Two lives in one.
Bruce J. Smith III has spent forty years at every level of the investment and insurance worlds — the last thirty of them as a fiduciary, pricing one family’s retirement at a time.
I tell people I have crammed two lives into one. I spent months at a time hundreds of feet under the ocean operating a nuclear power plant in a submarine, worked in commercial nuclear power, and then spent over forty years in the financial industry at every level of the investment and insurance worlds. I’m a commercial pilot, a ham radio operator, a competitive pistol shooter, and a lover of all things automotive — I have built, rebuilt, raced, and collected a number of cars over the years. There is something special about the things you can do with your hands.
I have had an amazing life — far better than I deserve. An amazing wife of forty-five years (she’s my girlfriend and my best friend — Monica), two wonderful sons (Bruce IV and Vaughn), an amazing daughter-in-law (Brittany), and the greatest blessing of all — our grandchildren, Bruce V and Lilly.
I want to enjoy my family first. But I am not built for retirement. I could walk away from the financial business and simply enjoy my hobbies, friends, and family with the time I have left. For me, that is important — but it is not enough. I think about all I know and have learned about the good, the bad, and — yes — the ugly sides of personal finance, and I need to give that knowledge back to whoever can benefit from it before I shove off this mortal coil.
From a submarine to a clean sheet of paper.
Free lunches in school taught the value of a dollar. Ninety-day patrols on man-made air taught efficiency, and a higher value on life than most people ever assign. Ten years selling products taught how the industry actually works. Thirty years as a fiduciary taught what it costs the people it works on.
Every plan since 1996 has started the same way: a clean sheet of paper, a family, and the price tag of the retirement they intend to live — and how the wealth they traded life for is going to pay for it.
- U.S. NavySubmarine service — nuclear power plant operator, months at a time beneath the ocean.
- Commercial nuclear powerThe discipline of systems that cannot be allowed to fail.
- 1986 · Financial servicesTen years as a broker, selling the products the industry sells — and learning the process from the inside.
- 1996 · FiduciaryAn obligation, in writing, to put the client’s needs and goals first. Every plan a one-off since.
- 54,000 hours laterSix books, six guides, and this site — the educator’s turn.
Pros and cons in the same paragraph.
A fiduciary’s job is to research and present the pros and the cons of any product, program, or service in a balanced, unbiased fashion, so the consumer can make a truly informed decision about their specific situation. The roadblock few consumers ever see is the limited universe of solutions in a typical sales presentation — the dealership’s brand, and the dealership’s inventory.
The books in this library are built the other way. Every one of them puts the case for and the case against in the same room, names the biggest cost the pitch skips, and leaves the decision where it belongs: with you.
How the author is paid — and why it is not by this site.
This site sells nothing and solicits no one. Separately from it, Bruce J. Smith III is an investment adviser representative of an SEC-registered investment adviser and a licensed insurance agent, and he is compensated in those roles. Those relationships are disclosed in full in the footer of every page and inside the books themselves, because a library about cost should be honest about its own. Nothing here is individualized advice.
Read along.
One idea from inside a retirement plan, most weeks. No products, ever.