Your New Financial Checklist: Are You Overpaying for Insurance and Investments?

$Most of us are overpaying for insurance, investments, taxes, etc $We are confused about what products/services we need to buy. $Our "advisors" are NOT acting as real fiduciaries.  $We "waste" $3,000 or more each year.  $$Overcharges cost us $100,000 eventually     Most of us are wasting more than $3,000 every year. If we invested that $3,000 a year, we could have all the assets we need to protect our families and futures. We even waste our largest savings amount: our tax refund--they average about $3,022 a year. Every year that we overpay for services costs us $100,000 eventually. Our wasted money could be compounding at the highest rates for long-term growth. And most of us do NOT use an account that makes our earnings and withdrawals tax-FREE.      For example, if our retirement funds earn 11% but the hidden fees and charges take 3%, we are going to end up with $780,000 not $1,900,000 by retirement. Adjusted for inflation, that means an income of about $1,466 a month instead of $3,333 a month. Plus, if we don't use a tax-FREE account, our pension income will be taxed at 25% or more.        And don't think a company-paid pension or Social Security will save you! TowersWatson found pension underfunding is rampant. Social Security will exhaust its funds in about 2033. We know that income taxes will continue to climb to pay off two wars and two tax cuts. My conclusion is that we need to develop our own "lifestyle security"--a growing asset fund we can't outlive and that is not dependent on the government or employers. $Using the checklist below, I will help you stop the bleeding.