(303)-875-4165

Financial Forensic Report 5.10.2021

WHO’S BEEN SNACKING ON YOUR RETIREMENT?

It’s been said that the only certain things in life are death and taxes. Well, in retirement planning, there’s one more thing to add to the list — fees! We’ve been told over and over again to trust in Wall Street, but most of you know it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. In his book, “The Four Pillars of Investing,” William Bernstein said, “Whether you know it or not, Wall Street wants to steal your future.” He makes an excellent point, but the real question isn’t how much magically makes its way out of your fund and into their pockets, it’s what can we do about it? It’s all in the education. Demos reports that over 65 percent of Americans have no idea just how much Wall Street fees affect the long-term health of their investments. How can you fight the loss when you don’t even know what’s happening?’

In the early years of your 401(k), those fees may not have seemed to be that big of a deal, but in 15 years or more, the fees exacted by Wall Street begin to take larger and larger bites out of that fund. If you started your 401(k) adventure in your 20s, by age 65 nearly 27 percent of your retirement funds are funneled directly into Wall Street, bypassing you entirely. Those fees are eating your retirement, and that’s bad business for your future and a compelling reason to ditch the stock market altogether.

With your education in hand, there’s little reason to leave your money in actively managed mutual funds gobbling up your investments. 

Studies tell a pretty scary story.  Management and trading costs were listed at close to $100 billion in 2006, which is a huge leap from the near $7 billion of the 1980s. That number is steadily growing, but you can do something about that. Managed funds are at the heart of the problem, so the first step is to take your money out of that casino. If you absolutely must invest in stocks and bonds, look at alternative index funds. While your annual rate of return will be less than an actively managed fund, index funds lack the profit-gobbling performance and management fees that eat away at your retirement. Another option is, of course, to kiss Wall Street goodbye altogether. Alternative investment opportunities hold a wealth of potential to provide for a healthy and happy retirement that puts you in control of the game.

This information is provided for your information, Financial Forensic Services, LLC neither endorses nor has an opinion as to the accuracy or validity of the information in this article, nor does it accept any responsibility whatsoever for any action taken or not taken as a consequence of this publication. Investments in securities involve the risk of loss. Past performance is never a guarantee of future returns.   

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Diagnostic & Prescriptive Judgment Enforcement
By: Joe H. Dickerson, CFE

$24.95 + FREE S&H

Please place your book orders by calling
303.974.5610
during normal business hours Mon-Fri 9am-5pm MT.
or email joe@financialforensicservices.comand make an appointment
for a FREE initial review of your judgment. Thank you!

Copyright © 2021 Financial Forensic Services, All rights reserved.

As Seen In

Financial Forensic Services, LLC is proud to staff Certified Fraud Examiners

Testimonial

“Joe Dickerson is the industry standard. You can measure the rest by what he does, and I say that without equivocation. Joe has incredible insight into the dark world of fraud. He understands the devious ways in which people perpetrate white-collar crime.”

Jan Schlichtman
, Attorney at Law

2014-11-11T18:20:55+00:00

Jan Schlichtman
, Attorney at Law

“Joe Dickerson is the industry standard. You can measure the rest by what he does, and I say that without equivocation. Joe has incredible insight into the dark world of fraud. He understands the devious ways in which people perpetrate white-collar crime.”

“Joe spends the time to understand the problem from the client’s perspective and from the legal perspective. He is intelligent, tenacious, willing to work as hard as it takes, thorough, well-informed, and just awfully good at what he does.”

Thomas E. Root, 
Attorney

2014-11-11T18:20:05+00:00

Thomas E. Root, 
Attorney

“Joe spends the time to understand the problem from the client’s perspective and from the legal perspective. He is intelligent, tenacious, willing to work as hard as it takes, thorough, well-informed, and just awfully good at what he does.”

“Joe is the most competent investigator I’ve ever found. He has rare ability to find hidden assets. Others claim it, Joe has it. He understands the Rules of Evidence, he knows how to talk to people to develop a fact pattern, and he has a sixth sense for fraud. Joe has unquestioned integrity and delivers value for his services.”

Andrew Quiat
, Attorney

2014-11-11T18:12:51+00:00

Andrew Quiat
, Attorney

“Joe is the most competent investigator I’ve ever found. He has rare ability to find hidden assets. Others claim it, Joe has it. He understands the Rules of Evidence, he knows how to talk to people to develop a fact pattern, and he has a sixth sense for fraud. Joe has unquestioned integrity and delivers value for his services.”

