Kimmunications

Guarantees and Generalizations

This week, I want to do things a little differently. Instead of writing my usual article, I sat down with newsletter editor (and radio show sidekick) James Pecht and discussed some feedback we received from our recent "Red Flag" articles. It's an audio file about 14 minutes long, and you can download it to listen from your computer or move it to your mp3 player.

Click here for the audio Kimmunique (Hi - 128k | Lo - 24k)

Notes:
0:00 Introduction
2:00 What we mean by the statement "If a financial advisor constructs a portfolio with an expected return of less than 10 percent, that's a red flag"
4:40 Why that statement did not reflect a guarantee but rather a goal
5:45 Generalizations in the articles -- why I use inflexible rules
8:25 About the information session scheduled for Saturday, May 31. (After my talk, we'll head over to Boston's the Gourmet Pizza on 635 and MacArthur in Irving to broadcast the weekly radio show live on location. Then we'll stick around to answer questions and talk to folks one-on-one.)
10:45 New virtual office hours -- a twice-weekly conference call.

Details on the office hours: 

• Wednesdays 5 p.m. - 6 p.m. Central Time
• Thursdays Noon-1 p.m. Central Time

Ask anything that's on your mind about the Snider Method, personal finance, the economy -- you name it! We have a special toll-free conference call line -- you can call in and ask your questions, or just listen in to what others are asking. The office hours have an online component, too -- the technology we're using allows me to show you calculations, visit websites, etc. It's like you're sitting right beside me, looking at my computer screen together.

To join me, here's what you do:

1. Call 1-888-617-3400 and enter the access code 791564.
2. (Optional) Go to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/join/597893666.Please note: Attendance is limited for the online component, and you may be prompted to download some software the first time you log on.

---

 

Kim Snider is the President and Founder of Snider Advisors, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor, focused on teaching individual investors a sensible, long-term investment approach focused on maximizing cash flow. For more information on Snider Advisors or the Snider Investment Method and how to stop enriching your investment advisors at your expense, please visit snideradvisors.com. Her book, How to Be the Family CFO: Four Simple Steps To Put Your Financial House in Order, will be in bookstores October 1, 2008.

Snider Advisors makes no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method® Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments, including the Snider Investment Method™ are subject to risk, including possible loss of principal.

Lunch Bunch for Saturday, April 26

This week's "After-Show Lunch Bunch" will be at Paradise Bakery and Cafe in North Dallas after the radio show on Saturday. The address is 13710 Dallas Parkway, which is the northeast corner of the Tollway and Alpha (across from the Galleria). The phone number is 972-503-1800, and they're reserving several tables for us; just look for the signs. As always, anyone and everyone is welcome.

We started the Lunch Bunch a few weeks ago when, on a whim, I went on the show and invited our listeners to join me for lunch. More than a dozen showed up, so we tried it again the next week. About 25 came out!

It's nothing formal -- just a continuation of the conversation we start on the air. Anything you want to talk about is fair game.

We plan to do this every few weeks, and we'll move it around to make it convenient for as many people as possible. 

So please tune into the show tomorrow (Saturday) at noon on KRLD 1080 AM in Dallas-Fort Worth, then join us for lunch in Paradise... er, at Paradise Bakery around 1:30!

Lunch Bunch Meeting Place

This week's "After-Show Lunch Bunch" will be at Shady Oaks BBQ in Plano after the radio show on Saturday. The address is 3408 N Central Expressway (just north of Parker Road on the east side of the Hwy 75).  Their phone number is 972-509-1551. The back room will be reserved for our group. Anyone and everyone is welcome.

If you don't know about the Lunch Bunch, don't feel left out. It is fairly new. During last week's radio show, on a whim, I invited anyone who wanted to join me for something to eat after the show to meet me at Spring Creek Barbeque in Addison. To my surprise, people showed up. It was great!

Never one to forgo the opportunity to talk about taking control of your financial future, as long as people keep showing up, I'll keep inviting them. It's nothing formal - just a continuation of the conversation we start on the air. Anything you want to talk about is fair game.

I will do my best to move the meeting place around each week to make it convenient for as many people as possible.

