You May Not Need A Financial Planner

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The internet can be a very valuable tool but, it's also a dangerous place if it's used wrong.  This is especially true when it comes to financial planning. 

You see, there's financial planners and then there's personal finance bloggers, journalists, TV show hosts (I'll be giving you my thoughts on Suze Orman in the next week or two.)  They all mean to be helpful but, they get paid to write, act, and entertain.  Most have never sat down with a client and helped them put together a financial plan.

For some reason, they all seem to hate on financial planners.  They eat, breathe, and sleep this stuff and probably read more than a lot of financial planners.  They can probably manage their own financial plan without professional help.  But they are forgetting something.

In the book Made to Stick, Chip & Dan Heath point out that "It's hard to remember what it's like to not know what know now."  It's good for you to be educated and not follow your financial planner's instructions without questioning anything.  In fact, no one should be following anybody.  It should be a collaboration. 

Think of your financial planner as an interpreter.  You're learning a new language that they speak fluently.

Here's a final thought that was shared long before the internet existed.

"A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can get it's boots on."

~Mark Twain.

Be careful out there.

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