“A girlfriend of mine had an adviser who for 15 years just kept saying she’d be OK. Well, she’s not.”
To be sure, there are plenty of concerns about annuities.
They are complex financial instruments with particularly low returns in the current interest rate environment and have a history of aggressive sales tactics and high fees.
By the same token, the nonannuity investment world has had its own share of misdeeds toward investors, from fraud to fees.
Meanwhile, aging baby boomers are left to grapple with how to devise a spending strategy that keeps them from running out of money but also doesn’t force them to live too frugally, all while navigating the cognitive decline that can derail their best-laid plans, she said.
“As advisers we must recognize and acknowledge these flaws in both ourselves and our clients,” she writes in the paper.
“We must work to lessen their detrimental effects by actively listening and engaging the client in discussion about their feelings toward their retirement income, education, and misconceptions, while sincerely sharing our clients concerns.”
©2014 Chicago Tribune
Distributed by MCT Information Services
