فصل 2 بخش 4

CHAPTER 2.4

MYTH 4: “I’M YOUR BROKER, AND I’M HERE TO HELP”

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” —UPTON SINCLAIR

LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT

So let us recap:

The mutual funds sold to me are charging me astronomical fees that could strip me of up to 70% of my future nest egg.

Over any sustained period of time, 96% of actively managed mutual funds are underperforming the market (or their benchmarks).

I am being charged 10 to 30 times what it would cost me to own a low-cost index fund and “become,” or mimic, the market.

The returns the mutual funds are selling are typically way better than the returns I actually receive since they are marketed as time-weighted returns, not dollar-weighted returns. Dollar-weighted returns are what we actually get to keep/spend, whereas time-weighted returns are what fund managers use to fuel advertising.

And as the grand finale, your broker will look you in the eye and tell you that he has your best interests at heart. Because more than likely, he sincerely believes he is helping you. He doesn’t understand, nor has he even been educated about the impact of what we described above. Heck, he is probably following the same advice he is giving you for his own personal finances.

CHOMP! CHOMP!

How in the world can the vast majority of Americans be dying the death of a thousand cuts but not rise up, vote with their pocketbooks, and take their hard-earned money elsewhere? The answer is, they’ve been kept in the dark for decades. Most people I talk to are highly suspicious of the financial services industry as a whole and its desire to “help” you succeed. They’ve been burned before. Yet in the face of a constant barrage of conflicting information and marketing hype, they quickly become overwhelmed. Not to mention the demands of daily life. Many have put their financial lives on autopilot and have accepted being part of the herd. “Hope” has become their strategy.

There’s a social comfort in knowing that you’re not alone. It reminds me of watching the Discovery Channel and the wildebeest that cautiously approaches the crocodile-infested water for a drink just minutes after the jaws of a croc clamped down on his buddy! Is the animal stupid? No! The animal knows that without water it will die in the blistering African sun so it takes a calculated risk. Most of us feel the same way. We know we can’t sit on the sidelines, on the edge of the riverbank, because inflation will destroy us if we just sit on our cash. So, alongside our neighbors and colleagues, we journey down to the water with trepidation, and when we least expect it: chomp!

A Black Monday. A dot-com bubble. Another 2008.

All the while, the brokerage firm with which we entrusted our family’s quality of life is taking no risk and reaping record compensation year after year.

As I write this in early 2014, the market prices have continued to grow. From 2009 through the end of 2013, the market was up 131% (including dividend reinvestment). That’s the fifth largest bull market in history. People are seeing their account balances rise and are getting comfortable again. Mutual fund managers and executives are raking it in. But the crocs are still feeding.

PROTECTION FROM WHOM?

In late 2009 Representatives Barney Frank and Chris Dodd submitted proposed regulation called the “Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. One year later, after intense lobbying by the financial services community, a version of the bill passed with far less teeth than the original. But nobody stopped to ask the obvious question: From whom or what exactly do we need protection?

From the people we trust to manage our financial future? From the brokers who sell us expensive mutual funds? From the managers themselves, who play legal but shady games to line their pockets? From the high-frequency traders who are “front running” the market and pinching millions one penny at a time? In the last couple years alone, we have seen rogue traders cause billions in losses for banks; large firms such as MF Global misappropriate client funds and ultimately declare bankruptcy; insider trading convictions from one of the world’s largest hedge funds; and bank traders criminally prosecuted for rigging LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rates), the world’s most widely used benchmark for short-term interest rates.

THE CHEF DOESN’T EAT HIS OWN COOKING

We are continually sold and influenced by those who “do as I say, not as I do.” In a sobering 2009 study released by Morningstar, in tracking over 4,300 actively managed mutual funds, it was found that 49% of the managers owned no shares in the fund they manage. That’s right. The chef doesn’t eat his own cooking.

Of the remaining 51%, most own a token amount of their funds when compared with their compensation and total net worth. Remember, these guys earn millions, sometimes tens of millions, for their skills: • 2,126 own no shares in the fund they manage.

• 159 managers had invested between $1 and $10,000 in their own fund.

