Quote:
Originally Posted by Sylvanfan
If I had a dollar for everytime someone have told me, "I bought $1500 worth of RRSP's this year". When I ask them, what did you buy, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, keep it in cash...they have no idea what I'm talking about.
Than again it does seem that a lot of people are more concerned with how much the payment on something is, rather than how much money the item is actually costing them.
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Quoted for Wisdom.
If someone said "I just bought a car" and couldn't even tell me what make/model, my head would probably explode.
That said, I'd rather have someone say "I bought $1500 worth of RRSP's this year" than "I just bought my fourth $1500 TV this year".
While I'd rather see people with enough financial literacy to intelligently manage a self-directed RRSP, I won't really begrudge them for simply dumping money into a de facto savings account. As long as the salesman, er, financial advisor adequately matches timeline and risk for the person, it's better than not saving at all.
In my experience, getting people to save is typically the biggest challenge. They tend to start learning (MERs, smart diversification, real planning) on their own.....or with just a little bit of encouragement. My best friend is an extreme (but valid) example. Started working with him and his wife about 10 years ago...they were both financial idiots (massive debt, always missing bill payments, always broke). Now they have amassed a gorgeous portfolio that quite frankly, I envy. Back to the earlier point.....the hardest part was convincing them to save *something*. After about 6 months, they began to see the power of savings and interest, and the rest kinda wrote itself.