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If you're worried about the harm caused by incorrect advice, then the two best choices are Interior Designer and Fashion/Style Consultant.
No one ever had to delay retirement because of some crappy drapes or a bad tie.
I guess most people are dumber than I thought. Im always at a loss for words with things like this.
Ironically, "financial advisor" has the least amount of professional qualifications required of anyone on that list.
On another note, might I beg you two for your take on this:
"Foreclosure asssistance advances"
Foreclosure assistance advances - The Boston Globe
Especially:
That bill would allow judges to order mortgage lenders to ease terms for homeowners in bankruptcy proceedings. Currently, mortgage lenders can foreclose against a homeowner in default 90 days after the filing of bankruptcy.
Legislation similar to both bills is pending in the Senate.
Mortgage lenders would be "terrified" of getting wrapped up in bankruptcy proceedings, said Brian Gardner, a research analyst with investment firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.
Sounds to me like Congress is working hard to create another credit crunch. Thoughts?
Mortgage lenders would be "terrified" of getting wrapped up in bankruptcy proceedings
My thoughts are quite simple:
The average cost to build a 3,340-square-foot home in the U.S. is $403,925, according to the National Association of Home Builders in Washington. That includes $219,015 for construction costs, $45,507 for the price of undeveloped land, $65,969 to prepare the land for building, marketing expenses of $11,258 and a sales commission of $19,499
Debatable?
- Bloomberg.com
DW,
That may indeed be the mean, but where are the most homes of that size being built? If it is the bubbliest areas then I suspect a rather skewed distribution where a median value might come in lower...
whose major form of aerobic exercise is typing
and now i'm having visions of my coworkers at their desks wearing headbands, short-shorts and tube-socks, with Tanta up front playing youtube videos and shouting inspirations at us...
in September in which the Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based company offered to pay buyers' mortgages and taxes for six months if they bought homes
lovely
with Tanta up front playing youtube videos and shouting inspirations at us...
Such as: "You burn more energy when you USE THE SHIFT KEY than you do when you type like that lazy bacon dreamz character!"
Such as: "You burn more energy when you USE THE SHIFT KEY than you do when you type like that lazy bacon dreamz character!"
oh yeah? well your pajamas are ugly! (i had to hit shift to type the exclamation point and these brackets!!!)
okay, water break.
Tanta,
So now you are branching out to inspiration and motivation from your core talents of intimidation and discipline?
P.S. Keep the flannel jammies but think about upgrading to the steel toed bunny slippers.
I personally prefer advisors who don't have something to sell me. (Merill Lynch, I'm talkin' to YOU!)
Hmm . . . I think I'm going to need some help sorting this one out.
Peripheral Visionary
(oc-md)d wsj,bbg staff writers
well your pajamas are ugly!
I'll have you know that these PJs were the height of fashion in 1997.
Trust me, I'm not likely to inspire anyone, since my usual "financial advice" involves things like buying inexpensive but sturdy jammies from some unfashionable source and then wearing them out. Nobody over the age of 12 has dorkier PJs than I, and I wouldn't have as many coffee stains on them if you all restrained yourselves more in the comments. Yeah, I'm talking to you, Cote.
cote, 'shift keys' and 'emoticons'? jesus, what are you, training for the olympics? you're making the rest of us look bad.
Hmmm.
Perhaps "financial advisors" charge more per consulation that others? Whether through "hidden charges" or whatever. Thus, the average person is going to go with the one that saves them the most dollars...
I suspect that the poll shows that the average financial advisor gives the least "value for money" of all the choices. Thus the poll's preference for a free consulation from a financial consultant.....
Let's see: the financial advisor will advise that you shuffle and redo as much of your portfolio as possible, the interior decorator will convince you to buy the most expensive furniture, and the style consultant the most expensive clothes your closet can hold, all for the commissions involved. What would be the motivations of the personal trainer? To keep you just enough overweight so that you can never dispense with his counsel?
I'd prefer talking to a financial advisor too, but that's because I really like arguments.
May I recommend these slippers instead?
ThinkGeek :: Monty Python Killer Rabbit Slippers
ed in Texas,
There's a mini-industry in some CPA firms undoing all the damage done to investors by CFP's and life insurance salesmen.
I have never encountered a person who really understood what they have when they purchased an annuity or whole-life product. The language you hear when someone realizes they paid a 5% upfront load on a habitually underperforming fund.
Let's be fair here. If I were answering that poll, I'd probably have picked a personal trainer too, for the following reason: I already have a financial advisor. I regard financial advice from someone who is legally bound to act in my best interest as a very important thing -- I don't have time to wade through every prospectus out there, but I can sure make the time to read through five or six possibilities presented to me.
