thoughts on investing advisers and experts

First off, I'm not really angry or dumb. I just feel that way when it comes to investing.

What I am is perturbed. I am an upset and unsettled investor. Nothing seems to make sense and nothing that makes sense seems to work.

To me Investment advisers and those talking heads experts seem to ask the wrong questions, and think the wrong things.

I recently bought some mutual funds from a well known Canadian bank and talked to a very nice woman that I know quite well. As we were talking I asked her if she followed the stock market. She said no, and that she just puts her money into this mutual fund and let it do all the work. It is great and reassuring the person selling me this is putting her own money into it but, that means I am buying mutual funds from a sales person, a person who doesn't really know anything about the market.

My wife has a financial adviser who is basically the same. She too is a really nice person, meets with my wife a couple of times a year, makes "ooh, this looks good" suggestions, but again, follows nothing and is just a mutual fund saleswoman.

They both may have taken a course and learned all the buzzwords, but that's it.

I think a recent ad on TV by another large Canadian bank sums up my view of [most] financial advisers perfectly.

I watch Business News Network. It is a TV channel all about investing. Yes there are a lot of talking heads, but there is also a lot of good information, and some of those talking heads have good ideas. Anyway there was a bank advertising their mutual funds on that channel saying investing in our mutual funds is just like online shopping. On a channel dedicated to investing research and analysis, saying "buy our product! It's just like online shopping!". Good Grief! Give your head a shake! That is one bank I'll never invest with!


So my anger is with the financial investment community and financial advisers. I think the financial investment community poorly understands their clients and have adopted a number of beliefs that they or their clients don't fully understand.