Late Bloomer Wealth

Late Bloomer Wealth

Dedicated to Helping K12 Teachers with their 403(b) & 457(b) plans.

LAUSD Employees

Steve’s Portfolio Y.T.D. Q3 Report 2019

Leave a Comment / Beginning Investing, LAUSD Employees, PreK-12 Educators / By

If this year-to-date performance holds up till the new year 2020, I will have the highest gross income in my life.
I have often said that my portfolio is boring. But I have one exception–10.5% return Year-to-Date–January 1st, 2019 to September 30, 2019. The only reason my portfolio is up is that I am broadly diversified in 33% stocks and 67% bonds. As you will see in the graphs and tables, my bonds went up almost 9% and my stock index funds went up almost 20%. Its been a good year for both stocks and bonds so far. It is not the end of the year yet.

403(b) Reform? Here are my dreams!

Leave a Comment / LAUSD Employees, PreK-12 Educators / By

Hi colleagues!

This blog post is an unfortunate repeat of what is wrong with the aggressive selling of abysmal annuities with self-conflicting advice from the insurance agents that are everywhere on school campuses. Despite 25 years of our small band of 403(b) advocates doing everything we can to get our nation’s 4 million educators attention, nothing has changed in the 60-year history. That’s right! Since 1961 the chronic selling of inappropriate, costly and pathetic returns commonly known as the TSA (tax-sheltered annuities) in public k12 403(b) plans continues without a hitch. To change a monumental fixture on school campuses, unions and districts require setting up goals of what needs to be changed. Right now the 403(b) is a lucrative money maker for the insurance agents and their insurance companies. We want educators to invest their money like our pension plans do, in the stock and bond market, safely and productively with your best interests in mind. Just take a peek at my most recent portfolio in my blog. I publish my portfolio performance every quarter for years.

What is a modern and up to date 403(b) plan that takes care of the educator’s best financial interest for a change?
Take a look at our dreams of 403(b) reform with public K-12 school districts and the positive developments that have been accomplished.

Steve

Rare 403(b) and 457(b) Issues and Education Meeting in Los Angeles!

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Los Angeles Teachers and all of southern California educators, MARK YOUR CALENDARS! The U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission California office officials read the 5-series New York Times articles three years ago. As a result of reading just how pathetic and expensive the 403(b) was with public K12 school districts, they reached out to us …

Rare 403(b) and 457(b) Issues and Education Meeting in Los Angeles! Read More »

Book Review: “TEACH and Retire RICH”

1 Comment / Annuities, Book Reviews, Financial Education/Literacy, LAUSD Employees, PreK-12 Educators / By

Teachers. Are you wary of the bureaucratic and top-down interference with no end in sight? If you are like me, I did a good job for my students for 24 years, but I was FINISHED at 61 years old. I wanted to get out of Los Angeles, live in a retirement community and do the usual and unusual activities that most retirees do: travel, volunteer, donate to worthy causes and write financial books and this review. It’s not that I retired from life and work, it’s that at 61 I was financially independent with only 49% of my salary covered by my teachers’ pension. I opted to do something else. That’s what Daniel Otter’s wonderful book is all about with his title TEACH and Retire RICH.
The word RETIREMENT is beginning to get phased out of the English language. I have not taught for ten years but I am super busy doing what I want to do right here with my blog, writing informational posts on three investment forums, my two books, all to help you become financially independent too. That’s the new buzzword, FI means financial independence.
Daniel Otter is a good friend and my review of his book is bias, but the financial information he provides in his book TEACH and Retire RICH is not. The objective information he provides rarely makes it to our colleagues, the hard-working teachers in the classrooms across America. Why? The volunteer retirement world (403(b) and 457(b)) with public K-12 school districts is mysteriously secretive and very strange world. It is a long and sometimes sad story of why the potentially powerful benefit plan is hardly ever discussed publicly within the education profession. Dan’s book is full of objective information that begins to make this secretive world transparent and will work for you as it worked for me.

Can a Financial Adviser also be your friend?

