A Financial Review this Morning (Completed)

[OAG]

Well against my better judgment I agreed to a Financial Review by a local bank where I had recently opened a Checking Account and Credit Card Account (due to $275 cash "gifts" they provided to do so). Well I knew it was a fishing expedition on their part for new "fee based" clients to "manage". I explained to the head reviewer that I had two annuities (Military Retirement and Social Security) that gave us about $50K a year against expenses of less than $30K; that we had fully paid medical care from Medicare and the Military Tricare for life program; and that we had a few "fixed income" CD's. They asked about these CD's very quickly and I handed over an accurate but sanitized listing of 62 CD's paying an AVERAGE of 5.71% return and amounting to a total value of about $700K. I asked "can you improve on that rate for this ladder of insured CD's maturing over the next 7 years?" the response was "No, we cant". Then they got into our mortgage and car loans and we responded we don't have any of those things and don't plan to ever have them in the future if we can help it. I told them the only reason I had agreed to discuss our situation with them was the phone call the account manager made to me on Friday even tho I had said that I was happy with our situation as it was but heck, maybe you can show me a way to improve the situation and discuss fully insured investments that would pay more than I was receiving now. Then we got down to why I was not using their CC much; and I explained that Pentagon FCU has one that pays 5% monthly cash rebate on gas and 1.25% other purchases and that their CC did not do this much. Needless to say the interview was just about over at that point and the head guy left. When we left the account manager was scratching his head and was actually was looking at the Pentagon Federal Credit Union site on his computer and had asked for and written down the NFCU site address on his little pad. I promise this is the very last "financial makeover" interview I will agree to. Thanks ER Forums for the financial education over the past year or so.

 

[Coach]

Great story, R Wood!

Coach

 

[W2R]

Congratulations on being in such great financial shape! You have much to be proud of, and ultimately, you did it yourself. I hope you had fun with this financial review. I know that (if I were in your shoes) I would have.

 

[TexasGal]

Loved the story, thanks for sharing it!

TG

 

[FinanceDude]

Well against my better judgment I agreed to a Financial Review by a local bank where I had recently opened a Checking Account and Credit Card Account (due to $275 cash "gifts" they provided to do so). Well I knew it was a fishing expedition on their part for new "fee based" clients to "manage". I explained to the head reviewer that I had two annuities (Military Retirement and Social Security) that gave us about $50K a year against expenses of less than $30K; that we had fully paid medical care from Medicare and the Military Tricare for life program; and that we had a few "fixed income" CD's. They asked about these CD's very quickly and I handed over an accurate but sanitized listing of 62 CD's paying an AVERAGE of 5.71% return and amounting to a total value of about $700K. I asked "can you improve on that rate for this ladder of insured CD's maturing over the next 7 years?" the response was "No, we cant". Then they got into our mortgage and car loans and we responded we don't have any of those things and don't plan to ever have them in the future if we can help it. I told them the only reason I had agreed to discuss our situation with them was the phone call the account manager made to me on Friday even tho I had said that I was happy with our situation as it was but heck, maybe you can show me a way to improve the situation and discuss fully insured investments that would pay more than I was receiving now. Then we got down to why I was not using their CC much; and I explained that Pentagon FCU has one that pays 5% monthly cash rebate on gas and 1.25% other purchases and that their CC did not do this much. Needless to say the interview was just about over at that point and the head guy left. When we left the account manager was scratching his head and was actually was looking at the Pentagon Federal Credit Union site on his computer and had asked for and written down the NFCU site address on his little pad. I promise this is the very last "financial makeover" interview I will agree to. Thanks ER Forums for the financial education over the past year or so.

You have SIXTY TWO CD's?? Wow...........

 

[Meadbh]

When we left the account manager was scratching his head and was actually was looking at the Pentagon Federal Credit Union site on his computer and had asked for and written down the NFCU site address on his little pad.

 

[twaddle]

Speaking of PenFed, I notice that they now say "for a limited time only!" for the 6% CDs, and they dropped the Oct 31 end date....

