Are We All Going to Follow John Oliver’s Retirement Planning Advice?

Who else checked the fees on their retirement accounts after watching Last Week Tonight?

So it’s been about 40 hours since Last Week Tonight aired its segment on retirement plans, but I know at least one of you hasn’t seen it yet, so this link is for you:

In case you don’t have 20 minutes to spend watching John Oliver tear apart the “financial advisor” industry, here are his thoughts on saving for retirement:

—First, Oliver is very aware that a lot of people aren’t able to save for retirement, “for systemic reasons that we’ve addressed on this show before and will doubtless address again.”

—If you are able to save for retirement, start saving early.

—Choose low-fee index funds instead of giving your retirement savings to an active financial management or financial services company, because many financial advisors are not legally required to operate in your best interest and pretty much anyone can print out a certificate calling themselves a financial advisor.

—The exception? Fiduciary advisors, many of whom take oaths like this one:

Following the NAPFA Fiduciary Oath means I shall:

* Always act in good faith and with candor.
* Be proactive in disclosing any conflicts of interest that may impact a client.
* Not accept any referral fees or compensation contingent upon the purchase or sale of a financial product.

—Keep your fees below 1 percent. This is where it gets tricky. I’d like to imagine that a lot of people saw that Last Week Tonight segment and immediately opened up their online retirement portals to see what their fees were. I was able to look up the expense ratios (aka fees) for each of the individual investments in my 403(b), and the majority of those investments had expense ratios below 1 percent. Does that mean I need to re-allocate investments with expense ratios above 1 percent? Is that what you’re telling me, John Oliver?

—As you get closer to retirement, move more of your money out of stocks and into bonds.

So. Who else checked their retirement accounts after John Oliver’s segment, and who is going to check their accounts right now? Is his retirement advice solid, or is there something else we should consider? (Also: is anyone else going to make a Last Week Tonight Financial Advisor certificate?)

Support The Billfold

The Billfold continues to exist thanks to support from our readers. Help us continue to do our work by making a monthly pledge on Patreon or a one-time-only contribution through PayPal.