"Why I Fired My Broker" Atlantic article worth the read [View All]

[DeschutesRiver]

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/goldberg-economy

I don't know how it will strike anyone else here, but there were many parts of it that I could totally identify with, having had similar thoughts and actions in my past too - and while I'd like to think I know better now, re issues of trust and gaining knowledge myself re finances so that I can evaluate the worth and wisdom of the advice I receive, I also know that but for me waking up on the right morning, accidently happening across the right forum at the right time, spending almost a solid week catching up on financial matters.....but for that, I wouldn't have made the immediate moves that resulted in me and dh only losing a smidgen of my retirement at that moment, not 50% or better, and now making just a smidgen.

My brokers at the time were having none of it; some were churlish, and when I had dh put his $$ into safe vehicles, it so pissed off his broker that he told dh "this isn't your wife's IRA, so you don't have to listen to her advice". Given what what the broker was advising to put it into at that moment, we've have lost a huge portion of that IRA, and instead dh at least has his investment intact and therefore all of it earning something, albeit a "reduced" something. Nobody should be advising us in this way when we are so near retirement, nor esp. berating us for trying to step back from the market until things stabilized, and definitely not the damned broker holding these investments. A broker doesn't have to worry about clients who just want to buy a fucking CD or a T-bill as a safe haven getting in over their heads.

Sorry for the rant, but enjoy the article!