What is Objective Information?

In the financial world, nothing is more important than objective information. People who approach you about saving for retirement at your place of business, your classroom or union hall are NOT providing objective information. The words “guaranteed” returns and offering “free” refreshments are clear tip-offs that the information provided is biased to a product or company–it’s a conflict of interest and in the 403(b) world, it is perfectly legal. We have to watch out! 

Guaranteed returns exploit your natural fear of the stock and bond markets to sell you a costly insurance product that are not in your best interests. If they were in our best interests, why doesn’t CalSTRS, our pension plan, use insurance products? Insurance product returns would not provide the level of benefit that we teachers now get, more than twice the usual Social Security benefit. It’s the fees that you pay to “protect” you to never lose money in a stock market decline. Also, insurance products are complex with options and fees that an attorney would be hard pressed to understand. The sales people get a commission and you get puny guaranteed returns that will not keep pace with inflation and can be reset by the insurance company every year.

I was sold two horrible fixed annuities and the returns dropped from 12% to 3%. I wanted out. Then I was presented with $6,000 in surrender fees to get my money! I got screwed, but I got out and invested in mutual funds and have been happy ever since. I retired early with only 49% of my teacher’s salary that was replaced by my CalSTRS pension. The rest is from my 403(b) and after tax regular savings.

Read my post “Are Insurance Products Investments?” Click here

Here is one way to get OBJECTIVE 403(b) INFORMATION: 403bCOMPARE.COM. 

So, what is Objective Information? California Teachers are very fortunate to have 403bcompare.com website. 403bcompare.com shows you what objective information looks like. The fact that you are looking for information rather than a sales person telling you with sales pitches is a major difference. You are proactive!

The following links will assist you to make an informed decision. CalSTRS is California’s teacher pension system and it provides objective information of the 403(b) vendors in California schools.

Los Angeles Unified School District Employees ONLY

Click here for LAUSD’s list of available 403(b) vendors and links to CalSTRS 403bcompare.

All Other California School District Employees

California PreK-12 Educators: Click here for 403bcompare and find your California school district and look at your district’s available vendors.