3 ms·

One problem with personal finance is that good general advice is often simple and changes infrequently, and good specific advice is not generally applicable. Th

One problem with personal finance is that good general advice is often simple and changes infrequently, and good specific advice is not generally applicable. This is a problem because anything in the media which wants to cover personal finance is not generally willing to print the same bit of advice week in week out. And the problem is compounded by the people with that simple good advice being worried about laws on giving financial advice. So if one follows personal finance media, one may get the impression that it is hard to make good investments and that one must find weird risky lucrative opportunities, because much content is either about new investment possibilities (advertised or not) or sob stories about people who fell for some dodgy scam while thinking they were making the most risk free investment possible (and generating a 10% return). There can sometimes also be commentary on tax rule changes which I don’t really have much to say about.

ozim 5y ago
I would argue that most of the time you don't need good specific advice. One can get by quite well with just following good general advice. From anecdotal experience I see people who don't have basics like "spend less than you earn" are looking for magic fixes like "buy those magic stocks or coins" ... no you cannot invest in stocks/coins/anything if you consistently fall behind with your utilities payments or spend all your salary on booze on first weekend after payday.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- bradleyjg 5y ago
  Investment choices advice can almost always be generic. Things like how much to save less so, but rules of thumb are still widely applicable. But when it comes down to something like tax optimization the variables start multiplying quickly—-state of residency, income, employer benefits, etc, etc. There’s a need out there for decent advice but not an exorbitant cost. On the flip side, as an advisor it’s tough to make a living without charging a lot because there’s a lot of overhead and non billable time. All of this wasted time is unnecessary, there’s no good reason that the systems have to be so complicated that even intelligent people get lost in all the details.
- dan-robertson 5y ago
  Right. The point I was making is that the generally applicable advice rarely changes and so is not interesting to a publication (or broadcaster) and the specific detailed advice is usually only useful for a very small number of people so is not so useful to the readers/listeners/viewers.
- mamcx 5y ago
  > no you cannot invest in stocks/coins/anything if you consistently fall behind with your utilities payments or spend all your salary on booze on first weekend after payday. Well, this is another trap! You CAN. ---- One thing that i failed for YEARS was follow this "advice", in special with relation with crypto. I get in and out of it, because I get worried about it, like this say. What I finally "get" was that if you "invest, even little, and not quit!" you WILL get some of it later. And WILL get MUCH MORE than NOT DO IT! Daaaaaammmm. I lost so much just because I was unable to do it consistently. --- P.D: How I get this? My family caught the idea of saving all extra coins of low value we get in daily buys. Eventually, after a while, that money was enough for a decent buy of things (iPhones, Computers,...) Small coins. No value money, things you will lose after the day and not see it again. But because we "invest" and "save it" for long enough, it become sizable (and yes, I'm not rich and was in dire economic situations). --- So? go invest, even if pennies.
  - jfrunyon 5y ago
    I dunno about you, but when I was in "dire economic situations" I too saved my pennies. The difference is that I had to use those pennies to buy food, or gas to go to doctor appointments, or gas to go to work. It's unfortunate how many people have disposable income and still think they were in "dire economic situations".
    - mamcx 5y ago
      How far in the deep make a difference, but is easy to not even see a way out when afloat. That is why I say is a "trap" instead of being wrong. I lived in one of the worst places on the city of Medellin in the worse times of that. And even there, you see that people get some income and waste it, every time, because never see a future. That is the trap.
ImaCake 5y ago
Absolutely agree with this. Good financial advice is boring. It basically boils down to don't spend your money on unneeded things and put the savings in safe-ish long term, low cost investments (cash, bonds, index funds). Anything else is window dressing. Most people should just go live their life without diving any deeper.
- over_bridge 5y ago
  It's hard to 'feel' that this advice is true when we constantly see news about people winning the cryptocurrency, NFT, influencer or other capital gains lottery. And I say feel because people act more according to their feelings about the world than anything else

ozim 5y ago

I would argue that most of the time you don't need good specific advice. One can get by quite well with just following good general advice. From anecdotal experience I see people who don't have basics like "spend less than you earn" are looking for magic fixes like "buy those magic stocks or coins" ... no you cannot invest in stocks/coins/anything if you consistently fall behind with your utilities payments or spend all your salary on booze on first weekend after payday.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
bradleyjg 5y ago
Investment choices advice can almost always be generic. Things like how much to save less so, but rules of thumb are still widely applicable. But when it comes down to something like tax optimization the variables start multiplying quickly—-state of residency, income, employer benefits, etc, etc. There’s a need out there for decent advice but not an exorbitant cost. On the flip side, as an advisor it’s tough to make a living without charging a lot because there’s a lot of overhead and non billable time. All of this wasted time is unnecessary, there’s no good reason that the systems have to be so complicated that even intelligent people get lost in all the details.
dan-robertson 5y ago
Right. The point I was making is that the generally applicable advice rarely changes and so is not interesting to a publication (or broadcaster) and the specific detailed advice is usually only useful for a very small number of people so is not so useful to the readers/listeners/viewers.
mamcx 5y ago
> no you cannot invest in stocks/coins/anything if you consistently fall behind with your utilities payments or spend all your salary on booze on first weekend after payday. Well, this is another trap! You CAN. ---- One thing that i failed for YEARS was follow this "advice", in special with relation with crypto. I get in and out of it, because I get worried about it, like this say. What I finally "get" was that if you "invest, even little, and not quit!" you WILL get some of it later. And WILL get MUCH MORE than NOT DO IT! Daaaaaammmm. I lost so much just because I was unable to do it consistently. --- P.D: How I get this? My family caught the idea of saving all extra coins of low value we get in daily buys. Eventually, after a while, that money was enough for a decent buy of things (iPhones, Computers,...) Small coins. No value money, things you will lose after the day and not see it again. But because we "invest" and "save it" for long enough, it become sizable (and yes, I'm not rich and was in dire economic situations). --- So? go invest, even if pennies.
- jfrunyon 5y ago
  I dunno about you, but when I was in "dire economic situations" I too saved my pennies. The difference is that I had to use those pennies to buy food, or gas to go to doctor appointments, or gas to go to work. It's unfortunate how many people have disposable income and still think they were in "dire economic situations".
  - mamcx 5y ago
    How far in the deep make a difference, but is easy to not even see a way out when afloat. That is why I say is a "trap" instead of being wrong. I lived in one of the worst places on the city of Medellin in the worse times of that. And even there, you see that people get some income and waste it, every time, because never see a future. That is the trap.

ImaCake 5y ago

Absolutely agree with this. Good financial advice is boring. It basically boils down to don't spend your money on unneeded things and put the savings in safe-ish long term, low cost investments (cash, bonds, index funds). Anything else is window dressing. Most people should just go live their life without diving any deeper.

over_bridge 5y ago
It's hard to 'feel' that this advice is true when we constantly see news about people winning the cryptocurrency, NFT, influencer or other capital gains lottery. And I say feel because people act more according to their feelings about the world than anything else