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Not true, all financial advisors hold a background in advanced linear functions. Anyone whose been to a business school knows this.
I might be missing a term here, what do you mean by "black-scholes"?
I'm sorry, but you are wrong. The only requirement to being a financial advisor is a Series 7 and 63 license. These tests are not extremely difficult and mostly deal with compliance.
I am speaking from experience, I am a CPA and I deal with FAs on a regular basis. Do not mistake a financial advisor with a financial analyst.
Network marketing is a very efficient way to run a business. It is touted by very sucessful businessmen like Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump, because it cuts down on business overhead. You are not wasting money paying non-working/non-productive employees.
If you look at the traditional corporate structures, they all look exactly the same. On the top you have the President or the CEO, underneath them you have the Vice Presidents, underneath them you have the Regional Managers, underneath them you have the managers, etc.
The difference is THEY control how much you get paid and when you deserve a promotion. Whereas, in network marketing you are responsible for your own success, so no one else dictates how much you are worth or how much you should get paid.
First and foremost WFG is a very large and successful financial firm helping families to gain control of their finances and is willing to work with people of any financial situation. Whereas the other brokerages only want to work with people that have already developed substanial net worth.
Also, as an indepedent contractor you are afforded additional tax deductions that you are not available to you as an employee. Because you are running a business which is allowed to take legitimate tax deductions. Talk to your accountant, everyone should run some type of small business.
The sad part is the majority of people have absolutely no clue about anything. Read Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. It will enlighten you. Most people have no clue how money works and will be doomed to work for the rest of their lives. They are nothing more than sheep and believe all the lies that have been portraited by their parents, their friends, society, the medical industry, etc.
If you think your current employer gives a darn about you and your retirement then you are mistaken. I laugh when I hear people that are leaving their employer say "Well you don't want to burn any bridges." What bridge? There are no more bridges, there are only one way streets. If you think Uncle Sam is going to take care of you once you stop working. Good Luck!!!
If you don't get on the ball and start making and saving some money (and your raise at work needs to exceed about 5% a year otherwise you are falling further and further behind). Most 40 year old people will need to have saved somewhere in the range of about 4 to 5 million dollars to be able to retire. (any you can't do this by saving money out of your paycheck each week, especially when you are living paycheck to paycheck and probably spending more than you earn) 4 million a year invested at 10% will generate about 400k a year income. You may think you don't need this much but based upon inflation of 5% a year you will need to double whatever you need today every 14 years."Rule of 72". We're talking tomorrow's dollars versus today's dollars. Think back 14 years ago about how much something cost and how much it costs today. That is inflation and it won't stop just because you retire or stop working.
People that win the lottery would be set for life if they would just live off the interest/gains/return, however, they spend the principal just as fast. So if you start dipping into and depleting your 4 million dollar pool, your returns each year will be smaller and smaller and you will need to dip deeper and deeper to make up the shortage and you could actually run out of money before you die. Which means you are going back to work or to living in the streets and making a choice between medicine or eating.
Until you are able to get out of the box and think logically on your own, you are going to have problems. Start taking responsibility for your own actions. When you point the finger at someone, remember - there are 3 pointing right back at you. Don't say bad things about people and don't say things about something you don't know or understand, just be mature enough to say "I don't know" or "I don't fully understand that". Society has enough ignorance rearing it's ugly head without you exposing yours. Best of luck and I hope to see you in retirementland and not just bringing me my beer!!!!
LOTF, rondo ... what additive do they put into the kool-aid they serve you to come up with such nonsense and regurgitate all that?
$4-5 mil portfolio needed to generate $400K per year for retirement in 25 year down the road dollars?
Where do you expect that somebody would need $400K per year for their retirement? What kind of lifestyle do you think somebody is going to get for $33,333 per month? I can't even fathom spending $1,000 per day then ... let alone $250 per day in present day terms.
If you'd read other books about accumulating wealth by average working people, you'd know that the key to financial success and stability is to live within your means. Many blue collar people are learning and putting into practice that principle ... and saving for their own comfortable retirement quite well.
Sunsprit - Have you been out to dinner at a good restaurant lately? A mediocre glass of wine now exceeds $9.00 a glass, a beer is $5 or more, a Filet Mignon $30 more, an appetizer or a side salad, DON'T FORGET THE TIP ($150 or so for 2). A taxi to the bar so you don't get busted for a DWI $40 or so and then another one home. Or maybe a hotel room for the evening just to make it fun.
How about a tank of gas for your car $50 a week, car insurance, car washes, oil changes, unexpected repairs. A round of golf $50 or more, couple beers at the course, maybe lunch. A day at a sporting event, tickets, drinks, food. Evening at the movies $20 for 2, plus cokes and popcorn another $15.
This doesn't even consider what you have paid for groceries or utilities for the week or month.
