Call DFS!
By: Aaron Anderson, CFP®, CFA, Partner
October 16, 2020
That’s the thought everyone should have when any financial decision needs to be made. Unfortunately, people forget often enough that Jim has a saying: “It happened again!” Sometimes people solely think of us as retirement planners, wealth managers, and maybe income tax professionals, and so miss out on advice we can offer in other areas.
Here are some recent examples of times that people didn’t realize we could help:
Mortgages: We were recently doing an annual review with a client and he briefly mentioned he was refinancing his mortgage. We asked what rate he was getting, and the number was substantially higher than what we’ve seen. So, we suggested he shop around and see about getting a lower rate; he did and now is on his way to saving money. Fortunately, he had only done the application paperwork and had not already signed on the dotted line.
When you get a mortgage, especially refinancing, your current bank knows they have a relatively captive customer. You have a savings account or previous mortgage with them, and so it’s very convenient for you to continue that relationship. You’d think they would appreciate your long-term patronage, but like a cable company, they instead take advantage of that by not offering a competitive rate. So, the best thing to do is shop around. We don’t write or broker mortgages, but if you are thinking about one, let us be part of the process.
Long Term Care insurance: People with long term care insurance policies will get premium increase notices on occasion, especially with older policies. Long story short, many companies underestimated the leaps made in modern medicine so that people in nursing homes tend to live there longer than they estimated. As a result, they must increase premiums to survive.
You might think you should just pay the new premium if you still need the insurance or surrender the policy if you don't, but they usually offer other options that can be confusing if you don’t know what you are looking at. When you get a premium increase notice, even for a policy we didn’t sell you, call us and let us help you make an informed decision.
Life Insurance: Even though we work with clients to buy life insurance, there have been plenty of times that a client buys a policy and then brings it to us to make sure they got a good one. We could have done it all for you! A common misconception about life insurance is that buying directly or buying online will save you money since you won’t have to pay a commission to us. That is not true! Through our insurance brokerage firm, we can get the same rates a carrier offers directly. We can also shop around among different carriers for what we believe would be the best product for your needs.
As part of our education and experience, we have become knowledgeable across many areas that affect financial decisions you have to make. While our business card says, “Investment Management, Insurance, Income Tax Services”, we can give advice about many different financial topics. Or, we might be able to point you to someone who can. And if we can’t do either, all you wasted was a phone call.
So, I’ll end with what I started with, if you have a financial decision to make, “Call DFS”.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by LPL Financial. The material is for informational purposes only. This information is not intended to be investment advice for any individual. You should consult with your personal investment advisor before making any decisions based on this material.