I am at the end (with this post) of a three-part series on financial seminars I’ve gone to in The Villages, Florida. Some of you are likely jumping for joy at that statement and others are crying their hearts out. LOL! These posts certainly seem to be either totally loved or totally hated! In case you missed either of the previous posts in this series, they are at … [Read more...]
Financial Seminars in The Villages, Part 2
Last time I started a three-part series on financial seminars I’ve gone to in The Villages, Florida. In case you missed that one, you can catch up by reading Financial Seminars in The Villages. Today I’ll just cover one event…and it’s a doozy! It’s the largest one of these I’ve ever been to…and probably the largest I’ll ever attend. Let’s get started… Villages … [Read more...]
Financial Seminars in The Villages
Those of you who have been reading ESI Money for some time know I have developed a problem. You see, I’m addicted to financial seminars. You know, the kind where you get an invitation to a swanky restaurant to hear someone talk about a financial topic so important that all your wealth may depend on what they say? At least that’s how they make it seem. In reality it’s a … [Read more...]
Beware of Fake Money Experts with No Accomplishments
It's been a while since I've had a good rant about people posing as experts. I've gone off on the subject in the past and try not to repeat myself that often....but... ...sometimes it just builds up and I have to let off a bit of steam. ;) So here we go... An MLM Expert Quite regularly I see a message on my Facebook feed from a person connected to some of my … [Read more...]
Three Reasons I Prefer Bloggers Over Journalists
It's been a while since I've done a more rant-y piece and even longer since I've posted something in my "Not Experts" category. Today's post will catch us up in both of these areas. One thing I enjoy about early retirement is the amount of learning I get to do. I've always been curious and it seems like my life has been one long, constant effort (in a good way) to learn … [Read more...]
Suze Orman Can Kiss My Assets
Ok, so the title is a bit over-the-top. :) But "Suze Orman is Not a FIRE Expert" just didn't have the same ring to it. Ha! Anyway, today's post is about a clueless financial "expert", the FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) community, some good points about planning for retirement, and an admission of a mistake (for which I give a TON of credit.) But before we … [Read more...]
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of the Financial Services Industry…From An Insider’s Perspective
If you've been reading ESI Money for more than 15 seconds you know that I'm not a big fan of financial advisors. It's not that I don't like them at all, just that most of them are either not very knowledgeable about money management or are simply glorified salesmen -- neither of which you want managing your money. A couple months ago I posted Financial Locker Room Talk … [Read more...]
Financial Locker Room Talk
If you've been reading ESI Money for more than 15 seconds you know that I am not a big fan of financial advisors. This stems from a couple issues. First, I'm a big believer in DIY finances. The concepts that will make you rich are not that hard to learn, so anyone can do it. And there really aren't that many things you need to master to become wealthy, so it doesn't … [Read more...]
More Proof that Financial Journalists are Not Money Experts
I'm starting to create a collection of stories about financial journalists who are not money experts. It's not difficult to find examples. Oh, they are experts alright, but not at managing money. They are experts at writing, radio broadcasting, or TV broadcasting -- whatever their specific, journalistic specialty. So far I've written Mainstream Financial Experts Are … [Read more...]
What Makes Someone a Financial Expert?
As you know, I'm a big fan of pointing out people who claim to be financial experts but aren't really. But doing that several times got me to thinking: Just what is an expert? What defines one? How would I know an expert when I saw one? So I thought I'd do a little research and put down some thoughts. Then you can add your two cents and we'll chat about it. With all the … [Read more...]
