:I just want to have some stability in my portfolio and bonds are great. I said, well what if we could take that million dollars and put it into an indexed annuity that paid you 7.3%, 73,000 a year. Would you like that? He says, yeah. I didn't even know that was a thing.
Mike:Had no idea. Now some people should do bonds for legacy planning purposes and so on, but for him it like, I didn't even know this existed. I didn't know that was the proper application.
David:Oh, yeah.
Mike:It's tricky. I don't necessarily agree with the structure and the gatekeeping, but I understand it.
David:Okay.
Mike:Because the products you can't get on your own are are there's an inherent advantage to them, but only when they're placed correctly. It's like medicine. If we let anyone get any medicine they want at any time of the day, that probably creates some problems. Yeah. So the but it's it's tricky.
Mike:That's all the time we've got for today's show. If you enjoyed the show, thanks for tuning the podcast. Don't forget to subscribe, leave a rating, and as always, tell your friends, the larger the subscribers are, the better the content can be that fuels your preparation for retirement. We'll see you in the next show.