Free dinners

[thatguy]

We attended a Financial advisor free dinner 2 years ago. We won the drawing for another free dinner at the session. The guy seemed to be knowledgeable about tax planning and other retirement concerns. Did not seem to be pushing any BS.
2 year later another presentation for the same firm pops up on facebook. So I think maybe there's some new information. So we go again. 3rd free dinner. Pretty much the same info as before.
This time we schedule a meeting.
We block out account numbers on any information we share at the meeting, spend about an hour discribing our situation. We've made it 22 and 13 years into retirement without any help. Concerns are widow tax & survivor income, how much can we spend and still cover possible LTC or buy in to a CCRC, are we doing enough Roth conversion.

2nd meeting is tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.
If I've learned anything in life it's not to put others in a position where they can do me harm. That's why I can't own a home in a HOA.

In the mail today is a free dinner offer for the best local steakhouse in the area. We don't even go to this place do to the cost. It's a presentation about solar energy products. We're still thinking about that one. We don't generally attend these free dinner offers. There's no way I have a bunch of solar panels installed on a roof, that would have to be removed when the shingles need replacing.

 

[Dtail]

Into the free dinners, but the DGF is not anymore. So will go with my brother to the next one.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Personally I am not wasting my time for a free meal.

 

[friar1610]

Been to a couple of lunches recently for CCRCs. Not pushy. Follow-up has been understated and not annoying. (I guess they can afford to be when they have waiting lists.) So far we’re not interested.

 

[COcheesehead]

Personally I am not wasting my time for a free meal.

+1000

 

[Koolau]

Went to a free lunch and learned about a "travel plan." DW just had to have it and I think we dropped like $10K. When we got home I reminded DW we don't travel, we've never spent anything close to 10K on travel. SO, we took advantage of the 3 day rule for canceling. They weren't particularly happy or cordial but did cancel our deal with them.

2 years later, we get one of those notices of class-action suits against the travel company since we were customers. We ignored it because we knew we had no claim (thank goodness.)

I'd go to more lunches/dinners but I can't take DW!

 

[rk911]

Personally I am not wasting my time for a free meal.

Amen to that. Years ago, my wife wanted to
go to the time share presentations. No dinner…just “fabulous prizes!!”. lol. She was cured when our “fabulous” prize was a set of 4-plastic placemats with drawings of antique cars (Collect Them All!) being passed off as art (Suitable For Framing!!)

Nope, not for us.

 

[audreyh1]

Personally I am not wasting my time for a free meal.

+1

 

[Midpack]

Personally I am not wasting my time for a free meal.

+100. And if you know there’s no chance you’ll buy, what does it say about you to go for the free dinner? The presenter, good or bad, has a right to make a living by offering a free dinner to actual potential customers. If you have a legitimate interest, by all means attend. If you listen and then decide it’s a no, fair enough. YMMV

 

[pacergal]

If you are someone who enjoys the "free" food, listening to another person talk about whatever for a couple of hours, and not get bullied into buying something you don't need, want, or can't afford, then by all means, attend as many seminars as you wish.

DH and I got snookered into one on our honeymoon, many moons ago. It took forever to get out of that room, and the "free sunset catamaran dinner cruise" was awful--boxed chicken dinner, and too many drunk folks sick. Too much free booze and a rocking small boat do not mix
We were fine, but I was glad to get off that thing!

 

[COcheesehead]

Free = worthless

 

[Sojourner]

Personally I am not wasting my time for a free meal.

+1

Going out to dinner is enjoyable only if I can relax and enjoy the food, drinks, conversation, and companionship with DW (or with friends, family, etc.). Having to listen to a sales pitch would pretty much kill ANY enjoyment I'd be getting from the free food and drinks. The only way I'd ever consider a "free dinner" would be if it was at an uber-exclusive restaurant I probably could never get into otherwise, e.g., Rao's in NYC.

 

[Aerides]

Personally I am not wasting my time for a free meal.

On someone else's schedule
Seated with other people that I most likely would not want to spend time with
Without the ability to customize to my liking (I do this often)

free? pfft

 

[tmm99]

I've been to a retirement planning presentation, which was close to 2 hours. I think i heard about it on the radio. No meals but cheese, cold cuts, fruits, crackers/bread and wine. Very casual and nobody pushed me to buy anything. The presentation was done by different people (financial advisor, estate lawyer, etc). I learned a thing or two. A lady next to me said it was her 2nd time. I wouldn't mind going again.

 

[scrabbler1]

I was at one of those free dinners about 4 years ago. I arrived after most of the other guests, so I was sitting at a table in the back. I had several questions about the FA's presentation (nothing to show him up or make him look bad; I did want the other guests to hear them, though), but the FA said at the beginning of his shtick that we should hold our questions and comments until he made his way to our table for individual attention. I found that to be a big turn-off, so I wrote my comments on the feedback form in the booklet he handed out and split before the meal was served.

