Consumer March Newsletter
Consumers Chasing Fool’s Gold
March 5, 2015 by Leave a Comment
We’ve all heard a thousand times the old tale about finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. We all know it’s just supposed to be a humorous and interesting “old wives tale”. But I find that many people are constantly chasing after “Leprechaun gold”.
Get rich quick schemes are everywhere! The internet is full of them. A quick Google search will lead you to more than you could possibly imagine…some legitimate but many not.
How many of you have been approached to invest $100 in your own business and with just a few hours a week you can become a millionaire? Again, some of these businesses are can help you achieve some extra income, some not but most don’t make the returns in their promises.
You can probably name a few more that you’ve come across in your experience, but nothing can quite meet the good ol’ spend less, save more. If you have the luxury of starting early in life, making wise investments and putting a little away where you can, you will wake up one day and find that your little coins have accumulated into quite a pot of gold.
How can Torrid Technologies help you reach your retirement goals?
We hope that through this newsletter each month, you will find good tips and tricks for saving and investing.
Using our RetirementView Software can help you by looking for the GREEN on your graph. You can play with different scenarios in your plan and see what pays off in your personal plan.
Please let us know how we can assist you or make our product better any time! We don’t want you to leave your retirement security to the “Luck of the Irish”!
Tim Turner Torrid CEO and Founder
Finding Solutions to Key Challenges of Modern Retirement
March 4, 2015 by Leave a Comment
In the new book, Falling Short: The Coming Retirement Crisis and What to Do About It, Charles Ellis says that while just 30 years ago, most American workers were able to stop working in their early 60’s and enjoy a long and comfortable retirement, that brief golden age is over!
As responsibility for retirement savings shifts from employer to employee, increasing life expectancy and health care costs are key challenges that retirees today will face. On top of that, Social Security is replacing less of pre-retirement income, traditional pension plans are being exchanged for 401k plans with modest balances and employers are not providing health benefits for their retirees.
Mr. Ellis suggests a couple of changes that need to take place. For one, waiting to retire from age 62 until age 70 provides a 76% increase. He ventures that many of his colleagues in the investing world do not know that. He also points out that if your full retirement age is 66, that collecting benefits at the earliest age of 62 results in a 25% reduction in benefits.
Read much more detail about his research at http://tinyurl.com/qbet8dh.
Why Retirement Security is Often Luck O’ the Draw?
March 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
from InvestmentNews.com
Just speaking historically, seniors retiring now are facing a tough environment. At the time of your retirement, for better or worse, the current interest rates can have a dramatic impact on the longevity of your retirement savings.
Wade D. Pfau, a professor of retirement income in the Ph.D program in the financial service and retirement planning at the American College in Bryn Mawr, Penn. states that “people who otherwise plan and save in the same responsible way, those born at the right time will be fortunate to sustain a high level of spending over their retirements. Others will live and work at times that will result in less fortunate outcomes. Good fortune is derived from experiencing strong market returns in the years around the retirement date, and we have no control over what these returns will be.”
Wealth accumulation is certainly an important part of your retirement planning but even more important is the amount of spending which can be sustained by this wealth.
Dr. Pfau has created an index to help calculate whether or not your client is retiring in a good place or bad.
You can find more about him at his blog: http://wpfau.blogspot.com
He estimates that today’s retirees can only safely replace 38.9% of their pre-retirement salary using the accumulated assets in their financial portfolio. Extremely low interest rates, while helpful in some areas, are a problem in this calculation.
This replacement rate is down from a high of 105.2% in 2000 and up from a low of 33.1% in 2013.
This is definitely a challenging time to enter into retirement. That’s where you as a Financial Planner can truly shine! You can offer a number of ideas and strategies to make your client’s longevity of retirement savings reach it’s full potential!
Read more on this article at: http://tinyurl.com/oga49pu
Secrets for Successful Withdrawal
Sustainable income is a key factor in retirement planning.
Statistically, wealthier couples have a 43% chance that one of two spouses will live beyond age 95.
From 1969 to 1999 a portfolio of 60% equities & 40% bonds = avg. return of 11.48%
Unfortunately this comes with almost 0% returns over 12 years and 8% over the next 18 years.
