I'll start by saying that I'm taken aback by your insinuation that what I write (or don't write) has anything to do with AUM-based fees. I'm not a wealth manager and I couldn't care less about their compensation.

If you'd look through my articles, you'll see that I'm in favor of investing in rental real estate (and have personally done so). You'll also find that I have a healthy level of skepticism around most annuities for most people.

If nothing else, even low-fee fixed annuities don't offer inflation-adjusted benefits. Thus, if I invest $1 million for an immediate annuity now, I'll get a healthy ~$76k annual payments. However, even at the long-term average annual inflation of 3.5%, the value of that payment will be cut in half in about 20 years and by nearly 2/3 in 30 years.

The bottom line, however, is that personal finance is just that, personal. What's right for you could be wrong for me and vice versa.

My article was written to look solely at the stock/bond allocation. Nothing says that 100% of your investable net worth has to be limited to those two assets.