The following is an exact transcript from my interview with Jeffrey Feldman, the founder and chairman of X-Shares Group, LLC. Jeff is an innovator in the ETF arena and his products are noteworthy. Below you can read an educated opinion about where exchange-traded funds stand in the investment arena along with information about the HealthShares product line.

This is my first post in a new series which will analyze the retirement planning industry. I will cover 401(k), 403(b), and other (less popular) vehicles in my discussions. My hope is to unravel to some extent the cost structure of these plans and help corporate executives, business developers, and plan participants to gain a stronger understanding of how their retirement funds are being handled.

Have you ever heard of this concept? I had a potential client contact me recently to get my take on whether “Missed Fortune” financial planning is as brilliant as its famed promoter (Doug Andrews) claims it is.

In doing research for one of my book chapters, I uncovered some great information about behavioral finance. For my purposes, this science explains the ways in which emotion affects financial markets along with other mediums such as saving and spending.

I found a study in the most recent edition of planadviser magazine which suggests that families will start consolidating their investment accounts with one adviser in the next few years. The primary explanations they give are: 1- to improve retirement income planning (converting assets into a stream of income) and 2 – asset decumulation (giving your money away).

Although several savings vehicles exist to fund a college education, 529 plans may be one of the best. 529 plans combine the advantages of other college savings vehicles but avoid some of the common drawbacks.

Ever since making financial planning a career, I’ve developed this habit of listening carefully when people discuss how they save money. One of my observations has been that many people don’t save enough money to warrant any real concern about good investment practices.

I read a statistic in the Journal of Financial Planning last month which stated that 19% of today’s workers know with accuracy when they’ll be eligible for social security benefits.* This statistic is of particular concern to me after similar findings in a recent study I conducted to determine just how much (or how little) people ages 18-30 really know about social security.

I’m writing this post because of an e-mail response I got from my friend JLP over at allthingsfinancialblog.com. First, let me point out that JLP runs an excellent blog- one of my favorites. I sent him an e-mail recently because he has a section on his site which links to others financial planners, specifically those who write blogs.

Social Security is a federal program which provides retirement and disability income to workers through the collection of Social Security taxes. Every worker in the United States is responsible for paying these taxes during their working years and entitled to receiving benefit checks when they are eligible for retirement.