One of the challenges many people have when creating a retirement income plan is they meet with ten different financial advisers, and end up with ten different opinions about the right way to create a plan.
Most of the disagreement among financial advisers will be based on which financial vehicles you should use to implement your plan. Investment advisers tend to recommend stocks, bonds, mutual funds and ETFs. Brokers tend to recommend commission-based mutual funds, variable annuity contracts and alternatives such as REITs and limited partnerships. Insurance agents tend to believe strongly in the use of fixed annuities and life insurance contracts.
There really is no magic bullet, no perfect financial vehicle. Creating a retirement income plan does not have to be an all or nothing decision. Combining the use of these different financial vehicles to create a plan is often a better solution than being committed to only one way of thinking or the use of one financial vehicle.
Understand that all of the different financial vehicles that exist today are better at some things than others. They all have some sort of fee associated with them and someone is making money as a result of the path you choose. My recommendation is to keep an open mind. Look at the advantages and disadvantages of the different financial vehicles that are being recommended and make sure that they are being recommended as part of a comprehensive plan and not just a product being sold to you.
