We went to a retirement seminar

[Time2]

For a free dinner! (and out of curiosity)

The main arguments were a bunch of scary things that could happen.
Then it was, just look at what has happen over the last couple years, we do it different so you don't lose money. We do things no one else does! You want a check coming in you don't want to spend your principal, we have annuities the send you a check. We create income like no one else.
We are local, we live here, we will answer the phone on a Sunday, we are not going anyplace.
He said his fees were only 1.5%, but for annuities he got paid by the annuity company, so his fees were really only about 0.75%. HUH!
That probably means he was reimbursed to equal more then 1.5%, if he is getting a kickback from the Annuity company.
In retrospect, I should have got the Salmon instead of the Prime Rib.

 

[MichealKnight]

Geez, if Prime Rib is involved I might have to attend one of these. Back in the day I always wanted to have staff outside the venue, getting contact info of the meeting attendees, I felt that if you sell one of them - -- you will make tons of money

Thus far, the most unreal thing I've seen is those commercials on CNBC about "crash proof retirement". Each and every one of those people - every street vendor in every country in the world knows: Go for those people first!

 

[djsander]

We get the mailers for nice dinners at local restaurants all the time for these pitches. My wife says she knows we can say no to them and have a nice meal, but then they will hound us until the end of time if we show our faces there so leave it alone.

 

[RetireBy90]

My budy hounded me a couple years ago so I did a lunch with him. Now we have done 5 or 6 and I have not received much if anything from them. They have an info sheet they ask you to fill out, but I never do so they don’t have my phone or email to hound me. We just did a lunch in Oct. food ain’t great but it is free and I get an outing with my bud.

 

[youbet]

So apparently some folks are worried about “what they’re going to do all day in retirement “ and go to sales presentations to fill their time?

 

[FrankiesGirl]

I love those dinners! I go every single time. I am shocked they keep inviting us back as I thought the guy remembered me one year when I asked a question that apparently was in conflict his Chicken Little forecasting and he got VERY short with me.


I have no problem sitting in a fancy restaurant eating steak or seafood with drinks and dessert on someone else's dime. My husband and I love doing them as fancy date nights and just sit there and whisper/giggle about all the fallacies they spout. Should turn it into a bingo game.



They seem to only invite us every few years tho. How do I get more invites? I am not even sure how they got our names as it was because we don't live in a fancy area, don't look fancy or invest/bank with anyone that wouldn't want to keep us in house.

 

[rk911]

years ago my wife desperately wanted to attend not a retirement program but one of those time share programs. "we'll win a prize like a color-tv or even a car!", she proclaimed. but i refused time and time again. but she, and the hucksters, were relentless so off we went.

upon arrival we made it clear to the sales critter that we were not going to buy. but he gave it his all and even pulled in another fellow he said was his manager. after what seemed like an eternity they gave up and had us pick a number slip from a jar. we took that slip to the prize booth to see what we "won". was it a TV? a set of pots n pans? or...a car!? nope. we were handed what was described as a set of 4-prints of old automobiles, suitable for framing doncha know. wow! in reality these "prints" were really a set of 4-plastic place mats. my wife was, to say the least, unimpressed. but the good news is that she was cured of going to these programs. that was maybe 40-45 years ago and we've never been to another one.

 

[Badger]

We went to a handful of these type of presentations a few decades ago and will absolutely not go to another one. Our BS meter almost exploded a few times during the talks and the dinner was not worth what has to be endured. They are boring and a waste of an afternoon or evening. They also make me sad for the presenter who has chosen this way to make a living off of the uninformed and the invitees who get sucked into being fleeced because they don't know where to go for responsible information/education into personal finance and money management.

Cheers!

 

[Time2]

They seem to only invite us every few years tho. How do I get more invites? I am not even sure how they got our names as it was because we don't live in a fancy area, don't look fancy or invest/bank with anyone that wouldn't want to keep us in house.

I wondered that also, I ask one of the reps where they got their mailing list from, he said he didn't know.

 

[jollystomper]

We have gone to 2 of these. one was from Edelman Financial, one was from Fidelity (since we have accounts there). We attended them just before and just after I retired. I actually got some useful information at the time from both, and it definitely helped my wife, who is not as much into finances as I am, feel more comfortable about retirement.

We get invitations from local outfits about every other month, but have not gone to any. It is not a priority (something more interesting seems to come up), and frankly, just going for the meal knowing that there is not anything new we are going to learn (and probably hear some level of retirement "disinformation") does not appeal me. But, never say never .