Leave a Comment / Annuities, LAUSD Employees, Laymen to Laymen Financial Information, PreK-12 Educators / By

NO! This is no surprise–Jordan’s story shows just how complicated and disastrous to your retirement nest egg having your financial adviser as a friend.
When he learned I write this blog, Jordon was eager to tell his incredible and lengthy financial story so that other teachers (and all investors) will learn how to protect their money. As a retired Los Angeles Unified School District English and theater arts teacher, he knows how difficult our colleagues experience with people we trust to provide objective financial information.
He goes into excoriating detail. At times it seems complex and uninteresting. But it reflects our retirement planning system—the 403(b) is a mess by itself but having a financial adviser as a friend makes the deplorable situation worse. In addition to Jordan being sold horrible 403(b) annuities, he and his friend/financial adviser got caught up in the real estate mania just before 2008. It is possible for an ordinary investor to get caught up in investment manias, but the crucial lessons are that Jordan’s financial adviser got caught up in the mania too. YES! Professional financial advisers make huge mistakes too! When people trust a financial adviser, people are blinded to the risks as Jordon’s story will show.
Jordan’s story covers two crises, one is the 2008 stock market crash and Jordon’s serious heart attack. Jordon made a lot of serious mistakes, buying too much real estate with borrowed money (because his financial adviser friend invested in the same real estate complex in Florida!) just before one of the most serious real estate and stock market collapses in history, 2008. But read this story about Jordon’s adviser’s additional recommendations! Learned how Jordan finally said NO.
I am adding on a third tale and the purpose of this blog post: Financial advisers are astute, interesting and social, but never, NEVER, have as a friend. Like other professionals you hire, keep the relationship professional. Better yet, learn to manage your money without an adviser. Jordan manages his money without an adviser.

RE-Introducing myself to what I do, and WHY?

Leave a Comment / Financial Education/Literacy, Late Starters, LAUSD Employees, PreK-12 Educators / By

Sorry if I am projecting an unabashed self-centered blog post, but it is important to review who I am and what I stand for in writing this personal finance blog from consumer POV (that is, I am not nor will I ever be a professional financial adviser). You deserve to know! Being a non-professional in the financial industry provides a unique point of view that is not accessible from profit-motive financial blogs or financial advisers (and there are thousands of blogs and books and many of them are good). As you can see, I have no ads on my blog and I give away my two books.* My books have received great reader reviews on Amazon. Check them out, but don’t buy them as you can get them free here on my blog. Just click on the books on the right.

Michelangelo’s Famous Quote

Leave a Comment / Beginning Investing, Do it yourself investors (DIY), LAUSD Employees, PreK-12 Educators / By

One of the most famous artists in the history of art Michelangelo Buonarroti’s offers a metaphor for discovering the basics of investing. Because we live in the 21st Century, Wall Street, Vanguard Group and TIAA (Teacher’s Insurance Annuity Association) have already created the pieces we need. All we have to do is “chip away” the material that doesn’t belong in our “David”–a very simple and easy to understand portfolio of stocks and bonds. I know this may seem like a stretch of my imagination, but please read on. This post is short and to the point!

The Taming of an Annuity Hater

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At first glance, I may sound hypocritical because I tell everybody I know to avoid annuities at the same time I own one. If you have read my blog and my two books, you discovered there exists one great annuity, which I now own. TIAA Traditional Annuity has 11 distinctive features I demand. Unfortunately, most people outside of the educational establishment do not have access to this one honorable, low-cost and appropriate annuity.

For years, I had despised all annuities because my naivete was taken advantage of when I was a young teacher. While getting sold two annuities was bad enough, the sales force never stops. They have no ethical standards what so ever! I blew a head gasket when I found out that I had a surrender fee on the second annuity after I specifically directed my agent to put me in an annuity which did not have a surrender fee. Wow! She just ignored my request because to do so she would not get a commission. What horrible ethics these agents live with and can sleep at night. That cost me $2000 in surrender fees.

For years annuities have been controversial for a good reason. They get bad press because annuities are costly, complicated and offer deplorable low returns. I am not the only one saying bad things about annuities. Legendary money manager Ken Fisher says on his TV ads that he “would rather die and go to hell than to sell an annuity.” That’s strong language against annuities.
This low-cost (and simple) annuity is rare. You do not have to search long and hard because I will tell you the company and the specific annuity I own. It is available to both higher education and many PreK-12 employers 403(b) plans. Los Angeles Unified has this one appropriate annuity available in the 403(b). It’s the same one I own now. Check it out.
My message to annuity insurance agents, are you up for a challenge?

L.A. Teachers Financial Literacy Workshop

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Attention Los Angeles Unified School District Teachers and staff!
Another information packed financial literacy workshop will be presented on Saturday morning, March 17, 2018. Walk away with five hours of professional development! You will learn basic investing skills using the Award Winning 457(b) plan. You will discover CalSTRS 403bcompare.com website to learn how to evaluate the districts 403(b) plan so you will not get handed a product that looks after somebody else and not you. You will also walk away with resources so you can teach financial literacy to your students. Come on down! People have come more than once. You can attend as much as you want. We would love to see you.

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