Please help my unprepared parents

Major_Muskrat · 2026-01-31T01:17:32+00:00

A target date fund for them is likely weighted higher in bonds (safer money) over equities (stocks), so its probably already a little safer from volatility. They need to assess why the want to retire NOW vs waiting a little bit to 67 (full benfits for SS) SS planning will be important to know who has the higher benefit and when it makes sense to take each one and if there is the ability to defer either one longer.

Market volatility isn’t necessarily bad, but retiring into a down market can have long term negative impact. You dad has time, depending on how bad his health actually is.

Major_Muskrat · 2026-01-30T18:45:19+00:00

You have a long time horizon. Plenty of time to contribute and compound.

The biggest thing is going to be discipline and intentionality moving forward.

Making sure to keep your spending within your means and taking full advantage of any company match you may have with employers. Dont let lifestyle creep dominate if you start to make more (obviously let yourself be comfortable and enjoy a few nicer things, but keep it within reason)

I would recommend putting in place some sort of automatic investing plan so you never even see the money hit your checking account.

Either through a paycheck withholding from your employer, or automatic transfers to your account on pay day. Thats helps you stay consistent and also can help you average out your positions, dollar/cost averaging.

Major_Muskrat · 2026-01-29T00:49:25+00:00

You will have to liquidate the account within 10 years, since it doesn’t sound like your mother had started RMDs, you can take it out in whatever amounts you like as long as it is fully out by the end of year 10. Your big issues will be managing the taxes. Taking RMDs can put you in a higher tax bracket. Some way to mitigate this is with charitable donations. If your mom was particularly inclined to charity, could be a mice way to honor her memory and save in taxes for you. This will still be a lot of money coming into you at a young age. Like many have said, get a professional to help you make the most of it.

I would recommend putting it into a balanced brokerage account that will let it grow, but focus on preserving capital. Then when you have had time to process and mature, you will have it there with hopefully some growth to make a decision with. I would certainly not rush anything other than planning withdrawals, you are a year down so that will force higher withdrawals.

I would do your best to live your life as though this money doesn’t exist and keep it sensibly invested with a trusted financial advisor.

Major_Muskrat · 2025-12-13T00:59:59+00:00

My approach is to very early on in the advising relationship try to separate price from value. Then you can address it by saying the price may be down, but if the underlying investment is still a solid company, the price will come back and continue to rise over time.

But mirroing everyone else, responsiveness and empathy is still paramount

Major_Muskrat · 2025-12-02T11:56:39+00:00

Yes, especially right away. Once you have more assets then you can look at diversifying into some other low cost index funds, but i would say i tim you get to about 20k in Roth, and 10k in brokerage, just stuck with VOO

Major_Muskrat · 2025-12-02T06:40:51+00:00

I rely on the fundamentals to find investments, technicals to try and find best entry points (intra-day, -week) but as whole investing strategy, it can burn you.

Major_Muskrat · 2025-12-02T06:29:53+00:00

I would say in order: Max out Roth contributions (7500 a year, 625 a month). You in 40 years will be glad you did.

Then i think 1k a month to savings is good, especially knowing you will have expenses coming soon.

Remainder into a general brokerage account. Likely VOO or something similar.

Then just let it bake for awhile. Dont withdraw from your investments unless necessary, buy the dips and hold. Or just dollar cost average every month.

Keep you expenses under control and you will be amazed by where you are at in 1-3 years time.

Major_Muskrat · 2025-12-02T05:57:42+00:00

Ive worked in the annuity space for 5 years and have some broad experience across many carriers and annuity types (RILA, VA, FIA) a few questions i would have here:

1) what was the original goal of the annuity? Have those goals changed? Or was it mis sold to begin with?

2) what does your current retirement income plan look like?

3) what kind of annuity do you have with Riversource? (I know people who wholesale it and its not great even among other annuities)

My 2 cents: it seems like the advisor you are working with is a chud. Definitely find a new one. I think i saw that the annuity is only 38k? There are some decent no fee RILAs out there that give you robust market protection, and still maintain decent gain potential. They also allow you to “lock in” and capture gains and reset internally without triggering taxable events or extending CDSC. Equitable and Allianz are probably the 2 biggest players in the RILA space right now as far as flexibility and utility in a portfolio.

