Ep 21: Would You Like These Financial Stocking Stuffers?
InvestingOn This Episode
On today’s Saving With Silverman podcast, Mark shares some of his favorite and not-so-favorite financial stocking stuffers.
Takeaways
Stuffing your financial stocking is our topic today. Would you be happy or unhappy to get these financial gifts in your stocking?
Variable annuities
“I would not be pleased,” said Mark. “A variable annuity in my book is a bad investment for anybody. The only person that makes money in those typically is the advisor that’s selling them.”
They have the risk of the stock market. They invest in sub accounts, which are essentially mutual funds. So you have the fee of the mutual funds with a layer of insurance.
They’re very expensive. Sometimes you can get out them and sometimes you can’t.
Apple stock
“I’m a big fan of Apple. I use their products,” said Mark. “Depending on what you’re invested in, you’re going to own Apple in there. In most stock portfolios, Apple is included in there.”
Would you be happy getting this in your stocking? It really depends on your risk tolerance and what your goals are.
High yield bonds
There’s a place for those. Another name for them is junk bonds, which doesn't sound good, but they’re higher risk companies. The higher the risk, the higher the reward.
“If you have a diversified portfolio, like we do with our clients, there is a place for these in the fixed income portion of your portfolio,” said Mark.
Whole life insurance policy
I think there’s some better, newer policies out there. I like universal life policies. Some include long-term care benefits.
Listen to the entire episode to hear about more financial stocking stuffers. Click on the timestamps below to skip to a particular segment.
A variable annuity in my book is a bad investment for anybody. The only person that makes money in those typically is the advisor that’s selling them.
- Mark Silverman, CFP®
The Layout
Let’s get rolling with the first episode and you can use the timestamps below to skip around to specific topics.
0:45 – Variable annuity
2:02 – Apple stock
2:43 – High yield bonds
3:30 – Whole life insurance policy
5:08 – S&P 500 Index ETF
5:50 – Indexed annuity
7:40 – Long-term care insurance
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