You should know early and often that the financial industry is not your friend.  The financial industry is notorious for duping doctors.  In fact, Bill Bernstein, MD (a retired neurologist turned financial advisor puts it this way):

Act as if every broker, insurance salesman, mutual fund salesperson, and financial advisor you encounter is a hardened criminal, and stick to low-cost index funds, and you’ll do just fine.  ~William Bernstein, MD. If You Can

The truth is that the whole financial industry is designed around selling products.  This episode is all about knowing how financial advisors, insurance companies, and agents often dupe doctors… that way, you can avoid the common pitfalls that many doctors experience.

What You’ll Learn from Ways That The Financial Industry Dupes Doctors?

Okay.  So, you’ve come to realize that the financial industry is not your friend.  Maybe you already knew that?  Here is what you can anticipate learning in today’s episode outside of that common knowledge:

• How much insurance agents make selling disability insurance policies.
• Why your financial advisor MUST be a student loan expert, if you are a physician.
• How Northwestern Mutual dealt with the newly required fiduciary standard.  Hint: their disclosure is worth the read.
• The difference between an insurance agent masquerading as a financial advisor, and real advice.
• How much money the financial services industry spent on educating consumers versus marketing their products.
• The difference between fee-based and fee-only advisors, and why it makes all the difference.

Resources from the Financial Duping Episode:

Check out the resources mentioned in this episode:

• Why You Shouldn’t Trust The Financial Industry
• The Insurance Agents You Should Get Your Insurance From
• The running scorecard between passive index funds and actively managed funds
• Examples of the financial industry fighting the fiduciary requirement
• Information on Northwestern’s Own Statement disclosing their giant conflicts of interest
• Your Money and Your Brain
• My disability insurance debacle
• Loan Buddy Software for Student Loan Analysis

This Episode’s Sponsor

This episode’s sponsor is Jamie Fleischner from Set for Life Insruance, which is one of the nation’s top independent brokerages specializing in life and disability insurance for physicians and professionals. Since 1993 they have worked with thousands of clients finding the most suitable products at the greatest discounted price.

Jamie has been a long time sponsor at The Physician Philosopher, and I’ve never heard a single bad review from my readers.  So, if you need a term-life insurance or disability policy, you can reach out to Jamie by calling Set for Life at 888-553-3559 or emailing her team at [email protected]

Listener Question of the Week:

Today’s question comes from Dr. Douglas who asks,

“What would be your approach to wanting to work with a FA formally but not wanting to pay 1% AUM. When does the 1% really start adding up (a dollar figure)”

Each episode, we are going to start including listener questions as they are provided to us.  So, if you have a specific question you’d like answered on the podcast reach out to us!  Email [email protected] or [email protected]

TPP