Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

Disclosure

  • Home
  • Your Survival
    • EMP Threat
    • Tucker Explains
    • Newport Gas Outage
    • Water
      • Emergency Water Storage
      • Let There Be Water
    • Get Your Gun and Your Training Now
    • Satellite Phones
    • Navy SEAL Survival Kit
  • Your Money
    • Coronavirus Infects Stock Market
    • Looking for a Better America
    • You Invest, They Win
    • Where to Keep Your Cash
    • Paris
    • How to Buy a Boat
    • Dead or Alive? The Future of Long-Term Investing
    • Is Vanguard too Big?
    • Cryptocosm and Life After Google
    • The Last Intelligence Report
    • The Truth Behind the S&P 500
    • RAGE Gauge
    • How Many “Retirees” Will Keep Working?
    • Your Retirement Life
    • You’ll Love This if You’re Dreaming of an Active Retirement Life
  • Weapons
    • Self Defense
    • Every Family Should Own at Least One Shotgun: Here Are Three
  • About Me
    • Preparing for Times Like These
    • My Videos/Pics
    • Music
      • RIP Neil Peart: You Will Always Be Remembered as a “Modern-Day Warrior”
  • You
    • Our Cabin on Kodiak, Alaska
    • If You Are in Pain, this May Help. It Helped Me.
    • How to Save for a Grandchild
    • FIRE! Financial Independence, Retire Early
    • Compound Interest
    • Arithmetic of Portfolio Losses
    • Maximum Portfolio Withdrawal Rate
    • An Efficient Frontier
    • Retirement Compounders
    • Counterbalanced Total Returns
  • Survive & Thrive
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • Welcome

Your Retirement Life: Run from Shiny Happy People

June 5, 2020 By E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

By Gajus @ Shutterstock.com

Let’s start with our bank of bad habits, shall we? The most common one I see is the annuity. How do they even get into a portfolio? I’ll tell you.

“Well,” a prospective client might say, “I had a cousin who told me about that one.” Or, “It was sold to me years ago by some guy. I don’t remember his name.” Or, “My employer brought in this company to give us a presentation.” You get the idea.

When investors are young and start making a little scratch, they don’t spend time researching investments. They’re too tired. They don’t have time. They trust who they’re talking with. Plus, the kids are hungry. Where’s the pinot gri?

When investors are older, they can’t afford to lose their life savings. They want income, and they want to spend time on more pressing matters like choosing between a Sig 226 or a Glock 19 (I like both). They don’t want to think about what could happen to their money if, say, cities start burning.

Annuities are sold by shiny happy people laughing, holding hands, walking the beach at sunrise or sipping chardonnay by the fire at sunset. They tell you: “We have all this, plus we get the highest daily value of the stock market every single year.” Then, there’s the small print or voice like the one you hear for the medication commercials trying to eat your eggs. “May cause upset stomach, internal bleeding, or…” You get the point.

When I think about annuities, I picture a guy in a white lab coat working in compliance, in charge of protecting the company with a prospectus, staring at the ad campaign on his computer and saying to himself, “Oh, boy, this might take a while.” Working in a Wuhan lab never looked so good.

Because you and I know, nothing is for free, someone needs to pay for the advertising. Someone needs to pay for the salesforce, never mind dealing with negative interest rates and the bonuses for the creeps on the trading desk—what a mess.

So, the next time you or someone you know starts talking about annuities, make sure you get a few things in writing. Real simple: What’s the annual fee, what’s the surrender fee, and what happens if the insurer goes bankrupt?

Then, you’ll have all the time in the world to find the right handgun and perhaps an advisor you can trust with your life savings.

The following two tabs change content below.
  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Instagram profile

E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Instagram profile

Latest posts by E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy (see all)

  • Your Personal Safety: Concealed-Carry How to Carry Your Freedom - January 22, 2021
  • Your Retirement Life: Meet Your BMW Club Racing Program Director - January 22, 2021
  • PANDEMIC Pushes Military-Grade Surveillance on Americans Like YOU - January 21, 2021
  • Do You Know Who’s the Largest Owner of Farmland in America? - January 21, 2021
  • A President Speaks: “Hard Work Never Killed Anybody” - January 20, 2021

If you enjoyed this post, email it to a friend:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp

Related Posts

Trending

  • There's Always a Way Forward for Americans Like YOU
  • Your Personal Safety: Concealed-Carry How to Carry Your Freedom
  • PANDEMIC Pushes Military-Grade Surveillance on Americans Like YOU
  • How Are You Doing on a Local Level?
  • February RAGE Gauge: Americans Focusing on What's In Front of Them
  • Don’t Be on Their Radar, Get Out of Debt Now
  • Tucker Explains: Who Is Biden Nominee Kristen Clarke?
  • Do You Know Who’s the Largest Owner of Farmland in America?
  • The Fed is Sacrificing Retirees to Save the Banks
  • The Death of the Dollar and America's AA Credit

YOUR SURVIVAL GUY MUST READS

  • Be a Shepherd. You’ll Be Happier. Greed Kills
  • October RAGE Gauge: Stocks Down Over 33% Thrice this Century
  • The Great Reset: Meet the Climate Czar and His War: Part III
  • News of Secret 6th- Generation Fighter Jet Takes Flight
  • As Emperor Cuomo Tries to Shutdown Thanksgiving, Sheriffs Fight Back
  • Survival Guy Greetings from Key West at Sunset
  • Chelsea, MA Gives $300/Month You’ll Eventually Pay For
  • It’s Never a Bad Time to Downsize Your Home
  • Biden Town Hall: Stay in the Ring Joe
  • Why I Work for You, and Not the Other Way Around
Only if You’re Serious
Only if You’re Serious
Only if You’re Serious
Escape the City
Smith Family Robinson
Only if You’re Serious
Why Vanguard is Too Big for YOU
See Who's Missing the Boat
You Invest, They Win
Emergency Water Storage
Emergency Water Storage
Emergency Water Storage
Why Fidelity is Number One

Copyright © 2021 | Terms & Conditions

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.