How do you react when someone you don’t know very well presents a completely random and spontaneous idea to you?

It may be a great idea. One that will benefit your personal and financial future.

Few 401(k) participants I approach agree on their need for investment advice. That is why my 401(k) advice clients value our relationship.

Do you hear that person out? Do you take the time to listen. To even the 30-second explanation of the idea.

I throw out the idea of 401(k) investment advice to strangers almost every business day. In my experience, the post-COVID work from home world has taken its toll. Less willingness of 401(k) participants to consider an outside investment management strategy.

I can most times hear the stress in the respondent’s voice. The pressure. The unwillingness to take a few seconds to consider a new idea.

The new 401(k) investment management idea is easy to explain. With screen shots and independent analysis. But only after a few seconds of consideration. A decision to take the time to listen.

I completely understand. 401(k) investment advice may not be for every individual retirement plan participant.

But give me a little bit of a break.

I have been providing 401(k) investment advice for the last 24 years. To hundreds of individual investors. Most with high six-figure and well over seven-figure retirement account balances.

If my 401(k) advice idea was bad. Not beneficial. Too expensive. Not worthy of future consideration. I would have been well aware of those facts many years ago. By hundreds of different individual 401(k) investors.

Or figured it out on my own.

I have learned what individual 401(k) participants value. What they want and need. In most cases, the investment advice they think they want is not what they need.

Individual 401(k) investment advice is not a product. It is a service. The struggle is for the individual investor to change their perception.

My 401(k) advice idea is not one-sided. There is no product to buy. No commissions to pay. There is full transparency of the investment advice relationship.

Liberal thinkers read liberal news. Conservative thinkers read conservative news. Most people seek out information consistent with their current beliefs.

When was the last time you took less than a minute to listen to a new source of information? Inconsistent with what you learned or believe about how best to manage your 401(k)?

Judge all you want to. But only after you take a minute to listen. And to consider a logical, organized, and disciplined alternative to how you manage your 401(k) now.

A different point of view can help. A 401(k) mutual fund selection process you did not know about. Along with a 401(k) principal preservation strategy.

Ric Lager

I have spent years trying to improve my social media skills. Trying to find the best way to share my 401(k) expertise. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn Groups, blogging, etc.

I may have finally figured it out. Nothing beats a well-crafted newsletter delivered to your inbox once a week. With independent, fiduciary-level content specific to your 401(k) investment management decisions.

If you like this content, hit reply, and start a conversation. Or sign-up here.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail