9 ms·

A Monk Who Left the Monastery to Fix Broken Retirement Plans

65 points by Immortalin 9y ago

chris_st 9y ago
I recently got to take a retirement finances course from the local Society for Financial Awareness (SOFA [1]) person. They're totally non-profit, the classes are free, and (as was the case with the guy who taught the classes I took) they can't reveal who they work for, if it's in the financial arena. The classes were informative, and covered a lot of things I hadn't taken into account for retirement. So I recommend them highly... as is said in the article above, many people are lazy about preparing. It's worth fixing that now, wherever you are with respect to retirement. [1] http://www.sofausa.org http://www.sofausa.org
- hammock 9y ago
  Can you give examples of something you hadn't considered?
  - wisty 9y ago
    I'm guessing it's something like "X has certain tax implications, so if you are in situation Y then maybe Z is better". It's often fairly specific though. Which is why it's not much good hearing what someone else got out of it.
  - smileysteve 9y ago
    The primary thing taught about retirement planning is the power of compound interest. And creating a budget to save enough to live x years on money in low yield low risk bonds.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
workerIbe 9y ago
Dear NYT, Please let me zoom your articles on my Android tablet, my eyes aren't what they used to be. Thx
- hammock 9y ago
  Fyi Chrome accessibility settings has an option to force zoom-in on websites that disallow it (as well as an option to force a minimum font size). Happy trails to you
aaronchall 9y ago
I saw this story going around on Reddit. This guy is getting an amazing amount of free press. I went straight to being a financial advisor right out of undergrad. Instead of going to the big city, I went back to my hometown to fix people's retirement plans. (I sold insurance, investments, financial planning, and advice services. Then I managed other people's money as I went back to school, spending a year in a Finance PhD program then doing my MBA instead. Now I'm a developer in finance.) There are a lot of good-hearted people out there trying to fix people's retirement plans. I imagine most of them are quite envious of this guy's free press. The leading industry certification is Certified Financial Planner (CFP). There are others. (I'm studying for the Chartered Financial Analyst, CFA, designation, which is more generally about analyzing and managing investments.) We do need more people to pay attention to their financial planning. I think our economy will become stronger if more people would save more, spend less, and invest in things that last and grow.
- Moshe_Silnorin 9y ago
  Even the best advisors charge 1%, which seems insanely high to me, considering what one can do with a discount brokerage, some index funds, and bit of research on rebalancing and taxes each year.
  - __derek__ 9y ago
    This reminded me of Friday's Intelligent Investor column[1] entitled "Don’t Touch My Money, Just Hold My Hand". Its closing: > So you should hire an adviser not for his or her investing prowess, but to help organize your finances, prioritize your goals, minimize your taxes, and navigate the shoals of retirement and estate planning. Done right, those services can make you far richer — and happier — than the pipe dream of investment outperformance is likely to. Now that the index revolution has solidified, I think there's going to be a strong market for financial advisors that just offer advice in the coming years. [1]: https://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2017/06/09/dont-touch-my-money-just-hold-my-hand/ https://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2017/06/09/dont-touch-my-mon... (yes, sorry, behind a paywall)
    - 9y ago
JSeymourATL 9y ago
One story, from a book called “Tales of a Magic Monastery,” describes a parish priest on retreat who seeks guidance from a monk about his own spiritual life. His response comes in the form of a question: What do they need? Brilliant!
jackcosgrove 9y ago
Helping people with retirement planning is surely an important calling. The broken promises that are already in the pipeline will shake the developed world to its foundation. I hope Mr. Lynam is also honest with his clients about the big picture. Developed countries have stagnant productivity growth and falling populations. There is no way everyone can squeeze a comfortable retirement from that stone. For many people at this late stage in the game all they can do is reduce their expectations.
breitling 9y ago
>Every person who arrived with a spiritual issue had a financial problem lurking somewhere beneath it. Other studies have shown a strong inverse relationship between financial success and belief in religion.

65 points by Immortalin 9y ago

I recently got to take a retirement finances course from the local Society for Financial Awareness (SOFA [1]) person. They're totally non-profit, the classes are free, and (as was the case with the guy who taught the classes I took) they can't reveal who they work for, if it's in the financial arena. The classes were informative, and covered a lot of things I hadn't taken into account for retirement. So I recommend them highly... as is said in the article above, many people are lazy about preparing. It's worth fixing that now, wherever you are with respect to retirement. [1] http://www.sofausa.org http://www.sofausa.org

hammock 9y ago
Can you give examples of something you hadn't considered?
- wisty 9y ago
  I'm guessing it's something like "X has certain tax implications, so if you are in situation Y then maybe Z is better". It's often fairly specific though. Which is why it's not much good hearing what someone else got out of it.
- smileysteve 9y ago
  The primary thing taught about retirement planning is the power of compound interest. And creating a budget to save enough to live x years on money in low yield low risk bonds.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]

workerIbe 9y ago

Dear NYT, Please let me zoom your articles on my Android tablet, my eyes aren't what they used to be. Thx

hammock 9y ago
Fyi Chrome accessibility settings has an option to force zoom-in on websites that disallow it (as well as an option to force a minimum font size). Happy trails to you

aaronchall 9y ago

I saw this story going around on Reddit. This guy is getting an amazing amount of free press. I went straight to being a financial advisor right out of undergrad. Instead of going to the big city, I went back to my hometown to fix people's retirement plans. (I sold insurance, investments, financial planning, and advice services. Then I managed other people's money as I went back to school, spending a year in a Finance PhD program then doing my MBA instead. Now I'm a developer in finance.) There are a lot of good-hearted people out there trying to fix people's retirement plans. I imagine most of them are quite envious of this guy's free press. The leading industry certification is Certified Financial Planner (CFP). There are others. (I'm studying for the Chartered Financial Analyst, CFA, designation, which is more generally about analyzing and managing investments.) We do need more people to pay attention to their financial planning. I think our economy will become stronger if more people would save more, spend less, and invest in things that last and grow.

Moshe_Silnorin 9y ago
Even the best advisors charge 1%, which seems insanely high to me, considering what one can do with a discount brokerage, some index funds, and bit of research on rebalancing and taxes each year.
- __derek__ 9y ago
  This reminded me of Friday's Intelligent Investor column[1] entitled "Don’t Touch My Money, Just Hold My Hand". Its closing: > So you should hire an adviser not for his or her investing prowess, but to help organize your finances, prioritize your goals, minimize your taxes, and navigate the shoals of retirement and estate planning. Done right, those services can make you far richer — and happier — than the pipe dream of investment outperformance is likely to. Now that the index revolution has solidified, I think there's going to be a strong market for financial advisors that just offer advice in the coming years. [1]: https://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2017/06/09/dont-touch-my-money-just-hold-my-hand/ https://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2017/06/09/dont-touch-my-mon... (yes, sorry, behind a paywall)
  - 9y ago

JSeymourATL 9y ago

One story, from a book called “Tales of a Magic Monastery,” describes a parish priest on retreat who seeks guidance from a monk about his own spiritual life. His response comes in the form of a question: What do they need? Brilliant!

jackcosgrove 9y ago

Helping people with retirement planning is surely an important calling. The broken promises that are already in the pipeline will shake the developed world to its foundation. I hope Mr. Lynam is also honest with his clients about the big picture. Developed countries have stagnant productivity growth and falling populations. There is no way everyone can squeeze a comfortable retirement from that stone. For many people at this late stage in the game all they can do is reduce their expectations.

breitling 9y ago

>Every person who arrived with a spiritual issue had a financial problem lurking somewhere beneath it. Other studies have shown a strong inverse relationship between financial success and belief in religion.