Pet peeve: Ignorant people serving me financial platitudes
moneyrelations :: Aug.21.2007
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There certainly has been a lot of water cooler conversation at my place of work regarding the market volatility from the last week. I mentioned that my portfolio had gone down so one of my colleagues advised me that I should not invest in anything so risky. Okay, so if you have read about my trials and tribulations in investing, you know I’ve made some bad stock picks but I am trying to learn from them. I’d also like to say that my stocks account for a whopping 3.8112% of my portfolio. The majority of my money is in index funds with a few mutual funds thrown in. I’ve ignored the ABCP troubles, and I’ve been putting extra money into a money market fund. It’s not like I’ve been gambling my future away.
Therefore, I hate it when people go on a power trip saying they leave their money to their brother-in-law financial advisor so they don’t worry about “that stuff”. Then they regurgitate the same drivel that at their age, they have a conservative portfolio for their impending retirement. If they are so concerned about their retirement, shouldn’t they be more knowledgeable about the state of their financial affairs? Wouldn’t the avalanche of bad financial press merit a curious phone call to say, “how am I doing”? I also have concerns doing business with family.
Maybe I’m just griping from my experience with my ex-advisor and I’m sure there are very good ones out there who have their clients’ best interest at heart. But for goodness sake, don’t put your head in the sand when your retirement is only a few years away and lecture me about my investment decisions.
Stupid ::
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I hate it that some people just presume that you need advice when you say something like that, rather than assuming you may know what you are doing! I agree we should no more, and I think people don’t realize that even a little knowledge will help them talk more sensibly to their financial advisor if they have one.
I like this post. I don’t like people like that, too. Just because they read a couple of MSN money articles they think they can give advice and tell me what to do.
2 thumbs up for making your own gutsy decisions and “fie!” on anyone who feels entitled to make commentary … esp., when I’m betting half the commentators couldn’t tell you what stocks are in their portfolios! After 2 disastrous experiences with, ahem, The Experts, I started making my own stock picks 15 years ago. A few mistakes, but at least I knew what was going on, and on balance, I’ve streaked past any 8 - 12% annual increase. Cheers to you for your Do It Yourself choices.
Nancy, thanks so much for dropping by!
For some reason, I’m okay with losing money on my own. I take it as a learning experience. However, I obviously expect better results when I pay other people to manage my money. If they can’t deliver the goods, I might as well do it myself and save the management fees!