Educating our Financial Planners

[Alanw]

I just got off the phone with my TD Ameritrade representative whom I called to answer a simple question.  After answering my quiestion, he asked if there was anything else he could help me with such as trading platforms, ETF's, etc.  I told him no that I was no longer trading but leaving my investments in several different allocations.  He was curious and asked what I was doing.  I mentioned Harry Browne and the PP and that I had most of my assets in VTI, TLT, IAU and SHY.  In fact, this was the second time in 6 months that I talked to a TD Ameritrade rep and neither one of them had heard of Harry Browne or the Permanent Portfolio.

Our conversation went forward with him asking me questions about the PP, how I found it and where He could get more information.  After our phone conversation concluded, I felt like I was the teacher and he was the pupil as he was asking me all of the questions.  I was glad I could give him all the information I had on the PP since the TD Ameritrade rep's are salaried and not on commissions (at least that is what they told me).  Both said they liked the strategy and would review it further.  Neither had anything bad to say about the PP concept.

Just goes to show that even Financial Planners are open to new concepts.  Has anyone else had similar experiences with Financial "Professionals"?

[ozzy]

Thanks for sharing.  I have also noticed that many experienced folks in the investment world have never heard of the PP.
I always inform people when the opportunity presents its self.

My neighbor recently told me he’s starting to get into trading stocks. He said he hasn’t been doing very well.  So I let him borrow my copy of Fail-Safe Investing.  That should sober him up and get him on the right path.  I told him: "Harry Browne doesn't f--- around." 

[Alanw]

Thanks for sharing.  I have also noticed that many experienced folks in the investment world have never heard of the PP.
I always inform people when the opportunity presents its self.

My neighbor recently told me he’s starting to get into trading stocks. He said he hasn’t been doing very well.  So I let him borrow my copy of Fail-Safe Investing.  That should sober him up and get him on the right path.  I told him: "Harry Browne doesn't f--- around." 

Let's hope he sees the light and saves himself a lot of future agravation and restless nights.

[Lone Wolf]

Our conversation went forward with him asking me questions about the PP, how I found it and where He could get more information.  After our phone conversation concluded, I felt like I was the teacher and he was the pupil as he was asking me all of the questions.  I was glad I could give him all the information I had on the PP since the TD Ameritrade rep's are salaried and not on commissions (at least that is what they told me).  Both said they liked the strategy and would review it further.  Neither had anything bad to say about the PP concept.

Just goes to show that even Financial Planners are open to new concepts.  Has anyone else had similar experiences with Financial "Professionals"?

That actually sounds like it went very well.  You must have done a good job of explaining it.

People that hear about the strategy often tend to offer up the same well-meaning "improvements".  "Welllllll, you really oughtta replace gold with TIPS... and welllllll, Everybody Knows interest rates have nowhere to go but up, so I wouldn't hold those long-term bonds.... and welllllllll, cash in US Treasury securities has yields that are too low so I'd get some Sri Lankan bonds in there instead... and wellllll, you're only X years old so you should have like 3x as much money in the stock market..."

[clacy]

I have no desire to save the investing world.  I will try to advise friends/family if they are open to help, but that is it.

[Alanw]

Our conversation went forward with him asking me questions about the PP, how I found it and where He could get more information.  After our phone conversation concluded, I felt like I was the teacher and he was the pupil as he was asking me all of the questions.  I was glad I could give him all the information I had on the PP since the TD Ameritrade rep's are salaried and not on commissions (at least that is what they told me).  Both said they liked the strategy and would review it further.  Neither had anything bad to say about the PP concept.

Just goes to show that even Financial Planners are open to new concepts.  Has anyone else had similar experiences with Financial "Professionals"?

That actually sounds like it went very well.  You must have done a good job of explaining it.

People that hear about the strategy often tend to offer up the same well-meaning "improvements".  "Welllllll, you really oughtta replace gold with TIPS... and welllllll, Everybody Knows interest rates have nowhere to go but up, so I wouldn't hold those long-term bonds.... and welllllllll, cash in US Treasury securities has yields that are too low so I'd get some Sri Lankan bonds in there instead... and wellllll, you're only X years old so you should have like 3x as much money in the stock market..."

To my surprise, both TD Ameritrade reps I spoke with liked the diversification concept of the PP.  Neither thought it was a bad idea but that they had other financial diversification programs they preferred.  They actually asked that I let them know how things worked out.

My non financial expert friends have been more inclined to look unfavorably on the PP, especially after  speaking with their financial experts, most if not all I would assume are paid a fee to manage their money.

[Alanw]

I have no desire to save the investing world.  I will try to advise friends/family if they are open to help, but that is it.

I agree.  Introducing friends to the PP concept and where to find information on it is as far as I go.  In most cases, I believe "Fail Safe Investing" is too simplistic a book for a lot of the folks who believe investing is very complicated and only an expert is qualified to handle their retirement funds.  Even after presented the evidence of historical returns, their belief is that nothing this simple can continue to work.

It is still difficult for me to believe that this simple plan can produce these annual returns without the volatility.  I guess time will tell.

[julian]

FYI, the people answering phones at TD Ameritrade are not financial advisors.  They are merely placing trades and have extremely limited knowledge about anything they are trading. 

[craigr]

FYI, the people answering phones at TD Ameritrade are not financial advisors.  They are merely placing trades and have extremely limited knowledge about anything they are trading.  

I would agree with this. A broker does not have a fiduciary duty to a customer. They can and will sell customers anything.