Be sure to tune into the show tomorrow at noon on KRLD 1080 AM in Dallas-Fort Worth. Then I hope to see you at Shady Oaks BBQ around 1:30 for the After-Show Lunch Bunch.

The World Would Be a Better Place If There Were More Rich Women

That is the message of Kim Kiyosaki and I couldn't agree more. Kim asked me to be a guest on her PBS special, entitled Finding the Rich Woman In You. It is a fund-raiser for Channel 8 KAET in Phoenix and will air for the first time tonight, Thursday December 6 at 7:00 PM Phoenix time and again at 9:00 PM.

 

The show is an extension of Kim's book, Rich Woman, which we talked to her about, several times, on our radio show and podcasts. The TV show was aimed primarily at women because women have a special need when it comes to financial education. Some statistics from the show:

 

• 47% of women in the U.S. over the age of 50 are single - meaning most of these women have to take care of themselves financially
• After a divorce, a woman's standard of living drops an average of 73%
• In 2006, more women declared bankruptcy than graduated college
• Of the elderly living in poverty, 3 out of 4 are women - yet 80% of these women were not poor when their husbands were alive.
• The average age of a widow: 56 years old

 

That being said, the core messages we developed in the show are applicable to men and women alike and they should be familiar to any of my readers. They are:

 

• You are uniquely qualified to manage your own money. Why would you turn over your security to anyone else - whether it be a spouse or a financial expert?
• Becoming a successful investor is not difficult. Anyone can do it. It doesn't require hours and hours of work. The biggest hurdle is getting over the intimidation factor.
• Savvy investors do not view declining markets as a negative. A true investor, as opposed to a short-term speculator, is largely unaffected by market declines and more likely sees them as a buying opportunity. Who doesn't love a sale?
• Everyone is a genius in bull markets. It is the volatile or declining market where financial education really pays off and there is no better time to learn than now.
• And of course, cash flow investing makes far more sense for most people than capital appreciation investing.

 

One point we didn't talk about in the show, but that I would add, is that the difference between a successful investor and everyone else is the actions they take in times like these. Right now, a successful investor is avoiding the losses of capital that amateurs are taking, buying value, and setting themselves up to do even better when the market turns north again. Successful investors love these kind of markets. Amateurs fear them.

 

There were a million more things we could of talked about on the show. It was amazing how fast the time went. Some people even suggested we could do it as a weekly show because there was so much more ground to cover than what we got to.

 

For now, the show will only air in the Phoenix market but everyone involved is hopeful that it will be very successful - raising lots of money for KAET - and will then be picked up nationally. The goal for this show is to raise $100,000 locally for PBS. So for those of you in the Phoenix area, I would encourage you to tune in and pledge if you are so inclined to give money to a good cause. (I bet they would take your money even if you don't live in the Phoenix area.)

 

Why would you want to do that? I should mention that our 401(k) course, How To Turn Your 401(k) Into a Million Dollar Nest Egg, is included in the $125 and $365 pledge packages along with Kim's book (Kim Kiyosaki, not me - mine is still not finished!), their Cash Flow game and some other stuff. Our course alone sells for $297 on our web site and I know their Cash Flow game is $195. That is a great value in financial education in addition to supporting a good cause.

 

My involvement in the show was really a last minute thing. I understand Kim Kiyosaki and Richard Taylor have been working with PBS on this for months. They decided to add guests as a last minute idea and I got the call a couple days before Thanksgiving. We had dress rehearsal a week ago today, taped last Friday, and it goes on the air tonight!

 

The other two guests and I were, at one point, sitting in the front row of the studio audience while Kim was doing one of her stand-ups. When the cameras would stop, both Antoni, the hairstylist, and Kelli, the makeup artist, would walk over to us and fix a stray hair or add more powder to our faces. I heard one of the women behind me say to the person next to her, "Wouldn't it be fun to be fussed over like that?" Yeah … it really was!

 

I have been interviewed for TV before but I have never done an entire TV show, or seen how it is put together. I have to admit, I had a blast. And I love that it was for a good cause ... and aimed at an underserved market. Oprah, are you listening? My phone number is 214-245-5236!

