Oftentimes when meeting with clients and prospects, we caution them about putting too much credence into the rantings of the popular financial press. We remind them that these writers and pundits are in the business of selling magazines, newspapers, books or investment courses (or some combination thereof). Due to limited space, and in order to stand out from the crowd, they must take very strong stances, pronouncing some financial products “good” and others “bad”.
It has been our experience that, save for outright illegal products, it is ridiculous to attach a “good” or “bad” moniker to a particular financial product. Any tool, financial or otherwise, is “good” for some situations and “bad” for others. Very rarely is a particular tool flat out good or bad in all circumstances. Would you say that a screwdriver is a “bad” tool because it doesn’t cut wood? No, of course not. What you might say, however is that the screwdriver is a bad choice for cutting wood but a good one for it’s designated purpose of turning screws.
All financial products are, like that screwdriver, merely tools to help you achieve your financial goals. Most financial products available are good for some situations and bad for others. Problems arise not from the design of the tool, but when it is sold for an inappropriate purpose by either an unscrupulous or poorly trained financial advisor.
Let’s use a product that we see getting bad press all the time – annuities. Various columnists we’ve seen (who shall remain nameless), when asked about annuities will say simply that they are “bad”. They’ll argue that annuities are illiquid, expensive, pay huge brokerage commissions and that you absolutely don’t need one. What these columnists fail to tell you is that annuities are a great tool when used for their primary purpose – providing a stream of income that you cannot outlive. When annuitized, they work much like traditional pension plans, providing a steady stream of income that will last a lifetime. For a segment of the population this guarantee provides the priceless benefit of peace of mind. Is your money illiquid? Generally speaking yes, for a finite period of time. Does the guarantee of not outliving your money come with a cost? You bet. We all know there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Did your broker get a commission? More than likely, yes. The fact that the broker receives a commission doesn’t make it a bad product; it just makes it imperative that you understand the potential conflicts of interest the broker may have had in selling it to you. Do you not need an annuity? We don’t have a clue. Until we’ve met with you for a full review of your entire financial picture, we can’t tell where an annuity fits in the mix. Nobody can. In fact, we recommend you run far and run fast from any advisor that makes a recommendation without asking a LOT of questions first.
Hopefully we’ve learned two important lessons here: 1) Remember that newspapers, magazines, radio and TV shows are in the business of selling more of their product, so take what they say with a grain of salt, and 2) Be very wary of anybody that tells you that a product is “good” or “bad” without understanding your unique financial situation. To paraphrase a line from the movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”, “Good products aren’t bad, they’re just sold that way.”
Money Management For Modern Life 