In Defense Of Advisors Who Sell Variable Annuities We have had particularly difficult time dealing with TIAA-CREF. They always treat client dollars as their own. The TIAA portion is very problematic to deal with, since clients rarely understand that this cannot be rolled over at retirement. It has to be annuitized or taken over a 10-year period. Unfortunately, many 403b, 457, etc participants put most of their dollars in the TIAA portion of their plan. The other issue is that if someone has worked at several different schools, churches, government entities over their career, they will have separate TIAA-CREF accounts for each entity, each with slightly different rules depending on what the entity negotiated with TIAA-CREF. Tracking these is often difficult for individuals, and the statements from TIAA-CREF are not particularly helpful, either.
Regarding your other thoughts, since most client annuity contracts are for retirement accounts (nothing like putting a tax-deferred contract inside a tax-deferred account!), we hardly ever annuitze these, always doing a rollover to Schwab or Fidelity IRA. Those few contracts that need to be kept in an annuity format can usually be dealt with in an appropriate manner. Often the client does not need the dollars for income at all, and will continue to put off taking dollars as long as they can. Others might be 1035 to an immediate fixed annuity if the rate is acceptable and the company is good. Unlike those who make a living selling annuities, we find there are many options to consider.
Jefferson National's Monument Advisor has been a godsend for fee-only companies, and it has done a very good job of working with firms to set up accounts for downloading and monitoring. The 400+ investment options are certainly more than needed and have many very good managers/funds. No commission, no surrender period, and a simple $240 annual fee are very attractive. For a $100,000 contract, this amounts to an annual 0.24%, which is similar to Vanguard and Fidelity, lower than Schwab. Truth to tell, there is no perfect annuity, just as there is no perfect investment of any kind.
Is It Time to Throttle Back Equities? Hi JohnChisum, expatsp, kevindow, Catch22 and others that my follow with comment,
Thanks for stopping by and making comment. The reason I made this post is I am looking out towards mid January when fourth quarter 2014 earnings will began to be reported. I am thinking the outlook for the energy sector will disappoint for many investors which will weigh on the overall equity markets and we will perhaps see a good dip, pullback or even a downdraft present itself. There is always perhaps a not so associated with this call.
Since, I am currently overweight equities from my neutral position I am thinking of trimming after we get into January as I am looking for another percent or so to come for the S&P 500 Index before year end. I am thinking the first week on January will also be a good week but after that I am thinking things will slow and that’s when I am thinking of trimming.
I can do this in steps as the market moves upward, or downward, or in bulk at the time of my choosing. I also think that for 2015 we will perhaps see another 8% gain on the Index although the ride will be a bumpy one. With this anticipated volatility I plan to make some more special spiff investment positions and to profit form this I will have to buy low during market declines and sell high towards market peaks. I plan to do this in a tax deferred account and in funds that I can buy at nav. Some might say this is market timming (as Dex at first did) ... however, by my defination it is not as I am not a day trader nor am I buying inapporiately in mutual funds after the markets have closed and outside of what is allowed by fund prospectus. This type of investment strategy would be called by some as simply playing the swing.
You now have my playbook exposed prior to the anticipated events as some have said I have failed to do in the past in posting past successes. I do this in the spirit of helping others with some insight to my thinking. However, one should do their own thinking and not rely on mine because I have been know, at times, to have missed calls. And, yes, this is hard to do as the market changes and at times is not in concert with my playbook. And, with this I have to remain flexible. But, if one fails to plan then they have planned to fail.
Wishing all the best for the Holiday Season and most of all … Merry Christmas!
Old_Skeet
Is It Time to Throttle Back Equities? @Charles: Thanks for sharing your (relative) pain, I too am way behind the S&P this year after a few years outperforming. Fairholme hit me hard, and great performance from Primecap and decent performance from Bridgeway (my other two big positions) weren't enough to compensate. My foreign funds (ARTKX, SFGIX, GPIOX) outpeformed their benchmarks but underperformed, of course, the S&P.
Getting back to this general topic, I intend to remain close to fully invested in equities. The economy seems to be picking up speed, not slowing down, so I don't see any reason for a bear market any time soon. And as to the inevitable
5-10% corrections, I've learned that I'm not smart enough to time those, though I do have a little dry powder just in case some bargains appear.
Is It Time to Throttle Back Equities? SPY 10,
50, 200 day averages all positive.
SP
500 up 14.
5% YTD. How many of us can claim that? Not me, I'm up YTD only 2-3%.
Although, volume seems a little skittish...
Is It Time to Throttle Back Equities? Hi
@kevindowI have followed the Barchart opinions, too.
Per your link, do you give more attention to any particular indicator(s) or just to the overall "buy, sell, hold" ratings?
I also use Stockcharts for 10 & 39, and
50, 100 and 200 moving averages; and related RSI 14 values.
I, too; agree relative to the U.S. equity areas.
Thank you for your input and time here.
Catch
Is It Time to Throttle Back Equities? Hi Skeet,
I follow the 20/
50/100EMAs, and the charts for the following continue to be strong and I would not fight the trend: SPY, IJH, IWM, XLK, VHT, IBB, FBT, XLU and VNQ. Foreign developed and EM equities continue to lag, and I would avoid investing in these spaces.
Also, I follow the
Barchart Opinion for these ETFs. Again, positive on the previously listed ETFs.
Finally, take a look at the Fear & Greed Index, which currently indicates a bullish "Fear."
My plan is to stay fully invested until the charts of my holdings break down.
Kevin
Two Dems Want Active Funds In The TSP "Govtrack.us estimates that Meeks' bill has a
two percent chance of getting out of committee and a one
percent chance of actually becoming law."
Excellent news !!
We are currently invested in a 2/1 ratio in the TSP C (S&P 500) and S (VIEIX/FSEVX) funds, respectively. There is nothing wrong with the TSP that the politically motivated representatives need to fix. With an average expense ratio of 0.029%, the TSP is an awesome deal. However, it would be nice if the TSP offered extremely low cost exposure to foreign SC/MC equities, EM equities and foreign/EM fixed income.
Kevin
An Emerging Retirement Drawdown Controversy At least for a nomial percentate of folks here, in or near retirement and with a presumption of a rollover of a 401 or 403 plan into an IRA, the following:
---Okay, we'll throw out the pension (assuming one exists) and social security monies and focus on the "drawdown" question. Regardless of studies as noted here and others I have read (I did not read the one linked here), the fact remains that for those attaining the magic 70.5 age, the IRS is going to force these folks to "drawdown", whether they choose to or not. Current calculations require about 3.66% for year 1 and increases thereafter.
As to asset mix. Well, we all have our own risks and rewards machine in place, eh?
To repeat; the simple 50/50 of VTI and BND provides the following averages:
---5 year = 9.9%
---3 year = 12.5%
---1 year = 10.6
---YTD = 9.35%
Yup. Not very diversified. Just a good place to have been and be right now, IMO; for a simple portfolio. If one is ahead of the above numbers, you're doing well with your money management.
Regards,
Catch