• 393 managers invested between $10,001 and $50,000.

• 285 managers invested between $50,001 and $100,000.

• 679 managers invested between $100,001 and $500,000.

• 197 managers invested between $500,001 and $999,999.

• 413 managers invested more than $1 million.

So the obvious question is, if the people who manage the fund aren’t investing in the fund they run, why in the world would I? Good question!!!

The chef doesn’t eat his own cooking if the ingredients are bad or if he knows what the kitchen really looks and smells like. These fund managers are smart—they work under the hood.

WHERE ARE THE CUSTOMERS’ YACHTS?

Fred Schwed Jr. was a professional trader who quit Wall Street after losing a lot of his money in the crash of 1929. In 1940 he wrote the investment classic Where Are the Customers’ Yachts?, or A Good Hard Look at Wall Street. The joke behind the title has been retold many different ways over the years, but in Schwed’s version, a successful Wall Street broker named William Travers is admiring the many beautiful yachts while on vacation in Newport, Rhode Island. Each yacht he inquires about happens to belong to a broker, banker, or trader.

He asks, “Where are the customers’ yachts?”

Nearly 75 years have passed since this story was first published, but it could have been written yesterday!

WHOM TO TRUST

We have all seen numerous variations of the same commercial. The husband and wife, looking concerned, sit across the desk from their financial advisor. And with the wisdom of a grandfather and the look of a man who has weathered many storms, the hired actor assures them that with his help, they will be just fine. “Don’t worry, we’ve got your back. We’ll get your kids through college. We’ll get you that sailboat. We’ll get you that vacation home.” The insinuation is loud and clear: “Your goals are our goals. We’re here to help.” But the real question is: Are your interests really aligned?

Does the person with whom you trust to plan you and your family’s future have every incentive to operate in your best interest? Most would think “yes”—and most would be wrong. And the answer to this question may be the difference between failing or succeeding in your journey to Financial Freedom. When climbing the mountain, how would you feel if your guide was more concerned about his own survival than yours? As David Swensen reminded me, “Your broker is not your friend.” THE SUITABILITY STANDARD

And here is the truth: the financial services industry has many caring people of the highest integrity who truly want to do what’s in the best interest of their clients. Unfortunately, many are operating in a “closed-circuit” environment in which the tools at their disposal are preengineered to be in the best interests of the “house.” The system is designed to reward them for selling, not for providing conflict-free advice. And the product or fund they sell you doesn’t necessarily have to be the best available, or even in your best interest. By legal definition, all they have to do is provide you with a product that is “suitable.” What kind of standard is “suitable”? Do you want a suitable partner for life? “Honey, how was it for you tonight?” “Eh . . . the sex was suitable.” Are you going to be promoted for doing suitable work? Do you fly the airline with a “suitable” safety record? Or better yet, “Let’s go to lunch here; I hear the food is suitable.” Yet, according to David Karp, a registered investment advisor, the suitability standard essentially says, “It doesn’t matter who benefits more, the client or advisor. As long as an investment is suitable [meets the general direction of your goals and objectives] at the time it was placed for the client, the advisor is held free of liability.” THE GOLD STANDARD

To receive conflict-free advice, we must align ourselves with a fiduciary. A fiduciary is a legal standard adopted by a relatively small but growing segment of independent financial professionals who have abandoned their big-box firms, relinquished their broker status, and made the decision to become a registered investment advisor. These professionals get paid for financial advice and, by law, must remove any potential conflicts of interest (or, at a minimum, disclose them) and put the client’s needs above their own.

By way of example, if a registered investment advisor tells a client to buy IBM and later that day he buys IBM in his own personal account for a better price, he must give the client his stock at the lower price trade.

Imagine having investment advice where you knew that the law protected you from your advisor steering you in a specific direction or to a specific fund to make more money off of you.

One huge additional advantage? The fee you pay a fiduciary for advice may be tax deductible, depending on your tax bracket. So a 1% advisory fee could really be closer to 0.5% when you take into account the deduction. Contrast this with the 2% or more you pay to a mutual fund manager, none of which is tax deductible.