 

UPDATE: (12/7/07) The show aired last night and did VERY well. It raised $60K for PBS Arizona - number one for this pledge drive! More than Wayne Dyer and 4X Suze Orman! Whoo Hoo! I am told it will re-air this Monday night, December 9th.

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Individual performance depends on individual savings, investment time frame and market conditions. Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against loss in a declining market. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

The Power of a Portfolio Paycheck

I write often about the power of a portfolio paycheck. In other words, creating a portfolio whose main objective is to generate cash flow rather than capital appreciation. This is a ten minute video I did for KRLD's Online Investor Workshop on the topic.

 

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

Lights! Camera! Action!

Set your VCR, TiVo, DVR, Illudium 232 Space Demodulator, or whatever you use to record TV! NBC5 (Dallas - Fort Worth) just told me that my segment, Kim Snider's Four Steps To Financial Freedom, will air this Wednesday during the 5:00 news. It's part of a weeklong series on personal finance called "Pay It Off", and I'm featured along with Suze Orman and Dave Ramsey.

 

I would again like to thank the ninety-plus alumni who helped us fill up the auditorium at the Frontiers of Flight Museum last week. The NBC5 folks said they got some great shots, and I can't wait to see how it all comes together.

 

In case you can't watch it when it live, I plan to put a copy of the segment here after it airs. Hopefully, we will have that up by Thursday or Friday. NBC5 says they'll also post the video on their website at NBC5i.com.

 

UPDATE (9/20/2006):

 

Here is the teaser they ran on Thursday. I will post the full video as soon as possible.

 

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

The Dog Whisperer

I have written many times in this blog about the similarities between dieting and investing. Now I have another one for you. Investing is like dog training - yes, dog training!

 

Some of you may recall, back in September, my husband and I rescued a wonderful German Shepherd we named Drittё. Turns out, Dritte and our other German Shepherd, Lexi, have a problem with one another. They both want to be the alpha dog.

 

That rivalry came to a head at Christmas when they almost killed one another. Many hours at the vet and many stitches later, we got them put back together but they obviously had to be separated. We have been living that way ever since. Our house is like War of the Roses. Each dog has their part of the house and yard and never the two shall meet!

 

I have hired dog trainers. I have read books. Nothing seemed to offer the solution. Then I heard about Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, and his show on National Geographic. Interestingly enough, it was a mention on Church of the Customer's blog (one of my favorites) that turned me on to him.

 

Cesar has a simple formula for rehabilitating dogs and training their owners. It goes like this: exercise, discipline, then affection. More accurately, it is 50% exercise, 25% discipline and only then 25% affection. He contends that most Americans just do affection, affection, affection, which is why we have such screwed up dogs. As he says, in Mexico (where he is from) they don't have birthday parties and go to see Santa Claus! Rather, in many parts of the world, they get eaten! I can't even go there.

 

Anyway, Jim and I have been applying Cesar's formula to our pack for several months now. We have been "migrating" as a pack every day. We walk about five miles each morning - sometimes more depending on my schedule. They work for their food by walking and obeying boundaries and limits, which makes us the pack leader instead of one of them. I have seen progress - a lot of progress, in fact. But not so much progress that I would put them together.

 

Last weekend, my husband and I "migrated" (by car this time) up to Oklahoma City to hear Cesar speak at a benefit for the French Bulldog Club of America Rescue League. Whew! And y'all thought I talked a long time! Cesar is even more long winded than I am, but equally passionate on his topic. He has an uncanny ability to mimic both dogs and dog owners. It was definitely worth the trip.

 

It occurred to me this morning, as I was walking in my pack, Cesar and I should write a book together. Not only has walking with my dogs every morning helped them, it has helped me lose 20 pounds and it gives me time to think calmly and clearly each morning - about things that matter - before my day gets too crazy to think straight.

 

Then I realized, the reason it was helping in all these areas is because I have the discipline to do it every single day - seven days a week - rain or shine - whether I feel like it or not.

 

I believe, as I have said before - success - in any endeavor, can be boiled down to one simple phrase: Success - whether in investing, dieting, dog training, relationships, building a company, building a career, whatever - comes down to having the discipline to do the right things every single day.

