Download The Findit App

Share Your Posts On These Major Social Networks

Instatag Your Posts to Instagram Facebook + Twitter

News

All Financial Products Have Expenses

Why is Full Disclosure on Financial Products So Hard to Obtain

Mesa 9/13/2018 10:00:00 AM

Financial products have expense loads, declared and undeclared. In this the information age with a little Sherlock Holmes savvy and access to the Internet you should be able to uncover what the manufacturer should disclose. But, for the most part, it’s not disclosed.

Mutual funds and ETFs (Electronically Traded Funds) have their expense ratio disclosed in their prospectus, but other fund related costs are embedded in other documents and not generally disseminated to the fund owner.  The average expense ratio for small to large cap funds is around 1.30%, foreign stock funds around 1.50%, and bond funds near .90%.  The average Registered Investment Advisor, charges an annual fee around 1.03%. Based on public information disclosed in the prospectus and the RIA ADV form, most investors think they’re paying under 2.5% all in. But in reality there’s an average of an additional 1.33% listed in the statement of additional information which is available to anyone online, but not delivered as part of the fund cost. These transactional costs are not cheap and most fund owners are not aware of them, and shockingly neither are most of the registered representatives and RIAs that sell them. Cash Drag is another additional cost in a fund that measures the expense of liquidity for redemptions and buying opportunities for the fund. The average cash drag expense can be near .85%. Non-qualified funds also have taxes that average about 1% a year because of buying and selling within the fund. So you may be paying an average of 5.50% all in. Qualified funds are almost 5% with plan fees added and the annual taxes omitted. The public is generally paying twice what it thinks it’s paying for fund and related costs . It’s time to disclose all costs in a required annual statement to the investor.

Life Insurance has two basic policy formats: participating whole life and universal life. The latter discloses current company practice costs, but not the contractual costs, which the board of directors can use to shore up revenues. There are two sets of rates, the smaller the difference between the two sets of rates the better.  Participating whole life continues its black box secrecy. Over the years consumer advocates and agents have asked for an accounting for the expenses, but to no avail. The only way to determine approximate costs is to reverse engineer the cost of insurance based on term rates and review the company’s bond holdings and operational expenses. It’s still a guess. It’s time for full disclosure of all the moving parts inside a participating whole life policy and allow the consumer to assess the expenses for themselves.

More News

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/15cbd0ce-653d-42fe-904b-60b160b30688.jpg

Risk & Reward: Everyone Has Some Threshold of Financial Pain

Most people have a predisposition about risk. It’s generally environmental and based on family upbringing. That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily right, it’s just where you are, depending upon your financial literacy. Whether you know it or not, you ...

Released On: 12/27/2019
Views: 1722

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/5c11d9a2-2454-420f-bb42-7d9f0e9c7763.jpg

Establish Your Financial Timeline Based On Approximating Your Life Span

There are mortality averages based on actuarial statistics that can approximate the life expectancy of the general population at large. But “averages” don’t address half of those who will exceed the norms. The more data you put into determining y ...

Released On: 12/26/2019
Views: 1679

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/2daf071e-f113-44d4-ac16-5fc18b17a4e4.jpg

You Can’t Make Good Financial Decisions Without Knowing Your Effective Tax Bracket

For most wage earners and retirees taxes are the biggest expense they’ll ever have over their lifetime. Managing your tax bill effectively is learning to become a “gamer,” by avoiding tax traps and snares along life’s journey. You have to know th ...

Released On: 12/25/2019
Views: 1601

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/225d9f5d-44e6-4e13-b3ee-c07900ef43f0.jpg

Baby Boomers Must Create a Retirement Budget or Risk Losing Control of their Money

It’s rather stunning to discover that most baby boomers have never had a budget in their life, but they’re going to need one in retirement. Retirement may be the biggest motivator for most Americans to create a budget because retirees live month ...

Released On: 12/24/2019
Views: 1693

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/11103acb-9d7e-46de-afaa-81db9a26dd89.jpg

Life Has Milestone Events That Have A Financial Impact

Life just happens, but there are predictable events common to most in our culture and most of those events have a financial impact. Planning for those predictable events can prepare you to meet many of these obligations. The life event checklist ...

Released On: 12/23/2019
Views: 1768

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/32f77340-ae1d-42d4-88d7-222f83292aad.jpg

The Extension of Human Life Expectancy: The Final Frontier of Retirement Planning

The Mortality Revolution may very well be the final frontier in mankind’s quest to beat death. So far, the grim reaper has won every time, but new timelines are emerging in human longevity that are delaying the inevitable. Prepare yourself for l ...

Released On: 12/20/2019
Views: 1580

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/99f307a7-8aeb-4972-bfbf-69d62336bb9b.jpg

Longevity Risk is its Own Risk Multiplier of Every Other Retirement Risk

Living longer is exacerbating over a dozen other retirement risks that threaten the vast majority of retirees and those near retirement. If the status quo continues, the retirement lifestyle of most seniors will be severely pared back. Watch the ...