 

[LOL!]

The story reminds me of a meeting with a bunch of NASA FTE's. They were telling us how their astronauts could do all sorts of stuff for us in space. We already had robots to do all the same stuff in space. The meeting ended when they realized, "But then we don't need any astronauts in space!"

 

[travelover]

Great story. Hope you had as much fun generating the anecdote as we did in reading it.

 

[Bigritchie]

Well against my better judgment I agreed to a Financial Review by a local bank where I had recently opened a Checking Account and Credit Card Account (due to $275 cash "gifts" they provided to do so). Well I knew it was a fishing expedition on their part for new "fee based" clients to "manage". I explained to the head reviewer that I had two annuities (Military Retirement and Social Security) that gave us about $50K a year against expenses of less than $30K; that we had fully paid medical care from Medicare and the Military Tricare for life program; and that we had a few "fixed income" CD's. They asked about these CD's very quickly and I handed over an accurate but sanitized listing of 62 CD's paying an AVERAGE of 5.71% return and amounting to a total value of about $700K. I asked "can you improve on that rate for this ladder of insured CD's maturing over the next 7 years?" the response was "No, we cant". Then they got into our mortgage and car loans and we responded we don't have any of those things and don't plan to ever have them in the future if we can help it. I told them the only reason I had agreed to discuss our situation with them was the phone call the account manager made to me on Friday even tho I had said that I was happy with our situation as it was but heck, maybe you can show me a way to improve the situation and discuss fully insured investments that would pay more than I was receiving now. Then we got down to why I was not using their CC much; and I explained that Pentagon FCU has one that pays 5% monthly cash rebate on gas and 1.25% other purchases and that their CC did not do this much. Needless to say the interview was just about over at that point and the head guy left. When we left the account manager was scratching his head and was actually was looking at the Pentagon Federal Credit Union site on his computer and had asked for and written down the NFCU site address on his little pad. I promise this is the very last "financial makeover" interview I will agree to. Thanks ER Forums for the financial education over the past year or so.

Hehe you sound just like me investment wise. My bank always wants me to meet with their silly FA, and it drives me nuts as they try to sell me large insurance policies and pretty much beg me to go back into stocks (with their commission of course). They always treat me like I am a uninformed idiot because of my age (30) which really annoys me.

I do pretty much exactly the same thing with 1 million in CD's and then about 45k or so in tax free disability from the service and SS.

Go Go stubborn former military CD rats!

 

[FinanceDude]

Hehe you sound just like me investment wise. My bank always wants me to meet with their silly FA, and it drives me nuts as they try to sell me large insurance policies and pretty much beg me to go back into stocks (with their commission of course). They always treat me like I am a uninformed idiot because of my age (30) which really annoys me.

I do pretty much exactly the same thing with 1 million in CD's and then about 45k or so in tax free disability from the service and SS.

Go Go stubborn former military CD rats!

Great stories, just a question. How are you going to fight buying power erosion keeping all that money in CD's?..........just curious..........

 

[Bigritchie]

Great stories, just a question. How are you going to fight buying power erosion keeping all that money in CD's?..........just curious..........

My expenses per year are super low, maybe 15k max, my only big expenses are traveling, and I save and re-invest the rest. The next egg grows by 50k+ a year. I doubt many working people save that much or invest that much per year.

I may eventually use interest to buy some stocks just for the hell of it, but right now I like knowing exactly what I get each month. I just do not want to be traveling and watch the market yoyo and be stressed.

 

[OAG]

Great stories, just a question. How are you going to fight buying power erosion keeping all that money in CD's?..........just curious..........

Hope to either (1) Keep that ROR (5.71% or better) or (2) And this one I do not like -- Check out; after all I am 67 years old and DW is 70. Actually, in reality I think it will be a combination of the two (hopefully more 1 than 2).

BTW I really enjoy the stock market - it is my one of my major spectator sports (nothing in the game but I like watching).

