globalexpress

Well, glad you found one might be a good guy. I'd be curious to hear what fund(s) he put you in. I am wondering if they were loaded funds. Do you have the 5 letter identifiers for them? Assuming, of course, that you don't mind discussing it.

I LOVE the TSP. I wish we had a nice, inexpensive, well diversified plan like that at work......and especially at my wife's work where they get absolutely killed in fees.

N9373M

We're very early in the process (except for paying him ), so I'm not sure of the fund, although I'm sure it's buried in the 100+ page plan they gave us. I'm not too worried about the single fund he's putting us in, because the majority of our savings is in the TSP. Our plan is structured to TSP, liquid cash reserve, and this fund.

I'll PM you the fund name once I figure out what it is. Again, it's a very small portion of our savings due to 20 years of TSP savings. Both my wife and I are in the TSP.

N9373M

Thanks for the heads up. We're so vested in the TSP (20 years), I don't think there is much danger (sound of ominous music). He's only got us going in to one fund with a small percentage of our income.

I could see where "grabbing" military and gov't employees early in their career could be to their "advantage" fund wise.

Celder1

I had money invested with First Command for about 6-7 years. Always had a good experience (I thought) but agree with BFM on the smell test...Finally got wise and have been doing my own investing since about 2003. Not going to slam them-the agents are nice guys and always there if you need them, BUT, I was sold some bad stuff. In particular, as a young Pilot Training Student, I didn;t know the difference between Whole Life and Term, and I got stuck paying for a Whole Life policy that I realize now I don;t need...Also, The loaded funds they sold me, I realized later was simply a bunch of sales hooey. They were actually sued for their practices First Command to Pay $12 Million to Settle SEC and NASD Charges Involving Misleading Sales of Investments to Members of the Military . Hopefully after this, they cleaned up their act, but be sure what you are signing up for

DAL73n

+1 - great customer service but everything fell apart when that one magic mutual fund tanked and took have my retirement savings (15 years worth) with it. Got rid of the expensive whole life I had paid for 15 years also.

Never looked back.

Find an independent Financial Advisor who fully discloses exactly how he is paid. There is nothing wrong with commission Based advisors - they do need to get paid and you should know how they get paid.

N9373M

I appreciate the personal experiences and I will be very careful with this outfit. The incidents were in 04 (from what I can tell) and we even asked the agent about this. It was "newbies" that didn't know better, not that I'm a Warren Buffet.

We're vested soooo long in the TSP - money we can't touch - I feel safe. I will be vary wary of any other offerings.

DAL 88 Driver

I hadn't looked at this thread in a while. I just skimmed through fairly quickly, and it sounds like there is some consideration of annuities by some folks. Here's an excerpt from an article that provides a pretty good overview and some opinion about annuities:
_________________________________________

Annuities come in a thousand different flavors and colors. No two are exactly alike.

I think most people lump them together without understanding the difference. Or maybe they just think I automatically think all annuities are bad. That is not true. I think MOST annuities are bad and the rest have very limited application.

Annuities are basically either fixed or variable and either immediate or deferred. Beyond that, the permutations become endless. That is one of their drawbacks. They are very complicated, almost impossible to compare apples to apples, and very few people understand what they are buying when they buy them. Nowhere in the investment world is buyer’s remorse more prevalent, in my experience, than with buyers of annuities.

A fixed annuity is an insurance contract that promises you, or you and your spouse, a predetermined income for as long as you live–no matter how long that might be. For example, you pay the insurance company a lump sum of $100,000, say, and they promise you $3,000 to $6,000 a year for the rest of your life.

The advantage of a fixed annuity is that it provides you with a guaranteed cash flow indefinitely – provided, of course, the insurance company remains solvent. If you live a long time after buying the annuity, you may even receive more in payments than you put in. The second advantage is its consistency. You know exactly how much you are going to get. The amount does not fluctuate with market conditions or interest rates.

The downside is, when you die, the remainder of your initial payment belongs to the insurance company. Your heirs get nothing. Another disadvantage is that most fixed annuities are just that – fixed. The amount you receive each year remains constant so the purchasing power is eaten away, over time, by inflation. Finally, it is highly likely that even a conservative investor can get far better returns than the annuity.

When is a fixed annuity appropriate? The only time a fixed annuity makes sense to me is for an extremely risk-averse investor. An example would be someone who has almost no retirement savings, no other sources of income, and for whom the loss of even a single dollar would be catastrophic. Even then, the problem I have is you can do so much better with just a smidgeon of extra risk using CDs and bonds.

A variable annuity, on the other hand, is very different. The initial investment is invested in a range of investment options, usually mutual funds, called subaccounts. The amount of money you receive is, as the name implies, variable, and is based on the performance of the investments.

Variable annuities are generally reviled by all but those who sell them. The problems are legion and I won’t go into them here. If you are interested, you can check out my previous posts on the subject, my interview with Gary Schatsky, chairman emeritus of the National Association of Financial Planners on the subject, or get a quick run down of the problem from two good articles here and here.

I never, ever, ever recommend a variable annuity. Bring on the angry email from the insurance salesmen. I don’t care. You can’t convince me otherwise.
The other characteristic of annuities is immediate versus deferred. An immediate annuity begins paying out immediately.

A deferred annuity has an accumulation phase and a payout phase. During the accumulation phase, you contribute to the annuity and hopefully give the principal time to grow. When you reach retirement age, you can elect to annuitize the principal, in which case you would begin receiving regular periodic payments, like a fixed annuity, or you can request a lump sum distribution.

While I admit there may be specific scenarios in which an annuity makes some sense, my general advice is, be they fixed or variable, immediate or deferred, annuities are an investment you can probably do without.

This is not financial, legal or tax advice. Our goal is your financial success, but all investments involve risk including the possible loss of principal and results will vary. If you are interested in the Snider Investment Method, please read the Owner's Manual for a complete discussion of risks and benefits. More information can be found on our website or by calling 1-888-6SNIDER. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

DYNASTY HVY

Interesting read along with some interesting comments.
Who killed private pensions? - 1 - retirement savings - MSN Money