FINDING A FIDUCIARY

If there is one single step you can take today to solidify your position as insider, it’s to align yourself with a fiduciary; an independent registered investment advisor (RIA for short).

Most people I ask don’t know whether “their investment guy/gal” is a broker or a legal fiduciary, but nearly everyone believes that his investment person should have his best interests at heart. And as I mentioned before, they typically do have his clients’ interests in mind but they are operating within a framework that rewards them for selling. And, by the way, you’ll never hear them referred to as “brokers.” They are called registered representatives, financial advisors, wealth advisors, vice president of this, that, or the other thing. In fact, the Wall Street Journal reported finding in excess of two hundred different professional designations for financial advisors—more than half of which are not tracked by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which oversees how investments are pitched to investors. Many of these financial service “credentials” are pure window dressing and do not impart a fiduciary duty.

NOT ALL ADVICE IS GOOD ADVICE

Aligning yourself with a fiduciary is, by all accounts, a great place to start. But this does not necessarily mean that the professional you select is going to provide good or even fairly priced advice. And like any industry, not all professionals have equal skill or experience. In fact, 46% of financial planners have no retirement plan! That’s right. The cobbler’s kid has no shoes! Over 2,400 financial planners were surveyed anonymously in a 2013 study by the Financial Planning Association, and close to half don’t practice what they preach. Heck, I can’t believe they admitted it!!! Truth is, we are living in uncharted territory. With endless complexity, central banks printing money like crazy, and even some governments defaulting on their own debt, only the elite advisors of the planning industry know how to navigate these waters.

THE BUTCHER AND THE DIETITIAN

A good friend of mine recently forwarded me a YouTube video entitled The Butcher vs. the Dietitian, a two-minute cartoon that effectively and succinctly highlighted the major difference between a broker and a legal fiduciary. The video made the glaringly obvious point that when you walk into a butcher shop, you are always encouraged to buy meat. Ask a butcher what’s for dinner, and the answer is always “Meat!” But a dietitian, on the other hand, will advise you to eat what’s best for your health. She has no interest in selling you meat if fish is better for you. Brokers are butchers, while fiduciaries are dietitians. They have no “dog in the race” to sell you a specific product or fund. This simple distinction gives you a position of power! Insiders know the difference.

I did a little digging, and the man behind the video was Elliot Weissbluth, a former litigator who 15 years ago became incensed by the conflicts of interest in the investment industry and made it his mission to provide an alternative to the brightest and most successful advisors and independent firms. In other words, choosing independence should not mean a sacrifice in sophistication and access to the best solutions. His great idea caught fire, and HighTower is now one of the largest independent registered investment advisors in the country, with nearly $30 billion in assets and 13th on Inc. magazine’s list of fastest-growing companies. The explosive growth of HighTower shows that clients want a dietitian. They are sick of being sold meat and then realizing that their health is in jeopardy.

I interviewed Elliot for this book and we have since developed a great friendship. I didn’t have to twist Elliot’s arm to leave frigid Chicago and join me for a day of 78-degree weather at my home in Palm Beach.

AN AUDACIOUS PROPOSAL

Together we sat on my back lawn overlooking the ocean and had a long conversation about the myths being marketed and injustices being done to the average investor. Elliot has a unique passion, a fervency, to serve investors by eliminating the self-interest and inherent conflicts that have become the norm in big firms. From Day One, he made the commitment to full disclosure, full transparency, and conflict-free advice in every aspect of the business. And by not accepting payments or kickbacks for selling a product or service, his firm stands in a position of true power and integrity. Firms compete to work with HighTower, and all of the benefits are passed down to the client. What’s really powerful is how Elliot grew the business. First, he built a unique platform that no one thought was possible. Then he recruited the best “corner office” advisors from the biggest firms and gave them the path to the moral high ground—the opportunity to quit working for the house and work only for the client. And by giving them the freedom not to have to serve two masters, they could do whatever was in the client’s best interest, at all times, in all transactions.

There was only one problem:

HighTower was built to service only the wealthiest Americans.

