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You really should invest in your own personal knowledge of the subject. Going to an investment advisor is a recipe for getting gauged. And this is a really big

You really should invest in your own personal knowledge of the subject. Going to an investment advisor is a recipe for getting gauged. And this is a really big deal when setting up your plan for retirement. If you are losing small percentage points due to a lazy advisor or the greedy "managed" plan that they set you up with, the effects will be magnified enormously over decades of compound interest. To the tunes of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Serious, everyone should make an effort to get even a basic financial education. It is by far the best investment choice you could make. Relying on "professionals" is unbelievably expensive come your retirement.

rspeer 11y ago
You see the part about "no financial advice please"? I listened to people like you for a while. I tried not investing anything until I had spent a bunch of my free time on getting a "basic financial education". Now that I have a basic financial education, I know that I know nothing, and if I invested based on my own personal knowledge it would be a disaster. I also know from experience that if I try to save that tiny margin from making my own decisions, all the investment banking sites would say "okay, smartass, you're on your own, don't expect anything convenient to ever happen". And I wish I had just invested first and spent that time learning things that are interesting. All that time and interest wasted. Your advice adds to the problem of decision paralysis and it only works for people who are really interested in money.
Apocryphon 11y ago
That's the rub, isn't it. Financial literacy is as contentious a field as nutrition is[1]. I recently got Tony Robbins' Money: Master the Game [2]. It claims to use both common sense principles and tips from investment masters, and ultimately settles upon pretty reasonable ideas (such as choosing index funds and avoiding mutual funds). Sure, he might be a motivational speaker- but he echoes advice from people in the know, right? Turns out some online investment bloggers do recommend it [3], while others don't [4]. Still others have created a three-hour podcast critiquing it [5]. At some point, one just gives up looking for the best class to take and settles on whatever comes along. To his credit, Robbins did teach me that investment advisors are not to be trusted to keep your best interests in mind- what you should be looking for is a fiduciary. [1] http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/quest-improve-americas-financial-literacy-failure-sham-72309 http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/quest-improve-americ... [2] http://www.amazon.com/MONEY-Master-Game-Financial-Freedom/dp/1476757801 http://www.amazon.com/MONEY-Master-Game-Financial-Freedom/dp... [3] https://investorjunkie.com/38192/money-master-game-review/ https://investorjunkie.com/38192/money-master-game-review/ [4] http://www.basonasset.com/yes-i-actually-read-most-of-tony-robbins-new-book/ http://www.basonasset.com/yes-i-actually-read-most-of-tony-r... [5] http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/a-comprehensive-review-and-critique-of-money-master-the-game-by-tony-robbins-rpf0109/ http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/a-comprehensive-review-and...

rspeer 11y ago

You see the part about "no financial advice please"? I listened to people like you for a while. I tried not investing anything until I had spent a bunch of my free time on getting a "basic financial education". Now that I have a basic financial education, I know that I know nothing, and if I invested based on my own personal knowledge it would be a disaster. I also know from experience that if I try to save that tiny margin from making my own decisions, all the investment banking sites would say "okay, smartass, you're on your own, don't expect anything convenient to ever happen". And I wish I had just invested first and spent that time learning things that are interesting. All that time and interest wasted. Your advice adds to the problem of decision paralysis and it only works for people who are really interested in money.

Apocryphon 11y ago

That's the rub, isn't it. Financial literacy is as contentious a field as nutrition is[1]. I recently got Tony Robbins' Money: Master the Game [2]. It claims to use both common sense principles and tips from investment masters, and ultimately settles upon pretty reasonable ideas (such as choosing index funds and avoiding mutual funds). Sure, he might be a motivational speaker- but he echoes advice from people in the know, right? Turns out some online investment bloggers do recommend it [3], while others don't [4]. Still others have created a three-hour podcast critiquing it [5]. At some point, one just gives up looking for the best class to take and settles on whatever comes along. To his credit, Robbins did teach me that investment advisors are not to be trusted to keep your best interests in mind- what you should be looking for is a fiduciary. [1] http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/quest-improve-americas-financial-literacy-failure-sham-72309 http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/quest-improve-americ... [2] http://www.amazon.com/MONEY-Master-Game-Financial-Freedom/dp/1476757801 http://www.amazon.com/MONEY-Master-Game-Financial-Freedom/dp... [3] https://investorjunkie.com/38192/money-master-game-review/ https://investorjunkie.com/38192/money-master-game-review/ [4] http://www.basonasset.com/yes-i-actually-read-most-of-tony-robbins-new-book/ http://www.basonasset.com/yes-i-actually-read-most-of-tony-r... [5] http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/a-comprehensive-review-and-critique-of-money-master-the-game-by-tony-robbins-rpf0109/ http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/a-comprehensive-review-and...