About the Author Dan Keppel has been helping people find financial services that fit their lifestyles since working in a securities firm, an insurer, two banks and his own MoneyCoach service. His book, The Insiders' Guides to Buying Discount Financial Services: Buy Direct and Save $3,000 Every Year, shows you how, what and where to buy financial products like industry insiders do—directly from the highest rated companies for less. He edits TheInsidersGuides.com and was an adjunct at a local college. He lives in Montclair, NJ with his wife, daughter and two cats, Anu and Katze. He recently lost his Dad who he helped navigate years in retirement and two nursing homes. Read more
S**W
Not About Laddering Annuities
I was interested in reading on the topic of the title. Alas, the book is not about annuities or laddering them. In fact, the author doesn't like annuities at all and recommends against them for the reasons we've all heard about (mainly too many fees). He is feeling good about mutual funds and to his credit recommends Vanguard and TIAA-Cref (the sources for financial vehicles with the lowest fees). He also gives sound basic financial advice like get out of debt and stay out of debt. On another note, while it may be true that you can earn a fair amount of interest if you steadfastly do dollar cost averaging always no matter what the market is doing, there are good reasons to be risk aversive when it comes to the stock market. The boom and bust feature of the market can harm seniors who may not have time to recover financial from another disaster like the one in 2008. Plus, who really has to stomach for that (BTW, the banks are still slicing and dicing mortgages bought by folks who can't pay for them--nothing has changed THERE). Finally, he loses credibility when he mentions relying on Medicaid as a means for paying for nursing care. Yes, he understands the benefit; no, he doesn't seem to get how very unpleasant living in a nursing facility can be as opposed to living in any number of very nice assisted living facilities that cost plenty but are worth it when you have the freedom of choice that comes from having sufficient savings (a condition that precludes qualifying for Medicaid). A life time stream of income, like an annuity or two , plus Social Security and ideally a pension will ensure that you have lifetime income without the high risks that come from investing in equities. In addition, the author repeats himself a lot and keeps referring to something that is trademarked called Wealth Reserve. From what I can tell, that is just a Roth IRA and that is not a trademarked entity. At best, this book is a very mixed bag and there are far better ones out there that explain the basics of investing and the benefits and features of annuities, which this book barely touches on despite the title.
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