How We Save You $
"A penny saved is a penny earned."
Many people assume that we focus exclusively on managing our clients' investments. Nothing could be further from the truth. While it certainly is important to prudently invest one's money, the surest, easiest, and quickest way to increase your wealth is to spend less in unnecessary fees and expenses. Ben Franklin was right: if you stop unnecessarily spending $1,000 per year, you have made yourself $1,000 more wealthy by the end of the year.
We are obsessive about helping our clients save money and making prudent decisions regarding their finances. Here's some examples of how we prudently help our clients save money:
- Avoid High Fee Mutual Funds. Altruist's recommended portfolios typically have weighted average expense ratios of under 0.5%. Many mutual funds charge as much as 1% or more annually in 12(b)-1 fees. Altruist avoids recommending funds with 12(b)-1 fees.
- Avoid Whole Life Insurance Policies. We find that many people who buy life insurance either buy too much or the wrong kind or both. This is often because they asked a life insurance salesman how much and what kind they should get. Of course, the life insurance salesmen tend to recommend large amounts of the highest commission variety (whole life). For more information on Life Insurance, see here.
Example: If you were paying $2,000 per year for a whole life policy when you could be paying $200 per year for a term policy with the same coverage, you can save $1,800 per year in unnecessary premiums. It is far better to increase your wealth, rather than the insurance company's or the insurance agent's.
Example: If you were paying $2,000 per year for a whole life policy when you have no need for insurance at all, you are unnecessarily throwing away much of that money—you can save yourself $2,000 per year and get a return of your small cash value by canceling the policy.
- Avoid Variable Annuities. All except the lowest cost Variable Annuities are appropriate investment products for almost nobody. Their high fees usually dramatically exceed whatever benefit of tax-deferral they might promise. The extent of the fees is scandalous: it is not unusual for annual fees to be two to three percentage points higher than necessary. If you realize the extent of the high annual fees and desire to roll it over to a lower fee Variable Annuity, you often are charged outrageous "surrender fees" of as high as 10 percent or more.
If you are unfortunate enough to be in one, we may be able to help. If you are in a Variable Annuity inside a 403(b) plan, you may be able to roll it over into a 403(b)(7) mutual fund without the high fees. If you are in a Variable Annuity inside an IRA, you definitely can roll it over into a mutual fund inside an IRA without the high fees. If you are in a Variable Annuity outside tax-deferred retirement plans, you can roll it over to a low cost Variable Annuity.
Unfortunately, the act of rolling over the Variable Annuity may cause you to incur a surrender fee. We find that it often makes sense to pay the surrender fee in order to avoid continuing to pay the excessive annual fees. It is an uncomfortable situation to be in where you have a choice of either continuing to pay outrageous annual fees or paying an outrageous surrender fee, but we can't help this (we didn't put you in this position). The best strategy, of course, is to avoid getting into such predicaments in the first place.
Example: If you are currently paying 3% in annual fees (including management, administration, and mortality and expense fees) for your Variable Annuity, you are paying more than two percentage points too much per year. If you have $100,000 in such a Variable Annuity, you are wasting at least $2,000 per year by unnecessarily paying exorbitant fees.
The above examples are just that: examples. It's easy to see how our service may pay for itself in just a few months through cost-savings alone. Would you like help identifying ways to prudently save money?
This web page contains the current opinions of Eric E. Haas at the time it is written—and such opinions are subject to change without notice. This web page is intended to serve two purposes:
- To educate the public; and
- To provide disclosure of Mr. Haas' opinions to prospective clients. We believe that prospective clients are well-served by being made aware of what they are buying—and what they are buying is advice that is based on these opinions.
We believe the information provided here to be useful and accurate at the time it is written. Information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but is not guaranteed.
No investor should invest solely on the basis of information listed here. Before investing, it is important to consult each prospective investment's prospectus and consider both its risk/return characteristics and its effect on your overall portfolio.
This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax, legal, or investment planning advice. Where specific advice is necessary or appropriate, Altruist recommends consultation with a qualified tax adviser, CPA, financial planner, or investment adviser. If you would like to discuss the rationale or support for any particular idea expressed on this web page, feel free to contact us.