 

That does not mean you do them when they feel good, when they are convenient, when they are easy, when they make you money not cost you money, when you have time or feel like it. It means doing the right things EVERY day. The key to success is nothing more than discipline.

 

Taking off from Cesar Millan's Formula for Dog Fulfillment - I think success in life is 20% knowing what to do and 80% doing it every single day. The discipline and consistency are far more important than doing it perfectly.

 

I think, with that in mind, one of the most unique aspects of the Snider Investment Method™ is that it gives you a right way to invest that is easy to stick with and follow over long periods of time because it is so rigid and structured with no room for guesswork or intuition. It makes the discipline easier.

That statement assumes, of course, that it is suited to your investment objectives, risk tolerance and temperament in the first place. It would be arrogant to say it is right for everyone. It's not.

 

But I think the magic in the Snider Method, as with most things in life that lead you to success, is the discipline of doing the right thing over and over again until it requires no effort and no thought. It becomes a habit and eventually just a way of life. It's just what you do.

 

So what do you think? How much of a role do you think discipline plays in success? What other factors do you think play a major role in achieving long term success - not just in investing but in general? Leave your thoughts and comments below.

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

UT - Dallas Slides

I spoke to Frank Anderson's graduate level Investment Management class at the University of Texas - Dallas today. I will be speaking to his undergraduate level class on Thursday.

I really enjoyed the morning and appreciated the insightful discussion. You can download the PDF version of my slides here.

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

Investing Is Like Dieting (Part 3)

Over the years, many of the graduates of the Snider Investment Method workshops have suggested they would like to interact with other graduates - compare notes, swap ideas, and just know who else invests the way they do. A while back, we put out a note to our graduates that said, "If we put together a one week cruise in the Caribbean, with a cost of $X, how many of you would be interested?"

 

Somewhat to our surprise, the response was really strong. We took them at their word, organized the event through a local company, Admiral of the Fleet Cruises, and true to their word, people signed up. So last week, 6 of us from Kim Snider Financial Communications accompanied 50 graduates of the Snider Investment Method Workshop on the Inaugural Snider Alumni Cruise. We had an absolute blast!

 

Cruising is pretty popular as a vacation option so I am guessing many of you have been on a cruise before. But in case you haven't, let me just tell you that you are overfed in gross proportions. It seems that on a cruise, all you do is eat. The price is all inclusive and food is available on the ship twenty-four hours a day so if you wanted to, you could just gorge yourself non-stop!

 

Point-in-case is a 21-year-old named Burt. Burt was on the cruise to take video and photographs of our trip. At dinner, Burt could be seen to eat several appetizers, three or four entrees and a couple of desserts. Can you imagine doing that in a restaurant? I think the only place you could get away with that without being seen as a social slob is on a cruise ship - and probably only if you're 21.

 

In case you are wondering, Burt is not fat - yet! He is young, broke and this week is back to living on Ramen Noodles. So on the cruise he made the most of it! I myself, ate far more than I normally would have. The desserts were just incredibly hard to pass up! Which got me thinking once again about the similarities between investing and dieting.

 

I have been working really hard to shed some excess weight lately. In fact, I have been working at it pretty diligently since Christmas and I am proud to say I have lost twelve pounds so far. That is not quite a pound a week. But then I came back from the cruise and I had gained back four of those pounds I had worked so hard to lose - in a week!

 

Isn't that just like investing? We all saw gains that took years to accumulate -decades even - wiped out in two short years following the 2000 tech wreck. Which brings me to the point of this little story: in spite of all the gurus and books that would tell you otherwise, dieting is not rocket science.

 

I know there is the Atkins Diet, South Beach Diet, Sugar Busters, Glycemic Index - all these diets - and all can work. But at the end of the day, the way to lose weight simply comes down to consuming less calories than you burn in a day. If you do that, you will lose weight, no matter what you eat. If you don't do that, you won't, I don't care what diet you are on.

 

The only way to do that is to control your calorie intake - which takes constant focus and discipline. If you want to increase the calories you burn in a day, then you must exercise, and that too takes discipline. It occurs to me that success, in any endeavor I can think of, when you get right down to it, boils down to having the discipline to do the right thing - every day. If you do, you will be successful, guaranteed. If you don't, you won't. What a simple, but powerful idea.