“As an environmental law firm, we use Joe Dickerson to locate prior business owners and do corporate genealogies. He is persistent, that’s the key to a good investigator, and he has a knack for understanding how people move money and do business. That tells him what rocks to look under. Joe is vastly superior to other investigators in two ways: he lets you know what’s going on and he’s honest with you, because he tells you if there’s really anything there worth pursuing. He is unusually thorough and creative finding people. Joe has earned his fee every time.” “If the information is to be found, then I believe that they will find it. Their service enabled me to do a much better job for my client.”

Tim Gabelhouse
, Attorney at Law

2014-11-11T18:20:41+00:00

Tim Gabelhouse
, Attorney at Law

“As an environmental law firm, we use Joe Dickerson to locate prior business owners and do corporate genealogies. He is persistent, that’s the key to a good investigator, and he has a knack for understanding how people move money and do business. That tells him what rocks to look under. Joe is vastly superior to other investigators in two ways: he lets you know what’s going on and he’s honest with you, because he tells you if there’s really anything there worth pursuing. He is unusually thorough and creative finding people. Joe has earned his fee every time.” “If the information is to be found, then I believe that they will find it. Their service enabled me to do a much better job for my client.”

“When I was general counsel for First Interstate Bank, I used Joe Dickerson for locating assets, investigating behavior and asset discovery. He did excellent work and always got the information I needed without compromising the bank in any way. He’s more thorough and kept in better touch with me than other investigators. I’d give him a grade of 96 or 97 out of 100.”

Frank Brainerd, Retired
Banker/Attorney

2014-11-11T18:20:20+00:00

Frank Brainerd, Retired
Banker/Attorney

“When I was general counsel for First Interstate Bank, I used Joe Dickerson for locating assets, investigating behavior and asset discovery. He did excellent work and always got the information I needed without compromising the bank in any way. He’s more thorough and kept in better touch with me than other investigators. I’d give him a grade of 96 or 97 out of 100.”

” I was prepared to dismiss a federal case involving millions of dollars against a local individual who claimed to have no substantial assets. After your staff hit the records and delved into the transactions behind the transactions, you discovered the individual to actually be worth a few million dollars. We continued the case to conclusion. We were also very happy with the financial background examinations you conducted of the former directors of two failed national banks. The heart of any civil case is whether there is a pot at the end of the lawsuit. You were our lucky leprechaun in finding such pots.”

R. Michael Sentel
, Former Section Chief Legal Division, FDIC

2014-11-11T18:13:08+00:00

R. Michael Sentel
, Former Section Chief Legal Division, FDIC

” I was prepared to dismiss a federal case involving millions of dollars against a local individual who claimed to have no substantial assets. After your staff hit the records and delved into the transactions behind the transactions, you discovered the individual to actually be worth a few million dollars. We continued the case to conclusion. We were also very happy with the financial background examinations you conducted of the former directors of two failed national banks. The heart of any civil case is whether there is a pot at the end of the lawsuit. You were our lucky leprechaun in finding such pots.”

“They went overboard in providing excellent service. I was very pleased with what they provided for me as their end product. Financial Forensic Services really understands how a case needs to be put together in order to be presented to a jury. Their PowerPoint presentation tied everything together. It was thorough, it was concise, and it got the job done.”

Jim Thomas
, Prosecuting Attorney

2014-11-11T18:21:32+00:00

Jim Thomas
, Prosecuting Attorney

“They went overboard in providing excellent service. I was very pleased with what they provided for me as their end product. Financial Forensic Services really understands how a case needs to be put together in order to be presented to a jury. Their PowerPoint presentation tied everything together. It was thorough, it was concise, and it got the job done.”

“Financial Forensic Services did an excellent job in the way they executed my case. They were very straightforward. They stated what they could do for us and they did it. And, from a personal standpoint, they are excellent. Both my wife and I felt very comfortable working with them.”

Michael Whalen, 
Businessman

2014-11-11T18:21:13+00:00

Michael Whalen, 
Businessman

“Financial Forensic Services did an excellent job in the way they executed my case. They were very straightforward. They stated what they could do for us and they did it. And, from a personal standpoint, they are excellent. Both my wife and I felt very comfortable working with them.”