I’ll be honest, sometimes I get a little tired of the people who work in my profession. They are given the trust and privilege (and it is a privilege) of watching over and enhancing people’s hard earned money and instead they abuse that trust. The recent stories about mutual funds giving some people an edge is the latest example. Now to be fair, 99% of the people out there work hard for their clients. But there definitely are bad apples.
That brings me to an important way that an investor can increase the odds in their favor of having people on their side. That’s to follow the money, or more correctly, the lack of money. If someone is talking to a stock broker or investment advisor a very good question would be “Are you investing in this thing you want me to put my hard earned money into?” and “Did you have to pay the same kinds of fees and commissions as me?”. If the answer is yes, you know that at least they have some belief in the investment. If the answer is no ask “Why not?”. Don’t be afraid to ask tough questions when it comes to your money. If they aren’t willing to put their money where their mouth is, why should you?