In fact, all of the top advisors in the industry are focused on the wealthy. Makes sense, right? If you manage money, you want to manage fewer clients who have more money. This arrangement maximizes your own profitability. Too many small accounts means lots of overhead and cost. It’s just not an efficient way to do business.

In spite of all that, I decided to drop a challenge on Elliot . . .

LET’S BLAZE A TRAIL

“Elliot, I want you to figure out a way to deliver the same fully transparent, conflict-free advice to anyone who wants the service, not just the wealthy. There has to be a way, Elliot,” I said, leaning forward on the edge of my chair. “You care so passionately about justice and fairness that your own mission calls you to do this for everyone.” Elliot sat back in his chair. He expected a simple interview and was now being asked to deploy some serious resources! And perhaps more importantly, I challenged him to figure out how to deliver some of the solutions that are normally reserved for folks with ultrahigh net worth. It was quite a challenge. To democratize the best investment advice coupled with the best available solutions. “Oh, and one more thing, Elliot: I think you should make a complimentary review service that is entirely free! People need to know how they are being treated!” Elliot took a few deep breaths. “Geez, Tony! I know you think big, but to gear up and make this available to everyone, at no charge? Come on!” I just smiled and said, “Yes, crazy, isn’t it! No one else is going to do this. Nobody is showing how people are overpaying for underperformance. My guess is that we could show them using technology! You have the resources and the will to make this happen if you commit yourself!” I let the conversation end by simply asking him to take some time to think about the impact of what this could mean for people’s lives and to get back in touch once he had fully thought it through.

IT’S DOABLE

Elliot returned to Chicago and gathered his troops. After much deliberation, and with a deep determination to find a way, Elliot called me back. After his team reviewed some patented technology we could utilize, he was convinced this could be a game changer. But he had one request. He would want to partner with an extraordinary chief investment officer. One with decades of experience and the values to match. A captain of the ship not afraid of uncharted waters. I knew just the man . . .

Ajay Gupta is the founder and chief investment officer of Stronghold Wealth Management, a firm that provides “white-glove” service for those of ultrahigh net worth. He is also my registered investment advisor and has been managing my family’s money for over seven years. He spent almost two decades within the world’s largest brokerage firms as the classic corner-office success story. Ajay came to the proverbial fork in the road. His choice? Either leave the brokerage world behind and carry the fiduciary flag or continue to walk the line of trying to be a dietitian within the walls of a butcher shop. I asked Ajay what was the pivotal moment of decision. “It came as a result of total frustration,” he confessed. “There were investments that I knew were best for my client, but the firm wouldn’t allow me to access them because they weren’t ‘approved.’ I didn’t want to steer my client to an inferior investment just so I could earn more. I treat my clients as my family, and I realized that no longer could I make choices by the constraints imposed by someone in a far-off ivory tower.” Ajay’s commitment was not just in words. He gave up a seven-figure bonus to leave and start his own firm. Not surprisingly, his entire team and client base followed him. After years of extraordinary performance and service, Ajay’s departure from the brokerage world earned him the notice of Charles Schwab (a major service provider to independent investment advisors). He received a surprise call from the Charles Schwab headquarters letting him know that Chuck had selected him to represent the face of the more than 10,000 independent RIAs in Schwab’s national media campaign. Subsequently, Ajay arranged for Chuck and me to meet, as he agreed to be one of the 50 financial moguls interviewed for this book.

When I introduced Ajay and his team at Stronghold to Elliot, it was an incredible alignment of values. What was amazing was how the sum of the whole was drastically greater than its parts. They began a monumental collaborative effort. For nearly a year, Ajay and Elliot worked together with a common goal: to democratize the best investment advice and help Americans wake up to their right to, first, know what they have been sold and then make the switch to receive transparent advice. And Stronghold Financial (a new division of Stronghold Wealth Management) was born. So in addition to serving those of high net worth, Stronghold now serves everyone regardless of how much he or she has to invest.

LOOK UNDER THE HOOD—FOR FREE!

