OK
TMI edition.
If you are easily grossed out, look away.
Avert your eyes.
You still here?
OK. Here goes:
I suffered from canker sores when I was a kid.
They always started out the same. I would accidentally bite my lip.
ouch.
Then, I keep eating.
I do it again.
Sht. That really hurt.
OK. Take a breath.
Chew chew chew.
Stab.
FUUUUUUGK!
Why can’t I chew my food like a normal human being?
Why do my teeth forsake me?
After about a thousand chomps on the lip, I give up and don’t eat for a few days.
It drives me nuts.
This is sorta what it’s like to invest money sometimes. How do I know? Because a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Yours Unruly worked for “the man.”
I worked for a very well known brokerage firm under a stock broker and several Certified Financial Planners.
During my somewhat short stint there, I went on some pretty amazing trips and sat in on some excellent meetings with big wigs.
I even did some investing, though I had to be really careful with that (they make you fill out a LOT of paperwork and disclose your life story before you invest a single penny).
Anywho, one thing I picked up on right away was the fees.
Fees are a normal and natural part of investing, but they also have a profound effect on what you end up with 30 years from now.
Why is that important?
Well, it’s not… unless you happen to own any investments.
I can remember visiting one of the firm’s clients (he wasn’t mine… I inherited him from another broker) and asking him if he understood the fees and how much he was paying.
He said “yes” but when I went ahead and told him what his prospectus said, he had to sit down and take a breather.
And when I say that, I’m not exaggerating for effect.
He actually had to sit down. I will always remember it (and that kitchen/dining room setup, too).
When you have something like $40,000 in savings and realize you’ve paid $140,000+ in fees over the last 30 years, it’s a shot to the gut.
Now… depending on where you are in life, $140,000 may or may not sound like a lot.
Let’s put this into perspective:
Those fees represent a 350% negative return on savings.
How can this possibly be?
Simple: fees compound with investment returns and start to eat up more and more of your savings over time. And… they’re charged on your ENTIRE savings regardless of whether you make money.
So… take your savings now… multiply that by 350%.
What could you do with that moolah?
For this client… that’s like… another $4,200 a year in income.
More money for emergency medical expenses… which… believe me when your’e 70 you don’t want to have to worry about where you’re going to come up with those funds.
It also would have paid for 23 months in a nursing home for this guy (at least… back then).
But… really… we’re not just talking about the $140,000. Because that money would have earned interest, too.
Anyway… it was too late for him so we did the best we could. Which wasn’t much. I mean… I think that’s the sad part. When you get to someone too late and there’s not much you can do for them.
You can really see it in their eyes. They’re heartbroken.
They can’t believe they lost so much… and never really understood it all.
Back then… I did the best I could with the tools I had.
Today of course, I have a solution for problems like that: The Monegenix Method. Clients don’t really ever get into those kinds of messes because we’re not fooling around with tactical approaches that rely heavily on interest rates or investment returns.
Of course there are some tactics, but they are derived from very old financial principles hardly anyone is teaching these days.
And yes… this stuff involves WAY more than just “makin’ money”.
More info here: