There is nothing that irritates me more than Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. Wait....actually there is. I cannot tolerate the crap that is perpetually spewed by the loudmouths on TV regarding investments and saving for your future. Unfortunately everyone is an expert in this field but seriously? Some of the stuff they say would get normal people in jail!
Some of the advice they dish out would be the medical equivalent of advising children to drink drain cleaner to clear a runny nose!
Firstly - buy mutual funds is a common one. Seriously? Giving up 40% of your annual return to some clown who really does not do much is just financial suicide. It is proven that monkeys and chickens could probably do a better job than most fund managers yet millions of people are still comfortable given away a huge portion of their returns on an annual basis.
Second - buy term insurance and invest the difference. No one actually does that. And to make it worse, just when you really need insurance (at the age of 60 when the term product expires) your premium goes through the roof!
Third - the stock market is too complex. Seriously?? Most of the major investment houses 3 weeks ago were telling us the world was going to end if Donald Trump was elected. The futures market reflected that before the final result and what happened?? These gurus had it all wrong and the market went on to post the best week in 20 odd years!
My point is the "experts" don't know any more than you. The world is being made to look far more complicated than it really is and, you, the average investor, are being lied to on a regular basis on what you should be doing. The problem with this approach is you won't have enough time to go and repair your situation when you realize you were conned.
I am not saying that it is all a conspiracy and its not time to pull out the foil hats but it is time for the questions and conversations with financial advisors to change. If you are willing to give up 40% of your "upside" they share as hell should be able to answer tougher questions!
Happy investing!