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BARRON'S says Annuities might not be a bad idea in these turbulent times... MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2007
Weathering the Storm in Style By SUZANNE MCGEE FEW THINGS FRIGHTEN AN INVESTOR more than the prospect of his nest egg developing a crack shortly before or after his retirement is set to begin. Many 50-somethings recall vividly the horror stories of the last market meltdown, from 2000 to 2002: the colleague who had planned to retire in two years, then had to face the prospect of toughing it out another decade; a golf-playing buddy who had to cancel plans to move to a golf community in Arizona; a friend of a friend who was forced to go job-hunting shortly after retiring and ended up working as a Wal-Mart greeter. And all because the stock market's implosion made their nest eggs 25%, 30% or even 40% smaller than they had been on the dayretirement started. (continued at: http://online.barrons.com/article/SB118981797414128338. html?mod=googlenews_barrons INVESTMENT NEWS online reports: Fixed annuity sales drop 9.2% By Aaron Siegel September 17, 2007 Sales of U.S. fixed annuities stood at an estimated $16.4 billion in the second quarter, 9.2% lower than the same period one year ago, according to the Beacon Research Publications Inc. ... (read more:http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl What is New in Free Lunch Scams? Regulators find fraud in seminars for seniors. According to the SEC, "75% of the nation's consumer financial assets, valued at $16 trillion, are held by households headed by someone who is 50 or older. Within the next 20 years,75 million people will have celebrated their 60th birthday. Because these "senior investors" are a growing segment of investors, financial services firms are increasingly focusing their marketing and sales of investment products towards the senior investor or those investors nearing retirement age." I am shocked that to find practices of fraud in our financial services firms. Shocked. From BIZOP news- which is, by the way a pretty good due diligence website. (http://www.bizop.ca/blog2/senior-fraud/ what_is_new_in_free_lunch_scam.html)