Rethinking Your Financial Security

If a terrorist event happened right now, could your lifestyle be put at risk? Retirees and those nearing retirement cant afford to sit around and be at the mercy of the market. If you want to protect your comfortable lifestyle in the event of a terrorist attack, here are three things you need to do. Guarding Your Wealth" is a nationally syndicated weekly personal finance column written by Jeffrey D. Voudrie, CFP. Mr. Voudrie is the President of Legacy Planning Group, a private wealth management firm that employs sophisticated proprietary strategies designed to protect and grow its clients' investments. Please visit our website, www.guardingyourwealth.com to read past articles in our archive.

(PRWEB) August 9, 2004 -- If a terrorist event happened right now, could your lifestyle be put at risk? Retirees and those nearing retirement cant afford to sit around and be at the mercy of the market. If you want to protect your comfortable lifestyle in the event of a terrorist attack, here are three things you need to do:

Rethink Your Strategy. For years, investors have been taught that the only way to make money in the stock market was to buy quality investments and hold on to them for 10 or 20 years. This is referred to as the Buy and Hold strategy. It may work if youre 30, but can force you back to work if youre 70. It already has for millions of other retirees!

If you held on to your investments, it would have taken you two years to get back to where you were on September 10th, 2001. If you were taking income off of your investments it would have taken even longer. An investment of $100,000 in the S&P 500 at the beginning of 2001 would be worth less than $90,000 today—over 3 ˝ years later!

For retirees, I recommend a Modified Buy and Hold strategy. Buy investments for the long-term but only hold on to them if they continue to perform. If they lose money beyond your pre-defined comfort level, sell them. Focus on growing your money in the good times but protecting it during the bad times.

If terrorists strike again, or if the market starts to decline significantly for other reasons, retirees must be ready to take action and move their investments to safety. Dont stand by and let your advisor do nothing while you lose money. Take action.

Rethink Your Investments. Flexibility is the number one priority when planning for the unthinkable. The world is a much different place today than it was even 10 years ago. Its vital that you are able to get at your money whenever you want it or need it. Beware of any investments with large surrender penalties or hefty commissions that limit your flexibility to quickly and easily make changes to your portfolio.

An Equity-Indexed Annuity is the perfect example of the kind of investment you should avoid, both for these and many other reasons. Unfortunately, mutual funds are also becoming less attractive due to their increasing fees. The vast majority of mutual funds now charge a redemption fee if you take your money out before a set time period, limiting your flexibility.

For instance, a well know real estate fund imposes a 2% redemption fee if you pull your money out within 1 year. If the market drops significantly before then and you pull your money out you will have to pay an extra 2% penalty. Talk about being kicked when youre down!

In fact, Im moving most of my clients out of mutual funds and into Exchange-Traded Funds. In the event of a terrorist attack, my clients holdings could be sold and moved to cash within a matter of minutes, whereas wed have to wait until the end of the day with a mutual fund.

Rethink Your Advisor. Its important to have a strategy in place now so that your advisor can immediately act should something terrible occur. For instance, my firm uses a proprietary patent-pending system that constantly monitors each investment in every clients account. Each investment has pre-defined thresholds designed to limit potential losses. If a threshold is breached, were alerted and the investment can be sold.

Unfortunately, most advisors dont have a pre-defined strategy that will protect your money in the event of a serious decline. In fact, very few advisors actively monitor or manage your investments. Most follow the buy and hold strategy mentioned earlier. If your passive advisor keeps insisting you ‘just hang in there, its a good bet they wont take action when you want them to. You need an advisor who will actively manage your money.

Many retirees have learned the hard way that something was wrong with the way their money was (or wasnt) managed the last several years. If youre retired and concerned about the risk of terrorism, its definitely time to rethink how you and your advisor have been doing things.

Questions? Concern? Id be happy to provide clear, unbiased advice free of charge.

Mr. Voudrie is a Certified Financial Planner and the President of Legacy Planning Group, Inc., a Private Wealth Management firm in Johnson City, TN. For more information call 1-877-827-1463 or email jeff@guardingyourwealth.com.

Looking for an energetic expert who is passionate about financial and wealth management? Mr. Voudrie is an excellent speaker who will excite and inspire your audience. Mr. Voudrie is available for a limited number of speaking engagements, television appearances and radio talk shows. For booking information, contact Christine Lavender at (877) 827-1463 or email christine@guardingyourwealth.com.

Related Articles can be found at www.guardingyourwealth.com under the Guarding Your Wealth Article Archive:

Mutual Fund Investors Beware!
The ABCs of ETFs
Could Terrorism Strike Your Nest Egg?
The Secrets To Choosing An Advisor
It's Your Money-Keep Control Of It
How To Increase Your Investment Income