The New Financial “F” Word

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Hi there, Stan the Annuity Man. This is

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Shooting It Straight. Welcome. And by

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the way, I'm, you know, Stan the Annuity

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Man, licensed in all 50 states, all that

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stuff. And I am America's annuity agent.

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Today's topic is a very, very good one.

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And it's the one that the consultants

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that follow me around and, you know,

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like bodyguards. They're just, you know,

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you like, don't do this, Dan. Don't do

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this one. Don't do this topic. It's just

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it's a it's a it's a hot one. You don't

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want to make anybody mad. That's never

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stopped me before. Topic is the new

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financial f word. There is one. Okay.

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Now, for the longest time, the curse

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word in the financial business, and most

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people think it still is a curse word,

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is the word annuity. So many people

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don't understand what an annuity is. So

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many people are so misinformed about it,

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they make fools of themselves when they

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talk about it. But we all know that's

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not true. Annuities solve for four

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things: principal, protection, income

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for life, legacy, and long-term care.

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But I guess to some that the F-word in

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the is is annuity in in the financial

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business. But I'm getting ready to step

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into some I'm going to step on some toes

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here. Okay. The new F-word in my

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opinion,

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not all of them, but some of them is the

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word fiduciary.

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It's being used incorrectly. You say,

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"Wait a minute, Stan. Are you a

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fiduciary?"

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No, but I have a I have a plaque on the

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wall that says I'm a good guy. I'm a

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good guy. Believe me, I'm a good guy. If

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you don't believe me, you look at the

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plaque. It says I'm a good guy.

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To me, that's that's fidiciary. Why do

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we have to have a plaque on the wall

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that says fidiciary? Shouldn't it be if

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you're in the financial services

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business that you're going to do the

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right thing for the client every single

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time? Shouldn't it be involuntary that

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that the person that's selling a product

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or advising a product or managing,

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shouldn't they put the person's best

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interest ahead of theirs? Shouldn't that

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just come automatically? Do we have to

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have a certification for that?

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Some of the worst horror stories I've

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heard in the last three or four months

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have been recommendations from a

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[snorts]

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fuciary

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Now, I'm going to go under the

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assumption that 95% of fiduciaries are

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honorable, good people. And I'm sure

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that's probably the case. I'm sure

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that's the case. Okay? But just like

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everything in the world, people are

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hiding behind a certification. They're

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hiding behind that ficiary

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to recommend products that make no

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sense. Give an example. The other day a

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client calls me and they're saying you

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know we got I said what you know where

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are all your assets investables and I

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say what's your investable assets and

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that doesn't mean car guitar or house

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and they go well majority of our assets

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are in the house we have a $2 million of

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equity in the house and we've been

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advised by a fiduciary to take money

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from that reverse mortgage and buy two

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index annuities and a universal index

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policy.

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Wait a minute. You can't do that. It's

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it's it's not legal. Yes, you could

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launder the money. You could have the

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the money from the reverse mortgage go

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to a bank and then write a check and

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then and then fill out the form, you

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know, illegally and say source of funds

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bank instead of the reverse mortgage

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still laundering money. But that came

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from a fiduciary. And the person that I

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was trying to convince that this was

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wrong said, "But but Stan, how's that

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possible? This person's a fiduciary.

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I don't know. I don't know. To me, as my

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grandfather always said, if you tell the

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truth, you don't have to remember

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anything.

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We I I don't understand why all

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financial advisors don't put the

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client's best interest ahead of theirs.

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I understand we live in an ugly world. I

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understand the moral compass is off for

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a lot of people. But what I'm telling

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you as the consumer out there who's

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watching this, if the plaques on the

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wall, still do your due diligence. The

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plaque on the wall is not the due

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diligence. The plaque on the wall

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doesn't mean that everything that they

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advise is perfect. The plaque on the

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wall doesn't mean that you just have to

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follow their instructions because you

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know what, Stan? They're a fiduciary.

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Why would they do that to me? I don't

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know. I don't know.

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And I don't know why we need

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certification to be to do the right

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thing. Why do we need certification for

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that? Shouldn't that be what we do?

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I understand the reason behind it.