A personal trainer, on the other hand, is more of a luxury good. I know the economists would call this "irrational," and they'd be right according to the way they define the term, but I'd feel better about spending more on financial advice and getting the fitness stuff for free than doing things the other way around.
So maybe that's what a lot of the 47 percent were thinking. Dare to dream, right?
Seriously for a moment. The idea of a "free" financial advisor session has some unknowable future value. A session with a personal trainer has known value and any advice is subject to immediate testing. Additionally the personal trainer relationship is extremely transparent unlike possibly the compensation sources for the fin adv. I guess there are instances of buying pilates mats and nutritional supplements at huge markups but it is unlikely the personal trainer is getting spiffed from Mr. LaLane for every Jumping Jack.
Maybe the other 47% think they already know as much as any financial adviser becuase of their vast experience daytrading a few years ago and flipping houses more recently.
.. am angling for the "don't know" crowd
That's a solid niche market. Those people will never go away and they are easy to influence.
Tanta, I guess I'm dumber on this issue than even I thought.
If you operate in a non-recourse state, and have first lien, how did BK affect you in the old days?
oh dear. In addition to my "Wear Clothes" and "Have Furniture" rules, my financial plan has been (for the most part) "Don't Lose Bank Account" (the other part being "Save Lots"). Does this imply I am a remedial "Other" or is an English class involving the construction of complex sentences indicated?
Personal trainers are almost all fit.
But financial advisors are rarely rich.
Which is more credible? It'd be the personal trainer for me.
I wonder why they omitted Political Advisor?
Tanta
Thought you'd wallpapered the hall with Enron bonds, the bedrooms with Worldcom, and, hey, don't we recognise the furniture from the New Century bankruptcy sale.
Most financial advisors who give "free advice" are sales persons who peddle variable annuity, whole life insurance, and high-load mutual funds to the financially clueless. You find many of those in banks and other financial institutions.
At least, personal trainers and interior designers are not receiving any commissions by pushing particular financial products.
I'm sure that there are many independent and honest financial advisors out the3re, but I have seen too many cases where so-called financial advisors lock up their clients' money in variable annuity products while pocketing huge commissions.
Furniture? Worldcom? Enron? Heck I'd put money that Tanta never even took the inventory control stickers off her dining table, formerly conference table, courtesy of the RTC.
Registered investment advisors do not pocket any commissions, unless they are dually-registered.
No dog in this race; just sayin'.
So let us go then, you and I,...
INTERIOR DECORATOR In the room women come and go Talking of Michelangelo
And indeed there will be time To Wonder, "Do I dare? and, "Do I dare?" Time to turn back and descend the stair, With a bald spot in the middle of my hair- {They will say:"How his hair is growing thin!"}
FASHION CONSULTANT My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin, My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin-
PERSONAL TRAINER [They will say:"But how his arms and legs are thin!"}
Do I dare disturb the universe?
FINANCIAL CONSULTANT In a minute there is time For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
For I have known them all already, known them all:- Have known the evening, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons:
With apologies to TSE
Went to a finacial adviser once who charged me $500.00 then after running some dumb computer (at the time PC's were new)program told me I needed disabilty insurance before doing anything else with premiums a couple of hundred a month. Compared to that an anomyous blogger is miles ahead.
Maybe if I went to a financial advisor instead of a finacial adviser I would have been better off.
Zach - One visit to a Personal Trainer will tell you what to do, but not make certain you're doing it correctly going forward.
Similarly, one visit from an Interior Designer will give you an idea of what needs to be done, but not control (or the means) to do it.
One visit from a Fashion/Style Consultant may get you to upgrade your t-shirt collection and polish your shoes, but it won't help when the fashion season changes.
So, yes, in that list, you pick "Financial Advisor" because it's the most likely case where "one and done" is going to have any positive effect. (In the worst case, the FA goes away, you ignore the advice, and never have to worry about it again.)
"First do no harm" is not just for med students; it's for those selecting from "The first one's free, the second you have to pay for."
So, given that most of my experiences with "financial advisors" have been of the "you need a VUL! No, really! You can't throw the chair at me, it's nailed to the floor." variety, how does one find a financial advisor who will actually dispense, you know, financial advice?
Should you for some reason really care, the question was "If you could have a free consultation session with an expert, which would you choose?" The responses were:
Financial Advisor: 53%
Personal Trainer: 23%
Interior Designer: 9%
Fashion/Style Consultant: 6%
Don't Know: 8%
What a worthless article... didn't even include 'fishing guide'. No wonder the world is going to hell in a hand basket.
Oh... and it didn't include 'golf pro' either unless 'financial adviser' doubles for that (financial adviser = wash up golf pro wannabe)...
Thank you all. Here I am sitting glum over a crappy tenant who is going to cost me a years lost rent before she is gone and you guys put a smile on my face.
Thanks again I needed that.