Blog

Cash-value life insurance: The myth of buying young

A number of dubious marketing efforts swirl around cash value life insurance (CVLI) which includes most any type of life insurance that doubles as an investment. I previously addressed the fact that CVLI is often marketed as being permanent in nature despite the fact that the insurance component associated with most CVLI policies tends to decline or even vanish over time and that many people have no need for permanent insurance in the first place.

Read More

The ABCs of Mutual Fund Fees

If you own any mutual funds you may have noticed that some funds have an innocuous letter such as an A, B, or C appended to the end of their name while certain other funds sport names that are free of such suffixes. If you purchase fund shares directly from the fund itself rather than through a salesperson, you neatly sidestep any commissions that might otherwise apply.

Read More

Annuity-IRAs-a bad deal

Philosopher George Berkeley famously suggested that, “Truth is the cry of all, but the game of the few.” I suspect he was on to something or he wouldn’t have had a college and a town named after him. I think of this timeless quote whenever I see an annuity contract lurking within an Individual Retirement Account (IRA).

Read More