Retirement Plan Blog

If you are still not convinced that 401(k) participants need investment advice, then check out the results of a recent survey as reported by Investment News, 43% of investors are suckers. The survey was conducted by Money-Track, a public-television series, and Investor Protection Trust. Most of the survey results I would have expected. I'm not surprised that:

• Only 1% of the people surveyed understood eight basic investing principles, e.g., diversification.
• 66% of the respondents would meet with a financial professional without first doing a background check.
• 40% of those surveyed said that they expected Social Security to make up a major part of their retirement income.
• 50% said they had not created a financial plan.

But here's the surprise: 43% of the respondents said that they would invest in an "opportunity" that would provide them with guaranteed returns of at least 100%, e.g., an option-trading system.

Or maybe just call me be naive and maybe "there's a sucker born every minute".

The phrase, "There's a sucker born every minute", often credited to P.T. Barnum, the famous showman, may actually have been said by someone else. Here's the history of it.