There are some issues with the "it's not as hard as it seems" crowd. I talked with a guy this week, not a client, who's mid-60s and has been retired for 4/5 years. He's got some savings and investments he manages, and he's considering having someone else do that. We went through some things, and he has ideas and thoughts about how things work and certain things he must do. They're just wrong. These aren't investing concepts, nor am I saying he's wrong for buying/not buying things. These basic tax and financial planning concepts could significantly impact him. But someone told him these things, and he saw someone on YouTube, and the list goes on.
And frankly, we know financial literacy could be much higher to begin with. I've had numerous discussions with people on this board who feel like junior high and high school financial education doesn't cover things, and this leads to all kinds of rudimentary issues with people's finances. Things like racking up high-interest credit card debts and having no idea how to budget and how a mortgage works. Now we're telling those people they should handle all this for themselves and don't need a professional for their life savings? I mean, come on. I don't care...people can do whatever they like, but that strikes me as exceedingly terrible advice.
|