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May 26, 2011 at 08:00 PM
For our upcoming annual senior issue, which you’ll see in July, I interviewed a 63-year-old Texan to get his take on wealth, health and retirement.
In interviewing the client, who I’ll call Jim, an interesting tidbit emerged: He’d been “done wrong” by an advisor. Yeah, I know, it’s beginning to sound like a country-western song already, but, hey, we were in Texas.
So here’s the skinny. Jim was cruising along for 40 years with his money in CDs. Not getting great returns on them, but not losing his shirt, either. Then, along came an advisor who put Jim in some pretty risky equities. This was 2007. The money started flowing. Jim felt pretty good about things. Jim retired for the second time. He’d earned it.
We turn the page to 2008. Jim’s a modest guy, who lives in a nice neighborhood but nothing flashy. He could afford more, but he’s kept a tight lid on the money all these years. He was in CDs after all. But, man, that money’s really flowing. I mean, it’s going gangbusters. Jim’s out shopping for fancy cars; his preference is Mercedes. He’s looking at custom made bikes; he’s a Harley man. Then the market crashed. Jim lost about half of his savings.
The advisor who put him in the risky investments? Not a peep. Cut and run. Dine and dash. Not even a good old, “Hasta la vista, baby!”