 

Success comes from having the discipline to do the right thing every day.

 

If you want to be financially successful, that means having the discipline to live below your means. It means you manage risk in your portfolio instead of chasing returns. It means fighting off the emotional responses of fear and greed and doing the right thing rather than the thing that feels good.

 

I am not suggesting this is easy. Discipline is hard. Look around you. But I also know that we can do anything we set our mind to. Look at the areas where you would like to be more successful and ask yourself, "Am I doing the right thing EVERY day?"

 

I bet, if you are honest with yourself, you will find that you aren't. And I bet the opposite is also true. I bet the areas that you are successful in you will find that statement to be true. Give it a try and let us know what you come up with. Leave your thoughts and comments below.

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

Credibility gap

As the wave of baby boomers begins to crest, there is a disconnect between what investors need and what the financial services industry provides. This disconnect is reflected in the shifting attitudes of consumers. Specifically, investors are increasingly doubting the ability of mainstream financial service institutions to help them with their most pressing financial needs. As a result, more and more are (rightly, in my opinion) choosing to get educated and take control of their own investments.

 

 

Consumers overwhelmingly believe that brokerage firms (56%), mutual fund companies (55%), insurers (67%) and banks (74%) are unable to address their retirement planning needs. This credibility gap is even more pronounced when you start asking about individual advisors instead of companies.

 

 

Salim Ramji, a partner at McKinsey & Co. says, "Lots of advisors are very comfortable selling a mutual fund or variable annuity but not comfortable talking about products that would create income." Why is this so when there is such an obvious need for investments that generate consistent income, preferably at higher yields than are currently available?

 

There are two reasons - one is structural and one is human nature. The first is that the system continues to compensate advisors, and compensate them very well for selling high risk, accumulation type products. Advisors are paid more for active management than passive. They are paid more for equities than for bonds. And finally because the best selling products are those with the best historical relative performance, there is an incentive to take on lots of risk, not reduce it.

 

The people aren't flawed. They are only human. It's the system that is flawed. They're thinking, "Gee, if you pay me well to sell crap mutual funds and don't pay me bupkus for selling income products, which do you think I am going to sell? When one of my clients suggests income, I steer them the other way. What do you expect? Mother Teresa?"

 

The second reason is human nature. It is called status quo bias. Because the fear of giving up something looms larger in our minds than the possible advantages of adopting something new, we are all prone to remain at status quo. It is the behavioral equivalent of "the devil you know versus the devil you don't." Advisors may know mutual funds are the devil, but its their devil.

 

Like it or not, changes are ahead. Advisors cannot continue to ram the capital appreciation model down our throats indefinitely. As more and more investors begin to vote with their feet, advisors will either adapt or perish. Very few get this - but they will - because investors already do.

 

To that end, forward thinking members of the financial services industry have formed a trade group known as the Retirement Income Industry Association. Many of its founding members will be present at the Managing Retirement Income Conference in Boston next week. I'll keep you informed of the proceedings as they happen.

 

What I am most looking forward to is seeing how much, if any, the tone of the presentations have changed from last year. In other words, what evidence is presented that the shift is really in full swing. For those of us who sometimes feel as if we are howling into the wind, are we making a difference? It should be interesting.

 

I'd love to know what you think. You can leave any comments or thoughts you might have below.

 

PROPS:

 

Thanks to Jonathan Foy for reminding me of the McKinsey data, prompting the topic of this post.

 

SOURCE:

 

1. "The Retirement Journey: Pathways to success in the new retirement market" McKinsey & Co.,

http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/bankingsecurities/latestthinking/The_Retirement_Journey.pdf

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

 

Patenting an Investment Product

The financial services industry has been pretty slow to catch on to the idea of protecting their intellectual property. For the longest time, a firm would introduce a new product knowing, if it was successful, everyone else would soon copy it.

 

It was State Street Bank that first won the right, in 1998, to patent a business process, defined as "a method of operating any aspect of an economic enterprise." That right was upheld in a 1999 case involving AT&T and Excel Communications.

