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Don't go to a financial advisor, at least not without doing some research first. Many of them are paid on commission for funneling money in certain places, and

Don't go to a financial advisor, at least not without doing some research first. Many of them are paid on commission for funneling money in certain places, and many more are just bad. Generally, someone smart enough to build a $5 million company should be smart enough to manage his own money.

chollida1 16y ago
> Generally, someone smart enough to build a $5 million company should be smart enough to manage his own money. They are probably also capable of fixing their own car or doing their own plumbing or landscaping. Sometimes you want to delegate tasks that you dont' want to do onto others.
- cynicalkane 16y ago
  There's a difference in magnitude and importance between doing your own landscaping and managing your own $5 million dollars of net worth.
  - chollida1 16y ago
    Agreed, all the more reason that this statement: > > Generally, someone smart enough to build a $5 million company should be smart enough to manage his own money. is false.
    - cynicalkane 16y ago
      Your post contains no information and bears no insight. Why are you posting it? Simply for the joy of contradiction? There's nothing an half-rational person can't do that your garden variety financial advisor can. If you can build a business, then basic ETFs, mutual funds, and bonds are easy to understand, and if you want to move into individual investments or private funds... you should not be relying on a financial advisor for this. If you think otherwise, I have some stocks I'd like to recommend. And a shady commercial real estate deal that will net me a fat commission. And a bridge in Brooklyn. Legend has it there exist good financial advisors--but you have to find them. "Delegating" this because you "don't want to do" this is entirely the wrong attitude. If you don't take responsibility for your money, it will go away. It's 5 million freaking dollars, probably the entire net worth of this person, and the fruit of his business which he built.
  - ZachPruckowski 16y ago
    Correct. If you screw up your landscaping, you wait a year for the shrubbery to grow back or whatever. If you screw up investing your money, it don't grow back.
jseliger 16y ago
I was just going to say almost exactly this. The problem is that your financial advisor's purpose is probably to make money, which he or she probably does most efficiently by separating you from yours through fees. A few minutes ago I recommended the book The Millionaire Next Door, which points out how fees can quickly kill your returns, which can't beat the market over time anyway. You have a major principle-agent problem with financial advisers, and that's why I suspect many are better off without, especially if they can find an investment column in a newspaper or something like that. Years ago I read a guy named "The Coffeehouse Investor," which helped me enormously, as did the books I recommended previously.

chollida1 16y ago

> Generally, someone smart enough to build a $5 million company should be smart enough to manage his own money. They are probably also capable of fixing their own car or doing their own plumbing or landscaping. Sometimes you want to delegate tasks that you dont' want to do onto others.

cynicalkane 16y ago
There's a difference in magnitude and importance between doing your own landscaping and managing your own $5 million dollars of net worth.
- chollida1 16y ago
  Agreed, all the more reason that this statement: > > Generally, someone smart enough to build a $5 million company should be smart enough to manage his own money. is false.
  - cynicalkane 16y ago
    Your post contains no information and bears no insight. Why are you posting it? Simply for the joy of contradiction? There's nothing an half-rational person can't do that your garden variety financial advisor can. If you can build a business, then basic ETFs, mutual funds, and bonds are easy to understand, and if you want to move into individual investments or private funds... you should not be relying on a financial advisor for this. If you think otherwise, I have some stocks I'd like to recommend. And a shady commercial real estate deal that will net me a fat commission. And a bridge in Brooklyn. Legend has it there exist good financial advisors--but you have to find them. "Delegating" this because you "don't want to do" this is entirely the wrong attitude. If you don't take responsibility for your money, it will go away. It's 5 million freaking dollars, probably the entire net worth of this person, and the fruit of his business which he built.
- ZachPruckowski 16y ago
  Correct. If you screw up your landscaping, you wait a year for the shrubbery to grow back or whatever. If you screw up investing your money, it don't grow back.

jseliger 16y ago

I was just going to say almost exactly this. The problem is that your financial advisor's purpose is probably to make money, which he or she probably does most efficiently by separating you from yours through fees. A few minutes ago I recommended the book The Millionaire Next Door, which points out how fees can quickly kill your returns, which can't beat the market over time anyway. You have a major principle-agent problem with financial advisers, and that's why I suspect many are better off without, especially if they can find an investment column in a newspaper or something like that. Years ago I read a guy named "The Coffeehouse Investor," which helped me enormously, as did the books I recommended previously.