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...]
Is the Cost of a Financial Advisor Worth It?
A couple months ago I was having lunch with a friend. He's a financial advisor/planner and we talked about his job since he just started with a new company. He told me that their intro financial planning product was a "comprehensive financial plan" that they did for clients to see where they were financially and what help they might need. He said his company offers a … [Read more...]
More Evidence that Financial Advisors and TV Personalities are Not Experts
The more I write about various so-called financial "experts" (who are not really experts) the more it seems I run into additional examples of their non-expertise. In the latest example, I was listening to the Masters of Money podcast (I enjoy and recommend it!) interview with Joe Saul-Sehy from the Stacking Benjamins podcast Joe spilled the beans on both financial advisors … [Read more...]
Why Don’t They Publish the Net Worths of Financial “Experts”?
In my post Not Experts: Financial Advisors. I had a reader ask (in part) the following: So let me ask you, if you ruled the world, how would you change the system? My answer (in part) was as follows: If I ruled the world the world would be in a lot of trouble! Theoretically, financial advisors would: 1. Not only know what they were talking about intellectually but also be … [Read more...]