 

In general, any invention is eligible for patent protection if passes the tests of patentable subject matter, novelty, inventive step (or non-obviousness) and industrial application (or utility). USPTO guidelines are that a process, including a process for doing business, must produce a concrete, useful and tangible result in order to be patentable.

 

Now that business method patents have become mainstream, financial services firms are rushing to patent their new innovations as they bring them to market. I was watching TV the other day when an Allstate ad came on. They were advertising a new insurance policy. For every year you don't have a wreck, they refund some of your premium, lower your deductible at no additional cost, or something similar. Sorry, I can't remember the details.

 

The point though, is the little fine print on the bottom of the ad. I noticed it contained the words "patent-pending."

 

I will be in Cambridge, MA next week attending the second Managing Retirement Income Symposium. One of the breakout sessions deals with "The Impact of Innovation and IP Rights on Retirement Income Products." Since the other concurrent session at that time deals with (hold your nose!) annuities (Bleck! Ick! Stink!) I will definitely be in the IP session.

 

I will blog all of my notes from the conference, as I did last year, so you can get an idea what the more forward thinking firms are doing to understand and solve the retirement income crisis.

 

SOURCE:

 

1. Wikipedia, "Business method patent," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_method_patent, 20 February 2006.

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

New group formed to tackle retirement income issues

In a sign of the times, senior executives in the financial services industry have created a new trade

association, the Retirement Income Industry Association (RIIA), focusing on the financial and public policy issues related to the income needs of retirees. RIIA will serve both as a think tank for analyzing retirement income issues and as an incubator to facilitate the development of innovative retirement income-related products and services.

 

I was at the Inaugural Managing Retirement Income Symposium last year where I met many of the founding members of this new group, including the founding chairman Francois Gadenne, president and CEO of Retirement Engineering. I will be at the second annual symposium as well which is to be held in February where I will be blogging all the various presentations same as I did last year.

 

The formation of this group is good news for those of us concerned with how to create a portfolio paycheck to replace out W-2 paychecks. I believe this is one of the watershed events in what will ultimately become a complete shift in the investment paradigm from accumulation to income.

 

As many of you have heard me say until I am blue in the face, income is not just for when we get old. Income gives us alternatives. If my portfolio is generating an income sufficient to pay my bills I can reinvest it to get growth, use it when life's unexpected financial disruptions occur and ultimately use it for "walking away money", all without having to reallocate or liquidate assets at a time when their value may be down.

 

I am generally pretty hard on the financial services industry for putting their own pecuniary interests ahead of ours by continuing to support a model which is very lucrative for them but not appropriate for us. In this case, we have a group who has recognized this need and are actively working to address it. Well done guys!

 

You can get more information about the Retirement Income Industry Association at www.RIIA-USA.org.

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

Rich Dad's Investor Workshop

I had the opportunity to meet a lot of really great people this weekend at Rich Dad's Investment Workshop here in Dallas. I am told there were more than 1500 people in attendance at the event and if I shook one hand I shook a thousand.

 

The attendees ranged from a very impressive 10-year-old named John Paul who had read every single one of the Rich Dad books and could tell you the definition of an LLC or debate with you the pros and cons of licensing to 60 and 70 year olds who were just looking for a better way to manage their retirement assets.

 

I did one presentation with Robert Kiyosaki from the main stage in the morning in which I quickly made three main points. They were: 1) avoid permanent losses like the plague; 2) cash flow is superior to capital appreciation; and 3) the so-called "experts" are best at making themselves rich, not you.

 

I followed that up with two longer programs during the concurrent sessions which covered basically the same points but in much more detail. In those programs I showed the attendees another way of looking at the riskiness of the stock market, the real power of consistent returns, why your maximum rate of withdrawal from a retirement portfolio is so small, and a way to increase the growth and or withdrawal rate in a portfolio with about the same level of risk as an investment-grade bond portfolio.

 

I hope everyone who attended really enjoyed the show and learned a lot. For those who were unable to attend - you missed a great educational opportunity. My thanks to Kim and Robert Kiyosaki for inviting me to be a part of their workshop and to KRLD for putting the whole event together.

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.