 

[target2019]

I wondered that also, I ask one of the reps where they got their mailing list from, he said he didn't know.

They buy the mailing list from a marketing company, and it includes the demographics of their target audience. If an FA is interested in only clients with $2M, they ask for slices from certain zip codes where the income and other data shows possible prospects.

 

[jazz4cash]

We get 4-5 per year for nice restaurants but we’ve never been. It would be entertaining for me but DW would be miserable. They won’t let me attend without DW. I could lie but then I’d feel like a heel. Fidelity used to have box lunch seminars that were for existing clients and very focused. Haven’t seem any in-person events from them for a long time.

 

[Dtail]

I used to go and enjoyed the salmon or steak dinners, while asking questions privately to them, that they couldn't answer.
Now the DGF says no more of them, so don't go anymore.

 

[punkinhead]

A retirement seminar inadvertently set my wife and I up for success 30+ years ago when we were in our 20's and fresh out of college. Not a dinner, but they rented a room at the local library. We were by far the youngest in the room - the rest of the attendees were either retired or nearing it. They went through stock funds, bonds, annuities, life insurance, etc. They were really pushing front loaded actively managed mutual funds that they conveniently sold. At the end they let everyone sign up for a free one on one at their office. When we met with one of the partners he looked at us two broke-ass kids and realized that they weren't going to make any money off us. There was a Charles Schwab office right next door and he told us to go over there, open an account, and start putting money monthly into a cheap index fund. That's exactly what we did (eventually switching to Vanguard) and it allowed us to retire in our early 50's.

 

[EarlyandLate]

Funny, I have never received an invitation for anything like this. Not sure I'd go anyway, but now I'm curious why I don't.

 

[Time2]

They buy the mailing list from a marketing company, and it includes the demographics of their target audience. If an FA is interested in only clients with $2M, they ask for slices from certain zip codes where the income and other data shows possible prospects.

We are not in a zip code that would be considered a likely prospect for high net worth. $250k homes even after this run up. I ask others if they used my bank, that was not it. Also, it was a bit of a mix of retired folks and 50 year olds.

 

[Walt34]

Funny, I have never received an invitation for anything like this. Not sure I'd go anyway, but now I'm curious why I don't.

I know why we don't. We live in West Virginia. Now, there are some multi-millionaires in WV, but we aren't one of them. And as Time2 mentioned, we're also in the "wrong" zip code. Which is just as well since they wouldn't make any money off us anyway.

 

[braumeister]

About 30 years ago we lived in a very modest little house that happened to be in one of the wealthiest ZIP codes within 100 miles. The offers we got were often eye-watering, and the types of mail order catalogs we got (totally unsolicited) were usually for things we could never afford.

When we moved out of that neighborhood, all that stuff stopped abruptly.

 

[jazz4cash]

A retirement seminar inadvertently set my wife and I up for success 30+ years ago when we were in our 20's and fresh out of college. Not a dinner, but they rented a room at the local library. We were by far the youngest in the room - the rest of the attendees were either retired or nearing it. They went through stock funds, bonds, annuities, life insurance, etc. They were really pushing front loaded actively managed mutual funds that they conveniently sold..

Sounds like A.L. Williams. “But term and invest the difference” (in our high front load funds). They rebranded as Primerica.

 

[RobbieB]

Ah yes, I remember AL Williams. They recruited me to "join the team"

The Amway of financial services. One meeting was enough for me.

 

[Scuba]

We get the mailers for nice dinners at local restaurants all the time for these pitches. My wife says she knows we can say no to them and have a nice meal, but then they will hound us until the end of time if we show our faces there so leave it alone.

Same here!

 

[RobbieB]

We'll have to try one, get offers all the time.

The "Maui time share" less than delicious free meal with the video sales pitch has soured me somewhat.

I'll look up the next invite location to see the yelps before I register. Got to avoid dreck.

 

[COcheesehead]

I get invited to these all the time. I never consider going. Why would I. For free food, seriously?

 

[GravitySucks]

Went to one. A nice steak at one of my favorite restaurants. The main sales guys computer broke so he did a 15 minute speal on his companies services and let the estate attorney do his 10 minutes. It was quite enjoyable and introduced me to my current lawyer.
DSis came with me and she asked the FA about investing in a variable annuity and he flat out told her she didn't have enough to invest to bother with. Pointed her towards a discount broker and index funds instead.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

You know those restaurants that put on all the trappings but the food actually isn't all that great? That seems to be where the investment pitchmen gravitate in my area. It's fitting, because they tend to be more sizzle than steak themselves.