Too bad there are so many millionaires out there when there are so many other people with far less.
Perhaps the millionaires should realize you vote guns for oil you get messed up markets.
To think that anything should be sustainable after the last eight years is totally lala fairy peter pansort of dreaming.

If anyone still wonders why the bankers are hoarding…

You know you seem like a straight shooter and I think I like you. I subscribe to your Fusion IQ service also.

But it bothers me when you say give us a call if you want us to manage your money. I emailed you guys three times last year about opening an account and didn’t hear a word. To bad as I still might be a millionaire and you might have a client.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/01/snl-morgan-stanley/

CNBC and the MSM are like symbiotic parasites, they exist because of each other and feed on each other. CNBC/MSM provide the outlet for the financial industry to tout all sorts of claptrap about their past success records, investors buy into these success messages, the salespeople/companies make money and the financial industry pays back CNBC/MSM by buying advertising.

When people understand that CNBC/MSM is NOT on their side, do not provide independent information and that financial advisors/brokers are really salespeople, they will hopefully gain new perspective and ask a lot more questions before following any recommendations.

I can tell you at my firm, your stat is about right, I’m an outcast where I work for telling people to move to cash, but I can sleep at night.

After all, they would tell me, how are you going to get paid now?

But, wouldn’t I do a little due diligence about what doctor to pick, whom I can trust. Every time, I’ve changed my dentist, either because of moving to a new city, or because of insurance, I’ve done due diligence to pick a good doctor. Plus, I know I should floss regularly and brush my teeth before going to bed, and so on. The same would apply to hiring someone for financial advice, especially when the risk of losing it is extremely high. Wouldn’t it be nice to know that certain institutions allow you to set and forget automatic trailing stop losses based on a fixed amount or a percentage. How often people use that or are even advised about that? Growing money is also work, so lack of available time to educate oneself in financial matters is hardly an excuse – as some may be prone to think. Yes, I pay someone to advise me and educate me on such matters, but just like any other profession, the level of competence among the practitioners is not the same, and one who really cares about their money will need to be better educated in some very fundamental concepts and practices. Of course, the more education one has, the better.

I know you didn’t ask me but I’ll just throw a few things out for you about the CFP.

If you are really interested in economics and investing as you say, why are you going for the CFP? That’s for financial planning, financial planning and investment advising are NOT one in the same, a concept many still do not understand as there is no national body of standards.

I can have a planning meeting with a client where investment management is never even discussed.

As one that has gone through the CFP modules in prep for taking the final exam this year you may not get what you are looking for. One module is investments, the rest include insurance/estate/income taxes/retirement plans/workplace benefits. I didn’t have too hard a time with the insurance as I was already lic. for that, I found the estate planning section to be pretty difficult though. The rest of the modules are pretty simple, lots of memorization, the investment section is quite basic really, how to amortize bonds, future value of investments, simple options strategies etc. See Mo’s post above.

You sound like you are looking more for CFA. Honestly though, if you aren’t going to manage money right away the best way to learn is places like this, and this is only the cost of your internet connection, not free as someone said above, nothing is free, going through the CFP is going to cost you some money. You won’t learn what you need to pass the exam on the net but the end result is you understand the information all the same.

Lastly, even if you pass the CFP you can’t use the designation, have to work in the industry for 3 years, unless you went to college for this through new programs at some schools.

don’t want to discourage you at all, I think you have a great goal.

For those that don’t manage assets for clients it is also hard to understand career risk that we face. Jeremy Grantham discusses this all the time. He gets it. I started talking to clients about moving to cash long ago or using cash to buy puts, getting them (the average client, I do not work with primarily high net worth, probably similar to you) to do so is harder than many would think. Most people want something for nothing unfortunately, this is described well in the Hard Truths article in the cafe today.

Another example would be when I told all clients to elminate all real estate holdings in the spring of 2006. I lost a handful of clients as real estate ran further because I “wasn’t taking advantage of the opportunities in the market”

I had a client let me go last year that worked at BAC b/c I told them early in the year that they would cut the dividend, I was told I had no idea what I was talking about!

Mark E.

You always make some good points about people learning, problem is most people are too damn lazy to learn and then take the time to UNDERSTAND. They only want to buy lowest and sell highest with no risk, which of course, is not possible.

Finally, BR said:

you need to learn who to avoid and who to listen to.

Well, problem is the only way to do this for lots of these folks is to try it. Most advisors out there aren’t hedge funds who can publish the returns since the returns are different for almost every client based on when changes were made, money was invested etc.

So the best one can do is all due diligence on the reps company and the rep themself (see broker check for example) and ask for references.

As far as who to listen to, well, most people aren’t living and breathing this stuff like we are, or like many people who come to this site. The average person goes to work and comes home to a family and they don’t spend much time at all thinking about things like investment or retirement until something goes wrong.

You only find out who to avoid when an 08 happens b/c I’m sure most of these millionaires were making money during the “bull market” of 03-07, anyone can make money in that type of environment.

Trust is only earned over time and can be ruined by one poor decision, this is the risk that anyone takes when they higher someone else to manage money, and if you are too lazy, or you don’t have time to do it yourself then you should know that going in.