Ray Lucia and Ben Stein by Bill Roberts

Saturday I had the great pleasure of attending a Ray Lucia "Buckets of Money" Retirement Workshop. Ray is a local San Diego boy who made good.

He started his career as an insurance salesman. He worked hard. He did all the right things. He acquired the CFP professional designation. He is also a stock broker. He wrote a book "Buckets of Money" where he expounds his theory of diversification (or allocation) of assets to provide a lasting income during retirement. His latest book is "Ready Set Retire."

Ray now has a nationally syndicated radio talk show and he appears frequently on the Fox News Channel. A great list of credentials, but the reason I went was to meet Ben Stein.

About half-way through the workshop Ben came in and gave his "speech." He made a lot of points, but the one thing that made the greatest impression on me was his love of America, his patriotism, and his desire for all of us to have a better life.

He mentioned that his "exercise" program consisted of getting down on the floor and thanking God that he was able to wake up in America (actually he said La Jolla  because that was where the workshop was held).

I had the great honor of being able to introduce myself to this very accomplished, very well educated, very successful author, and a movie star to boot. I shook his hand. It is really nice to be able to touch greatness. I was surprised to learn that Ben is one year younger than me. I have always looked forward to his participation on Fox News on Saturday mornings. He said that he was one of the only "guests" with any economics training. Most of the "advisors" on TV don't have a clue what they are talking about. And if you follow their advice you will almost certainly lose money, especially over time, because their failures will wipe out any successes.

I don't know why Ben Stein participates in Ray Lucia's workshops but I am very glad that he does. If Ray has a workshop in your area you should definitely attend. Check it out here.

Ray covered a lot of ground in the workshop. He had a lot of uncomplimentary things to say about investment advisors in general and TV investment advisors in particular. Booyah!

The main problem with "Baby Boomers" is that they are not adequately prepared for retirement. The average "Boomer" only has fifty thousand dollars in their retirement account. It won't last anytime at all. They need to wake up and smell the coffee. Time to do something about it is right now.

Ray mentioned that large retirement funds such as CalPers invest in direct ownership of real estate. The implication was that this makes sense. I say "booyah!" of course it makes sense. He asked the audience of several hundred if they had made money in real estate. A whole lot of hands went up. But Ray is an insurance and stock guy. His real estate recommendations extend to REITs, both traded and not traded.

I'm a real estate guy. I think that direct ownership of real estate is still the best investment for your retirement funds. This can take the form of wholly owned real estate and fractional interests (both LLCs and tenancies-in-common).

Most people think that their IRA has to be invested in stocks and mutual funds. This is because the big IRA custodians are affiliated with the big mutual fund companies and stock brokerage houses. You can have a self-directed IRA. You can "direct" the custodian to "invest" in real estate for you.

If you need help setting up your self-directed IRA or you would like to know more about this process you may contact me directly. Bill Roberts 619-244-4610.