Comments on: Review: The Little Book of Safe Money http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2009/12/27/review-the-little-book-of-safe-money/ Simple, applicable personal finance advice for the modern world Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:55:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: chacha1 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2009/12/27/review-the-little-book-of-safe-money/comment-page-1/#comment-835804 chacha1 Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:32:42 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=4770#comment-835804 This "Little Book" sounds great, I may need to get it for DH. He grew up with a lot of bad financial examples and consequently has kind of a defeatist attitude about investing, retirement, etc. Chapters 18-22 should be key reads for anyone about to enter into investing. I had to make some calls this morning to the brokers handling my retirement accounts. One of them DID NOT KNOW that 401(k)/pension/profit-sharing plans could be written so that plan members could self-direct their investments. He also did not know that Roth IRA funds can be transferred to Health Savings Accounts. I feel about financial advisors as I do about politicians ... if I clearly know more about XYZ than they do, they don't get my vote. This “Little Book” sounds great, I may need to get it for DH. He grew up with a lot of bad financial examples and consequently has kind of a defeatist attitude about investing, retirement, etc.

Chapters 18-22 should be key reads for anyone about to enter into investing. I had to make some calls this morning to the brokers handling my retirement accounts. One of them DID NOT KNOW that 401(k)/pension/profit-sharing plans could be written so that plan members could self-direct their investments. He also did not know that Roth IRA funds can be transferred to Health Savings Accounts.

I feel about financial advisors as I do about politicians … if I clearly know more about XYZ than they do, they don’t get my vote.

]]> By: deRuiter http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2009/12/27/review-the-little-book-of-safe-money/comment-page-1/#comment-835658 deRuiter Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:51:05 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=4770#comment-835658 Before hiring a financial planner, find out about his financial strategies, whether he owns his house or condo, whether he prepays on his mortgage, if he's gone bankrupt, what his goals are (besides his immediate goal of removing money from your wallet and placing it in his!) and what he used to do for a living. Why would I buy financial advice from someone just because he took a few courses and used to sell insurance or used cars? Seems to me that if a person was really a great financial advisor, HE'D BE HIRED BY PEOPLE WITH OODLES OF MONEY FULL TIME AND NOT NEED TO WASTE HIS TIME WITH YOU AND YOUR LITTLE (relatively speaking) amount of investment money. If you INSIST on hiring a financial planner, hire a FEE BASED planner for an hour or two. Never hire someone to manage your money on any commission basis as there is a natural tendency to churn you account. Makes sense, doesn't it? The more trades he does, the more he moves your money from one vehicle to another, THE MORE MONEY HE MAKES. Open your own savings accounts, CDs and money market accounts. If you want to do stocks, do Index funds as Trent suggests, and if you want to trade a few stocks, get a budget broker like Schwab or TDAmeritrade, and trade stocks for $10. per trade or less. Spend less than you earn, byukd an emergency fund, pay off your home mortgage, put money away for a rainy day, as my old Granny used to say, and you'll be fine. Get dazzled by some commission based "financial advisor" and you may get plucked like the chicken for Sunday dinner. IF THESE GUYS WERE REALLY GREAT AT MAKING MONEY FOR CLIENTS, THEY'D BE HIRED FULL TIME BY THE SUPER RICH. Remember Bernie Madoff? I've made my money grow for myself, not had a Bernie Madoff line his pockets with my hard earned cash. You can do it too! Before hiring a financial planner, find out about his financial strategies, whether he owns his house or condo, whether he prepays on his mortgage, if he’s gone bankrupt, what his goals are (besides his immediate goal of removing money from your wallet and placing it in his!) and what he used to do for a living. Why would I buy financial advice from someone just because he took a few courses and used to sell insurance or used cars? Seems to me that if a person was really a great financial advisor, HE’D BE HIRED BY PEOPLE WITH OODLES OF MONEY FULL TIME AND NOT NEED TO WASTE HIS TIME WITH YOU AND YOUR LITTLE (relatively speaking) amount of investment money. If you INSIST on hiring a financial planner, hire a FEE BASED planner for an hour or two. Never hire someone to manage your money on any commission basis as there is a natural tendency to churn you account. Makes sense, doesn’t it? The more trades he does, the more he moves your money from one vehicle to another, THE MORE MONEY HE MAKES. Open your own savings accounts, CDs and money market accounts. If you want to do stocks, do Index funds as Trent suggests, and if you want to trade a few stocks, get a budget broker like Schwab or TDAmeritrade, and trade stocks for $10. per trade or less. Spend less than you earn, byukd an emergency fund, pay off your home mortgage, put money away for a rainy day, as my old Granny used to say, and you’ll be fine. Get dazzled by some commission based “financial advisor” and you may get plucked like the chicken for Sunday dinner. IF THESE GUYS WERE REALLY GREAT AT MAKING MONEY FOR CLIENTS, THEY’D BE HIRED FULL TIME BY THE SUPER RICH. Remember Bernie Madoff? I’ve made my money grow for myself, not had a Bernie Madoff line his pockets with my hard earned cash. You can do it too!

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