 

[FinanceDude]

Hope to either (1) Keep that ROR (5.71% or better) or (2) And this one I do not like -- Check out; after all I am 67 years old and DW is 70. Actually, in reality I think it will be a combination of the two (hopefully more 1 than 2).

BTW I really enjoy the stock market - it is my one of my major spectator sports (nothing in the game but I like watching).

I understand your situation more than BigRitchie, since he is only 30, but rates are headed down, so the 5.71% won't stay there, but if your expenses are low it won't matter.

As long as your tax bracket is low, the interest on $700K won't be that big of an issue...........

 

[maddythebeagle]

I understand your situation more than BigRitchie, since he is only 30, but rates are headed down, so the 5.71% won't stay there, but if your expenses are low it won't matter.

As long as your tax bracket is low, the interest on $700K won't be that big of an issue...........

FIRE at 30 and live off 15k/yr....what dont you understand? Is that JG's younger alter ego...

 

[ladelfina]

That story is a riot..! I personally wouldn't have any interest in suffering sales pitches but it must be quite flattering to see them cribbing off of YOU..! Go, R Wood!

 

[FinanceDude]

FIRE at 30 and live off 15k/yr....what dont you understand? Is that JG's younger alter ego...

Just asking an inflation question............. He needs to plan for 60 years of retirement, and inflation is something to consider..........

Not related to JG, I didn't know this was a sanitized board............

 

[FinanceDude]

That story is a riot..! I personally wouldn't have any interest in suffering sales pitches but it must be quite flattering to see them cribbing off of YOU..! Go, R Wood!

Sounds about right, it's still funny when my local bank asks me to come in for a "review", even though they know I'm an advisor..........

 

[bssc]

Great story, especially the part about the $275 gifts. I would do that if my bank offered me a chance.

 

[73ss454]

Sounds about right, it's still funny when my local bank asks me to come in for a "review", even though they know I'm an advisor..........

Well, they don't know if your a good advisor.

 

[FinanceDude]

Well, they don't know if your a good advisor.

Everyone's a comedian...........

 

[73ss454]

No, I'm serious! (heh)

 

[Nords]

Geez, R Wood, you're lucky the bank didn't fire you right after that interview, return your money, and close your accounts. Why, if you were allowed to mingle with the other customers then they might all stop using the bank and go to credit unions. And what's up with your subversive corruption of the bank employee? Now the bank is going to have to make it a requirement for employees to keep their assets in the bank, not at CUs.

You have SIXTY TWO CD's?? Wow...........

I completely understand. If you have to break into a CD before it matures then you want to minimize the interest penalty. A smaller CD, a smaller penalty.

PenFed lets customers start CDs with as little as $1000 and it's all done over a website. 62 CD applications might be a little tedious but the monthly statements are delivered online and summarize the whole portfolio very neatly.

If I have a choice between NFCU's $10K-$20K minimums and PenFed for the same interest rate, I'd go with PenFed. I'd also go for a longer term with PenFed and feel more comfortable that in a CD-breaking situation I'd only have to pull out as much as I need.

Now you want to talk about Fundaholic on FundAlarm.com, who holds over 60 different mutual funds, I agree he has a problem.

 

[FinallyRetired]

They asked about these CD's very quickly and I handed over an accurate but sanitized listing of 62 CD's paying an AVERAGE of 5.71% return and amounting to a total value of about $700K.

Congratulations on having your financial house in order! I'm impressed that you can get 5.71% on laddered CDs over 7 years, how did you do that? Maybe it doesn't matter, since your expenses are so low and you don't need to draw them down. But I've been looking to ladder CDs over 7 years, and even with 6% 7 year PenFed CDs, if I spread them equally over those 7 years the first few years kill me with low return.

 

[FinanceDude]

Now you want to talk about Fundaholic on FundAlarm.com, who holds over 60 different mutual funds, I agree he has a problem.

That guy is ridiculous..........