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we have all these self proclaimed investors now via the internet who think good financial planning ends with buy voo and agg and they never consider seeking good advice from a pro about other aspects .. .
they have no clue (like i did ) about all the things they don't know they don't know because they don't know that they don't know it ... lol
i was one of them . i was doing great as an investor . but i could have had such a better plan had i known about all the things tied in to retirement income .
but i never went for advice until it was like building the brooklyn bridge and having someone go it is nice but can you move it 2" left .
Another colleague said he never invests in a 401k because he does not trust it.
Is financial illiteracy this pervasive?
Yes. And don't ever discuss 401K with co-workers. I got fired doing that. I was at a temp job and a co-worker had just started investing in the 401K. She opened her paycheck in front of me and whined that she wouldn't have as much disposable income anymore to do fun stuff. And that she'd felt the managers had pressured her into investing in the 401K. I made a comment about how I had a 401K at my previous job and it turned out well, since they matched. I wasn't even giving advice, just trying to be conversational, I guess. And that was the only thing I said, and she was the one that brought up the topic to begin with. She started screaming at me that I didn't understand how hard it was to be a single mother and the same day I was released from my assignment. If people want to have certain attitudes about investing, let them. If they want to make poor decisions, let them. I know people over the age of 30 who don't even know what a 401K is or what it's for.
Wow. Well being a temp worker means you need to be quiet about many things since temp workers have no status with standard employees.
During lunch with coworkers, a group that's eaten lunch together over several years, we've discussed many topics, including topics like 401k. I encourage people to utilize their 401ks to the maximum extent they can since it's for their future and can be a painless way to invest automatically. No one ever leaves the world of work saying, "geez, I saved too much money and my 401k has too many millions in it."
I've also learned that many people are reluctant to discuss investing or give investing advice, because they don't know anything about investing themselves. They may have a 401K but have no idea what it's invested in, for example. They might not even know the difference between stocks and bonds, but they've been in the workplace for over 20 years and have upper level management jobs.
I've also learned that many people are reluctant to discuss investing or give investing advice, because they don't know anything about investing themselves. They may have a 401K but have no idea what it's invested in, for example. They might not even know the difference between stocks and bonds, but they've been in the workplace for over 20 years and have upper level management jobs.
My mom is an immigrant and English is her second language. She worked as a waitress most of the time when I was growing up, so she never had a 401k or knew what an IRA was. But during these last few years, she managed to get a "regular" job that offered a 401k and benefits. But she was on call so it wasn't offered to her until she was a regular employee, but by then, she didn't invest in it because she didn't know what it was. She didn't ask me either so I didn't know that she didn't know or I would have told her to invest in it. Her company offers 10% matching, and I feel bad she let it slip. But she said now that she's 60, the 401k has different terms if she were to start now and she's close to retirement anyway, so she doesn't want to bother with it. Her friends sold her life insurance and tried to sell it to me too, trying to make me think it was a form of investment...
Thats why the left is able to demonize the stock market and wall street for only the super wealthy, which is a complete lie, but hey the more people stuck on welfare the less chance they will learn about investing.
Please cite some sources from the "left" that demonize the stock market - I'm as left as they come and I've never even heard of such a concept. Demonizing rich do-nothings who off-shore all their money and don't pay their taxes, sure...but not the stock market in general.
I forget which newsperson did the interviews, but right around the time of the tax plan being voted on, a newscaster went out on assignment to talk to various supporters/voters of the current prez in the midwest to get their opinions on things. They all unilaterally support what is being done, but when asked how they expected to benefit and asked if they were invested in the stock market no one was. A couple lived in trailer homes, relying on social security benefits. A couple other folks owned small businesses and hoped their businesses would get more customers as a result of people getting tax breaks, but not even they were invested in the stock market. There were maybe 8 to 10 people queried and I was shocked no one had any 401ks or IRAs or anything. Living on hopes, prayers, and faith that things will all work out and they'll be taken care of, somehow.
Please cite some sources from the "left" that demonize the stock market - I'm as left as they come and I've never even heard of such a concept. Demonizing rich do-nothings who off-shore all their money and don't pay their taxes, sure...but not the stock market in general.
Read the thread and answer the 3 questions I asked, so far nobody has answered them because it proves my point.
The "average Joe" knows precious-little, really about anything. What makes the issue of investment so special, is that so much is at stake, and yet the topic can be austere and abstract.
How much does the average Joe know about physics? Probably even less, than about investment. But we don't need to know much about physics to live our daily lives. Our retirement isn't contingent on our knowledge of physics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bmw335xi
Which group supports marching against wall street and paints wall street with an evil brush only for the wealthy?
We are discussing why so many people are so out of touch with the stock market whether it’s from fear or ignorance. And I’m saying we have the media and one of the major political parties in our country having a lot to do with it.
I would argue exactly the reverse. The highest concentration of vitriol against the “banksters”, resentment of the 2008-2009 bailouts, blaming of Wall Street for diminishing and damaging America, and rage against “the elites” (who presumably are active in investment) has in recent years been on the part of conservatives. This is bewildering to me. It seems to be part of a wholesale realignment in modern politics, where the better-off and the better-educated are leaning towards the liberal party, and the worse-off and worse-educated towards the conservative.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GummyShark
If you go to a lawyer or doctor and they give you bad information, people will say, oh, that person is just bad, go to another one. But financial advisers as a group are seen as bad before you can even ask for advice, so it's really up to you to learn by yourself.
This is because it's rather difficult to successfully represent oneself in a criminal case in a court of law, or to successfully remove one's own appendix. Such things require professional lawyers or doctors. And the rate of success, of having a professional medical doctor do the operation, vs. doing it oneself, is pretty staggering. But the rate of success, in hiring a professional investment advisor, vs. doing it oneself, is not so different; in fact it might even favor the amateur!
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