My biggest “ask” from Ajay and Elliot was to make it possible for anyone, not just the wealthy, to be able to tap into top-tier advice, research, and planning. But I wanted them to do it for free!!!!

Most financial planners charge $1,000 or more to analyze your current investment assets, assess how much risk you’re taking, quantify your true fees, and put together a new asset allocation. Stronghold’s patented system accomplishes this in just five minutes—and it’s completely free! Here is a bit more how it works: When you visit the website, www.StrongholdFinancial.com, the system will allow you to “link” all of your accounts (even your 401[k] and accounts you have scattered at multiple firms). It will then analyze every holding you own, every fee you are paying, every risk you are taking. It will give you a comprehensive analysis and a new asset allocation. It will also reveal some of the unique strategies we will review in section 5 and compare them to your current approach. You can take this complimentary info and implement it on your own (and the company doesn’t charge a dime). Or, if you decide to move forward, with the click of a button, you can transfer your accounts and have Stronghold manage your wealth, so long as you meet the minimum account size. For those who become clients, there is a team of fiduciary advisors that are available by phone to guide you in your journey and answer any questions you may have. There are no commissions, just a fee, which is based on your total portfolio value. So whether you have $2,500 or $25 million doesn’t matter. Advice that was previously reserved for those of high net worth is now at your fingertips! And if you would prefer to work with someone in your local area, Stronghold has a network of independent advisors in all 50 states who are aligned with the same principles and have access to some of the unique solutions we will review in the pages ahead.

I am extremely proud of what Elliot, Ajay, and I have worked together to create: a complimentary service that can impact the entire population! And, quite frankly, it exists only because we were so frustrated by a system that often uses deceit and manipulation as weapons against investors. It’s time for a changing of the guard. So while I am not currently an owner in Stronghold, at the time of publication we are in conversations about how I can become a partner and align further with its mission of serving investors with extraordinary advice and investment solutions.

FINDING A FIDUCIARY

I don’t want you to get the impression that Stronghold is the only fiduciary. There are thousands out there, and many of them are outstanding, so I would like to give you five key criteria for finding your own fiduciary. Below you will also find a link to the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA). This will allow you to search the country for any fee-only advisor you choose. One caveat: just because they are on the list doesn’t mean they are skilled. Like any profession, be it a doctor or a teacher, there is a wide range of competency. In addition, in the world of independent fiduciaries, size does matter, so many smaller firms may not have the same level of access to certain investments and/or competitive pricing.

DIRECTORY OF FEE-BASED ADVISORS

http://findanadvisor.napfa.org/home.aspx

So, if you choose to find your own fiduciary, below are five key initial criteria you may want to consider when selecting an advisor: 1. Make sure the advisor is registered with the state or the SEC as a registered investment advisor or is an investment advisor representative (IAR) of a registered investment advisor (RIA).

1. Make sure the registered investment advisor is compensated on a percentage of your assets under management, not for buying mutual funds. Make sure this fee is the only fee and is completely transparent. Be sure there are no 12b-1 fees or “pay-to-play” fees being paid as compensation.

2. Make sure the registered investment advisor does not receive compensation for trading stocks or bonds.

3. Make sure the registered investment advisor does not have an affiliation with a broker-dealer. This is sometimes the worst offense when a fiduciary also sells products and gets investment commission as well!

4. With an advisor, you don’t want to just give them your money directly. You want to make sure that your money is held with a reputable third-party custodian, such as Fidelity, Schwab, or TD Ameritrade, which offers 24/7 online account access and sends the monthly statements directly to you.

For those who are willing, have the time, and are brushed up on proper asset allocation (more on this in section 4), investing on your own (without a fiduciary) may be a viable option, which could also result in additional cost savings. The added cost of a fiduciary may only be justifiable if they are adding value such as tax-efficient management, retirement income planning, and greater access to alternative investments beyond index funds.

BUY ENRON!

An extremely competent fiduciary in your life will do more than provide transparent advice and investment solutions. They should protect you from the marketing “noise” because history shows us that the noise from a conflicted broker, or the firm he works for, can be extremely dangerous. Let me share an example from recent history.