I don't know if you realize that the inflation numbers do not include Food or Energy costs. This winter most people will spend several hundred dollars a month for their fuel costs, how about internet and cable, do you have a cell phone? What about your mortgage or car payment? When I go on vacation my budget easily exceeds $250 per day. Hotel room, rental car, dinners, activities.
You can't say that you've never spent $250 in one day in your life. Most people spend the majority of their money on the weekend. However, when you are retired every day is the weekend.
How about the people that are spending hundreds, if not, thousands of dollars a month in medicine. How much do you think it costs to live in a nursing home or extended care per day? You need a wake up pill. Not sure how old you are now, but people after 40 years old start coming to the realization that they may not have enough money to retire.
Yes I have read the Millionaire Next Door, but it also talks about these people investing their money, not just saving. You might want to read some of the books by Marian Snow, Ric Edelman, Doug Andrew, Robert Kiyosaki.
Absolutely I agree with you to live within your means, however, what if your annual raise doesn't keep up with inflation. It makes it very difficult to live within you means when last years paycheck doesn't buy as much today.
Look, rondo ... as a businessman, I'm quite familiar with the costs of going out to eat and being on the road, and my insurance, and my recreational costs. I know what I spend each month for my aviation, fishing, hobbies, ranch, farm, and other entertainment costs.
I know what fuel costs for my travel (and I do a lot more miles than average per year), I know what my vehicles cost to operate, I know what my miscellaneous living expenses are to a degree (and well documented) that's far more precise than most people.
I know full well what my taxes are, because I'm the one paying them each quarter.
It simply doesn't add up to $7,500 per month in today's dollars. I'd be able to have well over half that amount as disposable income to invest.
Want a taste of the high life today? I can rent a nice place in a high dollar resort area, let's say ... Vail, CO (of which I'm well familiar) ... for $2,000 per month. I can buy a season ski pass for well under $1,000 (Colorado Cards for much, much less) and ski everyday through the season. I can eat incredibly well at many of the best places in town for less than $50 per day ... and realistically, can't eat that much food everyday as a steady diet ... but, for the sake of budget here, let's assign that amount. I can buy a $1,000 set of skiis for the season, with new $400 boots, and a couple of ski outfits at full price retail ($300 each). I could (foolishly) lease a $1,000 per month vehicle (far in excess of a regular SUV). Even with a monthly utility bill of $400, and other misc expenses ... shows, books, magazines, clothing, a decent replacement watch every month or two ($150 buys a lot of watch, or payments on a high dollar piece), I can be very frivolous. My booze budget's about $200/year, and I don't smoke. You get the drift ... I can be a comfortably happy ski bum for a season and still not come close to $7,500 per month in today's economy.
Summer months? Well, I could still enjoy the resort area for even less money than the high dollar ski season ... lots of outdoor recreation costing me a decent fly rod outfit and equipment, hiking boots, a decent tent (how about a Moss?), and a $1,000 mountain bike new for the season. I still can't spend $7,500 without just throwing money away .... and I'm a happy fisherman with a SUV to get into the places around the region where the fishing action is at the time.
Even with a coastal vacation planned ... I could drive out to the coast and spend $1,500 per week living on charter fishing boats with meals ... I'd still have a hard time burning through $7,500 in a month.
We could take this whole thread to the absurd ... but the issue that your analysis completely misses is that in the real world, someone with any common money sense will have accumulated assets, such as equity in their housing.
With 25 years ahead in your example, their housing costs should be very minimal, with no mortgage balance ... so they're not looking at a big payment, but only nominal upkeep/mtce, insurance, and taxes. And, for many people, it's an appropriate time to downsize, or cash out equity and buy a more desirable retirement home.
What makes your analysis even more ludicrous for me is that I know several people with an independent income now far less than the numbers your propose ... and they live the absolute high life, with exceptional expenses of fine collectible wines, high dollar housing, fancy/expensive german sports cars, fine dining several nights per week, and so forth .... and they still have to find investments to place their surplus disposable income into every month. From a real world standpoint, there's only so much roof you need to put over your head, so much food you can eat each month, so much fuel you can reasonably burn for travel .... and so much of everything else unless you're into flashing money and throwing it away at every opportunity.
There's a huge gap between reasonable and nice living and the disposable wealth you assert is needed to survive .....
Sun what kind of business you in? I'm a real estate agent in Minnesota and real estate investor. $7500 a month in expense is not excessive, or unrealistic. Just having a minimal $100 a day budget makes up about $3000 of that. A couple thousand of that in mortgage expenses and others necessary items, electricity, heat, insurance, food, gas, etc. Are you paying college expenses for your kids, allowance?
When most elderly people nowadays downsize their residence, they typically don't downsize in price, only size. Most of them will actually spend more for their new homes than they received for their old home. Because they never owned new, so now they want to and they don't want to have to deal with any maintenance.
