SUZE ORMAN

[Pages:48]SUZE ORMAN

The Ultimate Protection PortfolioTM Investment Records

This product provides information and general advice about the law. But laws and procedures change frequently, and they can be interpreted differently by different people. For specific advice geared to your specific situation, consult an expert. No book, software, or other published material is a substitute for personalized advice from a knowledgeable lawyer licensed to practice law in your state.

HAY HOUSE, INC.

Carlsbad, California ? New York City London ? Sydney

Copyright ? 2003 by Suze Orman Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Suze Orman? is a registered trademark of Suze Orman. Suze Orman--The Ultimate Protection PortfolioTM is a trademark of Suze Orman. People First, Then Money, Then Things? is a registered trademark of Suze Orman. Published and distributed in the United States by Hay House, Inc., P.O. Box 5100, Carlsbad, CA 92018-5100 ? Phone: (760) 431-7695 or (800) 654-5126 ? Fax: (760) 431-6948 or (800) 650-5115 ? ?

All rights reserved. No part of this guidebook may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private use--other than for "fair use" as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews without prior written permission of the publisher.

The author of this guidebook does not dispense legal advice. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature. In the event you use any of the information in this guidebook for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

ISBN 13: 978-1-4019-0345-9 ISBN 1-4019-0345-2

1st edition, November 2003 9th edition, January 2019

Investment Records

Please locate the documents listed in the "Investment Records Checklist" on the following page and file each one in your Protection Portfolio. For investment accounts, mutual funds, annuities, and other kinds of investments, you may receive statements monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or every time you deposit more money into the investment vehicle. File these interim statements in your Protection Portfolio, and then at the end of the year, compare them to your annual statement. Once you're sure that everything is correct, you can destroy everything but the year-end statement. When you sell an investment, you need to keep a record of the transaction for three years--beyond three years you can throw out trade records.

INVESTMENT RECORDS CHECKLIST

q Treasuries/Series I/Series EE/notes q Stock certificates q CDs q Annuity contracts and annuity beneficiary designations q Stock-option grant agreements q C opies of all investment-account application forms and

agreements

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S u z e O r m a n -- T h e U l t i m a t e P r ot e c t i o n P o r t f o l i o TM

Protecting Your Investments

Although you may do much of your investing over the Internet or by phone--and many of your investments may be held by a broker or other financial institution--it's important to keep any original bonds, treasury notes, stock certificates, bank certificates of deposit, or annuity contracts in a safe place. When the time comes to cash in, roll over, or in any way changes these investments, it's often necessary to have the original. Otherwise you'll need to fill in an affidavit for lost originals, pay fees to have the documents reissued, and jump through any number of hoops to authenticate your ownership. And that assumes the company you're dealing with can even find the original in its records. Besides, trying to replace originals is time-consuming. So please, take good care of your documents.

Many people have personal corporations for their businesses. I've often found that they forget to create or issue stock certificates for the corporation when they first set it up. If you have a personal corporation, you should have stock certificates that document who owns how many shares of the company. If you can't find these, then check with the lawyer who created the corporation. You should hold all your own original corporate documents, such as articles, bylaws, and minutes.

If you've created a limited liability company or limited partnership, the original agreements should be kept in the portfolio as well as any amendments to the member, operating, or partnership agreements.

If you decide to keep some original documents in a safedeposit box, you'll want to include the following information on your asset list: the name of the bank, the bank address, the name of anyone who has access to the box, and where the key is kept. Make copies of the documents that are in the safe-deposit box, indicate the location of the original on the copy, and file these copies in the part of the Protection Portfolio where the originals would otherwise be kept.

I n v e st m e n t R e c o r d s

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Financial Adviser

I've always said that the best financial adviser is you. Nobody is going to care about your money more than you do. And what happens to your money is only going to affect the quality of your life--not my life or your broker's life.

I'm not telling you to avoid seeking out a financial adviser. All I'm saying is that if you decide to go that route, you need to know without a shadow of a doubt whose best interest your financial adviser has at heart. It's really that simple.

