Personal finances:

[monster]

Have you considered a Peppermint Pig?

[morethanpretty]

So, basically I should hire a financial adviser who is paid by fee-only.

I do want to save for retirement, so I guess that means stock-market, but I don't have much confidence in my ability to choose stock.

This group looks good (to me)
http://keenerfinancial.com/

Their offices aren't all that close, but close enough...

Any red flags?

[squirell nutkin]

Originally Posted by morethanpretty

Any red flags?

You mean apart from you handing over your hard earned cash to someone else to invest in the stock market? The STOCK MARKET?

Put your money in a coffee can under your bed and when it fills up, get another coffee can.

Did you not hear about what happened to everyone a couple of years ago? Let's say everything goes according to plan for the next 40 or 60 years and you hit retirement age with a big wad of cash and then there is another "correction" and your big wad of cash puts you in the place where a number of my friends and friend's parents are: SOL and living at a subsistence level having lost 50 to 75% of their money.

Invest in rental properties if you have to invest in something.

[tw]

Originally Posted by morethanpretty

So, basically I should hire a financial adviser who is paid by fee-only.

I do want to save for retirement, so I guess that means stock-market, but I don't have much confidence in my ability to choose stock.

Listed was how you do not choose any company. You buy the SPDR for an entire industry or for the entire S&P 500, etc. Unlike index mutual funds that routinely underperform the market (due to service charges), your returns are almost same as the industry average. With SPDRs, you are actually buying stocks - not a mutual fund manager.

Many friends who do well at this do not trust a broker to make decisions. Brokers traditionally underperform the market. They are salesman. Are taught the rules. Really know little about companies or their products. Know more about manipulating you.

One friend, instead, hires a financial advisor paid only to make recommendations. He chooses from their recommendations. As a result, his wife's credit cards are now larger than the mortgage payments.

A full service broker is paid big fees as someone who will advise you. These 'service charges' tend to average a poorer performance. Many instead buy through discount brokers (Charles Schwab, E-Trade, Ameritrade, etc). Why pay big service charges to one whose history is to underperform the market? Especially when buying a SPDR is a 'no-brainer'.

You are strongly recommended to do something fast with a small amount of money. Every day you delay is that many days less that you learn. Many will incur a loss on their first investment. But the resulting knowledge and 'feel' for the whole concept more than covers that loss.

I usually take at least a year to finally appreciate the value of an investment. But you need to get your feet wet ASAP. Set up a small account most anywhere (ie a discount brokerage) to start learning what nobody can teach you. Then in a year you may appreciate some key investments.

Understand the difference between a retirement accounts (for all investments) verses a regular account (which is also for all types of investments). Those accounts can invest in anything (depending on the broker who holds those accounts).

You will not do the necessary one or two minutes every day keying on new details (information) if you do not have something invested. For example, 100 shares of Ford at $1300 means you will learn quickly the how much valuable information was always around you only because you now key in on the word 'Ford'. Once you have something invested, then lessons will come paying attention to any story only about your one tiny investment. Ie what that bystander thought about the product. That is how you learn investing. Something that nobody can teach you. How to really appreciate the value and massive rewards when investing. And how much valuable information was always around you - but you had no previous reason to pay attention.

Even purchasing 100 shares of SPY - a SPDR - means you are now paying attention for one minute every day. Therefore learning more than you thought possible. Do a tiny investment somewhere ASAP so that you will start learning things nobody can teach you. You cannot learn (appreciate) anything significant without at least some wet toes.

[tw]

Originally Posted by morethanpretty

Any red flags?

One friend learned to be a financial advisor. His training at night classes took three months. Then he was a fully trained financial advisor.

He is taught what to tell you. And what he cannot legally tell you. So he recommended leasing a car rather than buying it so that you can have a new car every three years. That is not prudent investement advise. But that is what the company taught him to tell you.

IOW he was educated to be a salesman. There were things to learn from him. And other things he said that only enriched the firm.

But you do need to get your feet wet. That means starting ASAP with something tiny. It will take you at least a year of wet feet to better appreciate, for example, what I am saying.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by morethanpretty

http://keenerfinancial.com/

Any red flags?

Yeah. His name rhymes with wiener. He sounds like a dick.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by morethanpretty

I do want to save for retirement, so I guess that means stock-market, but I don't have much confidence in my ability to choose stock.

That's what a mutual fund does: the manager of the fund chooses the stocks for you. When you buy shares in a mutual fund, you are really buying shares in two dozen or so stocks. Within that, you can find mutual funds that specialize in certain industries, like real estate, utility companies, small startups, large retailers, etc. Most people I know don't invest in very many individual stocks, unless it's something like an employee stock purchase plan at the company they work for. But then again, like tw said, if there's an idustry that you personally know very well, it may be worth it to stick to choosing your own stocks within that industry. I dabbled in videogame companies for awhile, back when I was close to the industry news and could tell when a company's upcoming release had any substance behind it or was going to flop. But I'm not up-to-date on that stuff anymore, so I don't mess with it.

[lumberjim]

where is lookout123?

[monster]

Where is Lookout123?
He's a pro, no advice free
If you want to pick good brains
Pay the dues, enjoy the gains

[Cloud]

@ Griff: Ha!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Just pop out a bunch of kids... who will be fighting each other for the privilege of taking care of you in your old age.

[Happy Monkey]

My advice is to buy a bunch of stocks about a year ago.

[squirell nutkin]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

My advice is to buy a bunch of stocks about a year ago.

Hahahhaha!

[Nirvana]

I have never invested in stock except thru a life insurance annuity. All my money went into farm ground. It was the only thing that gained in value in the recent years.

[kerosene]

Originally Posted by Nirvana

I have never invested in stock except thru a life insurance annuity. All my money went into farm ground. It was the only thing that gained in value in the recent years.

Good idea.