Be Smart: Ignore All The Financial Experts…

Ignore All The Financial Experts Who Advise You to Scale Back Your Expectations and Lifestyle

The chorus of gloomy financial experts is singing a ballad of restraint.  They warn that we all must adjust ourselves to a “new normal,” in which we lower our expectations and scale back our lifestyles.

The supposed villains are many and include: persistent high unemployment; the devastated real estate market; rising energy and food prices; record budget deficits; the possibility of a double-dip recession; international turmoil; and, well… you name it.

You have no choice, caution the pessimistic gurus, but to swallow:

  • Earning less on your investments and savings for the foreseeable future
    Reduce Your Expectations
  • Downgrading your current lifestyle to make up for the loss of investment returns
  • Reduce Your Expectations
  • Having less income at your disposal due to rising prices and the threat of inflation
  • Getting socked with higher tax rates as the U.S. Government struggles to close its budget gap, and cash-strapped states and cities do likewise
  • Pushing your retirement out – perhaps indefinitely
  • Living on less if you do eventually get to retire (that is not only less than you live on now – which these downbeat financial representatives have always claimed is a retirement must – but less even than “the less” they were already advising you get by on just a few years ago)
  • Sticking with the financial counselors who have been at your side all along because they remain your best source for guiding your future financial planning

To all of these bitter pills, we can only respond… B.S.

[Read more…] “Be Smart: Ignore All The Financial Experts…”

Top 16 Investing and Savings Myths

All the statements listed below are common financial myths.  Accepting any of them as fact could lead to costly financial missteps…

See how many of these common beliefs you already recognize as flawed and which ones you have yet to unmask.

Unmasked Myths

As you may discover, what we’ve been taught by mainstream money experts and well-intentioned friends and family isn’t always accurate.

The Myths:

  1. Over time, the stock market has consistently proven the best and most reliable investment vehicle for the vast majority of Americans
  2. Investors need to accept risk and volatility in order to generate meaningful profits
  3. Home ownership and appreciation is a reliable vehicle for protecting and growing your wealth
  4. 401(k)s make effective investment vehicles, if only because your employer matches your own contributions
  5. Your 401(k) plan administrator must be a licensed, professionally trained and carefully screened financial expert
  6. The fees you pay for your IRA, 401(k) and other retirement funds have only a trivial impact on your ultimate returns
  7. You will not require as much income when you retire as you need now, especially since you’ll qualify for a lower tax bracket
  8. It is never possible to know with any certainty the value of your retirement account at intervals down the road, because market fluctuations are unpredictable
  9. Wise retirement planners recommend you aim to make your retirement income last to age of the average American life expectancy, currently 77.9 years
  10. Always defer taxes as far into the future as possible, especially when you wish to accumulate a larger retirement nest egg
  11. People of modest income can’t possibly set aside $1 million or more for their retirement
  12. Before you can begin saving for the future, first you have to dig your way out of debt
  13. Paying cash is the ideal method of purchasing big-ticket items, such as cars and vacations
  14. Effective savings and investing strategies are too complex for amateurs.  Only professionally trained money managers consistently succeed
  15. If you follow the advice of mainstream financial experts and don’t stray, your nest egg will be safe and grow large over time
  16. To receive quality, personalized attention from highly trained financial representatives, you have to already be wealthy, or close to it