Do You Have a Financial Adviser or a Salesperson?

Do you pay commissions to buy your mutual funds?

YES

NO

q

q

Do you own a variable annuity within your

retirement account?

q

q

Has your financial adviser ever sold a mutual

fund you owned within the first year of your

owning it and bought another one?

q

q

Has your adviser ever made a transaction in

your account without your permission?

q

q

Has your adviser ever asked you to write a

check to him or her personally when you

were buying a stock, bond, or mutual fund?

q

q

Did your adviser call you at the end of 2018

as the markets were going down?

q

q

Look at your answers. If you answered yes to the majority of the questions, then there's a good chance that you have

a financial adviser who isn't acting in your best interest.

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S u z e O r m a n -- T h e U l t i m a t e P r ot e c t i o n P o r t f o l i o TM

I hope you see that there's an inherent danger when financial advisers' paychecks are dependent on whether what they tell you to buy is actually the right investment for you. How many commission-oriented advisers would encourage you to invest money in a way that avoided a commission? Not many, in my opinion. And you'll see there are many ways to do just that-- invest wisely without paying unnecessary commission fees.

Below, you'll find a chart with a brief overview of the different ways financial advisers make money.

HOW YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISER

MAKES HIS OR HER MONEY

Fee Only

Commission/ Commission

Fee

Only

As a Money Manager

You pay the

You pay the

adviser an hourly adviser a fee to

fee or a set fee to tell you what to

tell you what to do--to create

do with your

a plan for your

money. The

money. If you

adviser simply decide you'd like

advises you,

the adviser to

and you're

implement the

responsible

plan for you, he

for managing or she will get a

your money and commission over

funding your

and above the

accounts.

fee.

The adviser

The adviser man-

gives you advice ages your money

for free, hoping on an ongoing

you'll follow that basis for a fee

advice by buy- that's usually a

ing the recom- percentage of the

mended invest- money you've

ments through given him or

him

her to manage.

or her. If you

This percentage

do make a

can range from

purchase, the 0.25 to more than

adviser makes 2 percent a year,

money on com- but you should

missions. If you not pay more than

don't make a 1 percent.

purchase, the

adviser makes no

money at all.

I n v e st m e n t R e c o r d s

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Buyer Beware: The Basics of Choosing a Financial Adviser

Here's a list of what to look for and what to avoid in a financial adviser:

? Any financial adviser who calls you cold-- whom you don't know and have never heard of--should be sent packing. Hang up. A successful adviser doesn't have to look for clients; clients seek him or her out.

? If an adviser has time to come to your home, something is probably wrong. When I was seeing clients--long before I wrote my first book--I didn't have time to breathe, let alone get in a car and drive across town to someone's home and then drive back again. Besides, it's important to visit your potential adviser's office. You'll want to pay careful attention to how the adviser keeps his or her professional space. Is it messy? Is it neat? Do the files seem to be in order?

? If you're married or have a life partner, a potential adviser should insist on meeting with both of you.

? A good financial adviser will ask you all--not some, but all--of the following questions:

? How is your health? (This is number one, since if you're not healthy, your primary need will be to plan for your medical care and possibly your income if and when you can no longer work.)

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S u z e O r m a n -- T h e U l t i m a t e P r ot e c t i o n P o r t f o l i o TM

? Are you in debt? (This is number two.)

? Are you responsible for aging parents?

? Are you saving for your children's education?

? Do you have a will or trust?

? Will you inherit money someday?

? Do you need to make a major purchase, such as a new car or a new roof for your home?

? Do you have a retirement plan? Are you funding the plan to the maximum allowed by law?

? Do you have adequate insurance?

Only after an adviser fully understands your entire financial situation should he or she ask you how much money you have to invest.

? An adviser should be a Certified Financial Planner?, or CFP? professional. That means that he or she cares enough about his or her clients to have gone through a two-year certification process and is committed to continuing education.

? You should be told up front the adviser's fee system. You shouldn't have to ask. The correct method of payment is by fee only. Any adviser who wants to be paid through commissions

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