Paul and Anne talk about how insurance companies use misleading income projections when they look to sell fixed-index annuities. Anne brings an article that talks about the different models that are used to assure investors that their money will be safe in an annuity product and how investors don’t find out what the real returns are until it’s too late to take their money out without penalty. Later in the episode, the advisors address the psychology behind why people go to advisors for financial help but have a hard time acting on the advice.

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Paul shares about a helpful meeting he had this week with some employees where he explained his strategy for their 401(k)s and why he does not include target date funds. Paul shares an easy-to-understand analogy that explains why these funds tend to be overweighted in the companies with the least-expected return. Later in the episode, Paul shares an article called “Tailoring Advice for the Elderly Brain” from Advisor Perspectives that explains how problem solving and decision making changes as we age.

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When you’re investing, sometimes the only information you have to work with is the fund name. The SEC is voting to place more restrictions on how fund companies name their funds and what the funds contain. Listen along as Paul talks about why misleading fund names are a problem in the investing industry but why these disclosures and restrictions won’t go far in helping investors understand what they’re investing in and what the risks are. Later in the episode, Paul responds to a listener who has listened to his episodes about a US digital currency and still has some concerns.

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A listener reaches out to Paul with a pretty common and important question: Is it time to convert my traditional IRA into a Roth IRA? While this is a common question, it doesn’t have a simple, cookie-cutter answer. Listen along while Paul walks through some of the details of this listener’s specific situation and shares what you need to consider before you start trying to do Roth conversions. Later in the episode, Paul revisits how the rising cost of homeowners’ insurance has some homeowners dropping their coverage and why homeowners’ insurance is foundational to your financial plan.

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Today, Paul finds a MarketWatch article called “We’re Investing in Bonds All Wrong” that claims investors just don’t know how to invest in bonds. Listen along as Paul shares whether this article is teaching investors how to understand how bond markets work or if it’s trying to pitch some kind of bond strategy that isn’t worth the risk. Later in the episode, Paul talks about why investing only in U.S. bonds doesn’t accurately capture the world bond market.

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A listener reaches out to Paul disagreeing with him about a recent episode that covered the risks of pulling out of the stock market and moving over to fixed-income investments. The listener is concerned that, right now, that the risks of the stock market don’t outweigh the benefits. Listen along as Paul sorts through the listener’s concerns and tries to explain why he believes that the risks around keeping too much money in fixed income are actually more dangerous than the risks we see in a diversified stock portfolio. Later in the show, Paul talks about anxiety, why it’s incredibly difficult to overcome, and how it affects our problem solving skills.

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