 

[thatguy]

There is the whole question about Should I have a Financial Advisor. It's a chance to meet these people and learn something about them without sharing a lot of information. I read these seminar offers and the fine print to screen them out. Most of them hit the trash. Something about the focus of the thing has to catch my interest. Who are they, Are they a local firm, What it their primary focus. Are they pushing a insurance product. Any thing sets off my sensitive BS detector sends them to the trash. With all that it's still a rare thing for us to attend one of these things.

I was kinda hoping for a heads up of what to expect at this 2nd FA meeting.

 

[brett]

We had a week at a high end Phuket resort in Thailand. We had to pay 60euro.

Had the presentation over a lunch. It was clear to the salesperson that we were not buying so he said...forget the pitch and lets have a nice lunch and talk about something else.

Went to our room, looked up the timeshare company. My screen lit up with red flags!

Had a wonderful week. They took us out for dinner to another property. No one at our table was buying. They did the same as us...checked the web.

But...for just a free meal. Absolutely not. I had enough rubber chicken dinners over the years.

 

[athena53]

I never get these invites in the mail although I've seen a few on FB where I probably could have signed up. The demographics in my Zip Code aren't very enticing. DH and I used to get more before we downsized from a far more prosperous suburb.

After DH died, one retirement community sent him a couple of mailings. Not wanting to waste time calling or snail-mailing, I e-mailed to an address on their web site. No effect. Finally, after they sent him an invite to a "Gentlemen's Beer Tasting" (guess they were trying to increase the male-to-female ratio among residents), I sent them a note and told them why he would be unable to attend. The mailings stopped.

I don't bother with these offers; no interest in timeshares, vacation clubs, financial advisors, etc. and I doubt they'd be all that luxurious or enjoyable.

There's an industry term for people who show up for the free food with no interest in the product or service. Years ago I was on an insurance-industry web site and a banner ad promising a new way to get sales leads was headed, "Eliminate plate-lickers once and for all!"

 

[jollystomper]

The only free dinners we have gone to were ones provided by organizations we were already "clients" of, through Megacorp and Megacorp retiree benefits. Both were gentle sells, and were timely, as at the time I was formulating my initial 5 year retirement plan. Both were along the lines of "we want to provide you with helping info/warnings/considerations, if you think you need help in these areas, let's talk".

As others have said, I would feel bad going to a free dinner with absolutely no intention of buying anything. But, I am still curious about the experience so at times it can be tempting .

 

[Koolau]

The only free dinners we have gone to were ones provided by organizations we were already "clients" of, through Megacorp and Megacorp retiree benefits. Both were gentle sells, and were timely, as at the time I was formulating my initial 5 year retirement plan. Both were along the lines of "we want to provide you with helping info/warnings/considerations, if you think you need help in these areas, let's talk".

As others have said, I would feel bad going to a free dinner with absolutely no intention of buying anything. But, I am still curious about the experience so at times it can be tempting .

Heh, heh, you aren't missing much!

 

[Trailwalker]

I went to one a year or so ago. The food was decent. No alcohol was served. The presentation was low pressure and mostly about insurance products that I was curious about but not convinced to buy. I probably wouldn't do it again, but it wasn't a waste of time. We've received invitations for steakhouses that I wouldn't mind getting a free dinner at (Ruth's Chris), but DW isn't interested in another one, and I'm not going alone.

 

[Koolau]

We went to one about wills/trusts. We were very much interested as we are not ready. It was a good presentation, but the law "firm" was basically one guy (attorney) with a couple of paralegals. We decided we would need ongoing direction - and we're still looking for a good firm.

 

[thatguy]

Well, we went to the 2nd meeting. He didn't push any products. He put our retirement financial picture on a big computer screen on the wall. We made some alterations to the data. We had him put in some what ifs for a couple LTC scenarios. Seems we have enough money and should be spending more.
So we spent $28 at a new to us Mexican restaurant on the way home.

 

[MarieIG]

I have been to a few financial "dinners" - but not for the food. I wanted to hear the presentations and see whether I could learn something. Also, I enjoyed chatting with the people at the table, who were also interested in financial planning.

(The majority of the food was pushed onto DH's plate where it quickly disappeared.)

 

[NoEZmoney]

If you can deal with the pitches and sales people, good for you. We had gone to a couple of these complimentary dinners for retirement planning / asset protection and they really didn't give out anything we hadn't read or knew already. The whole thing was to get you to sign up for a $5,000 asset protection service or buy annuties, etc. The places were OK but the food was the standard salad / steak or chicken entree' with side, house wine and dessert. Nothing I haven't had at a Rotary meeting or similar.

DW doesn't want to waste her / our time on the presentations. We will go to travel agency / cruise nights where they bring in someone from Royal Caribbean or Viking and do a simple dinner and seasonal sales presentation.We've found those worthwhile as it allows us to get the jump on promotions for next year's schedule. And we honestly like our travel agents.