Remember Enron? The energy giant with $101 billion in annual revenue (in 2000) that decided to cook the books in hopes of keeping shareholders happy. The big brokers and the mutual funds that owned the majority of Enron shares were big fans of the energy giant. My dear friend and business mastermind, Keith Cunningham, is a straight shooter with a classic Texas drawl. When he speaks at my Business Mastery event, he pulls no punches when showing how brokers, with no vested interest in how their clients fare, will pour on bad advice even when the situation is dire. When he shared with me the breakdown of how brokers promoted Enron during its collapse, I was astonished!

In March 2001, just nine months before declaring bankruptcy, Enron signaled that it was having trouble. “Anyone who was willing to look at the cash flow statement could see that they were hemorrhaging cash in spite of what they said its profits were!” Keith shouted to my audience of close to 1,000. “But that didn’t stop the big Wall Street firms from recommending the stock.” Below is a chart showing the recommendations of the big-brand firms in the nine months leading up to the Enron Chapter 11. Notice how the recommendation to buy or hold was made until there was literally nothing left to hold—because the stock had no value; the company was bankrupt!

Needless to say, if you are getting advice from a broker, you can expect that the inherent conflicts will show up in one way or another.

LOBBYING FOR PROFITS

Putting client interests first may seem like a simple concept, but it’s causing an uproar on Wall Street.

—“WHAT’S NO. 1 FOR BROKERS?,” Wall Street Journal, December 5, 2010

So why hasn’t the status quo changed? Under Dodd-Frank, the SEC was required to conduct a study on a “universal fiduciary standard” across all investment firms. You heard me right. The politicians wanted to conduct a study to determine if acting in the client’s best interest is a good idea. It’s a tragicomedy played out on Capitol Hill. In my interview with Dr. Jeffrey Brown, I asked about his opinion on fiduciary standards. Who better to ask than the guy who not only advised the Executive Office of the President but was also brought in by China to advise its Social Security program. “I think anybody that is managing money for someone else—it’s very, very important that they have a legal and an ethical responsibility for doing the right thing and looking out for other people’s money. I mean, these are really people’s lives we’re talking about here at the end of the day, right?” The industry backlash has been nothing less than intense. You can hear the gears of the lobbying machine spinning at full speed as it reminds Capitol Hill of the generous campaign contributions.

THE TRUTH AND THE SOLUTION

So now that you know the rules of the game, what’s an investor to do?

Above you have the five steps of how to evaluate and find a fiduciary if you choose to find your own. As I mentioned, you can visit Stronghold (www.StrongholdFinancial.com), which has a patented online system which, in just five minutes, will provide you with the following: • Within seconds, the system will pull in and review your current holdings (stocks, bonds, and mutual funds) from all your accounts, including your 401(k).

• The system will show how much you are really paying and how much less you will have at retirement if you don’t minimize fees. Remember the effect of compounding fees we reviewed in chapter 2.3!?

• The system will show your risk exposure. In other words, how well did your portfolio hold up in 2008 and other market downturns?

• The system will provide conflict-free advice and introduce you to a number of portfolio options.

• The system will take into account your current tax situation and recommend a more tax-efficient allocation.

• If you decide to move forward, you can quickly and automatically transfer your accounts to one of the recommended third-party custodians (such as TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, or Schwab). From there, the team will implement the recommendations and provide ongoing account management and service.

• If you have more than $1 million in investable assets, you will have access to the Private Wealth Division, which has greater access to investments that are limited to accredited investors.

At any time you can also pick up the phone and speak with a member of the team who is a registered fiduciary advisor to answer any questions regarding your personal situation. Or you can ask to be connected to one of the partners in your local area.

SO WHAT’S THE PLAN?

Wow, we have come a long way! The myths we have already exposed at this point remain unknown by the vast majority of investors. In fact, even many high-net-worth individuals aren’t privy to this insider info. And now that we are gaining an unobstructed view, we need to start to look at the actual strategies we are currently using to see if they align with our goals. Let’s start with the 401(k). That little piece of tax code that changed the financial world forever! Should we use it or lose it? Let’s find out.