“When it comes to investing, who do you trust most?”
- 43% Only me!
- 39% Investment Advisors
- 10% The Media
- 8% Family & Friends
The Invstr community is usurping the financial advisory community, and that’s going to make the so-called pros furious! When it comes to investing, you say you trust yourself the most, marginally more than an investment advisor and far more than the media or family and friends.
The investment advisors are good for a second opinion, but rarely do they have your best interests at heart. You contact them for ‘passive’ investment help, and the wisest long-term ‘passive’ investment plan is the one with the lowest-fee structure (<0.2% annually), no ifs, no buts.
The investment advisor knows this, but offers ‘packaged’ funds of funds with big fees that add twists to bog-standard index funds, hiding their relative underperformance. These “passive” investments require active management “back at the office,” but don’t question it, or face a barrage of jargon.
If they hook you in with intimidation, that’s bad news. The answer is self-education, as we push in the Invstr Academy. You won’t be diversified into oblivion if you’ve learnt that, at the end of the day, this is a game of predicting the future, and we have equal right to do that.
It’s routine for investment advisors and hedge fund managers to make the news, and form the media. We are the media, probably, but there’s a difference between staying afloat of world events as the Invstr community does, and listening to Jim Cramer screaming “buy, buy, buy!”
The most surprising poll result must be how little we consult friends and family when making investment decisions, although, money can be a private matter and investing isn’t a common hobby.
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.
