Ep 33: Are You In a Bad Investment?

The Concept:

Okay, so there might not be such a thing as a ‘bad financial product’, but there are certainly inappropriate investments out there for people in certain situations. We’ll explore some examples of those kinds of situations on this episode and you might be surprised just how common it is for people to be invested in products that are ill-suited for their financial goals.

The Reality of the Matter:

No matter how sharp your investing skills might be, there comes a time where you check your portfolio and there’s a product in there that just doesn’t make sense. Whether it never provided any value or it’s outdated and doesn’t fit your current needs, these bad investments seem to find their way into you plan.

It’s not uncommon either. We have people come into our office for the first time that have investments that make little or no sense for their retirement plan. And when you ask about how or why they have them, they can’t even answer a lot of times.

But we’re not here to talk about your past decisions. Let’s focus on what changes you can make to get out of those bad financial products and into something that suits you much better. That’s the focus for this episode of the Retirement Reality Podcast. Mike Kojonen will share examples of times where he’s worked with clients to identify these mistakes and correct them. Making changes to your portfolio to get into proper investments can provide huge benefits in the long run so don’t let these missteps keep you off track.

We also wanted to get Mike’s thoughts on a recent study that found Americans are pulling out a significant amount of money from their retirement accounts well before retirement. Is this common for a lot of people? We’ll find out what Mike thinks about this trend and what circumstances you might consider doing this.

This episode will also dive into the mailbag for two listener questions on long-term care and changing advisors so stick around until the end.

1:05 – A recent study found a bad savings trend for Americans.

4:04 – Does Mike agree that there aren’t bad financial products, mainly just bad fits for people?

5:15 – Mike shares the worst investments he remembers seeing from a client.

7:59 – Do clients have any idea how they got into these bad investments?

9:48 – There are usually ways to correct your mistakes and get into correct investments. Mike shares a story.

12:31 – Making changes can benefit you greatly and here’s another story about a past client.

14:45 – Mailbag Question #1: How much long-term care coverage is recommend? It seems there are hundreds of options out there.

17:45  – Mailbag Question #2: I’ve had the same financial advisor for 20 years but it seems like he’s phasing out and passing things on to a younger advisor in the firm. Should we stick with them or find somebody new?

Thanks for checking out the Retirement Reality Podcast. We’ll talk to you again next week.