Comments on: The Simple Dollar Morning Roundup: Independence Day Edition http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/07/04/the-simple-dollar-morning-roundup-independence-day-edition/ Financial talk for the rest of us Sat, 16 Feb 2013 01:14:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Anna http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/07/04/the-simple-dollar-morning-roundup-independence-day-edition/#comment-43047 Anna Thu, 05 Jul 2007 13:22:08 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/07/04/the-simple-dollar-morning-roundup-independence-day-edition/#comment-43047 I too was shocked by the Ameriprise description. It sounds as though Eleanor has begun to “solve” her problems by turning them over to someone else instead of thinking them through and educating herself. She sounded pleased with herself for taking hold of the situation, but in reality she had taken only the first step (recognizing it), followed by the second step (Ameriprise), which was obviously ill-advised. She could do much better by severing her ties with Ameriprise (assuming she hasn’t been hoodwinked into a long-term contract), putting the $25/month into savings, retaining the Ameriprise budget in a self-directed manner until she develops the knowledge and gumption to revise it, and budgeting a smaller but realistic amount for clothing and “feel-better” purchases. Then she needs to take *full* responsibility for her situation by reading blogs like this one, studying the basics of personal money management, reflecting on her own (perhaps subconscious)attitudes toward money and their effect on her current situation, and evaluating her finances regularly to see what adjustments need to be made.

What I could do with that $300/year! And a whole lot more of us reading this blog!

]]> By: Hibryd http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/07/04/the-simple-dollar-morning-roundup-independence-day-edition/#comment-42695 Hibryd Wed, 04 Jul 2007 14:41:03 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/07/04/the-simple-dollar-morning-roundup-independence-day-edition/#comment-42695 Woah, did you see the details of the Ameriprise account in the first link? They set her up with a glorified savings account that all her money goes into by default, and a “money market account” that holds savings until it gets to $1000, at which point she can actually start investing. The price for all this? $300 a YEAR. No wonder they’re advertising so heavily.

And the investor’s take on this? “Still, that works out to $25 a month, not so bad considering I’ve no idea where to start or how much I should be aiming for or anything like that.”

There needs to be some sort of class everyone goes through in high school to cover money basics so people don’t throw away $300 a year on stuff like that.

]]> By: beloml http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/07/04/the-simple-dollar-morning-roundup-independence-day-edition/#comment-42678 beloml Wed, 04 Jul 2007 13:44:07 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/07/04/the-simple-dollar-morning-roundup-independence-day-edition/#comment-42678 Good luck, and thanks for such a wonderful blog. You and Free Money Finance have changed my life!

]]>