Everyone Wants Your Money. Proceed Accordingly.

Greetings! 

Hope you’ve all had a great weekend. Each week, I will highlight one central idea for you to think through on your own. The goal, as always, is to break down the complex and make it as digestible as possible.

This Week: Everyone Wants Your Money. Proceed Accordingly. 

First: When I was an investment advisor, we made fun of insurance agents; when I see content from insurance agents, they make fun of investment advisors. Why? Because everyone is competing for a cut of your money. 

Now: we’re going to play a quick game. Just appreciate what pops into your mind when you see the following terms: whole life insurance, 401(k)s, mutual fund fees, IULs, annuities, commissions, 1% assets under management. You get the point. 

My Personal Take-Away: Now that I officially have no skin in the game, it’s as if the blinders have come off: it is now all too easy to see how few folks in finance are willing to sit down with a client and analyze every single option on the table without tinting the conversation with at least some of their own perceived biases. Why? Because through these scripts, that advisor or agent has learned that they will ultimately make more money. Honestly, no blame or judgment attached on my end. It’s like growing up in Vermont and having someone from Canada tell you they have the best Maple Syrup. We can’t always see beyond our own conditioned states, and I think too many in finance have truly come to believe their own gospel is truly superior because they have no incentive to prove themselves wrong. 

Action Item: this week, I want you to spend 20 minutes researching one investmentor insurance product/vehicle that you have come to believe is a “scam”, and see if you can identify even just one reason why it might actually be a viable option for the right person at the right time.

Have a great week, and will always try to get us all one step closer to where we need to be. 

Tyler