second opinion

It’s Second Look—and Second Opinion!—Season
graphic shows the words "'Tis the Season" inside a magnifying glass

Clients, the markets are at a low point. It’s a prime time to revisit our holdings! Let’s take a second look. 

To be clear, portfolio reviews are part and parcel of our regular business. But these times of churn and change are a great opportunity to look more closely—and try to make sense of everything given the context. 

Conversations with some of you lately have inspired some changes. Could it be time to garner tax losses and take a different approach with some of your resources going forward? 

Our goal at 228 Main is to grow your buckets. We believe the better off you are, probably the better off we will be down the road. That’s enough for us to review and comment on your plans and planning, as well as your investment holdings and accounts. 

While it’s Second Look Season for us in the shop, could it be Second Opinion Season for anyone in your life? It could be you know folks who are paying fees for investment management when their investments don’t seem to be managed at all. Does anyone in your life have long-term investments stuck in stagnant short-term holdings? 

I often say I’m in business to talk all day. If you have questions about your holdings, I might as well be talking to you and your loved ones! And clients, please know that we have nothing to lose by your seeking a second opinion of your own. All the power to you: you are the boss of what you do with your wealth. (We seem to get all the business we deserve, and none that we don’t.) 

No matter where our resources land, remember that the markets go up and down. We won’t tell fairy tales about “minimizing risk” or getting market returns without enduring the inevitable fluctuations. We will not ignore that the price of so-called “safety” is often the loss of potential future gains. 

But we do believe in striving for long-term total returns. So we live with volatility. No waves, no voyage. No rain, no flowers. 

Clients, when you have questions about your situation, please write or call. If you know someone who would like to chat with us, let them know Second Opinion Season is in full swing, now through year-end! 

Thank you all, for everything. 

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It’s Second Look—and Second Opinion!—Season – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

This text is available at https://www.228Main.com/.

Flashy Clues and Second Opinions
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If you’ll forgive my language, I believe the way to “revolutionize” the financial services industry is quite simple: you just cut the crap.

The pushy peddlers of old aren’t entirely gone, and it reminds me to come back to the basics. Clients first. If you’re better off, I’m better off. Grow the buckets.

I recently met a person, well into the retirement years, who escaped some real damage by listening to their guts on a financial proposition. The peddler who almost got to them reminded me of the antics of a character I met as a young man starting out in the life insurance business, long ago.

This classic peddler fit every stereotype of the master salesman of the last century. Big pinkie ring, Cadillac, flashy suits. His motto? “Dazzle them with diamonds, baffle them with bull….”

It didn’t matter if you needed what he was selling or not. The question was, could he make a buck by tricking you into buying it?

The sales abuses are just as real today. Can you imagine tying up money for 10 years when you are retired, facing a huge penalty if you do want your money out, and getting mediocre returns just so a peddler can get a big insurance commission? It happens.

The bad news is, the obvious signs like pinkie rings and flashy suits are gone, replaced by a sea of nice websites with family pictures and flowery talk about your best interests and the peddler’s degrees and designations. The good news: you can always get a second opinion.

I’m in business to talk all day. If someone you know needs a second opinion, I’d love to talk to them. Here to help as I can.

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Play the audio version of this post below:

Flashy Clues and Second Opinions – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

This text can be found at https://www.228Main.com/.

The Funny Business of Fear-Based Peddlers
photo shows the dictionary entry for "fear"

Electricians deal with electricity. Plumbers work with pipes. The work of grocers is all about… yes, groceries.

One might think that investment advisors, therefore, advise about investments.

It is a funny business. The work of some investment advisors has virtually nothing to do with investments. They traffic in fear, not investments. Our clients know that investments and markets go up and down. It is an integral, inescapable part of striving to achieve investment returns: we learn to live with volatility. Some fear-based advisors portray normal market volatility as some kind of horrible risk that nobody should face.

The “solutions” they offer to cure the fears they hype often include “guaranteed” products whose returns will inevitably reflect the current relatively-low interest rates available. We recently saw a proposal of this type, offering a product with a surrender charge of up to 14% that lasted ten years. It was a bold suggestion for a 75-year-old, a ten-year surrender charge.

The proposal came from a supposed investment advisor. In cases like this, we’ve discovered from you that this sort of professional cannot answer your questions about the stock market, nor comment in detail about ownership in any particular company, nor communicate the long-term potential of long-term investments… because they do not actually do much work with investments.

They provoke fear of investing in order to sell high-commission, high-expense products. This is a sales tactic. It is not investment advice.

So what to do? When you come across an offer that’s attempting to scare you, we suggest you hold onto your money and get a second opinion before you proceed. Yes, the world has risks. We are all about sorting out the ones that we can reasonably live with.

But the risk of getting locked into a poor deal from a fear-based peddler? That’s one to be wary of, no matter what they call themselves.

Clients, if you would like to talk about this or anything else, please email us or call.

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Play the audio version of this post below:

The Funny Business of Fear-Based Peddlers – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

This text is available at https://www.228Main.com/.

Buyer Beware: 4 Tricks to Inform Yourself With

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Investing offers a seemingly infinite range of approaches, methods, products, services, and theories. The abundance of alternatives can be confusing, or even paralyzing. We can equip you with four ideas that may help you to winnow the choices down to ones that are more likely to help you.

  1. Some of the highest-cost products attract the most persistent sales people. If you are being pursued by a seller who is willing to spend a great deal of time and effort and travel to connect with you, assume that there is a very healthy paycheck in the deal and know that you’re ultimately the one who will pay for it.
  2. Sellers love to spend a lot of time with the glossy sales brochures that are full of hope and promise, not the prospectus. You will learn about the dangers and risks and conflicts of interest and the costs from the prospectus, not the brochures. Two things to do: read the front cover of the prospectus, and have a knowledgeable third party review the whole document. If you encounter resistance to the idea of studying the prospectus, you know there is information in there that you should have.
  3. Some financial firms have gotten into the business of manufacturing their own ‘house brand’ products. These products may be impossible to move from that firm should you later elect to do business elsewhere. And companies that manufacture and distribute products have conflicts that independent firms do not. Beware of house brands.
  4. Second opinions do not cost, and may reward you. If you have any questions or concerns about a product being sold to you, call us for a complimentary review.

Bottom line, avoid being “sold.” Take advantage of the legally required disclosures in the prospectus. Beware of house brands. Seek second opinions.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.