Retirement: I Attended a Free Dinner Investment Seminar--Here's what happened.
Thanks to Dan O. for pointing out this video.
Starting in my 60's, I started receiving letters and postcards inviting me and my spouse to some investment education event, or retirement preparation event. Usually at a nice place to eat. I'm still receiving them. I'm very weary of these invitations because of the old saying, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." (or dinner in these cases.) I learned this lesson a couple of different times.
In 1985 when I moved to Wilmington, my new wife and I attended a "home show". A large space filled with vendors of home related products and services, and many of them were holding some kind of drawing if you wrote your name and address on a piece of paper. My wife and I deposited those pieces of paper in many vendor boxes. Not long after the home show, the hard-sell tactics started. Without cell phones, caller-ID or email, we fielded a lot of phone calls, and people ringing our doorbell. Wow did we make a mistake. It took most of 2 years for it to go away.
When the Concord plant build started in 1997, I had a lot of money to spend. There was no shortage of sales people who wanted to "partner" with me to build the IT infrastructure for a new plant. I received quite a few meal invitations, and took several trips to see something the sales person thought would impress me. I had to learn how to say "no" and break some hearts, and some of that wasn't easy.
This video is pretty good at explaining what went on at one of those "free dinner" seminars. It also exposes one of the subjects I've mentioned before - do you need a financial advisor or not? It's somewhat like the "when should I start Social Security" topic - people have opinions on both sides. As you approach retirement, watch out for those invitations.