Spending adjustments over time
Lifestyle spending slows between ages 70-84 with costs dropping as much as 30%
Higher inflation necessitates lower spending.
http://tinyurl.com/px4llwf
Chasing Leprechaun’s Gold
March 2, 2015 by Leave a Comment
We’ve all heard a thousand times about the old tale about finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. We all know it’s just supposed to be a humorous and interesting “old wives tale”. But I find that many financial advisors are constantly chasing after “Leprechaun gold”.
Now don’t get mad at me. I might not be talking about YOU. It’s probably another financial advisor or an insurance agent. But I see too many advisors thinking that some marketing or lead generation “rainbow” will lead them to a “pot of gold”. I don’t mean to imply that you shouldn’t be doing “marketing”. Far from it.
Great marketing is what can grow a firm’s AUM massively. We’ve seen that with The Mutual Fund Store, Ken Fisher, and even Wealthfront. Unfortunately too many advisors get caught chasing after something that isn’t going to work, or that is just the latest “snake oil” being peddled by another salesman.
“Internet leads” comes to mind. Firms that promise to send you qualified leads from the “internet”. How many advisors and agents have been burned by this rainbow? Even if someone is a lead, it is being sold to 20 other advisors so that the end result is one annoyed “prospect” that isn’t going to want to talk with you, much less meet with you.
“Templated Websites” also comes to mind. You may even have one yourself – a cookie cutter website that thousands of other advisors have a similar version of. Google hates any duplicated content, so when it sees the same “articles” and “calculators” on 18,967 financial advisor websites, they will not rank your website. Thus, you won’t ever get any organic traffic. You can try to buy traffic but the “template website” has no lead generation or opt-in capabilities. And even if it did most advisors don’t have any backend follow-up mechanism to nurture those prospects.
Assuming prospects want to “meet with you” as a first step is a huge pot of Leprechaun gold, something akin to thinking people enjoy getting their teeth drilled in the dentist chair. (fact is most don’t). You have to ask people to take some baby steps first. You can’t get married on the first date!
Most advisors need even the most basic core marketing elements. I see advisors in need of a new website that is not a template. They need multiple ways of enticing people to ask for more information and “raise their hand” as a possible lead. They don’t have any way to capture leads, much less a way to do backend email nurture to those leads.
For those that have some or all of that in place, most advisors have no idea that they could generate their own leads using Youtube, Google, Facebook, webinars, etc. Or perhaps they know “about those” but don’t know how to go about it. Many advisors don’t have a clue what a “marketing funnel” is, or how to implement and manage one.
If you can learn how to do some basic marketing strategies, you can create your own real pot of gold, not a fake mirage at the end of a rainbow. And if you don’t have time or can’t figure it out, find someone that can help you. And do it one piece at a time as you can afford it. Or get a “marketing coach” that can direct your efforts monthly and keep you on track.
If you need help, please contact Torrid Tech to see if we have any openings. Our marketing services have been in high demand lately. And meanwhile, watch out for the luck ‘o the Irish… most of the time it isn’t really “luck” after all that takes you.
Tim Turner
February Newsletter- Advisors
February 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
To read Torrid Technology’s full PDF February TechTalk Newsletter, please click the link below.
February FA
February Newsletter
February 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
To read Torrid Technology’s full PDF copy of the February TechTalk newsletter, please click the link below.
February Newsletter Consumer
Football, The American Dream & A Playground for the Rich
February 4, 2015 by Leave a Comment
I was privileged to take a trip to a wealthy golf haven back in January – a playground for the rich. But first I want to rant about something related…
Our American foundation is under attack. Make no mistake. Powerful forces are trying to pull America toward the left. I’m not talking about social issues. I’m talking about economic policy, incorrect thinking about “jobs”, and the rampant disease of “entitlement”. Since its founding, America became great because of hard work, persistence, and personal responsibility.
Unfortunately, too many people now feel “entitled”. Entitled to a job even if they have no skills or don’t work hard. Entitled to high speed internet, cable, smart phones, and 2 nice cars (not one but two). America became great because you did “the work” before you got “the rewards”.
