I missed the first half of today's show but tuned in just in time to hear Brent answer the second set of Getting Personal questions. I took issue with his response to the caller who wondered why the Roth IRA limit was so low and what he could do with excess savings. Brent and Tess both bemoaned the way the government caps the amount we can save for retirement.

This is just not the case. The amount we can put into tax-deferred or tax-free savings is limited, but we can put as much as we're able to into a taxable investment account and there are real benefits to balancing our taxable and tax-advantaged savings.
Too many people only save up to the limits of their IRA or employer-sponsored qualified plan and think they have saved enough. Not only will their savings most likely fall short, most people are pretty dismayed to realized that every dollar they have saved is only going to give them 60-80 cents to spend in retirement since it will all be taxed as ordinary income.

While using a deferred fixed annuity to provide a small paycheck in retirement as a supplement to investment income is a great idea, buying a variable annuity like Brent suggested is a risky undertaking. I took issue with this suggestion and would love to talk to Tess or the show's producers about doing the Getting Personal spot in the future.

Finally, with regard to the question about fee-only planners -- I agreed the fees quoted sounded on the high side but the suggestion to go for planning only and implementing the investments on a do-it-yourself basis didn't sound like a good one to me for a variety of reasons.

Thanks for a great show that provides a wonderful public service. Keep up the good work.

Annette Simon, CFP, NAPFA Registered Financial Advisor
(301)564-3000