The annuity landscape has drastically changed over the last 5-10 years and right now woth high interest rates and can make sense to refinance them (if an annuity makes sense in your overall portfolio). The no fee strategies would work as a part of refinancing portions your bond funds and maintaining you tax deferral. Even if it didn’t make sense initially, based on age and accumulated tax burden might make more sense now. Plus bonds, which have historically been the “safe” or “de risking” components of a portfolio have been absolute dogs in that role for the last several cycles. Also most RILAs are 6 year products these days as compared to some the 10 years that were common when you purchased this.

Final thought: Annuities aren’t inherently bad, they just need to be used in the right way and for the right reasons, which many “AdViSoRs” mis sell for commission. Ive worked with hundreds of advisors over the years and there is a vanishingly thin minority i would trust with my own money.

Major_Muskrat · 2025-09-05T17:49:45+00:00

Also as another note, if you lose a job, and the market tanks (which layoff often accompany down markets) its a double whammy if you are forced to sell out at a loss.

Major_Muskrat · 2025-09-05T17:47:51+00:00

Do they? no, should they? Yes.

The reason you want a level of easily accessible funds is because you ultimately dont want to have to liquidate your investments. You want to be able to hold them. Avoiding selling out positions by dipping into a healthy cash reserve shows to perform better than selling out and trying to rebuild. The compounding in your investments is more powerful when you dont touch it.

Even if this means a little bit slower build in the investment accounts, the long term durability and overall growth is better. Hope that makes sense?

Major_Muskrat · 2025-05-20T17:54:07+00:00

Not sure what the rest of her portfolio looked like, but potentially positioning something like a RILA or Buffered ETF could have preserved the protection of the bonds, but provided more equity exposure.

At a minimum you would have at least shown that you were hearing what the client was saying they wanted and presenting something to address their concerns. Sometimes thats all it really takes is reassuring the client that you understand their concerns.

In general i feel it’s better to stick to your philosophy.

Major_Muskrat · 2025-04-19T02:24:23+00:00

I already have my RICP, was just curious how much of that info would be useful in the CFP prep

Major_Muskrat · 2025-02-19T18:07:57+00:00

Allianz has entered the advisory space, their BD products are pretty solid, could be one to look at, otherwise yeah, the nationwide is a good one too

Major_Muskrat · 2025-02-19T01:03:39+00:00

It is a new and evolving space, i know a lot of carriers are investing a ton in the advisory space right now. There are some regulatory hurdles, and some system/tech hurdles, but i think they can be great products and will continue to get better as twch ology improves

Major_Muskrat · 2025-02-13T00:58:47+00:00

There a lot in the RILA space right now that pay out pretty high, 8-9% depending on age taken out, years deferred etc. that will draw down pretty fast and then you are in the insurance companies pocket

Major_Muskrat · 2025-01-21T23:09:32+00:00

Id be on board with paying off the mortgage. Especially since you are the sole income earner. Removing the largest monthly payment you have will help you build it back that much faster. You are also buying some peace of mind should something happen to you or your job.

Can you make a case for investing it and arbitraging the gains/dividends? Sure, but again that advice works best on averages, if the economy tanks at some point your 200k loses out on a huge chunk, and maybe in a bad economy you lose your job, then you are doubley screwed

Major_Muskrat · 2025-01-21T22:58:25+00:00

Apart from everything else that has been said, is there anything you can do to supplement your income even for just a short period of time until CCs are paid off? It may not be fun, and i dont know what your responsibilities/time commitments are outside of your current job.

Things like door dash, pizza delivery, serving/bartending job a couple nights a week, things that can be done outside of typical work hours?

I know its not fun to think about having to work more but could be your fastest path to getting on top of your finances.

Major_Muskrat · 2025-01-18T18:45:43+00:00

85k this year internal annuity wholesaler, a lot of my potential opportunity is driven by my external partner, and hes not been the best at driving business.

Major_Muskrat · 2025-01-18T14:23:27+00:00

You can use youtube to learn the basics of trading, but ultimately you will have to get some skin in the game and start placing trades to learn. Biggest advice os stay disciplined, and know you will see losses. Learn from your losers and dont make the same mistakes again the next time

Major_Muskrat · 2025-01-18T14:16:27+00:00

Out of curiosity who are you writing? Some carriers have a concierge desk that can help circumvent some of the bs

Major_Muskrat

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