Financial Planner needs help!!!

[jjordan]

Curly ...you're the best....was it a simple thing????

[Dick the Bruiser]

The math is rather simple but ya just gotta know the formula. The "hard" part is choosing which mortality table is best suited for your analysis. I picked the latest Canadian population tables from the SOA table manager (there is a caveat in TABLE MANAGER that it's not the "official" table, but don't worry about that.). Consider this a lower bound of life expect. since it includes people who are not healthy enough to be in your group. If your group is known to be a healthy crowd then add about 7 years, if mixed (an employee group) then add about 4 years.

You might also find data at a gov. site or search for Canadian life insurance cos.

Originally Posted by jjordan

Curly ...you're the best....was it a simple thing????

Ah, there's the rub and where DTNF's comment really comes into play. You really don't know. You don't just need an expert, you need an expert you can rely upon. You might get the results for free, but you won't get anybody to stand behind them that way. (unless you're in the habit of basing your clients' financial futures on posts made on anonymous posting boards?)
Think of it this way - if it really is simple, it shouldn't be too expensive.

[E. Blackadder]

Originally Posted by jjordan

thanks for your support Dr. T but I didn't think this was really that big of a request....

Consider the plumber who fixes a problem in 5 minutes by banging his wrench on a pipe. The charge is: $5 for banging his wrench on a pipe and $95 for knowing where to bang the wrench...

BTW, Are you donating your time and effort?

[The Drunken Actuary]

Do all financial planners get help from anonymous people on the internet and blindly accept the results of whatever response they get? Remind me not to use a financial planner again.....

Originally Posted by The Drunken Actuary

Do all financial planners get help from anonymous people on the internet and blindly accept the results of whatever response they get?

No they probably don't. This planner (my neighbour) asked me how to do this. I suggested he post here. Now I'll probably never get invited over for a beer again.

[Steve White]

Originally Posted by glenn

No they probably don't. This planner (my neighbour) asked me how to do this. I suggested he post here. Now I'll probably never get invited over for a beer again.

Hey, don't blame the people here for their responses. If you don't give the actuary complete info (that planner was your neighbour), the actuary's response may be affected.

Beyond the accuracy of the response, there are also issues of interpreting the response. With groups (even as small as 100 people) the issues become smaller, but if planning for 1 person the possibility of living longer than the average, maybe years longer, is significant. With 100 lives, variance still exists, but (per life) it is smaller.

[Brad Gile]

Just what are CFP's certified to do?

Brad

[joeorez]

As a liability insurance guy, I didn't offer to do the calculations - it's not my area of expertise.

But I would like to offer this: Suppose, for some remote and as yet unknown reason, something goes very wrong, and the client here sues the financial planner.

=====================================

So the financial planner is cross-examined on the witness stand in court :

Question: Where did you get the mortality assumptions?

Answer: "Oh, I just posted on an online bulletin board and some anonymous actuary gave me the answers."

Question: What is the name of the actuary, and what are his qualifications?

Answer: His name is Curly. I don't know his qualifications, but I'm sure they are good.

=====================================

Bottom line: I hope the financial planner does not buy his Professional Liability Insurance (you do buy this, right?) from me!

[Dick the Bruiser]

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