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Listen, I work for Morgan Dean Whitter,

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Morgan Stanley, Penny, wherever US, UBS.

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I get it. Been there, done that, been on

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that side of the table. Decided to come

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to the contractual guaranteed side of

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the table because they were there was so

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much sales pitch nonsense out here that

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I'm like, someone's got to address this

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stuff. I never thought I would do this

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video. My my consultants are going to

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have a an aneurysm when they see this.

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And for all the fuf fufu f- duciaries

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out there that are good people and doing

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the right thing and and are appalled by

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what I'm saying, I get it. Send me the

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email stantheanuityman.com,

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hate mail, whatever. I'm not talking

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about you. I'm talking about the people

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that are writing on your coattails with

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the plaque on the wall that are

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taking advantage of people.

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There's no mulligans in retirement.

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Okay, I'm the first one to say annuities

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aren't for everyone. I'm the first one

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to say that annuities have good and bad

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benefits and limitations. I'm the first

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one to tell someone when they don't need

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an annuity. Happens all the time here.

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We don't fit square pegs into round

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holes. We're not perfect, okay? But we

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just don't do that. And I'm certainly

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not going to use a plaque on the wall to

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convince somebody that I'm qualified.

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It just doesn't work like that.

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So once again, I know this is probably

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going to go viral and people going to go

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mad, get mad, and the the the board of

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the fiduciary world of the the people, I

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don't know who they are in Washington DC

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or wherever they are, they're going to

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send me some letter. Go ahead. I'm not

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putting down all your people. What I'm

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saying is the same thing I say in the

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annuity world. There's some really good

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people in the annuity world that do it

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the right way. And I hope I'm in that

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category, but there's some shysters in

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the annuity world. There's some people

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that are complete crooks in the annuity

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world. I think that that ratio is less

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in the fiduciary world, but they're

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coming out and they're hiding behind

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that plaque. I'm a good guy. Trust me,

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I'm a good guy or gal because I have a

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plaque on the wall. Be careful out there

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as the consumer. Still do your due

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diligence. And if it sounds too good to

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be true, even from the fiduciary,

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do your homework. Do your research. And

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if they're pitching annuities, you

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really have to be careful. Okay? You

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really have to be careful because I'm a

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specialist. I do one thing. I only do

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that one thing. I I live it. I breathe

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it. I've been doing it for decades.

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That's all I do.

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If I'm juggling all kinds of products as

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the fiduciary, RAIA, whatever you are

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out there or whoever you're talking to,

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you can't be a I mean, you can't

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understand everything. So, just be

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careful out there. I had to do this

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video because I'm getting so many calls

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because my team what they do, you know,

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if you schedule a call with us, I mean,

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we're big, you know, we have thousands

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of thousands of clients, billions under

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management, etc. That's good. Never

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thought I'd get there. Very proud of

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that. But you're probably not going to

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get me. But when I get pulled in is with

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horrific train wreck cases. And the last

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four or five horrific train wreck cases

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came from the F-word. So I'm like, man,

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I've got to do a video because if this

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is across the country, we got a problem.

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I'm hoping that I only got the only five

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and all the other stuff is is is good.

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You know, I'm the first one to say find

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a fee only advisor out there. Notice I

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said only the only advisor to manage

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your non-anuity assets. Period. I'm all

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for that. And if they're an fiduciary on

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top of that, great.

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But be careful

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when you that fiduciary person is

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selling annuities. Might want to run it

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by us just to see if they're on the

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right track. If they are, we'll say,

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"Yeah, they're on the right track.

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Sounds good. Buy it from them." Great.

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If not, we're gonna say BS. We're gonna

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call it out. Okay, this is serious.

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What? 13 to 16,000 people turn 65 every

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day looking for guarantees and truth. We

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got to make sure the truth is forefront.

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Period. End of story. Apologies to the

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really good fiduciaries out there to the

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ones that are taking advantage of the

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plaque on the wall. We're watching.

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We're watching. Okay. And people are

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calling us and you're hurting the

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fiduciaries that are doing it the right

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way.

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I'm Stan the annuity man that is

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shooting it straight. Stay safe out

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there. Make good decisions.