You are making the assumption that "Anyone with common money sense will have acumulated assets". And where did they learn this common money sense? The schools don't teach it.
Do you have any parents that are starting to need long term healthcare costs? These can easily run a couple bills a day and this doesn't include medicine. You make a lot of assumptions in your comments are you using a calculator, obviously you don't live in a high cost of living state. We can agree to disagree, but you are missing a lot of the facts. And the people that you are talking about that are living the high life are living today and I'm talking about people's needs in the future.
Sun what kind of business you in? I'm a real estate agent in Minnesota and real estate investor. $7500 a month in expense is not excessive, or unrealistic. Just having a minimal $100 a day budget makes up about $3000 of that. A couple thousand of that in mortgage expenses and others necessary items, electricity, heat, insurance, food, gas, etc. Are you paying college expenses for your kids, allowance?
When most elderly people nowadays downsize their residence, they typically don't downsize in price, only size. Most of them will actually spend more for their new homes than they received for their old home. Because they never owned new, so now they want to and they don't want to have to deal with any maintenance.
You are making the assumption that "Anyone with common money sense will have acumulated assets". And where did they learn this common money sense? The schools don't teach it.
Do you have any parents that are starting to need long term healthcare costs? These can easily run a couple bills a day and this doesn't include medicine. You make a lot of assumptions in your comments are you using a calculator, obviously you don't live in a high cost of living state. We can agree to disagree, but you are missing a lot of the facts. And the people that you are talking about that are living the high life are living today and I'm talking about people's needs in the future.
I think it's your out of place comments about needing 200k a year in todays dollars.....which is funny because most people don't make 200k a year so it's bizzare why someone would need MORE income in retirement than thier current wages.
I get the feeling that you are not communicating your intended point well which is causing misunderstanding.
Sunsprit - Have you been out to dinner at a good restaurant lately? A mediocre glass of wine now exceeds $9.00 a glass, a beer is $5 or more, a Filet Mignon $30 more, an appetizer or a side salad, DON'T FORGET THE TIP ($150 or so for 2). A taxi to the bar so you don't get busted for a DWI $40 or so and then another one home. Or maybe a hotel room for the evening just to make it fun.
How about a tank of gas for your car $50 a week, car insurance, car washes, oil changes, unexpected repairs. A round of golf $50 or more, couple beers at the course, maybe lunch. A day at a sporting event, tickets, drinks, food. Evening at the movies $20 for 2, plus cokes and popcorn another $15.
This doesn't even consider what you have paid for groceries or utilities for the week or month.
I don't know if you realize that the inflation numbers do not include Food or Energy costs. This winter most people will spend several hundred dollars a month for their fuel costs, how about internet and cable, do you have a cell phone? What about your mortgage or car payment? When I go on vacation my budget easily exceeds $250 per day. Hotel room, rental car, dinners, activities.
You can't say that you've never spent $250 in one day in your life. Most people spend the majority of their money on the weekend. However, when you are retired every day is the weekend.
How about the people that are spending hundreds, if not, thousands of dollars a month in medicine. How much do you think it costs to live in a nursing home or extended care per day? You need a wake up pill. Not sure how old you are now, but people after 40 years old start coming to the realization that they may not have enough money to retire.
Yes I have read the Millionaire Next Door, but it also talks about these people investing their money, not just saving. You might want to read some of the books by Marian Snow, Ric Edelman, Doug Andrew, Robert Kiyosaki.
Absolutely I agree with you to live within your means, however, what if your annual raise doesn't keep up with inflation. It makes it very difficult to live within you means when last years paycheck doesn't buy as much today.
Your costs are way overblown. $150 for dinner? Maybe the top 10 or 5% of the country, but not the rest of us. Taxi to the bar? Come on, what segment of the population are you talking about that regularly takes a taxi to and from the bar? And what retirees are drinking so much that they need to take a taxi home from the bar, lol?
- $50 round of golf? Try $15.00 for nine holes with a cart (at twilight)
- $20 for movies is actually low, more like $30 once you add in food, which is why fewer and fewer people are going to movie theaters (except teens)
The average retired couple does not need $7500 in today's dollars to get by, or even live large. Both my folks and my inlaws are retired and their biggest major monthly expense is property taxes. I know what their budgets are they're lucky to spend $1000 - $1500/month, and many people say Michigan is a high-cost state (which I disagree).
But anyway, what is the point in all this and what does it have to do with WFG? Other than being an advertisement...
It's a pyramid scheme when the business model is more focused on attracting new members than on selling a product or service.
If WFG salespeople truly focus their efforts on selling financial advisory products than on bringing in people under them to do the selling, then it is a legitimate business. If, on the other hand, signing up more people is the focus, then it's a pyramid.
DC
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It's a pyramid scheme when...
