I have a 401K retirement account.

I have been offered a Self Directed Account.

I looked into it.

I called the company and was told me that I had to call another number. The guy I spoke to didn’t know much about the accounts. I had to read to him the document his company sent me with his phone number on it.

I called the other number looking for some municipal bonds.

I was told that I could not look the bonds up myself. I would need to call on the phone and the clerk would tell me about the bonds in their ‘inventory’.

I asked the fee.

I was told it was ‘built into the cost of the bonds’.

My private account charges 30 dollars.

The clerk told me that the fee for purchasing the bonds ‘varied’.

I asked for 5 triple-A municipal bonds in either West Virginia or Michigan.

He told me that I could get Virginia bonds for 54 hundred dollars.

(I didn’t ask for Virginia bonds.)

He said municipal bonds were not a good idea to put into a retirement fund because they are not federally taxed but that he wasn’t offering advice.

It took 5 minutes to realize that a Self Directed Account would be a rip off.

Individual trades cost $19.95 and dividends go into a money market account. If I didn’t get that cash out fast enough I might lose it all.

What makes you think George Bush’s personal accounts will be better?