Released On: 12/19/2019
Views: 1650

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/b1bdcb96-7415-499f-ba7a-36c65b92ee87.jpg

Almost All Retirement Plans Need Serious Updating in Light of the Mortality Revolution

Most of the retirement plans currently operational have a significant flaw. They’ve grossly underestimated the increase in life expectancy over the last generation. But government and military pensions are in the greater financial jeopardy, becau ...

Released On: 12/18/2019
Views: 1609

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/e64bac33-4257-4124-bcea-41317cc82cd6.jpg

Bonds Have Interest Rates, Stocks their Dividends, Annuities Longevity Credits

The law of large numbers and changing demographics of life expectancy is having a significant impact on guaranteed lifetime annuities. Annuity manufacturers are touting their alpha with mortality credits and receiving newfound interest among fina ...

Released On: 12/17/2019
Views: 1611

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/0758fe7d-25a8-4eae-9ce9-e7ca90b52e0b.jpg

Shock! The Age Wave is Upon Us and We’re Not Ready

The last 100 years have seen a significant increase in human longevity compared to the earliest records of mankind. The spike in longevity has caught the Western world by surprise. The effects of this revolution are affecting financial planning a ...

Released On: 12/16/2019
Views: 1582

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/c92a8a0b-8492-4325-b6d4-530642b4667f.jpg

Protecting Social Security Benefits from Taxation

There was a time when Social Security benefits were not exposed to ordinary income taxation. But over the years, small incremental steps were taken to tax the benefits. Maybe “means testing” may be implemented to shore up the vulnerable Social Se ...

Released On: 12/13/2019
Views: 1276

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/369c956a-4a3d-4960-8a83-f992bc8b0b97.jpg

Collateralized Loans from Cash Value Life Insurance Policies & Home Equity Could Be Tax Free

Collateralized loans are not characterized as income and are not reportable, as such, on your 1040 form. And because these loans are not forms of taxable income, they are not counted for the provisional income test for Social Security taxation. W ...

Released On: 12/12/2019
Views: 1743

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/1ba4827b-5a3c-4987-a478-0f09471640b2.jpg

Tax Management in Retirement Requires Tax Management During the Contribution Period

Retirement, as it is today, is inherently crippled by taxes. You may very well have one million dollars in your retirement plan, but Uncle Sam may own up to 40% of it. Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Roth IRAs need to be reconsidered as a first ...

Released On: 12/11/2019
Views: 1556

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/13faf649-2308-49d3-948d-a7f19e8064d7.jpg

Taxes in Retirement is the #1 Threat in Retirement Cash Flow

Most American workers don’t comprehend the realities of retirement until they’re a few years from retirement date, which is often too late. They’re just too busy dealing with immediate financial pressures to understand the long-haul consequences ...

Released On: 12/10/2019
Views: 1583

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/24e22fdc-181b-40c9-8fc5-7d6bb4855405.jpg

Retirement Facts, Stats and Hacks for the Next Generation

Retirement will undergo a drastic reinvention as the newest generation redefines it's golden years in their investment habits and senior lifestyle goals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAdtMWBaseY&feature=youtu.be

Released On: 12/9/2019
Views: 1524

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/3d46241d-4d89-4874-a7fa-5a604f1912c4.jpg

Uncle Sam Owns a Chunk of Your Retirement Accounts

Your retirement account is only as big as your tax planning strategy. Your personal exemptions and standard deductions in retirement will not be enough to offset your tax bill. Tax management must be a major component of your retirement plan. Wat ...

Released On: 12/6/2019
Views: 1647

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/8a315712-71ea-4ca2-a116-f4e41d6c5ed3.jpg

Guaranteed Income You Can’t Outlive Can Mitigate Market & Longevity Risk

If you have longevity in your family, guaranteed income for life is a must consideration. If you think it’s reasonable that medical advances will impact your longevity, then guaranteed income for life may need to be in your retirement plan. Watch ...

Released On: 12/5/2019
Views: 1491

https://s3.amazonaws.com/findit-pictures/304618/d5d6ff6d-c69b-4aed-8d08-c0759001e726.jpg

How to Retire Happy

A happy retirement is based on math and science, not on wishful thinking and hoping things turn out right. You need to eliminate debt and risk in retirement and secure reliable income to generate the peace of mind that seniors desire in their gol ...

Released On: 12/4/2019
Views: 1242

Load More wait

Map

LifeSize Solutions, LLC

Get Directions

LifeSize Solutions, LLC

  • 236 N Country Club Dr #2
    Mesa, Arizona 85201
    United States
  • 5202614599
  • 8:00am to 5:00pm Mountain Time