Do you have employees that constantly show up late for work? Constantly check their Facebook and Twitter during the work day? Do they get grumpy when you ask them to actually do “some work”? If so, then you need to DO something about it. Let the firings begin if need be, until the situation improves.
There’s also an ugly rash of attacking those that are wealthy and successful – the evil 1-percenters. America grew exponentially because of the “American Dream”. From as far back as when people “went West” to start their homesteads in the face of great danger, people in America have the “seek a better life” mantra bred into their genes – at least until recently. Shouldn’t people in America still aspire to be successful? Many times wealth is accompanying that success. And I don’t think anyone should be ashamed of the wealth that comes with their success. After all they are the ones that worked hard for it!
I had the privilege of visiting the Marriott Palm Desert Resort in Palm Springs back in January. This place just screams “luxury” from the moment you pull into the palm tree lined approach. This is the type of place that the wealthy and successful get to enjoy… not because they were “entitled” but because they “worked really hard”.
I didn’t get much if any time to enjoy the golf, the pool, or the amenities. I was there for an NPH Broker/Dealer conference – both as an exhibiter and also to be on a financial planning software “panel”. Even being in such a beautiful place, there were many of us there “working” and “selling” to try to make our businesses more successful. That is a statement in and of itself. The breakfast time in the exhibit room started at 7am each day. The all day schedule went until 8pm and 9pm each night. Not much time to even catch up on email.
I’m not writing this to “whine” but just to tell you about my recent trip and show off these gorgeous photos. And also to share a few things that I learned. There were two “famous” people that spoke at the conference – Daymond John from Shark Tank and Brian Billick, NFL Coach and now TV commentator. Both “worked really hard” to achieve their success.
Daymond John was broke and overextended for years as he tried to get his clothing business off the ground. Hard work, long hours, and focused strategy eventually helped his business to take off. He never felt “entitled” while he was building his business. He didn’t sit around on the couch “hoping” it might work. He acted. He persevered. He would fail and then find another way.
Brian Billick gave his thoughts on how to build a successful sports team or business. His 3 main keys for success are the Personnel, Structure and Chemistry. First, you have to hire the right players and employees. “Those who won’t are no better than those who can’t” said Brian.
You then give those people the “Structure” to be successful. Empower them to excel at their jobs by not micromanaging them. His last big key was to foster the right “Chemistry”. Fear might motivate in the short term, but in the long term you can’t sustain any success because fear does not build chemistry. Brian’s big key here was that “they don’t care what you know until they know that you care”. This applies to employees and clients. Once they know that you care, then they will care what you do, what you know, and how you can help them.
Hopefully over the years we have shown you, our customers, that we do care. May the American Dream never die. Go after it and don’t ever be ashamed of that pursuit.
Savings for Young Adults of Today
February 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Simple key to future wealth: Save, invest early
For the under-35 set, the savings rate has gone from 5.2 percent in 2009 to minus 2 percent. While their increased spending is good for the economy, not saving will impair their ability to spend in the future or buy a home, according to Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics.
Lack of savings leaves young workers without a financial cushion for unexpected expenses and for job transitions. So saving in an emergency fund should be their first goal. Some make enough money so they could save, but spend it on their social lives and travel. Others have a retirement account at work but don’t invest in it or anything else because, as one says, “It’s too complicated.”
How to get started on 401(k) savingsS
Building a nest egg might cost less than you think because employers match contributions at a generous rate. It’s usually between 50 cents and 100 cents on the dollar up to a set limit, usually 6 percent of your pay. The contributions are taken out of your check before taxes.
If you earn $30,000 annually and contribute 6 percent to your retirement plan, that works out to $150 a month, and your employer adds $75 to your account. You will pay $22 less in federal withholding each month and about $5 less to your state. In the end, contributions reduce your pay by $123 but your account grows by $225. Maintain this plan for 40 years and you’ll have over $l million socked away, says Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. If you are 25 or 30 years from retirement, the total would still be amazing.
How do you find the extra $123 a month (about $31 a week)? Pack a lunch, buy a used car instead of a new one, or add a roommate. Or you could find it by reducing your phone and cable costs, and spend less on dining out, and clothing expenses.
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